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A company still needs firewalls, but a central firewall can no longer be assumed to protect every route to company data. Cloud services, remote employees, partners, and distributed systems create access paths that may never pass through the office network. As NIST puts it, “there is no single perimeter.”
Why the traditional perimeter covers less
A traditional perimeter model treats the company network as a defined inside and the internet as outside. A firewall at the boundary can inspect and control traffic crossing that boundary. But enterprise resources and users are no longer gathered in one place: organizations may run systems on premises and across cloud services, support remote work, and connect partners and devices.
NIST’s 2022 enterprise-network guidance describes how cloud services, geographically distributed IT resources, and microservices have changed the network landscape. Its June 2025 explanation is direct: “Nowadays a single organization may operate several internal networks, use cloud services, and allow for remote work — meaning there is no single perimeter.”
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Does a company still need a firewall if it uses the cloud?
Often, yes. Firewalls remain one component of enterprise security, including for controlling traffic between network segments and at boundaries that still exist. NIST’s enterprise-network guidance includes traditional appliances alongside cloud and endpoint security, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), and secure access service edge (SASE). Those approaches complement one another; the evidence does not establish a single universal replacement for firewalls.
The key question is not simply whether the company uses cloud services. It is whether the firewall is positioned to inspect the relevant traffic and whether other controls cover routes and resources outside its reach. A cloud-hosted application accessed directly by a remote user, for example, may not send that session through a company’s central office firewall.
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Why a firewall is not enough for remote workers
Remote users connect from outside the enterprise network. If their sessions go directly to cloud applications or other external resources, a perimeter firewall at headquarters may not be in the path. NIST’s zero-trust architecture guidance says perimeter firewalls are less useful for detecting or blocking attacks originating inside a network, and cannot protect remote users, cloud services, or edge devices outside the enterprise perimeter.
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Remote-access arrangements also need careful configuration. CISA and partner agencies’ 2024 guidance discusses risks associated with traditional remote access and VPN misconfiguration, and covers Zero Trust, Security Service Edge (SSE), and SASE as modern network-access approaches. These categories are not interchangeable guarantees: each must be evaluated in the context of the company’s users, resources, policies, and operations.
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What takes the place of a single perimeter?
There is no one product that replaces the perimeter everywhere. Modern architectures combine enforcement at different points and use access policies that account for the user, device, and resource. NIST’s zero-trust guidance spans identity, credentials, access management, operations, endpoints, hosting environments, and interconnecting infrastructure.
- Network boundaries and segmentation: Firewalls and related controls can restrict traffic between networks or smaller zones rather than treating everything inside a corporate network as equally trusted.
- Identity- and resource-based access: ZTNA can constrain access to particular applications or resources, rather than granting broad network access by default.
- Cloud and endpoint controls: Security controls close to cloud workloads and user devices can address activity that does not cross a central office boundary.
- SSE and SASE: These approaches extend network-access and security capabilities across distributed users and resources. Their fit depends on the organization’s architecture and operational needs.
NIST’s 2025 implementation guide, SP 1800-35, describes 19 example zero-trust implementations assembled with commercially available technologies. The NCCoE worked with 24 collaborators on those examples. These figures describe the scope of the guide—not enterprise adoption, measured security outcomes, or proof that one design is best. NIST presents implementation as an integration effort, not a single purchase that delivers zero trust.
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How to assess the firewall’s role in your environment
Map where users connect, where applications and data reside, and which controls enforce access on each path. This makes it possible to see what the firewall still protects and where other controls are needed.
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- Check the access scope. Determine whether a user receives broad network reach or access only to the specific applications and resources required.
- Review the decision inputs. Assess how identity, credentials, device or endpoint condition, and the target resource inform authorization. Do not assume network location alone establishes trust.
- Coordinate controls and policies. Confirm that firewall rules, identity and access management, endpoint protections, and cloud policies work together rather than leaving gaps or conflicting decisions.
- Account for operations. Distributed enforcement brings policy coordination, integration, and ongoing management work. NIST and CISA describe architectural options, but do not establish the right product, budget, or rollout sequence for an individual company.
What the firewall still does—and what it cannot do alone
A firewall remains useful where traffic crosses a boundary or segment it can enforce. It can be part of a layered architecture, but it cannot by itself secure access paths it does not see or decide who should reach every resource across a distributed environment. As NIST computer scientist Scott Rose explained in June 2025, “This is a complicated hybrid network with multiple vulnerabilities, and you can’t just protect it with a simple firewall the way you would if all your assets were inside the Head Office.”
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The practical shift is from relying on one perimeter to coordinating controls around networks, identities, devices, applications, and cloud resources. Keep the firewall where it provides useful enforcement; design additional protections for the activity beyond its boundary.
Quick Recap
Sources
- NIST SP 1800-35, Implementing a Zero Trust Architecture (2025)
- NIST announcement on zero trust and the lack of a single perimeter (June 11, 2025)
- NIST SP 800-215, Guide to a Secure Enterprise Network Landscape (2022)
- CISA and partner agencies’ modern approaches to network-access security (June 18, 2024)
- CISA red-team advisory (2023)
- NIST SP 800-207, Zero Trust Architecture (2020)
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