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AlgoSec’s Integration with ServiceNow allows AlgoSec users to automate security change management and accelerate application deployments... Information Security AlgoSec and ServiceNow: Managing Network Security Policies and Processes Within ServiceNow Amir Erel 2 min read Amir Erel Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 2/3/20 Published AlgoSec’s Integration with ServiceNow allows AlgoSec users to automate security change management and accelerate application deployments within their existing ServiceNow platform It isn’t easy for organizations to get holistic visibility and management across their increasingly complex, hybrid network environments. Application owners need to make changes to existing applications or launch new ones quickly to drive the business. Meanwhile, IT and security teams must maintain security, reduce the risk of outages and misconfigurations, and meet audit and compliance demands. It’s a difficult balance to achieve. In our 2019 cloud security survey , a lack of visibility into their entire network estate and seamless management of cloud and on-prem environments were two of the biggest challenges cited by organizations. Over 40% also reported having a network or application outage, with the leading cause being operational or human errors in making changes. So robust network security management and automation of processes are increasingly mission-critical. To manage network security changes efficiently, application owners prefer to use the familiar tools and workflows that they already know, while security owners need to understand the business context of the policies to ensure that they are making the right decisions to protect the organization’s assets. AlgoSec’s integration with ServiceNow’s IT Service Management solution allows these different stakeholders to share a single management. This bridges the gap between application and security teams and gives them both a holistic view of security, risk and compliance across their entire network environment. This, in turn, accelerates application delivery and strengthens the organization’s security and compliance postures. By integrating the AlgoSec Security Management Suite with ServiceNow, organizations can automate and enrich security policy change management while remaining entirely within the tool their team is already using, with the added benefit of business context. The solution works seamlessly with existing processes and workflows, which helps accelerate the rate of adoption across entire networks. Automating change management processes Making a single change in a complex enterprise environment could take days or even weeks. Using intelligent, highly customizable workflows, AlgoSec automates the entire security policy change process – from planning and design through to submission, proactive risk analysis, implementation, validation and auditing – all with zero-touch, enabling organizations to reduce change request processing times to minutes. By working with the tools that your organization is already familiar with, you don’t need to learn new workflows and user interfaces. Your application and IT teams can continue to use the tools they already know, and encourage organizational buy-in for automated network security policy change management. For more information on AlgoSec’s integration with ServiceNow, download the datasheet or watch the demo . Schedule a demo Related Articles 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

AlgoSec extends Cisco ACI’s policy-based automation to security devices in the Data Center AlgoSec’s Network Security Management Solution Now on Cisco’s Global Price List AlgoSec extends Cisco ACI’s policy-based automation to security devices in the Data Center November 26, 2019 Speak to one of our experts Ridgefield Park, NJ, USA (November 26, 2019) – AlgoSec, a leading provider of business-driven network security management solutions, today announced the availability of its integrated solution for Cisco ACI and security devices on Cisco’s Global Price List. This enables Cisco’s direct and channel sales network to offer AlgoSec’s solutions to customers through Cisco’s SolutionsPlus program. Cisco ACI, the industry’s leading software-defined networking solution, facilitates application agility and Data Center automation. ACI enables scalable multi-cloud networks with a consistent policy model and provides the flexibility to move applications seamlessly to any location or any cloud while maintaining security and high availability. AlgoSec integrates with Cisco ACI to extend ACI’s policy-based automation to multi-vendor security devices across the Data Center, on its edges and in the cloud. AlgoSec Security Management Solution for ACI enables customers to better ensure continuous compliance and automates the provisioning of security policies across ACI fabric and multi-vendor security devices connected to the ACI fabric, helping customers build more secure Data Centers. “AlgoSec and Cisco ACI share an application-centric approach to network security management, allowing customers to realize the full potential of intent-based Data Centers. We are delighted to be a part of Cisco’s Solutions Plus program and get listed on Global Price List,” said Avishai Wool, CTO and co-founder at AlgoSec. “Extending Cisco ACI’s policy driven automation to security devices, closely aligns with AlgoSec’s strategies and will deliver powerful benefits to our mutual customers. It enables customers to build truly automated IT environments that are flexible, secure and responsive to their business needs,” added Bruno Weinberger, VP, Strategic Alliances at AlgoSec. “Networking teams are increasingly adopting application-centric, policy-driven approach to meet rapidly changing requirements from IT teams and application owners,” said Ranga Rao, Senior Director of Product Management and Solutions, Cisco Data Center Networking. “AlgoSec security management solution extends ACI’s policy model and automation capabilities to security devices, allowing customers and partners to build agile and more secure data centers.” Cisco and AlgoSec’s channel partners share an equal level of enthusiasm about this initiative. “This collaboration between Cisco and AlgoSec is a great news for Conscia. As a Cisco Gold Partner and AlgoSec’s strategic partner, we hope to enable customers to realize the potential of application driven security automation, help ensure continuous compliance and reduce the attack surface in their Data Centers” said Henrik Skovfoged, System Engineering Director, Conscia A/S. About Cisco DevNet SolutionsPlus Program DevNet Solutions Plus 2.0 places a select set of “Cisco Compatible” products on the Cisco Systems price list, making it faster for customers to order non-Cisco products from Cisco sales teams and channel partners. Products in Cisco DevNet Solutions Plus 2.0 complement and augment Cisco’s advanced technology products. Cisco DevNet Solutions Plus 2.0 vendors are also part of the Cisco® Solution Partner Program. About AlgoSec The leading provider of business-driven network security management solutions, AlgoSec helps the world’s largest organizations align security with their mission-critical business processes. With AlgoSec, users can discover, map and migrate business application connectivity, proactively analyze risk from the business perspective, tie cyber-attacks to business processes and intelligently automate network security changes with zero touch – across their cloud, SDN and on-premise networks. Over 1,800 enterprises , including 20 of the Fortune 50, have utilized AlgoSec’s solutions to make their organizations more agile, more secure and more compliant – all the time. Since 2005, AlgoSec has shown its commitment to customer satisfaction with the industry’s only money-back guarantee .All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. Media Contacts: Tsippi [email protected] Craig CowardContext Public [email protected] +44 (0)1625 511 966

6 best practices to stay secure in the hybrid cloud Download PDF Schedule time with one of our experts Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Webinars 5 proven ways to secure your hybrid network environment during team convergence Cloud and datacenter security teams are now one, but the tools, workflows, and policies haven’t caught up. Join ESG Principal Analyst John Grady alongside AlgoSec’s Field CTO Kyle Wickert and Product Manager Gal Yosef for a practical conversation on how leading organizations are tackling the operational challenges of security convergence. What you’ll learn: Why convergence between cloud and datacenter teams is accelerating How to reduce tool overload and policy inconsistencies What steps are teams taking to unify visibility, policy, and risk without slowing down delivery July 16, 2025 John Grady Principal Analyst | ESG Gal Yosef Product Manager | AlgoSec Kyle Wickert WW Strategic Architect Relevant resources 6 best practices to stay secure in the hybrid cloud Read Document Securing & managing hybrid network security See Documentation 6 must-dos to secure the hybrid cloud Read Document Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Best practices for network security governance in AWS and hybrid network environments Webinars Overcoming the Hybrid Cloud Policy Management Challenge: A Panel Discussion Visibility May 27, 2020 Omer Ganot Product Manager Yonatan Klein irector of Product Management Relevant resources State of cloud security: Concerns, challenges, and incidents Read Document Demystifying Network Security in Hybrid Cloud Environments Keep Reading A Pragmatic Approach to Network Security Across Your Hybrid Cloud Environment Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Understand the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Learn key requirements, best practices, and how to achieve and maintain FISMA compliance. FISMA compliance defined: Requirements & best practices Everything You wanted to know about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) is a U.S. federal law that requires federal government agencies and their third-party partners to implement an information security program to protect their sensitive data. It provides a comprehensive security and risk management framework to implement effective controls for federal information systems. Introduced in 2002, FISMA is part of the E-Government Act of 2002 that’s aimed at improving the management of electronic government services and processes. Both these U.S. government regulations are implemented to uphold federal data security standards and protect sensitive data in government systems. FISMA 2002 was amended by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA 2014). Schedule a Demo What is FISMA compliance? FISMA compliance means adhering to a set of policies, standards, and guidelines to protect the personal or sensitive information contained in government systems. FISMA requires all government agencies and their vendors, service providers, and contractors to improve their information security controls based on these pre-defined requirements. Like FISMA, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) enables federal agencies and their vendors to protect government data, albeit for cloud services. FISMA is jointly overseen by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST develops the FISMA standards and guidelines – including the minimum security requirements – that bolster the IT security and risk management practices of agencies and their contractors. The DHS administers these programs to help maximize federal information system security. FISMA non-compliance penalties FISMA non-compliance can result in many penalties, including reduced federal funding and censure by the U.S. Congress. Companies can also lose federal contracts and suffer damage to their reputation. Further, non-compliance indicates a poor cybersecurity infrastructure, which may result in costly cyberattacks or data breaches, which could then result in regulatory fines or legal penalties. Schedule a Demo Who must be FISMA-compliant? FISMA’s data protection rules were originally applicable only to U.S. federal agencies. While these standards are still applicable to all federal agencies without exception, they are now applicable to other organizations as well. Thus, any third-party contractor or other organization that provides services to a federal agency and handles sensitive information on behalf of the government must also comply with FISMA. Thus the list of organizations that must comply with FISMA includes: Public or private sector organizations having contractual agreements with federal agencies Public or private organizations that support a federal program or receive grants from federal agencies State agencies like Medicare and Medicaid Schedule a Demo What are the FISMA compliance requirements? The seven key requirements of FISMA compliance are: 1. Maintain an inventory of information systems All federal agencies and their contractors must maintain an updated list of their IT systems. They must also identify and track the integrations between these systems and any other systems in the network. The inventory should include systems that are not operated by or under their direct control. 2. Categorize information security risks Organizations must categorize their information and information systems in order of risk. Such categorizations can help them to focus their security efforts on high-risk areas and ensure that sensitive information is given the highest level of security. The NIST’s FIPS 199 standard provides risk categorization guidelines. It also defines a range of risk levels that organizations can assign to their information systems during risk categorization. 3. Implement security controls Since FISMA’s purpose is to protect the information in government systems, security controls that provide this protection are a mandatory requirement. Under FISMA, all government information systems must meet the minimum security requirements defined in FIPS 200. Organizations are not required to implement every single control. However, they must implement the controls that are relevant to them and their systems. They must also document the selected controls in their system security plan (SSP). NIST 800-53 (NIST special publication or SP) provides a list of suggested security controls for FISMA compliance. 4. Conduct risk assessments A risk assessment is a review of an organization’s security program to identify and assess potential risks. After identifying cyber threats and vulnerabilities, the organization should map them to the security controls that could mitigate them. Based on the likelihood and impact of a security incident, they must determine the risk of that threat. The final risk assessment includes risk calculations of all possible security events plus information about whether the organization will accept or mitigate each of these risks. NIST SP 800-30 provides guidance to conduct risk assessments for FISMA compliance. The NIST recommends identifying risks at three levels: organizational, business process, and information system. 5. Create a system security plan All federal agencies must implement an SSP to help with the implementation of security controls. They must also regularly maintain it and update it annually to ensure that they can implement the best and most up-to-date security solutions. The SSP should include information about the organization’s security policies and controls, and a timeline to introduce further controls. It can also include security best practices. The document is a major input in the agency’s (or third party’s) security certification and accreditation process. 6. Conduct annual security reviews Under FISMA, all program officers, compliance officials, and agency heads must conduct and oversee annual security reviews to confirm that the implemented security controls are sufficient and information security risks are at a minimum level. Agency officials can also accredit their information systems. By doing this, they accept responsibility for the security of these systems and are accountable for any adverse impacts of security incidents. Accreditation is part of the four-phase FISMA certification process. Its other three phases are initiation and planning, certification, and continuous monitoring. 7. Continuously monitor information systems Organizations must monitor their implemented security controls and document system changes and modifications. If they make major changes, they should also conduct an updated risk assessment. They may also need to be recertified. Schedule a Demo What are the benefits of FISMA compliance? FISMA compliance benefits both government agencies and their contractors and vendors. By following its guidelines and implementing its requirements, they can: Adopt a robust risk management-centered approach to security planning and implementation Continually assess, monitor, and optimize their security ecosystem Increase org-wide awareness about the need to secure sensitive data Improve incident response and accelerate incident and risk remediation Benefits of FISMA compliance for federal agencies FISMA compliance increases the cybersecurity focus within federal agencies. By implementing its mandated security controls, it can protect its information and information systems, and also protect the privacy of individuals and national security. In addition, by continuously monitoring their controls, they can maintain a consistently strong security posture. They can also eliminate newly-discovered vulnerabilities quickly and cost-effectively. Benefits of FISMA compliance for other organizations FISMA-compliant organizations can strengthen their security postures by implementing its security best practices. They can better protect their data and the government’s data, prevent data breaches and improve incident response planning. Furthermore, they can demonstrate to federal agencies that they have implemented FISMA’s recommended security controls, which gives them an advantage when trying to get new business from these agencies. Schedule a Demo The three levels of FISMA compliance FISMA defines three compliance levels, which refer to the possible impact of a security breach on an organization. These three impact levels are: 1. Low impact Low impact means that the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability is likely to have a limited adverse effect on the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For this reason, the security controls for these systems or data types need only meet the low level of FISMA compliance. 2. Moderate impact A moderate impact incident is one in which the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could have serious adverse consequences for the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For example, it may result in significant financial loss to the organization or significant harm to individuals. However, it is unlikely to cause severe damage or result in the loss of life. 3. High impact The compromise of a high-impact information system could have catastrophic consequences for the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For example, a breach may prevent the organization from performing its primary functions, resulting in major financial loss. It may also cause major damage to assets or result in severe harm to individuals (e.g., loss of life or life-threatening injuries). To prevent such consequences, these systems must be protected with the strongest controls. Schedule a Demo FISMA compliance best practices Following the best practices outlined below can ease the FISMA compliance effort and enable organizations to meet all applicable FISMA requirements: Identify the information that must be protected and classify it based on its sensitivity level as it is created Create a security plan to monitor data activity and detect threats Implement automatic encryption for sensitive data Conduct regular risk assessments to identify and fix vulnerabilities and outdated policies Regularly monitor information security systems Provide cybersecurity awareness training to employees Maintain evidence of FISMA compliance, including records of system inventories, risk categorization efforts, security controls, SSPs, certifications, and accreditations Stay updated on changes to FISMA standards, new NIST guidelines, and evolving security best practices Schedule a Demo How AlgoSec can help you with FISMA compliance? Using the AlgoSec platform , you can instantly and clearly see which applications expose you to FISMA compliance violations. You can also automatically generate pre-populated, audit-ready compliance reports to reduce your audit preparation efforts and costs and enhance your audit readiness. AlgoSec will also uncover gaps in your FISMA compliance posture and proactively check every change for possible compliance violations. Schedule a Demo Select a size Everything You wanted to know about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) What is FISMA compliance? Who must be FISMA-compliant? What are the FISMA compliance requirements? What are the benefits of FISMA compliance? The three levels of FISMA compliance FISMA compliance best practices How AlgoSec can help you with FISMA compliance? Get the latest insights from the experts Use these six best practices to simplify compliance and risk mitigation with the AlgoSec platform White paper Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure continuous compliance Solution overview See how this customer improved compliance readiness and risk management with AlgoSec Case study Choose a better way to manage your network

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Energy supplier keeps the lights on with automated network change management Organization Energy Supplier Industry Utilities & Energy Headquarters International Download case study Share Customer
success stories "AlgoSec has saved us a lot of time in managing our rule base.” Large energy supplier empowers internal stakeholders and streamlines network security policy change process Background The company is the provider of electricity and gas for their country. They are responsible for the planning, construction, operation, maintenance and global technical management of both these grids and associated infrastructures. The Challenge In order to provide power to millions of people, the company runs more than twenty IT and OT firewalls from multiple vendors that are hosted in multiple data centers throughout the country. Some of the challenges included: Lack of visibility over a complex architecture – With multiple networks, IT managers needed to know which network is behind which firewall and connect traffic flows to firewall rules. Change management processes were being managed by network diagrams created in Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets – tools that were not designed for network security policy management. Thousands of rules – Each firewall may have thousands of rules each. Many of these rules are unneeded and introduce unnecessary risk. Managing the maze of rules was time consuming and took time away from other strategic initiatives. Unnecessary requests – Business stakeholders were requesting status information about network traffic and making duplicate and unnecessary change requests for items covered by existing rules. The Solution The company was searching for a solution that provided: Visibility into their network topology, including traffic flows. Optimization of their firewall rules. Alerts before time-based rules expire. Automatic implementation of their rule base onto their firewall devices. They implemented AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and AlgoSec FireFlow, as well as AlgoBot, AlgoSec’s ChatOps solution. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. AlgoBot is an intelligent chatbot that handles network security policy management tasks. AlgoBot answers business user’s questions, submitted in plain English, and automatically assists with security policy change management processes – without requiring manual inputs or additional research. The Results Some of the ways the company benefitted from using AlgoSec include: Visibility and topology mapping – They are able to get a picture of their entire network and view traffic flows to each network device. Optimized firewall rules – They are able to adjust the placement of their rules, placing their most used rules higher in the rule base, improving performance, and also checking for unused objects or rules to clean up, removing unused rules, improving firewall performance. Improved communication and transparency for time-based rules – Before time-based rules expire (rule with an expiration date), the requester is automatically notified and asked if the rule should be extended or removed. Better, more refined rule requests – By first gathering information from AlgoBot, rule requests are better focused. Internal customers are able to check if rules are already in place before making requests, therefore avoiding requests that are already covered by existing rules. Empower internal stakeholders – Able to save the IT team’s time by empowering internal stakeholders to use AlgoBot to get the answers themselves to traffic queries. Met change implementation SLAs – By implementing their rules with AlgoSec, the company meets their internal SLAs for change implementation. Streamlined auditing processes – By documenting the changes they made in the firewalls, who made them, and when, their audit processes are streamlined. Zero-touch automation – Automatically implementing rules in multiple firewalls simultaneously ensures policy consistency across multiple devices, while preserving staff resources. This also eliminates the need to use the management consoles from individual vendors, saving time and reducing misconfigurations. Staff efficiencies – Hundreds of monthly change requests are able to be managed by a single staff member. He would not be able to do it without AlgoSec. The company switched from a competing solution because it was more user-friendly and provided greater visibility than the competing solution they were previously using. They are also impressed with AlgoSec’s scalability. “The initial setup is really easy. It has been running flawlessly since installation. Even upgrades are pretty straightforward and have never given us problems,” they noted. Schedule time with one of our experts

Learn the basics of managing multiple workloads in the cloud and how to create a successful enterprise level security management program Webinars Journey to the Cloud Learn to speed up application delivery across a hybrid cloud environment while maintaining a high level of security Efficient cloud management helps simplify today’s complex network environment, allowing you to secure application connectivity anywhere. But it can be hard to achieve sufficient visibility when your data is dispersed across numerous public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises devices. Today it is easier than ever to speed up application delivery across a hybrid cloud environment while maintaining a high level of security. In this webinar, we’ll discuss: – The basics of managing multiple workloads in the cloud – How to create a successful enterprise-level security management program – The structure of effective hybrid cloud management July 5, 2022 Stephen Owen Esure Group Omer Ganot Product Manager Relevant resources Cloud atlas: how to accelerate application migrations to the cloud Keep Reading A Pragmatic Approach to Network Security Across Your Hybrid Cloud Environment Keep Reading 6 best practices to stay secure in the hybrid cloud Read Document Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Nick Ellsmore is an Australian cybersecurity professional whose thoughts on the future of cybersecurity are always insightful. Having a... Cloud Security Errare humanum est Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 11/25/21 Published Nick Ellsmore is an Australian cybersecurity professional whose thoughts on the future of cybersecurity are always insightful. Having a deep respect for Nick, I really enjoyed listening to his latest podcast “Episode 79 Making the cyber sector redundant with Nick Ellsmore” . As Nick opened the door to debate on “all the mildly controversial views” he has put forward in the podcast, I decided to take a stab at a couple of points made by Nick. For some mysterious reason, these points have touched my nerve. So, here we go. Nick: The cybersecurity industry, we spent so long trying to get people to listen to us and take the issue seriously, you know, we’re now getting that, you know. Are the businesses really responding because we were trying to get people to listen to us? Let me rephrase this question. Are the businesses really spending more on cybersecurity because we were trying to get people to listen to us? The “cynical me” tells me No. Businesses are spending more on cybersecurity because they are losing more due to cyber incidents. It’s not the number of incidents; it’s their impact that is increasingly becoming devastating. Over the last ten years, there were plenty of front-page headliners that shattered even seemingly unshakable businesses and government bodies. Think of Target attack in 2013, the Bank of Bangladesh heist in 2016, Equifax breach in 2017, SolarWinds hack in 2020 .. the list goes on. We all know how Uber tried to bribe attackers to sweep the stolen customer data under the rug. But how many companies have succeeded in doing so without being caught? How many cyber incidents have never been disclosed? These headliners don’t stop. Each of them is another reputational blow, impacted stock options, rolled heads, stressed-out PR teams trying to play down the issue, knee-jerk reaction to acquire snake-oil-selling startups, etc. We’re not even talking about skewed election results (a topic for another discussion). Each one of them comes at a considerable cost. So no wonder many geniuses now realise that spending on cybersecurity can actually mitigate those risks. It’s not our perseverance that finally started paying off. It’s their pockets that started hurting. Nick: I think it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that this is actually a bad thing to have to spend money on. Like, the reason that we’re doing this is not healthy. .. no one gets up in the morning and says, wow, I can’t wait to, you know, put better locks on my doors. It’s not the locks we sell. We sell gym membership. We want people to do something now to stop bad things from happening in the future. It’s a concept of hygiene, insurance, prevention, health checks. People are free not to pursue these steps, and run their business the way they used to .. until they get hacked, get into the front page, wondering first “Why me?” and then appointing a scapegoat. Nick: And so I think we need to remember that, in a sense, our job is to create the entire redundancy of this sector. Like, if we actually do our job, well, then we all have to go and do something else, because security is no longer an issue. It won’t happen due to 2 main reasons. Émile Durkheim believed in a “society of saints”. Unfortunately, it is a utopia. Greed, hunger, jealousy, poverty are the never-ending satellites of the human race that will constantly fuel crime. Some of them are induced by wars, some — by corrupt regimes, some — by sanctions, some — by imperfect laws. But in the end — there will always be Haves and Have Nots, and therefore, fundamental inequality. And that will feed crime. “Errare humanum est” , Seneca. To err is human. Because of human errors, there will always be vulnerabilities in code. Because of human nature (and as its derivative, geopolitical or religious tension, domination, competition, nationalism, fight for resources), there will always be people willing to and capable of exploiting those vulnerabilities. Mix those two ingredients — and you get a perfect recipe for cybercrime. Multiply that with never-ending computerisation, automation, digital transformation, and you get a constantly growing attack surface. No matter how well we do our job, we can only control cybercrime and keep the lid on it, but we can’t eradicate it. Thinking we could would be utopic. Another important consideration here is budget constraints. Building proper security is never fun — it’s a tedious process that burns cash but produces no tangible outcome. Imagine a project with an allocated budget B to build a product P with a feature set F, in a timeframe T. Quite often, such a project will be underfinanced, potentially leading to a poor choice of coders, overcommitted promises, unrealistic expectations. Eventually leading to this (oldie, but goldie): Add cybersecurity to this picture, and you’ll get an extra step that seemingly complicates everything even further: The project investors will undoubtedly question why that extra step was needed. Is there a new feature that no one else has? Is there a unique solution to an old problem? None of that? Then what’s the justification for such over-complication? Planning for proper cybersecurity built-in is often perceived as FUD. If it’s not tangible, why do we need it? Customers won’t see it. No one will see it. Scary stories in the press? Nah, that’ll never happen to us. In some way, extra budgeting for cybersecurity is anti-capitalistic in nature. It increases the product cost and, therefore, its price, making it less competitive. It defeats the purpose of outsourcing product development, often making outsourcing impossible. From the business point of view, putting “Sec” into “DevOps” does not make sense. That’s Ok. No need. .. until it all gloriously hits the fan, and then we go back to STEP 1. Then, maybe, just maybe, the customer will say, “If we have budgeted for that extra step, then maybe we would have been better off”. Schedule a demo Related Articles 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

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Common Firewall Threats Do you really know what vulnerabilities currently exist in your enterprise firewalls? Your vulnerability scans... Cyber Attacks & Incident Response Top 10 common firewall threats and vulnerabilities Kevin Beaver 2 min read Kevin Beaver Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 7/16/15 Published Common Firewall Threats Do you really know what vulnerabilities currently exist in your enterprise firewalls? Your vulnerability scans are coming up clean. Your penetration tests have not revealed anything of significance. Therefore, everything’s in check, right? Not necessarily. In my work performing independent security assessments , I have found over the years that numerous firewall-related vulnerabilities can be present right under your nose. Sometimes they’re blatantly obvious. Other times, not so much. Here are my top 10 common firewall vulnerabilities that you need to be on the lookout for listed in order of typical significance/priority: Password(s) are set to the default which creates every security problem imaginable, including accountability issues when network events occur. Anyone on the Internet can access Microsoft SQL Server databases hosted internally which can lead to internal database access, especially when SQL Server has the default credentials (sa/password) or an otherwise weak password. Firewall OS software is outdated and no longer supported which can facilitate known exploits including remote code execution and denial of service attacks, and might not look good in the eyes of third-parties if a breach occurs and it’s made known that the system was outdated. Anyone on the Internet can access the firewall via unencrypted HTTP connections, as these can be exploited by an outsider who’s on the same network segment such as an open/unencrypted wireless network. Anti-spoofing controls are not enabled on the external interface which can facilitate denial of service and related attacks. Rules exist without logging which can be especially problematic for critical systems/services. Any protocol/service can connect between internal network segments which can lead to internal breaches and compliance violations, especially as it relates to PCI DSS cardholder data environments. Anyone on the internal network can access the firewall via unencrypted telnet connections. These connections can be exploited by an internal user (or malware) if ARP poisoning is enabled via a tool such as the free password recovery program Cain & Abel . Any type of TCP or UDP service can exit the network which can enable the spreading of malware and spam and lead to acceptable usage and related policy violations. Rules exist without any documentation which can create security management issues, especially when firewall admins leave the organization abruptly. Firewall Threats and Solutions Every security issue – whether confirmed or potential – is subject to your own interpretation and needs. But the odds are good that these firewall vulnerabilities are creating tangible business risks for your organization today. But the good news is that these security issues are relatively easy to fix. Obviously, you’ll want to think through most of them before “fixing” them as you can quickly create more problems than you’re solving. And you might consider testing these changes on a less critical firewall or, if you’re lucky enough, in a test environment. Ultimately understanding the true state of your firewall security is not only good for minimizing network risks, it can also be beneficial in terms of documenting your network, tweaking its architecture, and fine-tuning some of your standards, policies, and procedures that involve security hardening, change management, and the like. And the most important step is acknowledging that these firewall vulnerabilities exist in the first place! Schedule a demo Related Articles 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Robert Bigman is uniquely equipped to share actionable tips for hardening your network security against vulnerabilities Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the latest threats and how to handle them Webinars 1,2,3 punch on Network Segmentation The zero-trust network layer is a best practice to use when securing application connectivity. However, achieving zero trust for your organization requires multiple tools that work together. Join us for a conversation about: – Creating zero-trust in networks. – Integrating application connectivity with cloud, SDN, and on-prem network security controls. – Maintaining the network and micro-segmentation in harmony. June 8, 2022 Marco Raffaelli Akamai Asher Benbenisty Director of product marketing Relevant resources Defining & Enforcing a Micro-segmentation Strategy Read Document Building a Blueprint for a Successful Micro-segmentation Implementation Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue