Cyber threats are becoming more complex for modern businesses, necessitating the use of advanced security solutions that go beyond firewalling. In order to accomplish Next-Generation Enterprise Firewalling with strong threat detection, deep packet inspection, and adaptive policy enforcement, this proposal investigates the combination of OPNsense, Suricata, and Zenarmor. In order to show how this integrated strategy improves enterprise security posture against changing cyber threats, I describe deployment methodologies, performance optimization, and real-world use cases. The results demonstrate the increased protection capabilities, scalability, and affordability of utilizing OPNsense in conjunction with Suricata and Zenarmor for next-generation firewall deployments.

1. Utilizing
Free and Open-source Technology
Achieve
Next Generation
Enterprise Firewalling
Mahmudul Hasan Akanda
OSS Advocate
akanda.mhasan@gmail.com

2. Importance of network security in
the enterprise landscape
In today’s digitally driven business environment, enterprises rely heavily
on interconnected networks to facilitate operations, communication, and
data exchange.
As cyber threats grow in sophistication, network security has become a
critical pillar for enterprise success.

3. What is a Firewall?
A firewall is a security system designed to monitor, filter, and control incoming
and outgoing network traffic based on predefined security rules.
It acts as a primary barrier between internal network and external networks,
also preventing unauthorized access while allowing legitimate communication.

4. History of Firewall

5. Generation of Firewall

6. Types of Firewalls

7. Traditional firewalls
VS
Next Generation Firewalls

8. Popular Open-source Firewalls

9. The NGFW Components

Foundation : OPNsense is an open-source, FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform. OPNsense provides
the stable and feature-rich firewall platform.

IDPS : Suricata is an open-source Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDS/IPS).It analyzes network
traffic at a granular level, looking for patterns and signatures of known threats within the actual data content, not
just the headers.

NGFW Engine : Zenarmor is a plugin for OPsense that provides advanced, next-generation firewall (NGFW)
features. It focuses on application control, web filtering, and advanced network analytics.

10. OPNsense, Suricata and
Zenarmor: A Perfect Synergy
The "perfect synergy" arises from combining the distinct strengths of these three
components within the OPNsense ecosystem.
OPNsense provides the stable and feature-rich firewall platform. It handles the fundamental network traffic
management and routing.
Suricata adds a powerful layer of threat detection and prevention through deep packet inspection and
signature-based analysis. It can catch sophisticated attacks that might not be apparent at a basic firewall level.
It's particularly effective at identifying known threats and exploits.
Zenarmor enhances the security posture with application-layer visibility and control. It focuses on
application control, web filtering, and advanced network analytics (Real-time monitoring and traffic analysis) .
Zenarmor can identify and control network traffic based on applications (e.g., Facebook, BitTorrent), not just

11. How They Create Synergy
Multi-Layered Defense:
OPNsense provides the initial perimeter defense, controlling traffic based on basic rules. Suricata then inspects
the traffic that passes through for malicious payloads or patterns. Finally, Zenarmor analyzes the traffic at the
application level, enforcing policies based on what the traffic is.
Coverage Across OSI Layers:
Layers 3-4 (OPNsense + Suricata): IP/port filtering and intrusion prevention.
Layer 7 (Zenarmor): Application/user-aware policies.
Threat Intelligence Sharing:
Suricata’s IDS alerts can inform Zenarmor’s behavioral policies (e.g., blocking IPs flagged for phishing).
Zenarmor’s DNS/web filtering reduces Suricata’s workload by blocking malicious domains upfront.
Unified Management:
All tools are managed through OPNsense’s interface, simplifying configuration and monitoring.
This synergy ensures protection against both network-level attacks and
application-layer threats, making it an ideal setup for modern network security.

12. Enterprise-Grade Features in
Opnsense Firewall
 High availability (HA) and Clustering.
 Multi-WAN Load Balancing and Link Aggregation.
 Support for VxLAN and other advance networking technologies.
 LDAP and Active Directory Support.
 Antivirus and Antispam Support.
 APIs and Automation.
 Integration with other security tools.

13. Deployment Scenarios
 Small-to-Medium Businesses (SMBs): For affordable, customizable network security.
 Education: Schools and universities for content filtering and traffic monitoring.
 Healthcare: Clinics and hospitals needing compliance with data-protection laws.
 Tech Startups: For scalable, modular firewall solutions.
 Government Agencies and Research Institutions.
 Large Enterprises.
 Managed Service Provider.

14. Notable Organizations
Using OPNsense

15. Notable Enterprises

16. Notable Enterprises in USA

17. Case Study-1
The Society for Computer Science in the Agriculture, Forestry and Food Industry
in Germany, using OPNsense in Their AI Workloads Benchmarking System.

18. Case Study-2

19. The benefits of using
open source firewall
 Transparency & Security.
 Customizability & Flexibility.
 Runs on Standard Hardware or Virtualized Environments even in Cloud.
 Avoidance of Vendor Lock-in.
 Integration-Friendly.
 Strong Security Focus.
 Privacy & Compliance Benefits.
 Cost-Effectiveness.
 Learning, Skill Building and Innovation.

20. Key NGFW Features Demo
Live Demo

21. Key NGFW Features
 Essential Security
 Application Control
 Web Filtering
 Live Session Capturing
 Network Analytics and Reporting

22. References
The History of Firewalls
 https://t.ly/eMyDv
Generation of firewalls
 https://t.ly/aaCfw
HG Insights Statistics
 https://t.ly/dVYNA
Case Study 1
 https://t.ly/kcLIQ
Case Study 2
 https://t.ly/pwylJ

23. Questions?

24. Thank You!