Managed Firewall Services vs DIY Firewall Management: Cost, Risk, and Control Compared

FAQs

• Why has the global cybersecurity talent shortage made DIY firewall management difficult in 2026?

  The viability of DIY management is being undermined by a critical workforce gap of over 4.7 million security professionals worldwide. This shortage has driven the average annual salary for a Security Analyst to over $124,000, with Cloud Security Architects commanding up to $185,000, making it prohibitively expensive for many organisations to acquire the necessary skills. Furthermore, even when talent is secured, retention is a major challenge; nearly 48% of organisations struggle to keep staff due to high workload pressures and competing offers. Consequently, internal teams often lack the capacity to handle the volume of firewall change requests, which now average 100 or more per week for typical enterprises. 

• Is managing firewalls internally more cost-effective than using a Managed Firewall Service (MFS)?

  While DIY management may appear cheaper initially, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is frequently much higher due to staffing and hidden operational expenses. Maintaining a single dedicated security resource costs between $96,000 and $115,000 annually, whereas comparable operational coverage via MFS typically costs between $4,500 and $5,100 per year by leveraging shared expertise. Additionally, DIY approaches often incur hidden costs such as training, after-hours coverage, and cloud firewall usage fees, which can add $1,000 to $2,000 monthly in large deployments. In contrast, MFS offers predictable pricing and access to advanced tooling without the structural costs of building an internal 24/7 facility. 

• How does the choice between DIY and Managed Services impact the speed of threat remediation?

  The difference in response speed is significant: Managed Firewall Services reduce the Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR) threats to an average of 12 days, compared to 42 days for organisations relying on internal teams. This disparity exists because internal teams often lack overnight or weekend coverage, whereas Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) maintain continuous 24×7 monitoring. This speed is critical in an environment where 99% of firewall incidents result from misconfigurations or delayed updates rather than hardware failures, meaning faster oversight directly correlates to reduced risk. 

• Does outsourcing firewall management require an organisation to surrender control over its security policy?

  No, outsourcing does not equate to losing authority; rather, many organisations are adopting “co-managed” models to maintain strategic control while offloading operational burdens. In this arrangement, internal IT teams retain the authority to define security posture, business priorities, and compliance requirements. The managed service provider assumes responsibility for the execution, including routine monitoring, patch management, and policy cleanup, which prevents the accumulation of redundant rules that often plague DIY environments. This allows internal teams to focus on governance and business alignment rather than day-to-day maintenance. 

• What role do providers like Uvation play in this new operational landscape?

  Uvation supports organisations by offering “Operational-First” IT and security models that bridge the gap between internal strategy and external execution. Their services include Managed Security Operations for 24×7 monitoring and incident response, as well as Managed Network and Cloud Operations to ensure infrastructure resilience. By handling continuous execution—such as policy oversight and rapid remediation—Uvation allows organisations to bypass the costs and risks associated with the talent shortage while retaining control over their broader IT strategy.