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Gain comprehensive visibility and control over your network security with AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer. Simplify audits, optimize configurations, and enhance protection. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer- See the whole picture Introduction Discover, identify, and map business applications and security policies – anywhere. With the industry’s app-centric perspective, you can now gain clear visibility into the security policies and the business applications that run your business — across your hybrid network. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer enables you to stay on top of your security posture with continuous analysis and detection of risk and compliance gaps, allowing you to adapt quickly before an attack happens. Schedule a Demo Visualize your entire network Visualize the application connectivity and security policies across public clouds, private clouds and on-premises networks. A real-time network map provides a comprehensive view and connectivity flows of all firewalls, routers, switches, and more. Schedule a Demo Discover applications and services Never misplace an application on your network. Discover and identify your business applications and their network connectivity. Schedule a Demo Connect applications to security policy rules Firewall rules support applications or processes that require network connectivity to and from specific servers, users, and networks. With AppViz, associate the relevant business applications that each firewall rule supports, enabling you to review the firewall rules quickly and easily. Schedule a Demo Micro-segment successfully Define and enforce network segmentation throughout your hybrid network. Be confident that your network security policies don’t violate your network segmentation strategy. Schedule a Demo Clear answers in clear language Get the answers to your network security policies in plain English. Use AlgoBot, an intelligent chatbot that assists with change management processes. Reduce ticket resolution time by giving other parts of your organization the tools they need to get immediate answers. Schedule a Demo Always be compliant Identify compliance gaps across your entire hybrid network, so you can stay continuously in compliance. Identify exactly which application and security policies are potentially non-compliant. Always be ready for audits with compliance reports covering leading regulations including PCI DSS, HIPAA , SOX, GDPR, NERC, FISMA, and ISO and custom corporate policies. Schedule a Demo Identify risky rules Identify risky security policy rules, the assets they expose, and if they’re in use. Prioritize risk based on what your business values most — the applications powering your network. Schedule a Demo Map, clean up and reduce risk Clean up and optimize your security policy. Uncover unused, duplicate, overlapping, or expired rules, consolidate and reorder rules, and tighten overly permissive “ANY” rules — without impacting business requirements. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to securely accelerate application delivery by automating application connectivity and security policy, anywhere. The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk, and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network. Over 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks, while taking advantage of almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management. See what securely accelerating your digital transformation, move-to-cloud, infrastructure modernization, or micro-segmentation initiatives looks like at www.algosec.com . Let's start your journey to our business-centric network security. Schedule a Demo Select a size Introduction Visualize your entire network Discover applications and services Connect applications to security policy rules Micro-segment successfully Clear answers in clear language Always be compliant Identify risky rules Map, clean up and reduce risk About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Learn from expert-crafted firewall ruleset examples and best practices. Optimize your security posture with actionable guidance and improve your firewall configurations. Firewall ruleset examples & policy best practices Securing your network: guide to firewall rules examples Cyberattacks continue to rise globally as malicious actors tirelessly develop sophisticated tools and techniques to break through networks and security systems. With the digitalization of operations today and the increasing adoption of remote working, crucial business activities such as communication, data storage, and data transmission are now primarily done digitally. While this brings numerous advantages – allowing easy usability and scalability, enhancing collaboration, and reducing the risks of data loss – businesses have to deal with various security risks, such as data breaches and cyberattacks from hackers. Organizations must provide adequate network security to keep sensitive data safe and ensure their network is usable, trustworthy, and optimized for maximum productivity across all channels. Schedule a Demo Firewalls and your network Your network and systems (software and hardware) comprise the IT infrastructure through which you operate and manage your enterprise’s IT services. Every IT system regularly receives and transmits internet traffic, and businesses must ensure that only trusted and authorized traffic penetrates their network to maintain security. All unwanted traffic must be prevented from accessing your operating system as it poses a huge risk to network security. Malicious actors attempting to penetrate your system often send virus-carrying inbound traffic to your network. However, with an effective firewall, you can filter all traffic and block unwanted and harmful traffic from penetrating your network. A firewall serves as a barrier between computers, networks, and other systems in your IT landscape, preventing unauthorized traffic from penetrating. Schedule a Demo What are firewall rules? The firewall is your first line of defense in network security against hackers, malware, and other threats. Firewall rules refer to access control mechanisms that stipulate how a firewall device should handle incoming and outgoing traffic in your network. They are instructions given to firewalls to help them know when to block or allow communication in your network. These instructions include destination or source IP addresses, protocols, port numbers, and services. A firewall ruleset is formed from a set of rules and it defines a unit of execution and sharing for the rules. Firewall rulesets typically include: A source address A source port A destination address A destination port A decision on whether to block or permit network traffic meeting those address and port criteria Schedule a Demo What are the most common firewall ruleset examples? There are thousands of rulesets that can be used to control how a firewall deals with network traffic. Some firewall rules are more common than others, as they tend to be fundamental when building a secure network. Here are some examples of firewall rules for common use cases: Enable internet access for only one computer in the local network and block access for all others This rule gives only one computer in the local network access to the internet, and blocks all others from accessing the internet. This example requires obtaining the IP address of the computer being granted access (i.e., source IP address) and the TCP protocol type. Two rules will be created: a Permit rule and a Deny rule. The permit rule allows the chosen computer the required access, while the deny rule blocks all other computers in the local network from internet access. Prevent direct access from the public network to the firewall This rule blocks access to your firewall from any public network, to protect it from hackers who can modify or delete your rules if they access your firewall directly. Once hackers manipulate your rules, unwanted traffic will penetrate your network, leading to data breaches or an interruption in operation. A Deny rule for any attempt to access the firewall from public networks will be created and enabled. Block internet access for only one computer in the local network This rule comes in handy if you do not want a specific computer in the local network to access the internet. You will need to create a Deny rule in which you set the IP address of the computer you wish to block from the internet, and the TCP protocol type. Block access to a specific website from a local network In this scenario we want to configure our firewall to deny access to a particular website from a local network. We first obtain the IP address or addresses of the website we wish to deny access to, and then create a Deny rule. One way to obtain a website’s IP address is by running the special command ‘nslookup ’ in your operating system’s command line (Windows, Linux, or others). Since websites can run on HTTP and HTTPS, we must create a Deny rule for each protocol type and indicate the destination IP address(es). Thus, the local network will be unable to access both the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the website. Allow a particular LAN computer to access only one specific website This example gives a local computer access to only one specified website. We obtain the IP address of the destination website and the source IP address (of the local computer). We create a Permit rule for the source IP address and the destination website, and a Deny rule for the source IP address and other websites, taking the TCP protocol types into account. Allow internet access to and from the local network using specific protocols (services) only This example allows your LAN computer to access the internet using specific protocols, such as SMTP, FTP, IPv6, SSH, IPv4, POP3, DNS, and IMAP; and blocks all other traffic Here we first create an “Allow” rule for the “Home segment,” where we use the value “Any” for the Source and Destination IP addresses. In the Protocol field provided, we choose the protocols through which our local computer can access the internet. Lastly, we create Deny rules where we enter the value “Any” for the Source and Destination IP addresses. In the Protocol field, we set the values TCP and UDP, thus blocking internet access for unspecified protocols. Allow remote control of your router This rule enables you to access, view, or change your Router Settings remotely (over the internet). Typically, access to routers from the internet is blocked by default. To set this rule, you need specific data such as your router username, WAN IP address, and password. It is crucial to note that this setting is unsafe for individuals who use public IP addresses. A similar use case is a rule enabling users to check a device’s availability on their network by allowing ICMP ping requests. Block access from a defined internet subnet or an external network You can set a rule that blocks access to your network from a defined internet subnet or an external network. This rule is especially important if you observed repeated attempts to access your router from unknown IP addresses within the same subnet. In this case, set a Deny rule for IP addresses of the subnet attempting to access your WAN port. Schedule a Demo What are examples of best practices for setting up firewall rules? It is expedient to follow best practices during firewall configuration to protect your network from intruders and hackers. Deploying industry-standard rules when setting up firewalls can improve the security of your network and system components. Below are examples of the best practices for setting up firewall rules. Document firewall rules across multiple devices Documenting all firewall rule configurations and updating them frequently across various devices is one of the best practices for staying ahead of attacks. New rules should be included based on security needs, and irrelevant rules should be deactivated to reduce the possibility of a loophole in your network. With documentation, administrators can review the rules frequently and make any required changes whenever a vulnerability is detected. Configure your firewall to block traffic by default Using a block or deny-by-default policy is the safest way to deal with suspicious traffic. Enterprises must be sure that all types of traffic entering their network are identified and trusted to avoid security threats. In addition, whenever a vulnerability arises in the system, blocking by default helps prevent hackers from taking advantage of loopholes before administrators can respond. Monitor firewall logs Monitoring firewall logs on a regular basis helps maintain network security. Administrators can quickly and easily track traffic flow across your network, identify suspicious activity, and implement effective solutions in a timely manner. Organizations with highly sophisticated infrastructure can aggregate logs from routers, servers, switches, and other components to a centralized platform for monitoring. Group firewall rules to minimize complexity and enhance performance Depending on the complexity of your network, you may need thousands of rules to achieve effective network security. This complicates your firewall rules and can be a huge challenge for administrators. However, by grouping rules based on similar characteristics like protocols, TCP ports, IP addresses, etc., you simplify them and boost overall performance. Implement least-privileged access In any organization, employees have various roles and may require different data to execute their tasks efficiently. As part of network security practices, it’s important to ensure each employee’s access to the network is restricted to the minimum privileges needed to execute their tasks. Only users who require access to a particular service or resource should have it, thus preventing unnecessary exposure of data. This practice significantly minimizes the risk of intentional and accidental unauthorized access to sensitive data. Schedule a Demo How do firewall policies differ from a network security policy? A network security policy outlines the overall rules, principles, and procedures for maintaining security on a computer network. The policy sets out the basic architecture of an organization’s network security environment, including details of how the security policies are implemented. The overall objective of network security policy is to protect a computer network against internal and external threats. Firewall policies are a sub-group of network security policies, and refer to policies that relate specifically to firewalls. Firewall policies have to do with rules for how firewalls should handle inbound and outbound traffic to ensure that malicious actors do not penetrate the network. A firewall policy determines the types of traffic that should flow through your network based on your organization’s network and information security policies. Schedule a Demo How can AlgoSec help with managing your firewall rules? Proper firewall configuration with effective rules and practices is crucial to building a formidable network security policy. Organizations must follow industry standards in configuring firewall rules and protecting their IT landscape from intruders and malicious actors. Firewall rules require regular review and update to maintain maximum protection against evolving threats and changing security demands. For many organizations, keeping up with these fast-paced security demands can be challenging, and that’s where AlgoSec comes in. AlgoSec helps with managing your firewall rules to ensure your network enjoys round-the-clock protection against internal and external security threats. From installation to maintenance, we assist you in setting up a resilient firewall that operates on the safest rulesets to keep your network safe against harmful traffic. We have dedicated tools that take away the burden of aggregating and analyzing logs from the components in your network, including computers, routers, web servers, switches, etc. We determine which new rules are needed for effective firewall network security policy management based on data from your firewall devices and security trends. AlgoSec will ensure your firewall stays compliant with best practices by applying our automated auditing solution, which identifies gaps in your firewall rules and enables you to remediate them before hackers take advantage of such loopholes. Schedule a Demo Select a size Securing your network: guide to firewall rules examples Firewalls and your network What are firewall rules? What are the most common firewall ruleset examples? What are examples of best practices for setting up firewall rules? How do firewall policies differ from a network security policy? How can AlgoSec help with managing your firewall rules? Get the latest insights from the experts Use these six best practices to simplify compliance and risk White paper Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure Solution overview See how this customer improved compliance readiness and risk Case study Choose a better way to manage your network

Automate and secure network policy changes with AlgoSec FireFlow. Streamline workflows, ensure compliance, and reduce risks in your security environment. AlgoSec FireFlow – Automate and secure policy changes Overview Leverage intelligent automation to confidently automate your security policy change process — from planning through risk analysis, implementation and validation Process security policy changes in a fraction of the time so you can respond to business requirements with the agility they demand. Using its unique vendor-agnostic deep algorithm for change management intelligent automation, AlgoSec FireFlow enforces firewall policies and application connectivity, eliminating guesswork, preventing human errors, and substantially reducing exposure to security risks to adapt quickly before an attack happens. Schedule a Demo Zero-touch change management Accelerate security policy changes while maintaining control, ensuring accuracy, saving time, and preventing errors — with zero-touch. Speed up and secure application deployment Make changes securely with AppChange, an add-on for AlgoSec FireFlow. With AppChange, changes are made at the business application level, including during application migrations , server deployment, and decommissioning projects. Save time by identifying devices that are in the way Automatically identify devices that are blocking connectivity flow, so you know what rules need to change. Design smart security policies Intelligently design existing rules and objects to reduce clutter and complexity. Mitigate risk Make sure your changes don’t introduce risk or compliance violations. Automatically analyze every proposed change before it’s implemented to identify risks and make sure they are compliant. Make changes exactly as intended Detect unauthorized change requests before implementation. Validate that changes were successfully applied and tickets not prematurely closed. Integrate with your existing processes Don’t change the way you work – use the tools you already know. Seamlessly integrate with your favorite IT Service Management solution. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to securely accelerate application delivery by automating application connectivity and security policy, anywhere. The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk, and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network. Over 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks, while taking advantage of almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management. See what securely accelerating your digital transformation, move-to-cloud, infrastructure modernization, or micro-segmentation initiatives looks like at www.algosec.com . Schedule a Demo Select a size Overview Zero-touch change management About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Defining & Enforcing a Micro-segmentation Strategy 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

Protect and manage hybrid network environments with effective security strategies, ensuring seamless integration, visibility, and compliance across diverse infrastructures. Securing & managing hybrid network security Overview Across cloud, SDN, on-premises and anything in between – one platform to manage it all. Making changes was easy with on-premises data centers. Your applications were secured behind lock and key, guarded by physical firewalls in easily-accessible locations. Today, your network doesn’t just live in one place. There are multiple public clouds and private clouds in addition to on-premises network devices. Security controls are a “black box” and your application connectivity crosses multiple borders. This complexity makes it difficult for organizations to securely accelerate application connectivity across their entire network. Schedule a Demo Main Challenges of Hybrid Cloud Security IT and Security staff find it difficult to maintain hybrid network security and deliver application connectivity due to: Lack of network and application visibility – Struggling with visibility into their network’s security policies and associated applications. Understanding the network structures and application flow paths is a challenge. Manual and siloed compliance process – The security audit process is manual. Documentation requirements are complex. Getting a complete view of the compliance status of the entire network is difficult. Audits are point-in-time but regulations require continuous compliance. Potential for network risks – Difficulty in identifying risky rules, such as unused, duplicate, overlapping, or expired rules, and understanding which applications may be impacted. Removing the wrong rule may lead to a data breach or outage. Complex manual change processes – Making changes to application connectivity is slow. Assessing the risk of changes is difficult, yet misconfigurations can cause outages and disrupt business. Changes involve teams speaking different languages with different objectives. Schedule a Demo Key Business Benefits Securely deliver applications faster. Enhance visibility across your entire hybrid network. Ensure changes adhere to internal and regulatory standards. Manage security posture and reduce configuration risks. Process network security policy changes in minutes not days. Avoid errors, rework, and application outages. Schedule a Demo AlgoSec Advantages Visibility into the applications on your network, so you can request changes at the application level. Unified view of the entire on-premises and multi-cloud estate from a single console. Manage multiple layers of security controls and proactively detect misconfigurations. Minimize the attack surface by identifying risks and helping to mitigate them. Match network policy risks to your applications to better understand the impact and prioritize remediation. Identify unused security rules so you have the confidence to remove them. Schedule a Demo Manage the Entire Hybrid Security Environment 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. Enable application visibility — Get a full network map of your entire hybrid network security estate. Ensure application discovery across your entire estate and identify your application dependencies. Manage next-generation security policies and cloud security groups alongside traditional firewalls. Get instant visibility of your cloud assets and security controls. Pinpoint and troubleshoot network connectivity issues. Mitigate risks and detect misconfigurations – Easily identify risky security policy rules, the assets and applications they expose, and whether they are in use. Proactively detect misconfigurations to protect cloud assets, including cloud instances, databases, and serverless functions. Achieve continuous compliance – On-going monitoring of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud network-security configuration changes to avoid compliance violations. Identify which applications introduce compliance risk. Automated and audit-ready compliance reports for major global regulations and internal standards. Automate changes intelligently – Cut application delivery bottlenecks with intelligent application change automation. Using zero-touch automation, security policies can be automated from implementation all the way through validating that the changes work exactly as intended. Migrate applications easily – Simplify the complex process of migrating business applications by automatically discovering, mapping, and migrating connectivity configurations with firewalls and security groups. Identify flows serving your applications and track them to security policy. This makes it possible to enable network provisioning as part of your cloud migration. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to securely accelerate application delivery by automating application connectivity and security policy, anywhere. The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk, and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network. Over 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks, while taking advantage of almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management. See what securely accelerating your digital transformation, move-to-cloud, infrastructure modernization, or micro-segmentation initiatives looks like at www.algosec.com . Let's start your journey to our business-centric network security. Schedule a Demo Select a size Overview Main Challenges of Hybrid Cloud Security Key Business Benefits AlgoSec Advantages Manage the Entire Hybrid Security Environment About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Securely accelerate application delivery by automating application connectivity and security policy across the hybrid network estate. Solución de gestión de seguridad Algosec Bienvenue! Gestionar sus políticas de seguridad de redes en todos los cortafuegos de las instalaciones y en controles de seguridad de la nube es un acto que debe llevarse a cabo de manera equilibrada. Por un lado, debe reducir los riesgos y minimizar la superficie de ataque, y por el otro, debe permitir la productividad al brindar conectividad para sus aplicaciones empresariales más importantes. Sin embargo, los procesos de gestión de políticas de seguridad siempre han sido complejos, prolongados y plagados de errores. No debería ser así. Tanto en las instalaciones como en la nube, AlgoSec simplifica y automatiza la gestión de políticas de seguridad en las redes para que su empresa se vuelva más ágil, más segura y más eficiente, ¡todo el tiempo! Un enfoque de la inigualable vida útil para la gestión de políticas de seguridad AlgoSec es inigualable por el hecho de que gestiona toda la vida útil de las políticas de seguridad para garantizar conectividad constante y segura para sus aplicaciones empresariales. Con muchísima claridad podrá descubrir automáticamente los requerimientos de conectividad de la aplicación, analizar los riesgos proactivamente, planificar y ejecutar cambios de seguridad en la red rápidamente, y desactivar reglas del cortafuegos de manera segura, todo en cero toques y dinámicamente orquestado en su entorno heterogéneo. Con AlgoSec usted puede Unificar la gestión de políticas de seguridad de redes en nubes heterogéneas, y en entornos definidos por software o en instalaciones Garantice el cumplimiento continuo y reduzca drásticamente los esfuerzos de preparación para auditorías del cortafuegos Proporcione conectividad a las aplicaciones de manera rápida y segura y evite interrupciones en las redes linee la seguridad, las redes y los equipos de aplicación e impulse las operaciones de seguridad de los programadores Automatice la gestión de cambios en el cortafuegos y elimine las configuraciones incorrectas Reduzca el riesgo a través de la configuración de seguridad correcta y la segmentación de red efectiva La Solución de gestión de seguridad AlgoSec Análisis de red de políticas de seguridad Más información Firewall Analyzer Automatización de cambios en las políticas de seguridad Más información FireFlow Calculadora de Retorno de inversión (ROI) Folleto de la solución AlgoSec Representante local Gil Kremer Phone: +55-11-991068906
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Explore AlgoSec's visionary approach to secure connectivity: predictive solutions, sector-specific innovation, and empowering businesses for Uncategorized The AlgoSec perspective: an in-depth interview with Kyle Wickert, worldwide strategic architect Adel Osta Dadan 2 min read Adel Osta Dadan 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 6/15/24 Published “We’re not just responding to the digital transformation anymore; it’s here, and frankly, most of us aren’t ready for it yet. One key insight from my time at AlgoSec is that at our very core, our mission is to enable seamless interconnectivity. This means staying ahead, embracing change as an opportunity for growth,” shares Kyle Wickert, highlighting the essence of AlgoSec’s forward-thinking approach. His role as Worldwide Strategic Architect has positioned him at the confluence of technology and strategic innovation, where he emphasizes the importance of anticipating change rather than merely reacting to it. As our conversation unfolded, Wickert elaborated on why solutions should not just be reactive but predictive, setting AlgoSec apart by prioritizing applications on a macro level. “It’s about understanding the broader implications of connectivity and security, ensuring our solutions are not just timely but timeless,” he added, reflecting on the dynamic nature of digital security. Strategically navigating the digital space : “In this digital epoch, every business is inherently a technology business,” asserts Wickert. This conviction drives AlgoSec’s strategy, focusing on securing application connectivity as a means to empower businesses. By transforming potential vulnerabilities into opportunities, AlgoSec ensures businesses can leverage their technological infrastructure for sustained success. “It’s about turning challenges into catalysts for growth,” Wickert emphasizes, showcasing AlgoSec’s role in fostering innovation. Empowering sector-specific excellence : The unique demands of sectors like healthcare and finance bring to light the critical need for tailored security solutions. Wickert points out, “As these industries continue to evolve, the demand for secure, seamless connectivity becomes increasingly paramount.” AlgoSec’s commitment to developing solutions that address these specific challenges underscores its dedication to not just ensuring survival but promoting excellence across diverse sectors. Orchestrating security with business strategy : Wickert believes in the symbiosis of strategy and security, where technological solutions are in tune with business objectives. “Securing application connectivity means creating a seamless blend of technology with business goals,” he states. This philosophy is embodied in AlgoSec’s comprehensive suite of solutions, which are designed to align digital security measures with the rhythm of business expansion and strategic development. Championing a human-centric digital future : At the heart of AlgoSec’s ethos is a deep-seated belief in the power of technology to serve human progress. “We’re not just building solutions; we’re enabling futures where technology amplifies human potential and creativity,” Wickert passionately notes. This vision guides AlgoSec’s approach, ensuring that their security solutions empower rather than constrain, fostering an environment ripe for innovation and advancement. Leading the charge in cybersecurity innovation : Looking forward, AlgoSec is committed to being at the vanguard of cybersecurity innovation. “Our vision looks beyond the immediate horizon, anticipating the evolving needs of tomorrow’s businesses,” Wickert shares. With a focus on strategic foresight and a commitment to innovative solutions, AlgoSec is poised to guide enterprises through the intricacies of digital transformation towards a future that is not only secure but also thriving. 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

Challenges with managing Cisco Meraki in a complex enterprise environment We have worked closely with Cisco for many years in large... Application Connectivity Management Managing the switch – Making the move to Cisco Meraki Jeremiah Cornelius 2 min read Jeremiah Cornelius 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 1/4/24 Published Challenges with managing Cisco Meraki in a complex enterprise environment We have worked closely with Cisco for many years in large complex environments and have developed integrations to support a variety of Cisco solutions for our joint customers. In recent years we have seen an increased interest in the use of Cisco Meraki devices by enterprises that are also AlgoSec customers. In this post, we will highlight some of the AlgoSec capabilities that can quickly add value for Meraki customers. Meeting the Enterprise The Cisco Meraki MX is a multifunctional security and SD-WAN enterprise appliance with a wide set of capabilities to address multiple use cases—from an all-in-one device. Organizations across all industries rely on the MX to deliver secure connectivity to hub locations or multi cloud environments. The MX is 100% cloud-managed, so installation and remote management are truly zero-touch, making it ideal for distributed branches, campuses, and data center locations. In our talks with AlgoSec customers and partner architects, it is evident that the benefits that originally made Meraki MX popular in commercial deployments were just as appealing to enterprises. Many enterprises are now faced with waves of expansion in employees working from home, and burgeoning demands for scalable remote access – along with increasing network demands by regional centers. The leader of one security team I spoke with put it very well, “We are deploying to 1,200 locations in four global regions, planned to be 1,500 by year’s end. The choice of Meraki is for us a ‘no-brainer.’ If you haven’t already, I know that you’re going to see this become a more popular option with many big operations.” Natural Companions – AlgoSec ASMS and Cisco Meraki-MX This is a natural situation to meet enhanced requirements with AlgoSec ASMS — reinforcing Meraki’s impressive capabilities and scale as a combined, enterprise-class solution. ASMS brings to the table traffic planning and visualization, rules optimization and management, and a solution to address enterprise-level requirements for policy reporting and compliance auditing. In AlgoSec, we’re proud of AlgoSec FireFlow’s ability to model the security-connected state of any given endpoints across an entire enterprise. Now our customers with Meraki MX can extend this technology that they know and trust, analyze real traffic in complex deployments, and acquire an understanding of the requirements and impact of changes delivered to their users and applications that are connected by Meraki deployments. As it’s unlikely that your needs, or those of any data center and enterprise, are met by a single vendor and model, AlgoSec unifies operations of the Meraki-MX with those of the other technologies, such as enterprise NGFW and software-defined network fabrics. Our application-centric approach means that Meraki MX can be a component in delivering solutions for zero-trust and microsegmentation with other Cisco technology like Cisco ACI, and other third parties. Cisco Meraki– Product Demo If all of this sounds interesting, take a look for yourself to see how AlgoSec helps with common challenges in these enterprise environments. More Where This Came From The AlgoSec integration with Cisco Meraki-MX is delivering solutions our customers want. If you want to discover more about the Meraki and AlgoSec joint solution, contact us at AlgoSec! We work together with Cisco teams and resellers and will be glad to schedule a meeting to share more details or walk through a more in depth 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

Review the top 5 alternatives to Tufin Ratings, features, price, pros cons, and top use cases Top 5 Tufin alternatives & competitors (ranked & rated) 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. Looking for an alternative to Tufin? Is Tufin your best security policy automation option? Top Tufin Competitors at a Glance 5 Top Tufin alternatives & competitors for 2023 1. AlgoSec 2. FireMon 3. Skybox Security Solutions 4. Cisco defence orchestrator 5. RedSeal The bottom line on Tufin competitors 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 Firewall Analyzer delivers visibility analysis of your network applications across your hybrid network Identify compliance gaps Visualize & manage hybrid networks Enable visibility across your hybrid network, optimize firewall rules, and prioritize risks. Schedule a demo Watch a video Visualize your entire network Instantly visualize your entire hybrid network security topology – in the cloud, on-premises, and everything in between. Understand the impact of network security policies on traffic, quickly troubleshoot connectivity issues, plan changes, and perform “what-if” traffic queries. Learn more Optimize the discovery of applications and services Never misplace an application on your network with new AI-powered and enhanced application discovery. Leverage advanced AI to identify your business applications, their utilized resources, and network connectivity accurately. Connect applications to security policy rules Firewall rules support applications or processes that require network connectivity to and from specific servers, users, and networks. With AppViz, automatically associate the relevant business applications that each firewall rule supports, enabling you to review the firewall rules quickly and easily. Read more Micro-segment successfully Master micro-segmentation. Define and enforce network segmentation throughout your entire hybrid network. Be confident that your network security policies don’t violate your network segmentation strategy. Clear answers in clear language Get the answers to your network security policies in plain English. Use AlgoBot, an intelligent chatbot that assists with change management processes. Reduce ticket resolution time by giving other parts of your organization the tools they need to get immediate answers. Always be compliant Identify compliance gaps across your entire hybrid network, so you can stay continuously in compliance. Identify exactly which application and security policy is potentially non-compliant. Always be ready for audits with compliance reports covering leading regulations and custom corporate policies. Identify risky rules Identify risky security policy rules, the assets they expose, and if they’re in use. Prioritize risk based on what your business values most — the applications powering your network. Map, clean up and reduce risk Clean up and optimize your security policy. Uncover unused, duplicate, overlapping,or expired rules, consolidate and reorder rules, and tighten overly permissive “ANY” rules -- without impacting business requirements. End-to-end security management Automation is only one piece of a robust security policy. See how our full solution suite completes the picture. FireFlow Automate and secure
policy changes Process security changes in a fraction of the time by automating the entire security policy change process. FireFlow solution AlgoSec Cloud Effortless cloud management Security management across the multi-cloud and multi-vendor estate AlgoSec Cloud solution AppViz Optimize the discovery of applications and services Leverage advanced AI to identify your business applications and their network connectivity accurately. AppViz solution Equip yourself with the technical details to discuss with your team and managers Ready for a deep dive? Contact us today Got everything you need?
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You’re about to dive deep! Tech docs Watch the video "I found the product to be the best rule review solution in the market What they say about us Manager AlgoSec’s Firewall Analyzer enables you to instantly visualize your entire hybrid, by pulling pulls information from a wide range of devices and providing you network security topology. Firewall Analyzer helps you assess the impact of network security policies on traffic, troubleshoot connectivity issues, plan changes and perform “what-if” traffic queries. Firewall Analyzer seamlessly integrates with all leading brands of traditional and next generation firewalls and cloud security controls as well as routers, load balancers and web proxies. What is Firewall Analyzer? Firewall Analyzer rule management enables the process of optimizing firewall rules by identifying and removing redundant firewall rules, aligning firewall rule policies with government and industry regulations and preventing inappropriate firewall rule modifications. Firewall Analyzer discovers and prioritizes all risks  and their associated rules and associated applications in your network security policy. Can I analyze my firewall rules? Firewall Analyzer provides pre-populated, audit-ready compliance reports with an overview of events and changes associated with a firewall. Firewall Analyzer automatically analyzes the existing device rule base to identify unused, duplicate or expired rules and then provides recommendations to remove, reorder or consolidate similar rules. Firewall Analyzer optimizes firewall rulesets. Does Firewall Analyzer work with Cisco? The main use of a firewall monitoring tool is to ensure full network visibility. Firewall Analyzer provides you a unified view of all the applications, services and their connectivity flows within an enterprise computer network. What are the main uses of a firewall monitoring tool? Firewall Analyzer includes firewall analysis tools to help you to identify enterprise applications, services and connectivity flows to track events and policy changes in order to clean up and optimize firewall configuration and maintain compliance standards. Can I analyze my firewall’s configuration? Firewall Analyzer provides pre-populated, audit-ready compliance reports with an overview of events and changes associated with a firewall. Firewall Analyzer automatically analyzes the existing device rule base to identify unused, duplicate or expired rules and then provides recommendations to remove, reorder or consolidate similar rules. Firewall Analyzer optimizes firewall rulesets. Can I monitor my firewall changes? FAQ Get the latest insights from the experts The 100x Revolution, learn how to Future-Proof your business applications with Secure Application Connectivity. Anywhere. Download the eBook Case Study- Nationwide Testimonial - AlgoSec Watch it now Product introduction video- Learn the key capabilities of the AlgoSec Secure application connectivity platform. Watch it now Schedule time with a Firewall Analyzer expert Schedule time with a Firewall Analyzer expert Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

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Understand the network security policy management lifecycle, from creation to implementation and continuous review, ensuring optimal network protection and compliance. The network security policy management lifecycle Introduction IT security organizations today are judged on how they enable business transformation and innovation. They are tasked with delivering new applications to users and introducing new technologies that will capture new customers, improve productivity and lower costs. They are expected to be agile so they can respond faster than competitors to changing customer and market needs. Unfortunately, IT security is often perceived as standing in the way of innovation and business agility. This is particularly true when it comes to provisioning business application connectivity. When an enterprise rolls out a new application or migrates an application to the cloud it may take weeks or even months to ensure that all the servers, devices and network segments can communicate with each other, and at the same time prevent access to hackers and unauthorized users. But IT security does not have to be a bottleneck to business agility. Nor is it necessary to accept more risk to satisfy the demand for speed. The solution is to manage application connectivity and network security policies through a structured lifecycle methodology. IT security organizations that follow the five stages of a security policy management lifecycle can improve business agility dramatically without sacrificing security. A lifecycle approach not only ensures that the right activities are performed in the right order, it provides a framework for automating repeatable processes, and enables different technical and business groups to work together better. In this whitepaper, we will: Review the obstacles to delivering secure application connectivity and business agility. Explore the lifecycle approach to managing application connectivity and security policies. Examine how the activities at each stage of the lifecycle can help enterprises increase business agility, reduce risks, and lower operating costs. Schedule a Demo Why is it so hard to manage application and network connectivity? Top IT managers sometimes view security policy management as something routine, just part of the “plumbing.” In reality, delivering secure connectivity requires mastering complex data center and cloud infrastructures, coping with constant change, understanding esoteric security and compliance requirements, and coordinating the efforts of multiple technical and business teams. Application connectivity is complex The computing infrastructure of even a medium-sized enterprise includes hundreds of servers, storage systems, and network security devices such as firewalls, routers and load balancers. Complexity is magnified by the fact that many application components are now virtualized. Moreover, hybrid cloud architectures are becoming common. And since networking concepts differ profoundly between physical and cloud-based networks, unified visibility and control are very difficult to obtain. Change never stops Business users need access to data – fast! Yet every time a new application is deployed, changed or migrated, network and security staff need to understand how information will flow between the various web, application, database and storage servers. They need to devise application connectivity rules that allow traffic while preventing access from unauthorized users or creating gaps in their security perimeters. Security and compliance require thousands of application connectivity rules Many security policies are required to manage network access and protect confidential data from outside attackers and from unauthorized access by users or employees. In a typical enterprise, customers and businesses are only allowed to access specific web servers in a “demilitarized zone.” Some applications and databases are authorized for all employees, while others are restricted to specific departments or business units or management levels. Government regulations and industry standards require severely controlled access to credit card and financial information, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and many other types of confidential data. Security best practices often require additional restrictions, such as limiting the use of protocols that can be used to evade security controls. To enforce these policies, IT security teams need to create and manage thousands, tens of thousands, and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of firewall rules on routers, firewalls and other network and security devices in order to comply with the necessary security, business and regulatory requirements. Technical and business groups don’t communicate After application delivery managers outline the business-level requirements of new or modified applications, network and security architects must translate them into network flows that traverse various web gateways, web servers, application servers, database servers and document repositories. Then firewall administrators and other security professionals have to create firewall rules that allow the right users to connect to the right systems, using appropriate services and protocols. Compliance and risk management officers also get involved to identify potential violations of regulations and corporate policies. These processes are handicapped by several factors: Each group speaks a different business or technical language. Information is siloed, and each group has its own tools for tracking business requirements, network topology, security rules and compliance policies. Data is often poorly documented. Often network and security groups are brought in only at the tail end of the process, when it is too late to prevent bad decisions. Application connectivity is complex The computing infrastructure of even a medium-sized enterprise includes hundreds of servers, storage systems, and network security devices such as firewalls, routers and load balancers. Complexity is magnified by the fact that many application components are now virtualized. Moreover, hybrid cloud architectures are becoming common. And since networking concepts differ profoundly between physical and cloud-based networks, unified visibility and control are very difficult to obtain. Change never stops Business users need access to data – fast! Yet every time a new application is deployed, changed or migrated, network and security staff need to understand how information will flow between the various web, application, database and storage servers. They need to devise application connectivity rules that allow traffic while preventing access from unauthorized users or creating gaps in their security perimeters. Security and compliance require thousands of application connectivity rules Many security policies are required to manage network access and protect confidential data from outside attackers and from unauthorized access by users or employees. In a typical enterprise, customers and businesses are only allowed to access specific web servers in a “demilitarized zone.” Some applications and databases are authorized for all employees, while others are restricted to specific departments or business units or management levels. Government regulations and industry standards require severely controlled access to credit card and financial information, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and many other types of confidential data. Security best practices often require additional restrictions, such as limiting the use of protocols that can be used to evade security controls. To enforce these policies, IT security teams need to create and manage thousands, tens of thousands, and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of firewall rules on routers, firewalls and other network and security devices in order to comply with the necessary security, business and regulatory requirements. Technical and business groups don’t communicate After application delivery managers outline the business-level requirements of new or modified applications, network and security architects must translate them into network flows that traverse various web gateways, web servers, application servers, database servers and document repositories. Then firewall administrators and other security professionals have to create firewall rules that allow the right users to connect to the right systems, using appropriate services and protocols. Compliance and risk management officers also get involved to identify potential violations of regulations and corporate policies. These processes are handicapped by several factors: Each group speaks a different business or technical language. Information is siloed, and each group has its own tools for tracking business requirements, network topology, security rules and compliance policies. Data is often poorly documented. Often network and security groups are brought in only at the tail end of the process, when it is too late to prevent bad decisions. Schedule a Demo The lifecycle approach to managing application connectivity and security policies Most enterprises take an ad-hoc approach to managing application connectivity. They jump to address the connectivity needs of high-profile applications and imminent threats, but have little time left over to maintain network maps, document security policies and firewall rules, or to analyze the impact of rule changes on production applications. They are also hard-pressed to translate dozens of daily change requests from business terms into complex technical details. The costs of these dysfunctional processes include: Loss of business agility, caused by delays in releasing applications and improving infrastructure. Application outages and lost productivity, caused by errors in updating rules and configuring systems. Inflexibility, when administrators refuse to change existing rules for fear of “breaking” existing information flows. Increased risk of security breaches, caused by gaps in security and compliance policies, and by overly permissive security rules on firewalls and other devices. Costly demands on the time of network and security staff, caused by inefficient processes and high audit preparation costs. IT security groups will always have to deal with complex networks and constantly changing applications. But given these challenges, they can manage application connectivity and security policies more effectively using a lifecycle framework such as the one illustrated in Figure 1. This lifecycle approach captures all the major activities that an IT organization should follow when managing change requests that affect application connectivity and security policies, organized into five stages. Figure 1: The Network Security Policy Lifecycle Structure activities and reduce risks A lifecycle approach ensures that the right activities are performed in the right order, consistently. This is essential to reducing risks. For example, failing to conduct an impact analysis of proposed firewall rule changes can lead to service outages when the new rules inadvertently block connections between components of an application. While neglecting to monitor policies and recertify rules can result in overly permissive or unnecessary rules that facilitate data breaches. A structured process also reduces unnecessary work and increases business agility. For example, a proactive risk and compliance assessment during the Plan & Assess stage of the lifecycle can identify requirements and prevent errors before new rules are deployed onto security and network devices. This reduces costly, time-consuming and frustrating “fire drills” to fix errors in the production environment. A defined lifecycle also gives network and security professionals a basis to resist pressures to omit or shortchange activities to save time today, which can cause higher costs and greater risks tomorrow. Automate processes The only way IT organizations can cope with the complexity and rapid change of today’s infrastructure and applications is through automation. A lifecycle approach to security policy management helps enterprises structure their processes to be comprehensive, repeatable and automated. When enterprises automate the process of provisioning security policies, they can respond faster to changing business requirements, which makes them more agile and competitive. By reducing manual errors and ensuring that key steps are never overlooked, they also avoid service outages and reduce the risk of security breaches and compliance violations. Automation also frees security and networking staffs so they have time to spend on strategic initiatives, rather than on routine “keep the lights on” tasks. Ultimately, it permits enterprises to support more business applications and greater business agility with the same staff. Enable better communication A lifecycle approach to security policy management improves communication across IT groups and their senior management. It helps bring together application delivery, network, security, and compliance people in the Discover & Visualize and Plan & Assess stages of the lifecycle, to make sure that business requirements can be accurately translated into infrastructure and security changes. The approach also helps coordinate the work of network, security and operations staffs in the Migrate & Deploy, Maintain and Decommission stages, to ensure that deployment and operational activities are executed smoothly. And it helps IT and business executives communicate better about the security posture of the enterprise. Document the environment In most enterprises security policies are poorly documented. Reasons include severe time pressures on network and security staff, and tools that make it hard to record and share policy and rule information (e.g., spreadsheets and bug tracking systems designed for software development teams). The result is minor time savings in the short run (“we’ll document that later when we have more time”) at the cost of more work later, lack of documentation needed for audits and compliance verification, and the greater risk of service outages and data breaches. Organizations that adopt a lifecycle approach build appropriate self-documenting processes into each step of the lifecycle. We will now look at how these principles and practices can be implemented in each of the five stages of a security policy management lifecycle. Schedule a Demo Stage 1: Discover & visualize The first stage of the security policy management lifecycle is Discover & Visualize. This phase is key to successful security policy management. It gives IT organizations an accurate, up-to-date mapping of their application connectivity across on-premises, cloud, and software-defined environments. Without this information, IT staff are essentially working blind, and will inevitably make mistakes and encounter problems down the line. While discovery may sound easy, for most IT organizations today it is extremely difficult to perform. As discussed earlier, most enterprises have hundreds or thousands of systems in their enterprise infrastructure. Servers and devices are constantly being added, removed, upgraded, consolidated, distributed, virtualized, and moved to the cloud. Few organizations can maintain an accurate, up-to-date map of their application connectivity and network topology, and it can take months to gather this information manually Fortunately, security policy management solutions can automate the application connectivity discovery, mapping, and documentation processes (see Figure 2). These products give network and security staffs an up-to-date map of their application connectivity and network topology, eliminating many of the errors caused by out-of-date (or missing) information about systems, connectivity flows, and firewall rules. In addition, the mapping process can help business and technical groups develop a shared understanding of application connectivity requirements. Figure 2: Auto discover, map and visualize application connectivity and security infrastructure Schedule a Demo Stage 2: Plan & assess Once an enterprise has a clear picture of its application connectivity and network infrastructure, it can effectively start to plan changes. The Plan & Assess stage of the lifecycle includes activities that ensure that proposed changes will be effective in providing the required connectivity, while minimizing the risks of introducing vulnerabilities, causing application outages, or violating compliance requirements. Typically, this stage involves: Translating business application connectivity requests, typically defined in business terms, into networking terminology that security staff can understand and implement. Analyzing the network topology, to determine if the requested changes are really needed (typically 30% of requests require no changes). Conducting a proactive impact analysis of proposed rule changes to understand in advance how they will affect other applications and processes. Performing a risk and compliance assessment, to make sure that the changes don’t open security holes or cause compliance violations (see Figure 3). Assessing inputs from vulnerabilities scanners and SIEM solutions to understand business risk. Many organizations perform these activities only periodically, in conjunction with audits or as part of a major project. They omit impact analysis for “minor” change requests and even when they perform risk assessments, they often focus on firewall rules and ignore the wider business application implications. Yet automating these analysis and assessment activities and incorporating them as part of a structured lifecycle process helps keep infrastructure and security data up to date, which saves time overall and prevents bad decisions from being made based on outdated information. It also ensures that key steps are not omitted, since even a single configuration error can cause a service outage or set the stage for a security breach. Impact analysis is particularly valuable when cloud-based applications and services are part of the project as it is often extremely difficult to predict the effect of rule changes when deployed to the cloud. Figure 3: Proactively assess risk and compliance for each security policy change Schedule a Demo Stage 3: Migrate & deploy The process of deploying connectivity and security rules can be extremely labor-intensive when it involves dozens of firewalls, routers, and other network security devices. It is also very error-prone. A single “fat-finger” typing mistake can result in an outage or a hole in the security perimeter. Security policy management solutions automate critical tasks during this stage of the lifecycle, including: Designing rule changes intelligently based on security, compliance and performance considerations. Automatically migrating these rules using intuitive workflows (see Figure 4). Pushing policies to firewalls and other security devices, both on-premise and on cloud platforms – with zero touch if no exceptions are detected (see Figure 5). Validating that the intended changes have been implemented correctly. Many enterprises overlook the validation process and fail to check that rule changes have been pushed to devices and activated successfully. This can create the false impression that application connectivity has been provided, or that vulnerabilities have been removed, when in fact there are time bombs ticking in the infrastructure. By automating these tasks, IT organizations can speed up application deployments, as well as ensure that rules are accurate and consistent across different security devices. Automated deployment also eliminates the need to perform many routine maintenance tasks and therefore frees up security professionals for more strategic tasks. Figure 4: Automate firewall rule migration through easy-to-use workflows Figure 5: Deploy security changes directly onto devices with zero touch Schedule a Demo Stage 4: Maintain In the rush to support new applications and technologies, many IT security teams ignore, forget or put off activities related to monitoring and maintaining their security policy – despite the fact that most firewalls accumulate thousands of rules and objects which become out-of-date or obsolete over the years. Typical symptoms of cluttered and bloated rulesets include: Overly permissive rules that create gaps in the network security perimeter which cybercriminals can use to attack the enterprise. Excessively complicated tasks in areas such as change management, troubleshooting and auditing. Excessive audit preparation costs to prove that compliance requirements are being met, or conversely audit failures because overly permissive rules allow violations. Slower network performance, because proliferating rules overload network and security devices. Decreased hardware lifespan and increased TCO for overburdened security devices. Cleaning up and optimizing security policies on an ongoing basis can prevent these problems (see Figure 6). Activities include: Identifying and eliminating or consolidating redundant and conflicting rules. Tightening rules that are overly permissive (for example, allowing network traffic from ANY source to connect to ANY destination using ANY protocol). Reordering rules for better performance. Recertifying expired rules based on security and business needs (see Figure 7). Continuously documenting security rules and their compliance with regulations and corporate policies. Figure 6: Automatically clean up and optimize security policies Automating these maintenance activities helps IT organizations move towards a “clean,” well-documented set of security rules so they can prevent business application outages, compliance violations, security holes, and cyberattacks. It also reduces management time and effort. Another key benefit of ongoing maintenance of security policy rules is that it significantly reduces audit preparation efforts and costs by as much as 80% (see Figure 8). Preparing firewalls for a regulatory or internal audit is a tedious, time-consuming and error-prone process. Moreover, while an audit is typically a point-in-time exercise, most regulations today require enterprises to be continually compliant, which can be difficult to achieve with bloated and ever-changing rule bases. Figure 7: Review and recertify rules based on security and business needs Figure 8: Significantly reduce audit preparation efforts and costs with automated audit reports Schedule a Demo Stage 5: Decommission Every business application eventually reaches the end of its life. At that point some or all of its security policies become redundant. Yet when applications are decommissioned, their policies are often left in place, either from oversight or out of fear that removing policies could negatively affect active business applications. These obsolete or redundant security policies increase the enterprise’s attack vector and add clutter, without providing any business value.A lifecycle approach to managing application connectivity and security policies reduces the risk of application outages and data breaches caused by obsolete rules. It provides a structured and automated process for identifying and safely removing redundant firewall rules as soon as applications are decommissioned, while verifying that their removal will not impact active applications or create compliance violations (see Figure 9). Figure 9: Automatically and safely remove redundant firewall rules when applications are decommissioned Schedule a Demo Summary Network and security operations should never be a bottleneck to business agility, and must be able to respond rapidly to the ever-changing needs of the business. The solution is to move away from a reactive, fire-fighting response to business challenges and adopt a proactive lifecycle approach to managing application connectivity and security policies that will enable IT organizations to achieve critical business objectives such as: Increasing business agility by speeding up the delivery of business continuity and business transformation initiatives. Reducing the risk of application outages due to errors when creating and deploying connectivity and security rules. Reducing the risk of security breaches caused by gaps in security and compliance policies and overly permissive security rules. Freeing up network and security professionals from routine tasks so they can work on strategic projects. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec AlgoSec is a global cybersecurity company and the industry’s only application connectivity and security policy management expert. With almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management, over 1,800 of the world’s most complex organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks. Let's start your journey to our business-centric network security. Schedule a Demo Select a size Introduction Why is it so hard to manage application and network connectivity? The lifecycle approach to managing application connectivity and security policies Stage 1: Discover & visualize Stage 2: Plan & assess Stage 3: Migrate & deploy Stage 4: Maintain Stage 5: Decommission Summary About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network