Methods and systems for network security universal control point

The present disclosure relates to handling of packet flows between a pair of network security zones in a communications network. A packet that is sent from one of the network security zones toward the other of the network security zones is directed to a packet processing service chain, based on a packet handling classification of a packet flow of which the packet is a part. The service chain has multiple identical service chain instances to perform a service on packets, and the packet is directed to one of the service chain instances within the service chain. A packet that is processed by any of the service chain instances is transmitted to the other network security zone.