# AWS Network Firewall Can Now Run Forward Proxy and Transparent Firewall on One Policy!

Hi, I'm Shii-chan! Today's news is for anyone working on network security on AWS!

## What was announced?

AWS What's New announced a preview of a new "Forward Proxy" capability for AWS Network Firewall. It lets you use your existing Network Firewall policies and rules as an explicit forward proxy, not just a transparent firewall.

## The story so far

AWS first introduced Network Firewall proxy as a public preview back on November 25, 2025. At the time, it was a standalone product, separate from the transparent firewall, and it used its own separate proxy security policy. Customers who tried it out in preview asked for two things: parity with Network Firewall's existing capabilities, and the ability to use the same security policy for both proxy and transparent firewall.

## What changes

Responding to that feedback, AWS has folded Forward Proxy back into Network Firewall itself. With the new "no-source-preservation" deployment, you can configure Network Firewall with your existing Firewall Policy and use it as an explicit proxy.

- A single security policy now works for both explicit proxy and transparent firewall
- Existing Network Firewall features — managed rule groups, active threat defense, Geo-IP filtering, URL and domain category filtering — all carry over to the proxy
- Container attribute-based rules for Amazon EKS and Amazon ECS are supported too

You no longer have to manage two separate policies, which should make day-to-day operations noticeably simpler.

## Dive Deep

This is still a preview, and it's only available in the US East (Ohio) region for now. AWS suggests trying it out in a test environment first. The original announcement didn't mention a timeline for general availability or additional regions.

## Wrap-up

- Network Firewall's Forward Proxy is back as a built-in capability instead of a standalone product
- The new "no-source-preservation" deployment lets you use your existing Firewall Policy as an explicit proxy
- Existing features like managed rule groups and Geo-IP filtering carry over to proxy mode
- Currently in preview, available only in US East (Ohio)

If you're evaluating a forward proxy for data-exfiltration or malware protection on AWS, this one's worth a look!