A sovereign firewall is a network security solution developed and governed within a defined legal and regulatory jurisdiction, with an emphasis on control, transparency and technology provenance.

For organisations considering digital sovereignty, this means looking at where the technology is developed, which laws apply to the vendor and how its security has been independently assessed. Stormshield is a European cybersecurity vendor with network security solutions that hold recognised European qualifications and certifications on relevant products and versions.

The benefits of choosing a European cybersecurity vendor include greater transparency over where security technology is developed, clearer understanding of the legal frameworks governing the vendor and access to solutions that support digital sovereignty requirements.

These benefits can be particularly important for UK organisations operating in government, defence, critical infrastructure and regulated sectors, where data protection, security assurance and supplier trust are key considerations.

When evaluating a European cybersecurity vendor, organisations should also consider independent certifications, performance, functionality and ongoing technical support to ensure the solution meets their security requirements.

A sovereign firewall should be assessed on more than where the vendor is based. Organisations should consider independent security assurance, IPS and threat prevention, performance with security features active, centralised management, IT and OT capabilities, vendor transparency and ongoing technical support.

Where sovereignty is a priority, it is also important to understand where the technology is developed, the jurisdiction governing the vendor and which independent certifications apply to the specific product and software version being considered.

Stormshield offers European-developed network security solutions with independent security qualifications and certifications on applicable products, integrated IPS and threat prevention, dedicated IT and OT security capabilities, and centralised firewall administration through Stormshield Management Center. Combined with technical support and expertise available through Hammer Distribution, this helps partners address the key considerations when recommending a sovereign firewall.

These credentials provide different forms of independent security assurance. ANSSI qualification involves assessment by France's national cybersecurity agency, while EU Restricted and NATO Restricted relate to solutions approved for protecting information classified at those respective levels.

Organisations should always confirm which certifications and qualifications apply to the specific product and firmware version being considered. Relevant Stormshield Network Security products and versions hold ANSSI qualifications and European security credentials, including EU Restricted and NATO Restricted.

Headline firewall throughput does not necessarily represent the performance available when security inspection is active. Intrusion Prevention Systems analyse network traffic for malicious activity, which adds additional processing requirements.

When comparing firewalls, consider published IPS and threat-prevention throughput alongside standard firewall performance. Traffic profiles, concurrent connections, VPN requirements and the security services that will be enabled should also form part of the assessment. A proof-of-concept can help validate performance against the customer's real environment.

Rather than replacing the existing firewall like-for-like, consider traffic volumes, encrypted traffic, IPS performance, VPN requirements, segmentation, high availability, management requirements and any IT or OT infrastructure.

Migration planning should also account for existing policies, configurations, integrations, testing and rollback procedures. Hammer provides technical pre-sales, solution design and proof-of-concept support to help partners assess and plan Stormshield migration opportunities.

MSPs should look for centralised administration, visibility across multiple firewalls, policy management, configuration backups, monitoring, reporting and automation capabilities.

These features can reduce the need to manage every firewall individually and help technical teams work more consistently across distributed customer environments. Stormshield Management Center provides centralised administration for SNS firewalls, including firewall and VPN supervision, policy management, updates, backups and scheduled script execution.

Centralising routine firewall administration can reduce repetitive work across customer environments. Monitoring, configuration management, updates, backups and other administrative tasks can be handled more consistently when they are brought into a common management platform.

Stormshield Management Center centralises the administration of multiple SNS firewalls, providing technical teams with greater visibility and enabling partners to manage distributed environments more efficiently.

MSPs can develop recurring services around firewall monitoring, maintenance, policy management, reporting, security health checks, updates and ongoing technical support.

Centralised management makes these services easier to deliver across multiple customers and gives them continued access to security expertise after deployment. This creates opportunities for partners to build ongoing service value around the firewall rather than limiting the customer relationship to the initial implementation.

Firewalls protecting operational technology need to account for industrial systems, protocols and availability requirements that may not be present in traditional IT networks.

This can require capabilities such as industrial protocol inspection, network segmentation and greater visibility of communication between IT and OT systems. Stormshield provides network security capabilities for both IT and OT environments, including industrial protocol analysis, intrusion prevention and segmentation.

An industrial firewall should provide visibility and control over OT traffic without disrupting critical operational processes. Important considerations include industrial protocol support, deep packet inspection, intrusion prevention, network segmentation, centralised management and integration with the wider security environment.

The physical environment should also be considered. Industrial deployments may require appliances designed for DIN-rail installation, extended operating temperatures or other challenging conditions.

Network segmentation separates infrastructure into controlled zones and limits unnecessary communication between them. Across converged IT and OT environments, this can help control which systems communicate, restrict lateral movement and limit the potential impact of a compromised device or network segment.