A Comparative Study of Firewall Automation: Policy Timing, SSL Inspection, and Application Control

As network environments grow increasingly complex, the need for efficient and automated firewall management has become essential. This study investigates the use of Unix-based automation scripts specifically Python scripts executed from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system to evaluate the performance and efficiency of key security functionalities across four of the world's top firewall vendors: Check Point, Cisco FTD, Fortinet, and Palo Alto Networks. The research focuses on three critical operational areas: SSL inspection, network policy installation timing, and application control mechanisms. Customized Python scripts are developed to automate the testing process, enabling consistent, repeatable measurements of execution time, policy deployment accuracy, and control effectiveness. Each firewall is tested under uniform conditions to ensure a fair comparison. The results offer practical insights into how automation can streamline firewall operations, enhance policy enforcement, and improve application-layer security across diverse network environments. This study does not rely on vendor specific firewall vendors APIs, instead, it employs a simple custom script to test and validate automation performance.

کلیدواژه ها:

Automation ، Scripts ، Check Point ، Fortinet ، Cisco ، Palo Alto