As of 13 August 2026, AI cannot configure a firewall for your small business.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface gets you a draft, but you cannot verify it yourself. That is the catch.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the firewall manufacturer's documentation for the exact model and firmware, and save the current configuration with passwords, private keys and other secrets removed.
   2. Draw the current network layout, including the internet connection, firewall interfaces, wireless networks, servers, cloud services, remote access and devices that must remain reachable.
   3. Write down the business services that must work and the people or systems that need access, then record required sources, destinations, ports and protocols without pasting credentials into an AI tool.
   4. Paste the redacted configuration, network layout, service list and maintenance constraints into the prompt, and ask the AI for a review-ready rule table, assumptions and rollback plan.
   5. Compare every proposed setting and rule against the exact vendor documentation and the current configuration, marking anything the AI cannot tie to the stated model or a documented business requirement.
   6. Send the redacted plan and rule table to a qualified network security professional, who can approve the change, take a backup, apply it during the agreed maintenance window and test rollback.

   Prompt

   Act as a cautious network security assistant. Do not claim to have accessed or changed any device, and do not invent product features, network details or security requirements. Using the information below, prepare a review-ready firewall change plan for a small UK business.
   
   Firewall make and exact model: [model]
   Firmware version: [version]
   Current network layout: [describe internet connection, firewall, switches, wireless networks, servers and remote access]
   Business services that must work: [list]
   Required inbound access, if any: [list]
   Required outbound access: [list]
   User groups and devices: [list]
   Known public IP addresses, domains and services: [list]
   Existing firewall rules or exported configuration with passwords, private keys and secrets removed: [paste]
   Business constraints and maintenance window: [details]
   
   Produce:
   1. A plain-English summary of the intended access policy.
   2. A rule table with order, source, destination, service, action, logging and reason.
   3. The exact vendor-specific steps or configuration syntax only if they are supported by the stated model and firmware. Otherwise say what must be confirmed in the vendor documentation.
   4. The assumptions, missing information and possible conflicts.
   5. A test plan covering normal business traffic, remote access, blocked traffic, logging and rollback.
   6. A list of questions for a qualified network security professional.
   
   Use least privilege, deny unnecessary inbound access, avoid exposing administration interfaces to the internet, and flag every item that needs professional confirmation. This is not professional advice and must not be treated as approval to deploy.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.