9 Essential Firewall Statistics for 2021

Harry Lees
July 28, 2021

9 Essential Firewall Statistics for 2021

A cybersecurity breach takes 279 days to rectify on average. Your computer is attacked in some way every 39 seconds. Firewall software is one way organizations can protect against this constant threat. 

However, the way these tools protect you is changing in 2021. 

The shift to remote work forced firewall vendors and clients to adapt. More people working online created infinitely more weak points. This is why organizations invest so heavily in the firewall market today. 

The statistics below show the current state of the firewall market, its potential future, and how customers are interacting with this vital category. 

 

Click on a Section to Explore: 

Top 9 Firewall Statistics for 2021

  1. Cybercrime as a whole has increased by 600% since the beginning of the global pandemic. (PurpleSec 2021)

     

  2. 50% of employees say they do not believe their organization is prepared to repel a ransomware attack. (PurpleSec 2021)

  3. The Global Network Security Firewall market size was $3.364 billion in 2020. This is projected to reach $5.14 billion by 2026.(PRNewswire 2020)

  4. 88% of data breaches are a direct result of human error. (Tessian 2021)

  5. The next-generation firewall market was valued at $3.27 billion in 2020. This is expected to reach $4.3 billion by 2023. (Markets and Markets 2020)

  6.  51% of organizations currently believe they have a “problematic shortage” of cybersecurity skills. (Firemon 2019) 
  7. 30% of companies have more than 100 firewalls set up on their network. (Firemon 2019) 
  8. 40% of firewalls are hosted entirely on-premise, with 60% hosted at least partially on the cloud. (Firemon 2019) 
  9. Only 45.3% of C-level respondents felt ready for a firewall compliance audit. (Firemon 2019)

Who’s Winning The Firewall Market In 2021?

Over 1.2 million software buyers use TrustRadius each month. Many of them are shopping for firewall software—so we took a closer look at our data to see which products attract the most attention. 

According to buyer interest, the top 10 leaders in today’s firewall market are: 

Out of those companies, we’re seeing clear winners when it comes to market share:

  • Fortinet FortiGate is the firewall market leader in 2021, commanding 40% of the firewall market share. (TrustRadius 2021)
  • Beyond Fortinet FortiGate, other key players in the Firewall market for 2021 include: 
    • Cisco ASA with 12% market share 
    • WatchGuard Network Security with 11% market share
    • SonicWall TZ with 10% of the market share
    • Sophos UTM with 8% of the market share
    • Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewalls with 8% of the market share in 2021. (TrustRadius 2021)
  • Across the firewall market, buyers spend the most time comparing FortiGate and pfSense. (TrustRadius 2021)

Firewall News and Developments

The past year has seen significant innovation and investment in the firewall and cybersecurity markets. Here are the biggest fundraising and valuation events from 2021: 

Palo Alto and Google

A match made in heaven? Palo Alto Networks has expanded their partnership with Google Cloud, seeking to innovate on network security issues. These two organizations plan to incorporate Palo Alto’s threat detection with Google’s cloud expertise to improve their user experiences. These innovations will see both companies taking advantage of their respective successes, at the benefit of customers. 

 

CyberPion

This security startup aims to address DNS or code-injection base attacks to complement companies’ existing firewalls. They have raised $8.25 million in investments to advance broader threat detection and protection capabilities. These comprehensive, multilayered strategies are crucial to securing modern attack surfaces, in addition to and beyond traditional firewall security

 

CheckPoint

Another company innovating from within, CheckPoint’s new Quantum Security Gateways aim to expand firewall access to more use cases. The company is a strong innovator for enterprise-level companies with cloud-based management needs. Their recent advancements are seeing the company expand across the firewall market.

 

Firewall Trends to Watch in 2021

 

Work From Home Changes Everything

Remote work is forcing firewall providers to evolve. On-site only firewalls are obviously insufficient for the protection needs of many companies. This means more investment in cloud-based firewall-as-a-service software. These types of firewalls do not require expensive investment in every physical location where staff are present. They also offer scalability and, most crucially, mobility. 

 

IoT Driving Firewall Development

Smart TVs, watches, and even fridges are now storing valuable data through the Internet of Things. These are potential points of vulnerability that firewall software is adapting to.

Companies are unlikely to start installing firewalls on their breakroom freezer, but the threats are real and growing. DDoS, Web-exploit kits, malware, and application-level threats are all evolving as fast as their defensive technology. The vast majority of attacks happen because of human error, a lack of firewall tech, or incorrectly configured security. With this in mind, a trend in firewall security is the focus on covering all your bases. As the IoT expands, organizations must cover all vulnerable points. 

 

Human Error Still Plagues Us

88% of data breaches are a direct result of human error. Of all the market trends we’ve explored at TrustRadius, this is one of the most consistent. Organizations must focus on employee education and clear guidelines. However, the security training many have experienced are actually not doing much good. As more and more valuable content is stored online, they should probably be scaled up with dedicated security awareness training software.

Your Guide to Firewall Pricing in 2021

Firewall trScore Starting Price Free Trial Free or Fremium Premium Services Setup Fee
Fortinet FortiGate 8.9/10 $250 YES X X None
Forcepoint NGFW 9.5/10 Contact Vendor YES YES X None
Cisco ASA 8.6/10 Contact Vendor YES YES YES None
WatchGuard Network Security 9.1/10 Contact Vendor X YES X None
SonicWall TZ 9.5/10 $414.04 YES X YES None
Sophos UTM
8.6/10 Contact Vendor X X X None
Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewalls 9.4/10 Contact Vendor X YES X None
Magneto Commerce
7.7/10 Contact Vendor X X X None
Juniper SRX 8.3/10 Contact Vendor X YES X None
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
8.7/10 Contact Vendor X X X None
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway 8.5/10 Contact Vendor X YES X None

Here are some stats from real buyers on TrustRadius:

  • SonicWall TZ has the highest customer support rating out of all leading firewall software in 2021 (with a score of 9.43/10). The firewall category average customer support rating is 8.48/10. (TrustRadius 2021)

     

  • 95% of firewall buyers are satisfied with their firewall’s feature set. (TrustRadius 2021)

     

  • 91% of firewall buyers think implementation went as expected. This is much higher than other software categories, where the average implementation satisfaction rating falls around 60%-70%. (TrustRadius 2021)

     

  • 92% of firewall buyers would buy their product again. (TrustRadius 2021)

     

  • 44% of Cisco ASA users come from large enterprises. (TrustRadius 2021)

  • Fortigate has the highest usability rating out of all leading firewall software in 2021 (with a score of (9.86/10). In second place is WatchGuard Network Security with a usability score of 8.46/10. (TrustRadius 2021)

If you’re looking for your next firewall solution, check out reviews on TrustRadius. You’ll see 100% authentic reviews from buyers just like you. 

Sources

  • Network Security Firewall Market Size…(PRNewswire 2020)

  • Next-Generation Firewall Market by Delivery Type (Markets and Markets 2020)

  • State of the Firewall (Firemon 2019)

  • Cyber Security Trends in 2021 (PurpleSec 2021)

  • The Psychology of Human Error (Tessian 2021)

  • 9 Essential Firewall Statistics for 2021 (TrustRadius 2021)

About the Author

Harry Lees
I am a proud University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, with a Comprehensive Honors degree in Political Science and Journalism. Go Badgers! A dual-citizen with the U.S and U.K, in my free time I support Liverpool Football Club, obsessively follow politics and do extremely nerdy things with my friends.