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As organizations respond to an ever-evolving set of security threats, network teams are scrambling to find new ways to keep up with... Auditing and Compliance Continuous compliance monitoring best practices Tsippi Dach 2 min read Tsippi Dach 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 3/19/23 Published As organizations respond to an ever-evolving set of security threats, network teams are scrambling to find new ways to keep up with numerous standards and regulations to dodge their next compliance audit violation. Can this nightmare be avoided? Yes, and it’s not as complex as one might think if you take a “compliance first” approach . It may not come as a surprise to many, but the number of cyber attacks is increasing every year and with it the risk to companies’ financial, organizational, and reputational standing. What’s at stake? The stakes are high when it comes to cyber security compliance. A single data breach can result in massive financial losses, damage to a company’s reputation, and even jail time for executives. Data breaches: Data breaches are expensive and becoming even more so by the day. According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report , the average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million. Fraud: Identity fraud is one of the most pressing cybersecurity threats today. In large organizations, the scale of fraud is also usually large, resulting in huge losses causing depletion of profitability. In a recent survey done by PwC, nearly one in five organizations said that their most disruptive incident cost over $50 million*. Theft: Identity theft is on the rise and can be the first step towards compromising a business. According a study from Javelin Strategy & Research found that identity fraud costs US businesses an estimated total of $56 billion* in 2021. What’s the potential impact? The potential impact of non-compliance can be devastating to an organization. Financial penalties, loss of customers, and damage to reputation are just a few of the possible consequences. To avoid these risks, organizations must make compliance a priority and take steps to ensure that they are meeting all relevant requirements. Legal impact:  Regulatory or legal action brought against the organization or its employees that could result in fines, penalties, imprisonment, product seizures, or debarment.  Financial impact:  Negative impacts with regard to the organization’s bottom line, share price, potential future earnings, or loss of investor confidence.  Business impact:  Adverse events, such as embargos or plant shutdowns, could significantly disrupt the organization’s ability to operate.  Reputational impact:  Damage to the organization’s reputation or brand—for example, bad press or social-media discussion, loss of customer trust, or decreased employee morale.  How can this be avoided? In order to stay ahead of the ever-expanding regulatory requirements, organizations must adopt a “compliance first” approach to cyber security. This means enforcing strict compliance criteria and taking immediate action to address any violations to ensure data is protected. Some of these measures include the following: Risk assessment: Conduct ongoing monitoring of compliance posture (risk assessment) and conduct regular internal audits (ensuring adherence with regulatory and legislative requirements (HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, SOX, etc.) Documentation: Enforce continuous tracking of changes and intent Annual audits: Commission 3rd party annual audits to ensure adherence with regulatory and legislative requirements (HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, SOX, etc.) Conclusion and next steps Compliance violations are no laughing matter. They can result in fines, business loss, and even jail time in extreme cases. They can be difficult to avoid unless you take the right steps to avoid them. You have a complex set of rules and regulations to follow as well as numerous procedures, processes, and policies. And if you don’t stay on top of things, you can end up with a compliance violation mess that is difficult to untangle. Fortunately, there are ways to reduce the risk of being blindsided by a compliance violation mess with your organization. Now that you know the risks and what needs to be done, here are six best practices for achieving it. External links: $50 million $56 billion Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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

If your firewall shows a notification that it has detected a new network, it means it is doing one of its fundamental jobs properly. But... Firewall Change Management Firewall has detected a new network Tsippi Dach 2 min read Tsippi Dach 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 8/9/23 Published If your firewall shows a notification that it has detected a new network, it means it is doing one of its fundamental jobs properly. But good network security does not stop with just detecting a new network. You will have to analyze the network location, ensure it is authorized to connect with your network, automate this process, and ensure full-on monitoring so that none of the intrusive attempts ever go unnoticed. A good amount of all these tasks can be made more efficient, accurate, and automated with the help of strong network security solutions. What should you do if your firewall has detected an unrecognized network? 1. Analyze the incoming network request If the process is not automated, you might have to check for the incoming network request’s trustworthiness manually. You can check the security certificates associated with the request, check its source, validate with the right information whether this source can be trusted, and then decide whether to allow access. The best way to deal with any new network detection is to automate the authorization by using a strong network security policy that outlines what sources can be trusted, what cannot be trusted, and which decisions require further approval. 2. Analyze your network for any impact In case of an untrusted new network detection and possible intrusion, you should be able to check the impact or effect it has had on your current assets. You should analyze the entire system for performance, feature validation, and asset availability. A quick way to do this would be to use any network visualization product, such as Firewall Analyzer . This tool can also assess how your overall home network will be impacted by any possible security policy 3. Reassess your security policies and improve them In the event of any security incident, you will have to isolate your network, mitigate any impact caused by the intrusion and reset the system to a healthy state. And most importantly, you will have to investigate the incident, figure out the root cause, and fix it. This would require updating your security policies, risk management, and local network security settings. Following up on any security incident is highly recommended so that no unauthorized intrusion attempts go unnoticed and are handled appropriately. And like any other seemingly enormous task, this can be automated too. Check out firewall change management tools to help you implement continuous improvement within your network security management, contributing to network protection. How to setup strong firewall protection Here are some security measures and troubleshooting tips you need to employ to strengthen your Microsoft firewall management and network security. 1. Establish a strong network security policy management To implement a strong network security management framework, you must design the security policies, systems, and solutions as per your operating system. A network security policy framework can help you guide and streamline the security design and guide you with the enforcement of the same. As with any process, policy management should also be a continuously evolving framework and must be managed well to facilitate all the relevant tasks. Use intelligent systems like Algosec’s Algobot to help your firewall admins to carry out their tasks efficiently. And if you are looking to automate the security policy management tasks, you can also check out Fireflow . It helps you automate the security policy change process across the many phases of policy management, from planning to implementation and validation. 2. Visualize the network data Network monitoring is critical to enabling t strong firewall While AI-based alerting and monitoring systems could greatly help automate intrusion detection and notification, certain tasks require human supervision and deep analysis of the network logs. This way, you can not only analyze the network for any intrusion attempts (whether it be through malware sent through a web browser, file sharing, router, ethernet network adapter, or wi-fi) but also get to have a good understanding of your traffic and business trends. Appviz Firewall Analyzer from Algosec is a helpful tool for achieving this functionality. 3. Optimize your firewall configuration Firewall configurations include a broad range of activities that range from designing your firewall solution and choosing the right software/hardware to setting up the firewall rules and management processes. Set these configurations early on with all necessary considerations regarding your environment and applications. This process should also include the overall policy configurations and security rules that define the change process, firewall administration, monitoring, and management operations. Read this resourceful guide to learn more about firewall configuration, its challenges, and guidance on implementation. 4. Ensure cloud compliance Compliance and security go hand in hand in protecting your assets and boosting the overall goodwill and trust associated with your brand. Cloud compliance frameworks provide guidelines and cover most of the pain points of managing cloud security. Staying compliant with these guidelines means that your security is up to date and can be considered on par with the high standards set by these frameworks. 5. Micro-segmentation Micro-segmentation is a domain network security technique that helps you implement flexible security measures for individually segmented data center parts. It is most helpful with protecting your virtual machine implementations as it allows you to deploy specific security measures crafted to fit each virtual machine’s requirements. With security deployed on segmented workloads, your network becomes more resilient to attacks. 6. Perform regular firewall audits To ensure continuous compliance, you must conduct regular audit checks on the status of your firewall settings, policies, and implementations. Gather all the related documents and key information, review your current processes, firewall mechanisms, perform penetration tests, assess the security measures, and optimize as required. Perform a complete risk assessment on your Windows server and fix any issues that might be discovered as part of the audit process. Tips and best practices for enhanced network security 1. Firewall for native cloud applications Make use of cloud-first prioritized firewall solutions to protect your native cloud applications. You need comprehensive visibility on all your cloud assets, ensuring advanced threat detection and protection. This requires a whole set of tools and security applications working together to provide a centralized security system. You will also have to ensure data compliance at all levels as well. You can try to employ native cloud solutions such as the extensive tools provided by Algosec. 2. Use centralized solutions Make use of centralized solutions to manage hybrid and multi-cloud applications so that you have all the important information accessible from a single platform. AlgoSec Cloud from Algosec is an amazing solution to achieve centralized visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud accounts and assets. 3. Follow the best security practices and guidelines Look into the best security practices and guidelines put forth by your cloud vendor and follow them to get the best out of the collective knowledge. You can also use vendor-specific firewall management solutions to help you deal with issues related to specific cloud accounts you might be using. Additionally, having an antivirus like Windows Defender and using a VPN also helps. A good practice to follow in case of uncertainty is to block by default. Any new network or source must be blocked unless specifically permitted by the user. Regarding access privileges, you can follow the principle of least privilege, where users are only granted as many privileges as would be required for their specific roles and responsibilities. Use audit tools for regular auditing and keep improving on any vulnerabilities your firewall may have. To increase the performance of your firewall applications, you can look into how you have set up your firewall rules and optimize them for better performance. Here are some more best practices you can follow when setting up your firewall rules: Document all your rules and firewall configurations across all the devices. Make sure to document every new rule created and keep your documentation up to date. This can help security admins review the rules and optimize them as and when necessary. As mentioned earlier, follow a zero trust policy where you block traffic by default and permit network access only on a need basis. Monitor your firewall logs even when there is no particular security incident to investigate. Regular monitoring and analysis will give you a better understanding of your network traffic and can help you identify suspicious activities early on. Group the firewall rules to boost performance and avoid complications and loopholes. You can hire expert security administrators and security solutions such as Algosec to help review your firewall rules and keep them updated. Firewall management FAQs What can a firewall do? A Windows firewall can be interpreted as similar to a literal wall. It blocks unwanted access to your system and lets you decide whether or not to allow any new network connection or access request. Similar to how a fort works, you only give access to access requests that you trust and block the rest. It is the first defensive setup you can set up for your network security. You can set a list of trusted sources, and the requests from these sources will be given automated access. The rest of the access requests from any other source, be it a third-party network, mobile devices, internet connection, or any other endpoint, can be blocked by your firewall. You can set up firewall rules that dictate which type of requests and sources can be trusted. A firewall can be implemented by using multiple methods. It can be a cloud app, hardware, software, virtualizations, an access-restricted private cloud, and more. A typical firewall ruleset consists of the following specifications: Source address Source port Destination address Destination port Information on whether to block or permit the traffic to the respective address and port criteria. A firewall can be implemented by using multiple methods. It can be a cloud app, hardware, software, virtualizations, an access-restricted private cloud, and more. How does a firewall protect businesses from cyberthreats? The obvious main use of the firewall is to restrict all kinds of unauthorized access, thus protecting your systems from cyberattacks. But it also has several other benefits, such as: Providing data privacy so your work network traffic is guarded from outside public networks. Restricting content access to your private network For instance, educational institutions can block inappropriate sites for their students while in class. Blocking unwanted traffic from ads, spam, and gaming sites. Ensuring data confidentiality and keeping you compliant with security standards. Monitoring all your incoming traffic, helping you analyze your network profile, and helping you gain insights into trending user behavior. Filtering out unwanted traffic and restricting access to certain websites. Providing secure remote access through VPNs and similar remote access mechanisms. What are the most common types of firewalls? Based on the way data is filtered through a firewall, it can be broadly classified into one of the following types: Packet filtering Stateful inspection firewalls Circuit-level gateway firewalls Proxy firewalls Next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) Threat focused NGFWs Virtual firewalls Cloud-native firewalls Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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

Cloud threats increased by 95 percent in 2022 alone! At a time when many organizations are moving their resources to the cloud and... Cloud Security Cloud Security Architecture: Methods, Frameworks, & Best Practices 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 8/8/23 Published Cloud threats increased by 95 percent in 2022 alone! At a time when many organizations are moving their resources to the cloud and security threats are at an all-time high, focusing on your cloud security architecture has never been more critical. While cloud adoption has revolutionized businesses, it has also brought complex challenges. For example, cloud environments can be susceptible to numerous security threats. Besides, there are compliance regulations that you must address. This is why it’s essential to implement the right methods, frameworks, and best practices in cloud environments. Doing so can protect your organization’s sensitive cloud resources, help you meet compliance regulations, and maintain customer trust. Understanding Cloud Security Architecture Cloud security architecture is the umbrella term that covers all the hardware, software, and technologies used to protect your cloud environment. It encompasses the configurations and secure activities that protect your data, workloads, applications, and infrastructure within the cloud. This includes identity and access management (IAM), application and data protection, compliance monitoring, secure DevOps, governance, and physical infrastructure security. A well-defined security architecture also enables manageable decompositions of cloud deployments, including mixed SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS deployments. This helps you highlight specific security needs in each cloud area. Additionally, it facilitates integration between clouds, zones, and interfaces, ensuring comprehensive coverage of all deployment aspects. Cloud security architects generally use a layered approach when designing cloud security. Not only does this improve security, but it also allows companies to align business needs with technical security practices. As such, a different set of cloud stakeholders, including business teams and technical staff, can derive more value. The Fundamentals of Cloud Security Architecture Every cloud computing architecture has three core fundamental capabilities; confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This is known as the CIA triad. Understanding each capability will guide your efforts to build, design, and implement safer cloud environments. 1. Confidentiality This is the ability to keep information hidden and inaccessible to unauthorized entities, such as attackers, malware, and people in your organization, without the appropriate access level. Privacy and trust are also part of confidentiality. When your organization promises customers to handle their data with utmost secrecy, you’re assuring them of confidentiality. 2. Integrity Integrity means that the services, systems, and applications work and behave exactly how you expect. That is, their output is consistent, accurate, and trustworthy. If these systems and applications are compromised and produce unexpected or misleading results, your organization may suffer irreparable damage. 3. Availability As the name implies, availability assures your cloud resources are consistently accessible and operational when needed. So, suppose an authorized user (whether customers or employees) needs data and applications in the cloud, such as your products or services. In that case, they can access it without interruption or significant downtime. Cybercriminals sometimes use denial-of-service (DoS) attacks to prevent the availability of cloud resources. When this happens, your systems become unavailable to you or your customers, which isn’t ideal. So, how do you stop that from happening and ensure your cloud security architecture provides these core capabilities? Approaches to Cloud Security Architecture There are multiple security architecture approaches, including frameworks and methodologies, to support design and implementation steps. Cloud Security Frameworks and Methodologies A cloud security framework outlines a set of guidelines and controls your organizations can use when securing data, applications, and infrastructures within the cloud computing environment. Frameworks provide a structured approach to detecting risks and implementing appropriate security protocols to prevent them. Without a consistent cloud security framework, your organization exposes itself to more vulnerabilities. You may lack the comprehensive visibility to ensure your data and applications are adequately secure from unauthorized access, data exposure, malware, and other security threats. Plus, you may have limited incident response capabilities, inconsistent security practices, and increased operational risks. A cloud security framework also helps you stay compliant with regulatory requirements. Lastly, failing to have appropriate security frameworks can erode customer trust and confidence in your ability to protect their privacy. This is why you must implement a recognized framework to significantly reduce potential risks associated with cloud security and ensure the CIA of data and systems. There are numerous security frameworks. Some are for governance (e.g., COBIT and COSO), architecture (e.g., SABSA), and the NIST cybersecurity framework. While these generally apply broadly to technology, they may also apply to cloud environments. Other cloud-specific frameworks include the ISO/IEC 27017:2015, Cloud Control Matrix (CCM), Cloud Security Alliance, and the FedRAMP. 1. NIST Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) outlines a set of guidelines for securing security systems. It has five core capabilities: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. Identify – What processes, assets, and systems need protection? Protect – Develop and implement the right safeguards to ensure critical infrastructure services delivery. Detect – Implement the appropriate mechanisms to enable the timely discovery of cybersecurity incidents. Respond – Develop techniques to contain the impact of potential cybersecurity incidents. Recover – Implement appropriate measures to restore business capabilities and services affected by cybersecurity events. While the NIST CSF is a general framework for the security of your organization’s systems, these five pillars can help you assess and manage cloud-related security risks. 2. ISO/IEC 27017:2015 ISO 27017 is a cloud security framework that defines guidelines on information security issues specific to the cloud. The framework’s security controls add to the ISO/IEC 27002 and ISO/IEC 27001 standards’ recommendations. The framework also offers specific security measures and implementation advice for cloud service providers and applications. 3. Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture (SABSA) First developed by John Sherwood, SABSA is an Enterprise Security Architecture Framework that provides guidelines for developing business-driven, risk, and opportunity-focused security architectures to support business objectives. The SABSA framework aims to prioritize your business needs, meaning security services are designed and developed to be an integral part of your business and IT infrastructure. Here are some core principles of the Gartner-recommended SABSA framework for enterprises: It is business-driven. SABSA ensures security is integrated into your entire business strategy. This means there’s a strong emphasis on understanding your organization’s business objectives. So, any security measure is aligned with those objectives. SABSA is a risk-based approach. It considers security vulnerabilities, threats, and their potential impacts to prioritize security operations and investments. This helps your organization allocate resources effectively to address the most critical risks first. It promotes a layered security architecture. Earlier, we mentioned how a layered approach can help you align business and technical needs. So, it’s expected that this is a core principle of SABSA. This allows you to deploy multiple security controls across different layers, such as physical security, network security, application security, and data security. Each layer focuses on a specific security aspect and provides special controls and measures. Transparency: SABSA provides two-way traceability; that is, a clear two-way relationship exists between aligning security requirements and business goals. This provides a clear overview of where expenditure is made ad the value that is returned. Modular approach: SABSA offers agility for ease of implementation and management. This can make your business flexible when meeting changing market or economic conditions. 4. MITRE ATT&CK The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a repository of techniques and tactics that threat hunters, defenders, red teams, and security architects can use to classify, identify, and assess attacks. Instead of focusing on security controls and mechanisms to mitigate threats, this framework targets the techniques that hackers and other threat actors use in the cloud. So, using this framework can be excellent if you want to understand how potential attack vectors operate. It can help you become proactive and strengthen your cloud security posture through improved detection and incident response. 5. Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Controls Matrix (CSA CCM) The CSA CCM is a cybersecurity control framework specifically for cloud computing. It contains 197 control objectives structured in 17 domains that cover every critical aspect of cloud technology. Cloud customers and cloud service providers (CSPs) can use this tool to assess cloud implementation systematically. It also guides customers on the appropriate security controls for implementation by which actor in the cloud supply chain. 6. Cloud Security Alliance Security Trust Assurance and Risk (CSA STAR) The CSA STAR framework is for CSPs. It combines the principles of transparency, thorough auditing, and harmonization of standards. What CSA STAR does is to help you, as a cloud customer, assess a cloud service provider’s reliability and security posture. There are two ways this can happen: CSA STAR Certification: This is a rigorous third-party assessment of the CSP’s security controls, posture, and practices. The CSP undergoes a thorough audit based on the CSA’s Cloud Control Matrix (CCM), which is a set of cloud security controls aligned with industry standards. CSA STAR Self-Assessment: The CSA also has a Consensus Assessment Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ). CSPs can use this to test and report on their security controls and practices. Since it’s a self-assessment procedure, it allows CSPs to be transparent, enabling customers like you to understand a CSP’s security capabilities before adopting their services. Challenges and Considerations in Cloud Security Architecture Before any cloud deployment, it’s important to understand the threats you may face, such as privilege-based attacks and malware, and be prepared for them. Since there are many common threats, we’ll quickly run through the most high-profile ones with the most devastating impacts. It’s important to remember some threats may also be specific to the type of cloud service model. 1. Insider risks This includes the employees in your organization who have access to data, applications, and systems, as well as CSP administrators. Whenever you subscribe to a CSP’s services, you entrust your workloads to the staff who maintain the CSP architecture. 2. DoS attacks Direct denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are critical issues in cloud environments. Although security perimeters can deflect temporary DDoS attacks to filter out repeated requests, permanent DoS attacks are more damaging to your firmware and render the server unbootable. If this happens, you may need to physically reload the firmware and rebuild the system from the ground up, resulting in business downtime for weeks or longer. 3. Data availability You also want to consider how much of your data is accessible to the government. Security professionals are focusing on laws and examples that demonstrate when and how government authorities can access data in the cloud, whether through legal processes or court rulings. 4. Cloud-connected Edge Systems The concept of “cloud edge” encompasses both edge systems directly connected to the cloud and server architecture that is not directly controlled by the cloud service provider (CSP). To extend their services to smaller or remote locations, global CSPs often rely on partners as they cannot have facilities worldwide. Consequently, CSPs may face limitations in fully regulating hardware monitoring, ensuring physical box integrity, and implementing attack defenses like blocking USB port access. 5. Hardware Limitations Having the most comprehensive cloud security architecture still won’t help you create stronger passwords. While your cloud security architects focus on the firmware, hardware, and software, it’s down to the everyday users to follow best practices for staying safe. Best Practices in Cloud Security Architecture The best practices in Cloud Security Architecture are highlighted below: 1. Understand the shared responsibility model Cloud security is implemented with a shared responsibility model. Although, as the cloud customer, you may have most of the obligation, the cloud provider also shares some of the responsibility. Most vendors, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, have documentation that clearly outlines your specific responsibilities depending on the deployment type. It’s important to clearly understand your shared responsibility model and review cloud vendor policies. This will prevent miscommunications and security incidents due to oversight. 2. Secure network design and segmentation This is one of the principles of cloud security architecture – and by extension, a best practice. Secure network design and segmentation involve dividing the network into isolated segments to avoid lateral movements during a breach. Implementing network segmentation allows your organization to contain potential risks and attacks within a specific segment. This can minimize the effects of an incident on your entire network and protect critical assets within the cloud infrastructure. 3. Deploy an Identity and access management (IAM) solution Unauthorized access is one of the biggest problems facing cloud security. Although hackers now use sophisticated tools to gain access to sensitive data, implementing a robust identity and access management (IAM) system can help prevent many threats. Consider access policies like role-based access control (RBAC) permissions, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and continuous threat monitoring. 4. Consider a CASB or Cloud Security Solution (e.g., Cloud-Native Application Protection (CNAPP) and Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) provide specialized tools to enforce cloud security policies. Implementing a CASB solution is particularly recommended if you have a multi-cloud environment involving different vendors. Since a CASB acts as an intermediary between your organization’s on-premise infrastructure and CSPs, it allows your business to extend security policies and controls to the cloud. CASBs can enhance your data protection through features like data loss prevention, tokenization, and encryption. Plus, they help you discover and manage shadow IT through visibility into unauthorized cloud services and applications. Besides CASB solutions, you should also consider other solutions for securing your cloud environments. This includes cloud-native application protection (CNAPP) and cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP). For example, a CNAPP like Prevasio can improve your cloud security architecture with tailored solutions and automated security management. 5. Conduct Audits, Penetration Testing, and Vulnerability Testing Whether or not you outsource security, performing regular penetration tests and vulnerability is necessary. This helps you assess the effectiveness of your cloud security measures and identify potential weaknesses before hackers exploit them. You should also perform security audits that evaluate cloud security vendors’ capabilities and ensure appropriate access controls are in place. This can be achieved by using the guidelines of some frameworks we mentioned earlier, such as the CSA STAR. 6. Train Your Staff Rather than hiring new hires, training your current staff may be beneficial. Your employees have been at your company for a while and are already familiar with the organization’s culture, values, and processes. This could give them an advantage over new hires. As most existing IT skills can be reused, upskilling employees is more efficient and may help you meet the immediate need for a cloud IT workforce. Train your staff on recognizing simple and complex cybersecurity threats, such as creating strong passwords, identifying social engineering attacks, and advanced topics like risk management. 7. Mitigate Cloud Misconfigurations A misconfigured bucket could give access to anyone on the internet. To minimize cloud misconfigurations and reduce security risks, managing permissions in cloud services carefully is crucial. Misconfigurations, such as granting excessive access permissions to external users, can enable unauthorized access and potential data breaches. Attackers who compromise credentials can escalate their privileges, leading to further data theft and broader attacks within the cloud infrastructure. Therefore, it is recommended that IT, storage, or security teams, with assistance from development teams, personally configure each cloud bucket, ensuring proper access controls and avoiding default permissions. 8. Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements Most organizations today need to comply with strict regulatory requirements. This is especially important if you collect personally identifiable information (PII) or if your business is located in certain regions. Before you adopt a new cloud computing service, assess their compliance requirements and ensure they can fulfill data security needs. Failure to meet compliance requirements can lead to huge penalties. Other best practices for your cloud security include continuous monitoring and threat intelligence, data encryption at rest and in transit, and implementing intrusion detection and intrusion prevention systems. Conclusion When establishing a robust cloud security architecture, aligning business objectives and technical needs is important. Your organization must understand the shared responsibility model, risks, the appropriate implementation framework, and best practices. However, designing and developing cloud computing architectures can be complicated. Prevasio can secure your multi-cloud environment in minutes. Want to improve your cloud security configuration management? Prevasio’s agentless CNAPP can provide complete visibility over cloud resources, ensure compliance, and provide advanced risk monitoring and threat intelligence. Speak to us now. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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

The move from traditional data centers to a hybrid cloud network environment has revolutionized the way enterprises construct their... Hybrid Cloud Security Management Deconstructing the Complexity of Managing Hybrid Cloud Security Tsippi Dach 2 min read Tsippi Dach 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 4/4/22 Published The move from traditional data centers to a hybrid cloud network environment has revolutionized the way enterprises construct their networks, allowing them to reduce hardware and operational costs, scale per business needs and be more agile. When enterprises choose to implement a hybrid cloud model, security is often one of the primary concerns. The additional complexity associated with a hybrid cloud environment can, in turn, make securing resources to a single standard extremely challenging. This is especially true when it comes to managing the behavioral and policy nuances of business applications . Moreover, hybrid cloud security presents an even greater challenge when organizations are unable to fully control the lifecycle of the public cloud services they are using. For instance, when an organization is only responsible for hosting a portion of its business-critical workloads on the public cloud and has little to no control over the hosting provider, it is unlikely to be able to enforce consistent security standards across both environments. Managing hybrid cloud security Hybrid cloud security requires an extended period of planning and investment for enterprises to become secure. This is because hybrid cloud environments are inherently complex and typically involve multiple providers. To effectively manage these complex environments, organizations will require a comprehensive approach to security that addresses each of the following challenges: Strategic planning and oversight : Policy design and enforcement across hybrid clouds Managing multiple vendor relationships and third-party security controls : Cloud infrastructure security controls, security products provided by cloud and third-party providers and third-party on-premise security vendor products. Managing security-enabling technologies in multiple environments : on-premise, public cloud and private cloud. Managing multiple stakeholders : CISO, IT/Network Security, SecOps, DevOps and Cloud teams. Workflow automation : Auto responding to changing business demands requiring provisioning of policy changes automatically and securely across the hybrid cloud estate. Optimizing security and agility : Aligning risk tolerance with the DevOps teams to manage business application security and connectivity. With these challenges in mind, here are 5 steps you can take to effectively address hybrid cloud security challenges. Step 1. Define the security objectives A holistic approach to high availability is focused on the two critical elements of any hybrid cloud environment: technology and processes. Defining a holistic strategy in a hybrid cloud environment has these advantages: Improved operational availability : Ensure continuous application connectivity, data, and system availability across the hybrid estate. Reduced risk : Understand threats to business continuity from natural disasters or facility disruptions. Better recovery : Maintain data consistency by mirroring critical data between primary locations in case of failure at one site through multiple backup sites. Step 2. Visualize the entire network topology The biggest potential point of failure for hybrid cloud deployment is where the public cloud and private environment offerings meet. This can result in a visual gap often due to disparities between in-house security protocols and third-party security standards, precluding SecOps teams from securing the connectivity of business applications. The solution lies in gaining complete visibility across the entire hybrid cloud estate. This requires having the right solution in place that can help SecOps teams discover, track and migrate application connectivity without regard for the underlying infrastructure. Step 3. Use automation for adaptability and scalability The ability to adapt and scale on demand is one of the most significant advantages of a hybrid cloud environment. Invariably, when considering the range of benefits of a hybrid cloud, it is difficult to conceptualize the power of scaling on demand. Still, enterprises can enjoy tremendous benefits when they correctly implement automation that can respond on-demand to necessary changes. With the right change automation solution, change requests can be easily defined and pushed through the workflow without disrupting the existing network security policy rules or introducing new potential risks. Step 4. Minimize the learning curb According to a 2021 Global Knowledge and IT Skills report , 76% of IT decision-makers experience critical skills gaps in their teams. Hybrid cloud deployment is a complicated process, with the largest potential point of failure being where in-house security protocols and third-party standards interact. If this gap is not closed, malicious actors or malware could slip through it. Meeting this challenge requires a unification of all provisions made to policy changes so that SecOps teams can become familiar with them, regardless of any new device additions to the network security infrastructure. This would be applicable to provisions associated with policy changes across all firewalls, segments, zones, micro‐segments, security groups and zones, and within each business application. Step 5. Get compliant Compliance cannot be guaranteed when the enterprise cannot monitor all vendors and platforms or enforce their policies in a standard manner. This can be especially challenging when attempting to apply compliance standardizations across an infrastructure that consists of a multi-vendor hybrid network environment. To address this issue, enterprises must get their SecOps teams to shift their focus away from pure technology management and toward a larger scale view that ensures that their network security policies consistently comply with regulatory requirements across the entire hybrid cloud estate. Summary Hybrid cloud security presents a significant—and often overlooked—challenge for enterprises. This is because hybrid cloud environments are inherently complex, involving multiple providers, and impact how enterprises manage their business applications and overall IT assets. To learn how to reach your optimal hybrid cloud security solution, read more and find out how you can simplify your journey. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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 provides firewall rule set analysis, risk management capabilities such as a comprehensive view of all risks and automatic risk analysis of each change Firewall policy risk & security risk mitigation Schedule a demo Watch a video Firewalls are the cornerstone of your network security. They ensure that only business-critical services are allowed to flow to and from your network, to minimize the attack surface. But network security is only as good as its policy configuration. Today’s networks are highly complex and dynamic and have accumulated thousands of rules across multi-vendor firewalls, NGFWs and cloud security controls. It therefore comes as no surprise that, according to Gartner, “99 percent of all firewall breaches are caused by misconfiguration not firewall flaws.” A business-driven approach to mitigating network security risk AlgoSec allows you to instantly assess, prioritize and mitigate risks in firewall policies, and map them to their respective business applications, to deliver a business-driven view of risk. AlgoSec checks your policy against an extensive database of industry best practices, which can be enhanced and customized with risks specific to your organization. AlgoSec also proactively assesses the risk of every proposed firewall rule change before it is implemented, so that you can ensure that your policy remains secure and compliant all the time. With AlgoSec you can Instantly view all risks in the network security policy – across multi-vendor firewalls and cloud security groups Map risky traffic flows to the applications they serve Proactively assess the risk of every change before it is implemented Safely tighten overly permissive rules (e.g. ANY/ANY). Securely remove firewall rules for decommissioned applications, without breaking access to other applications The Business Impact Deliver an instant, business-driven view of risk Ensure a clean and optimized security policy Ensure continuous compliance Avoid outages and prevent cyber-attacks Resources Learn from the experts. Get the latest industry insights Shift Happens: Eliminating the Risks of Network Security Policy Changes Read webinar Managing Your Security Policy in a Mixed Next-Gen and Traditional Firewall Environment Watch video 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

What Are AWS Security Groups? Schedule a demo Watch a video AWS Security Groups are the stateful, instance-level firewalls that make or break your cloud perimeter. They filter traffic on the way in and out of every elastic network interface (ENI) , scale automatically with your workloads—supporting PCI DSS network segmentation—and can shrink audit scope and risk. This page explains how they work, why they differ from Network ACLs, what's new (cross-VPC sharing), and how AlgoSec Cloud Enterprise delivers continuous policy hygiene across hundreds of VPCs. How Do AWS Security Groups Work? Security groups (SGs) are virtual firewalls attached to ENIs in a virtual private cloud (VPC). They evaluate inbound rules first, allow stateful return traffic automatically, and then apply outbound rules—all before packets hit the guest OS firewall. Key behaviors: Allow Deny yes yes Before packet leaves ENI Before packet enters ENI Outbound Inbound Rule Type Default Action Stateful Security Groups ( SGs) Because SGs are stateful, you rarely need symmetric rules—responses are automatically allowed. By default, you can attach up to five SGs per ENI, giving you additive rule stacks for layered controls. Why Are AWS Security Groups Important? AWS security groups are critical because they enforce least-privilege, stateful filtering at the instance edge, blocking unauthorized traffic before it ever reaches your workload. The 2019 Capital One breach started with an SSRF exploit that punted traffic through an over-permissive SG/WAF combo; 100 million records later, the lesson was clear—least-privilege SGs matter for PCI DSS network segmentation compliance. When it comes to PCI network segmentation audits, AWS security groups let you create explicit, least-privilege boundaries around every cardholder-facing workload. Using Multiple AWS Security Groups Attaching more than one security group (SG) per ENI lets you layer responsibilities—platform, application, and third-party traffic—without ballooning the rule count in any single SG. AWS simply merges every rule across the attached groups into one effective allow-list; there is no concept of rule precedence or hidden denies. Rule union, not override: If SG-A allows TCP 22 and SG-B allows TCP 443, the instance will listen on both ports. Removing a port means removing it from every SG where it appears. Operations Checklist Tag everything with owner, env, and purpose; you'll thank yourself during audits and cost allocations. Watch for overlapping CIDRs—they multiply unintentionally when rules live in different SGs. Automate drift checks in CI/CD; any unauthorized console edit in a stacked security group can instantly alter the effective policy. Request higher SG-per-ENI limits before you need them; AWS approval isn't instant. Document the stack in runbooks so incident responders know which SG to configure (or not). Pro tip: For PCI network segmentation workloads, dedicate one SG to all PCI network segmentation rules and keep it read-only. Your Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) can audit a single file instead of searching through every microservice repository. Security Groups vs. Network ACLs for PCI Network Segmentation When a packet hits metal in AWS, two different bouncers can toss or pass it: Security groups (SGs) at the elastic-network-interface (ENI) layer and network ACLs (NACLs) at the subnet edge. Know what each one does so you don't build overlapping rules and accidental holes. Coarse subnet guardrails, country/IP blocks, extra layer for PCI DSS network segmentation compliance All traffic denied unless rules explicity allow it Lowest rule number is evaluated first; order matters Numbered Allow or Deny lines; first-match wins Fine - grained micro-segmentation, zero-trust tiers, PCI network segmentation All inbound blocked, all outbound allowed until changed AWS takes the union of all SG rules; no priorities to track Allow only (implicit deny for everything else ) Ideal Use Evaluation Order Default Behavior Rule Actions No-must write matching rules for both directions Applied to the entire subnet edge Stateful Layer/Scope Yes - return traffic automatically allowed Attached to each elastic network interface (instance-level) Security Groups ( SGs) Feature Network ACLs (NACLs) Think of SGs as the tight turnstiles right at the workload door and NACLs as the perimeter fence around the parking lot. Use both, but for different jobs; your cloud will remain tidy, audit-ready, and resilient: Why This Matters for PCI DSS Network Segmentation PCI DSS emphasizes strong, documented segmentation between the cardholder data environment (CDE) and everything else. SGs give you per-instance micro-segmentation, while ACLs provide an outer guardrail, satisfying default-deny, explicit-allow requirements. New AWS Security Group Functionalities AWS has added several quality-of-life upgrades that make security-group hygiene less painful and far more automation-friendly: Security-group VPC associations: Attach the same SG to several VPCs within a single region. Maintaining one "golden" rule set instead of cloning SGs per VPC eliminates policy drift and simplifies CI/CD pipelines. Shared security groups: Participant accounts in a Shared-VPC architecture can reuse SGs owned by the host account. Every team sees (and inherits) the exact rules the network team approved. This gives you centralized control without blocking decentralized builds. Cross-VPC security group referencing (via AWS Transit Gateway): A security group in one VPC can name an SG in another VPC as its source or destination. You can build hub-and-spoke or spoke-to-spoke traffic filters without configuring CIDRs everywhere, tightening cross-region segmentation. AlgoSec for PCI Network Segmentation with AWS Security Groups Managing security groups is easy when you have a dozen; it's a different story when juggling hundreds across multiple accounts, regions, and VPCs. That's where AlgoSec provides the context, automation, and guardrails you need for PCI network segmentation audits without slowing delivery: Unified SG inventory: Auto-discovers every security group across accounts for one-screen visibility. Continuous risk checks: Flags open CIDRs, unused groups, and over-broad ports before production—giving application owners instant, actionable insight. Zero-touch change push: Generate, approve, and apply SG updates straight from CI/CD. One-click compliance packs: Exports ready-to-submit reports for PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR. Optimization hints: Suggests merges, rule clean-ups, and NACL offloads to stay under quotas. Migration Wizard: Converts legacy firewall rules into matching SG policies in minutes. Hybrid-cloud scale: Secures AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-prem firewalls from the same console—see real-world patterns in AWS and AlgoSec . Putting It All Together Security groups are your first—and sometimes last—line of defense in AWS. By combining layered SG design, complementary network ACL guardrails, and tooling like AlgoSec for continuous assurance, you create a security posture that scales as fast as your engineering teams deploy. This keeps you audit-ready for PCI DSS network segmentation at any size. Resources Learn from the experts. Get the latest industry insights Simplify Zero Trust with application - based segmentation- Whitepaper Download now Short tutorial- Learn how to build Zero Trust architecture Watch it now Zero Trust webinar with Forrester and AlgoSec CTO Watch it now Mapping the Zero Trust Model with AlgoSec’s solution Read the article now Schedule time with a Zero Trust expert

Use our Security Management Suite to accelerate service delivery and eliminate network outages caused by incorrect security policy implementation Application & Service Delivery Schedule a demo Watch a video Do you struggle with Application outages due to misconfigured network devices? Identifying and documenting connectivity flows for business applications? Communicating effectively with the network and security teams to implement connectivity changes in a timely fashion? Assessing the impact of connectivity changes on application availability, security and compliance? Understanding security risks from the business application perspective? Migrating your application’s network connectivity to the cloud or to another data center? AlgoSec’s business-driven approach to security policy management enables you to communicate effectively with the security and network operations teams to ensure secure connectivity and business agility. With AlgoSec you can Auto-discover applications and their connectivity flows – without requiring any prior knowledge Get a live map of connectivity requirements that’s always up to date Request application connectivity requirements in non-technical terms Easily assess the impact of changes on application connectivity, security and compliance Migrate connectivity to a new data center or to the cloud through easy-to-use workflows The Business Impact Provision network connectivity for business applications in minutes not days Avoid business application outages Simplify application and data center migrations Streamline communications with the security and network operations teams Drive business agility while ensuring security and compliance across the data center Resources Learn from the experts. Get the latest industry insights The case and criteria for application-Centric Security Policy Management Read PDF Examining the need for application-centric security policy management Watch video Why security policy management must be application-centric Read Webinar 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

Learn about the nuances of cloud network security and why it’s a strategic imperative. Cloud network security strategic imperative Select a size Which network Can AlgoSec be used for continuous compliance monitoring? Yes, AlgoSec supports continuous compliance monitoring. As organizations adapt their security policies to meet emerging threats and address new vulnerabilities, they must constantly verify these changes against the compliance frameworks they subscribe to. AlgoSec can generate risk assessment reports and conduct internal audits on-demand, allowing compliance officers to monitor compliance performance in real-time. Security professionals can also use AlgoSec to preview and simulate proposed changes to the organization’s security policies. This gives compliance officers a valuable degree of lead-time before planned changes impact regulatory guidelines and allows for continuous real-time monitoring. Get the latest insights from the 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

Algosec empowers CIOs with automated security policy management, enhancing visibility, reducing risks, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Secure application
connectivity for CIOs Schedule a demo Schedule time with one of our experts Secure application connectivity. Anywhere. Digital transformation compels application development teams to move fast, while cyber security threats require a heightened security posture. AlgoSec lives at the intersection of your infrastructure, security policy and the applications that run your business. Balancing between agility and security is an ongoing battle for security teams, who are often unable to keep pace. This situation creates application delivery bottlenecks, and leaves the company exposed to increasing risk and compliance violations The AlgoSec Security Management Platform The AlgoSec platform helps organizations securely accelerate application delivery by automating application connectivity and security policy across the hybrid network estate, including public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks. With the AlgoSec platform, application owners and InfoSec teams can: Enable application visibility by providing application discovery for reliable, estate-wide mapping Ensure compliance with application compliance awareness, risk mitigation, and remediation Cut application delivery bottlenecks with intelligent application change automation Watch the video "Placeholder Text" What they say about us Placeholder Name Send Michael West Reece Secure application connectivity 
across your entire application fabric Heading 5 Send Michael West Reece Secure application connectivity 
across your entire application fabric Heading 5 Join leading companies like: The business impact Accelerate time-to-market without compromising security With complete visibility of your hybrid network and zero-touch automation, your team can focus on what's essential – adding business value. AlgoSec analyzes your entire network intelligently so you can make changes quickly. Reduce cyber-security threats and reputational risk With complete visibility of your hybrid network and zero-touch automation, your team can focus on what's essential – adding business value. AlgoSec analyzes your entire network intelligently so you can make changes quickly. Align DevOps, SecOps, and business teams With complete visibility of your hybrid network and zero-touch automation, your team can focus on what's essential – adding business value. AlgoSec analyzes your entire network intelligently so you can make changes quickly. Achieve continuous compliance With complete visibility of your hybrid network and zero-touch automation, your team can focus on what's essential – adding business value. AlgoSec analyzes your entire network intelligently so you can make changes quickly. Always be compliant With complete visibility of your hybrid network and zero-touch automation, your team can focus on what's essential – adding business value. AlgoSec analyzes your entire network intelligently so you can make changes quickly. Five reasons why leading infosec teams choose AlgoSec Your applications always
come first AlgoSec's patented application-centric view of the hybrid network abstracts infrastructure complexity by listening to the network and associating connectivity flows with specific applications. 1 The only complete hybrid network solution Visualize and manage the application connectivity and security policies across all public clouds, private clouds, containers, and onpremises networks. 2 Security across the entire application development lifecycle Automate security policy across the application delivery pipeline from code analysis and build, through monitoring and reporting, to mitigate risk without compromising agility. 3 Zero-touch change automation Always be compliant. Quickly pinpoint gaps, so you can immediately act. Identify exactly which application or security policies are potentially noncompliant with audit-ready reports. 4 Full integration with your existing tech-stack Complete integration with leading ITSM, SIEM, vulnerability scanners, identify management, and orchestration systems promotes a holistic, more robust security posture. 5 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

What Is Zero Trust Architecture? Schedule a demo Watch a video IT environments today are hyperconnected, architecturally complex, and constantly in flux. Given this new reality, perimeter-based security strategies are no longer viable. Enterprises are battling a volatile threat landscape under the scrutiny of industry and federal regulatory bodies that serve consumers expecting secure and seamless services. This reality demands a completely new and perimeterless security model: Zero Trust cybersecurity. This article breaks down Zero Trust architecture, covering its core components and offering a Zero Trust vs. VPN comparison. It will also provide implementation strategies for Zero Trust and best practices. Zero Trust Architecture Explained The Zero Trust model is a cybersecurity framework built upon a simple but powerful principle: Never trust, always verify. Zero Trust cybersecurity is inherently different than legacy models, where trust is assumed the moment a user enters a network. Per the Zero Trust model, no user or activity is considered safe or legitimate. Every single access request is treated as a potential threat. Therefore, proving legitimacy in the Zero Trust cybersecurity model is a continuous and multi-layered process. Global adoption of the Zero Trust framework is significant. Gartner research reveals that 63% of companies globally have completed a Zero Trust implementation , while the Zero Trust cybersecurity industry is expected to reach just under $79 billion by 2029, a growth rate of 16.6%. These statistics underline the fact that Zero Trust cybersecurity is not a trend. It is a strategic imperative driven by the erosion of traditional perimeters, the proliferation of devices and users, increasingly complex IT architectures, and the rise of sophisticated risks, both internal and external. What Are the 5 Pillars of Zero Trust? To transcend theory and put the Zero Trust framework into practice, enterprises must build security around five key pillars: Identities : Verifying and validating users via context-aware controls Devices : Continuously monitoring and optimizing endpoint security Networks : Monitoring networks in real time for threats and anomalies Applications and workloads : Securing applications and connectivity flows across the entire software lifecycle Data : Prioritizing, protecting, and restricting access to sensitive information Core Components of the Zero Trust Model What constitutes a strong Zero Trust cybersecurity model? Several components and features come into play: The principle of least privilege (PoLP): Provides access to only task-relevant resources Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Requires multiple methods of identification, beyond mere usernames and passwords Continuous trust verification: Constantly re-evaluates the legitimacy of users across access requests Visibility and analytics: Ensures real-time monitoring across all five Zero Trust pillars and generates actionable insights Assumption of breach: Operates under the presupposition that a security incident has occurred to limit damage Microsegmentation: Breaks down the enterprise network into granular subsections to minimize lateral damage Identity security: Treats digital identities as security perimeters and enforces dedicated identity-centric security controls Automation and orchestration: Automatically designs and enforces security policies and controls across IT environments Context and correlation: Cross-analyzes diverse data and signals to validate users and provide access Zero Trust Cybersecurity and Business Benefits Enterprises that achieve a Zero Zrust implementation gain multiple advantages: Reduced risk of data breaches: Zero Trust’s proactive and perimeterless security approach significantly reduces the likelihood of attacks in complex IT environments. On average, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, a breach now costs businesses $4.4 million . Stronger regulatory compliance: Every aspect of the Zero Trust model, from granular access controls to network segmentation, delivers a stronger compliance posture across standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOC 2. Reinforced governance: Optimizing security across the Zero Trust model’s five pillars ensures that businesses benefit from enhanced governance of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud resources and operations. Lower operational and security costs: Zero Trust cybersecurity lowers spend by mitigating issues early and avoiding full-blown incidents. Furthermore, Zero Trust’s emphasis on automation, orchestration, and optimization streamlines security operations, cutting expenses and maximizing investments. Increased digital agility and efficiency: Downtime and service disruptions are non-options today. A minute of downtime could cost enterprises thousands of dollars and an exodus of customers. Zero Trust eradicates security bottlenecks and risks, ensuring seamless and high-quality frontend digital services as well as backend efficiency. Beyond having to fully grasp the principles of Zero Trust, organizations must also adopt practical frameworks to implement them. To succeed at this, Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) is essential. ZTNA serves as the operational backbone that transforms Zero Trust theory into actionable security controls. Zero Trust Network Access Explained While Zero Trust architecture is the overarching paradigm, Zero Trust network access is one of its most imperative operational models. Think of it as a model within a model, not an isolated strategy. How Does ZTNA Work? ZTNA reframes traditional network access. Similar to the Zero Trust framework’s primary principles, it replaces implicit trust with continuous, granular, and context-aware validation based on identity and context. This ensures a finely tuned access control architecture and reduces exploitable attack vectors. With Zero Trust network access, enterprises reframe fundamental network access logic by decoupling networking access from application access so that every access request is assessed independently. In this way, a user gaining access to a network does not automatically guarantee access to an application or data within that network. Instead, only resources that they have explicitly been authorized to use are made available to them. Before Zero Trust, companies relied on virtual private networks (VPNs) for their security, which is why a comparison is in order. Zero Trust vs. VPNs It is important to understand the role VPNs played in enterprise cybersecurity prior to the emergence of ZTNA. Enterprises used virtual private networks to secure their networks. Essentially encrypted network tunnels, VPNs were useful options when perimeters were clearly delineated. However, since VPNs are static and not context-aware, they are not as effective in today’s dynamic network architectures. Zero Trust network access, on the other hand, offers application-specific access controls to replace any model or control that was built on implicit trust, including VPNs. But how does a ZTNA implementation entail? Zero Trust Implementation: A Step-by-Step Breakdown Enterprises can achieve the Zero Trust model in six simple steps. 1. Map the Protect Surface Create a comprehensive topology of the protect surface, including applications, networks, data, identities, and connectivity flows. This helps businesses design and enforce policies that focus on fortifying high-value assets. 2. Design Network and Identity Controls Introduce controls that align with Zero Trust principles, such as MFA, just-in-time (JIT) access, single sign-on (SSO), and data encryption. Ensure that these network and identity security controls are context-aware, not static. 3. Build an Access Architecture Follow Zero Trust principles such as least privilege to restrict users to only those resources that are absolutely necessary for their job. Remember: Network access should not equal application or data access. 4. Apply Microsegmentation Break down the enterprise network into smaller, granular sections, each governed by a unique set of security policies. This curbs threat propagation and minimizes the blast radius of any security incidents. 5. Implement Monitoring and Logging Mechanisms Real-time monitoring mechanisms detect anomalous behaviors and vulnerabilities. Logging and data analytics tools document critical security data and generate actionable insights. These accelerate threat detection and response while also improving auditability; the result is a stronger security and regulatory posture. 6. Continuously Evaluate and Optimize Static security is antithetical to Zero Trust. Companies must regularly evaluate and upgrade their policies, controls, processes, and security competencies to reflect evolving threats, regulatory standards, and business goals. Zero Trust Best Practices Zero Trust is not straightforward, especially across complex IT environments. The following recommendations will, however, facilitate a successful implementation. Align the Zero Trust Model with Business Strategy An enterprise must synchronize its overall security strategy and Zero Trust implementation process with its short-, mid-, and long-term strategic objectives. Internalize “Never Trust, Always Verify” Zero Trust is an approach, not a tool. It’s critical to embed “never trust, always verify” into every tool, process, workflow, and team. This involves both technical and cultural alignment with the Zero Trust model. Focus on Stakeholder Buy-In A Zero Trust implementation is virtually impossible unless the entire organization supports the initiative. This includes everyone from the board and C-suite to developers, platform engineers, and security teams. A culture of accountability and democratized security is a byproduct of stakeholder buy-in. Build the Zero Trust Architecture with Policies Policies are the engines of a Zero Trust model. Building and enforcing Zero Trust rules requires companies to assess a diverse range of factors, including roles, signals, and the business-criticality of their applications and assets. Educate Employees on Zero Trust Cybersecurity Sustaining a strong Zero Trust architecture at enterprise scale demands technical depth and knowledge. Engaging training seminars will ensure that IT and security personnel understand the nuances of the Zero Trust framework. Assemble the Optimal Tool Stack Lastly, one of the most important Zero Trust best practices is to optimize the security toolkit. Siloed, legacy tools can cause more harm than good to enterprise security. To implement the Zero Trust framework, organizations need a robust, scalable, and unified security platform. Implementing a Zero Trust Framework with AlgoSec Achieving Zero Trust’s full potential mandates a radical reorientation of security culture. Businesses need a strong platform to make this transformative framework a success and to drive Zero Trust best practices. Enter AlgoSec. The AlgoSec Horizon platform is perfect for Zero Trust cybersecurity. It’s fiercely application-centric, an essential attribute considering applications constitute most of an enterprise’s protect surface. AlgoSec provides comprehensive visibility across applications, data, and connectivity flows. It also offers a centralized console for policy- and automation-driven Zero Trust cybersecurity. The AlgoSec Security Management Suite (ASMS) , which includes the Firewall Analyzer, FireFlow, and AppViz, can help establish a robust Zero Trust cybersecurity posture. Additionally, AlgoSec Cloud Enterprise (ACE) offers advanced cloud network security and compliance capabilities that can secure even the most complex cloud architectures. Schedule a demo to see how AlgoSec’s unified security platform can make your Zero Trust cybersecurity strategy a reality. Resources Learn from the experts. Get the latest industry insights Simplify Zero Trust with application - based segmentation- Whitepaper Download now Short tutorial- Learn how to build Zero Trust architecture Watch it now Zero Trust webinar with Forrester and AlgoSec CTO Watch it now Mapping the Zero Trust Model with AlgoSec’s solution Read the article now Key principals and concepts of creating Zero Trust Networks Read the article now Schedule time with a Zero Trust expert Schedule time with a Zero Trust expert Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Secure critical telecommunications infrastructure with Algosec's automated network policy management and compliance solutions. Security policy management for telecommunications industry Schedule a demo Watch a video The telecommunications industry is extremely competitive and fast paced. Therefore, telecoms are constantly seeking ways to better serve their customers and maintain a competitive edge through new technology innovations and digital transformation initiatives. At the same time, cyber-attacks are more numerous, sophisticated and damaging than ever before – severely impacting the organization’s reputation and bottom line. As a result, telecoms often fall behind on delivering new innovations into production. On the other hand, the network and security operations teams are hampered by manual, slow and error-prone security change management processes, and the ever-increasing demands of industry regulations. It often takes several days, or even weeks to process a single change across a complex enterprise environment, which often needs hundreds of such changes each month, thereby directly impacting time-to-market. Moreover, understanding an application’s network connectivity requirements and then successfully migrating this connectivity to the cloud or data center to support these initiatives, is a complex, tedious and error-prone process that can take several months. Business-Driven Security Policy Management for Telecommunication Organizations AlgoSec enables telecommunication organizations to align security policy management with their business initiatives and processes, to make them more agile, more secure and more compliant all the time. AlgoSec provides end-to-end visibility of the network security infrastructure, as well as business applications and their connectivity flows – across cloud, SDN and on-premise enterprise networks. With AlgoSec, you can automate time-consuming security policy changes – with zero touch, proactively assess risk and ensure continuous compliance, quickly provision, change, migrate or decommission network connectivity for business applications to speed up delivery into production, and much more. With AlgoSec you can Automatically discover and map application connectivity prior to migration Migrate application connectivity to the cloud through easy-to-use workflows Automatically define, generate changes requests, and apply on-premise network security policies directly onto the cloud security controls Manage the entire enterprise environment through a single pane of glass Automate security policy management to process changes at the “speed of cloud” – with zero-touch Assess risk and generate compliance reports for the entire hybrid environment Securely decommission redundant connectivity for a tighter security policy The Business Impact Get consistent, unified security management across any complex heterogeneous network environment Deploy applications faster by automating network security change management processes Avoid security device misconfigurations that cause outages Migrate application connectivity to the cloud quickly and easily Ensure a clean and optimized security policy Reduce the costs and efforts of firewall auditing and ensure continuous compliance Resources Learn from the experts. Get the latest industry insights Managing Your Security Policy for Disaster Recovery Watch video 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

Algosec enables insurance companies to automate security policies, reduce risks, ensure compliance, and streamline network operations. Network security policy management for Insurance companies Schedule a demo Watch a video Insurance companies are constantly seeking to better serve their customers and maintain a competitive edge through new technology innovations and digital transformation initiatives. At the same time, cyber-attacks are more numerous, sophisticated and damaging than ever before – severely impacting the organization’s reputation and bottom line. As a result these organizations often fall behind on delivering new innovations into production. Additionally, the network and security operations teams are hampered by manual, slow and error-prone security change management processes, and the ever-increasing demands of industry regulations. It often takes several days, or even weeks to process a single change across a complex enterprise environment, which often needs hundreds of such changes each month, thereby directly impacting time-to-market. Business-Driven Security Policy Management for Insurance Companies AlgoSec’s unique, business-driven approach to security management enables insurance companies to align security policy management with their business initiatives and processes, making them more agile, more secure and more compliant all the time. With AlgoSec you can Automate the entire security policy management process – with zero-touch Automate firewall auditing and ensure continuous compliance Proactively assess the risk of every change before it is implemented Manage the entire enterprise environment through a single pane of glass Automatically identify and remove bloat and clutter from security policies Automatically discover, map and migrate application connectivity through easy-to-use workflows The Business Impact Deploy applications faster by automating network security change management processes Reduce the costs and efforts of firewall auditing and ensure continuous compliance Avoid security device misconfigurations that cause outages Facilitate effective communication between security teams and application owners Migrate application connectivity to the cloud quickly and easily Get consistent, unified security management across any heterogeneous network environment Resources Learn from the experts. Get the latest industry insights Business-Driven security management for financial institutions Read 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