Organizations no longer keep their data in one centralized location. Users and assets responsible for processing data may be located... Zero Trust How to Create a Zero Trust 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 2/12/24 Published Organizations no longer keep their data in one centralized location. Users and assets responsible for processing data may be located outside the network, and may share information with third-party vendors who are themselves removed from those external networks. The Zero Trust approach addresses this situation by treating every user, asset, and application as a potential attack vector whether it is authenticated or not. This means that everyone trying to access network resources will have to verify their identity, whether they are coming from inside the network or outside. What are the Zero Trust Principles and Concepts? The Zero Trust approach is made up of six core concepts that work together to mitigate network security risks and reduce the organization’s attack surface. 1. The principle of least privilege Under the Zero Trust model, network administrators do not provide users and assets with more network access than strictly necessary. Access to data is also revoked when it is no longer needed. This requires security teams to carefully manage user permissions , and to be able to manage permissions based on users’ identities or roles. The principle of least privilege secures the enterprise network ecosystem by limiting the amount of damage that can result from a single security failure. If an attacker compromises a user’s account, it won’t automatically gain access to a wide range of systems, tools, and workloads beyond what that account is provisioned for. This can also dramatically simplify the process of responding to security events, because no user or asset has access to assets beyond the scope of their work. 2. Continuous data monitoring and validation Zero trust policy assumes that there are attackers both inside and outside the network. To guarantee the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of network assets, it must continuously evaluate users and assets on the network. User identity and privileges must be checked periodically along with device identity and security. Organizations accomplish this in a variety of ways. Connection and login time-outs are one way to ensure periodic monitoring and validation since it requires users to re-authenticate even if they haven’t done anything suspicious. This helps protect against the risk of threat actors using credential-based attacks to impersonate authenticated users, as well as a variety of other attacks. 3. Device access control Organizations undergoing the Zero Trust journey must carefully manage and control the way users interact with endpoint devices. Zero Trust relies on verifying and authenticating user identities separately from the devices they use. For example, Zero Trust security tools must be able to distinguish between two different individuals using the same endpoint device. This approach requires fundamental changes to the way certain security tools work. For example, firewalls that allow or deny access to network assets based purely on IP address and port information aren’t sufficient. Most end users have more than one device at their disposal, and it’s common for mobile devices to change IP addresses. As a result, the cybersecurity tech stack needs to be able to grant and revoke permissions based on the user’s actual identity or role. 4. Network micro segmentation Network segmentation is a good security practice even outside the Zero Trust framework, but it takes on special significance when threats can come from inside and outside the network. Microsegmentation takes this one step further by breaking regular network segments down into small zones with their own sets of permissions and authorizations. These microsegments can be as small as a single asset, and an enterprise data center may have dozens of separately secured zones like these. Any user or asset with permission to access one zone will not necessarily have access to any of the others. Microsegmentation improves security resilience by making it harder for attackers to move between zones. 5. Detecting lateral movement Lateral movement is when threat actors move from one zone to another in the network. One of the benefits of micro segmentation is that threat actors must interact with security tools in order to move between different zones on the network. Even if the attackers are successful, their activities generate logs and audit trails that analysts can follow when investigating security incidents. Zero Trust architecture is designed to contain attackers and make it harder for them to move laterally through networks. When an attack is detected, the compromised asset can be quarantined from the rest of the network. Assets can be as small as individual devices or user accounts, or as large as entire network segments. The more granular your security architecture is, the more choices you have for detecting and preventing lateral movement on the network. 6. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) Passwords are a major problem for traditional security models, because most security tools automatically extend trust to anyone who knows the password. Once a malicious actor learns a privileged user’s login credentials, they can bypass most security checks by impersonating that user. Multi-factor authentication solves that problem by requiring users to provide more information. Knowing a password isn’t enough – users must authenticate by proving their identity in another way. These additional authentication factors can come in the form of biometrics, challenge/response protocols, or hardware-based verifications. How To Implement a Zero Trust Network 1. Map Out Your Attack Surface There is no one-size-fits-all solution for designing and implementing Zero Trust architecture. You must carefully define your organization’s attack surface and implement solutions that protect your most valuable assets. This will require a variety of tools, including firewalls, user access controls, permissions, and encryption. You will need to segment your network into individual zones and use microsegmentation to secure high-value and high-volume zones separately. Pay close attention to how your organization secures its most important assets and connections: Sensitive data . This might include customer and employee data, proprietary information, and intellectual property that you can’t allow threat actors to gain access to. It should benefit from the highest degree of security. Critical applications. These applications play a central role in your organization’s business processes, and must be protected against the risk of disruption. Many of them process sensitive data and must benefit from the same degree of security. Physical assets. This includes everything from customer-facing kiosks to hardware servers located in a data center. Access control is vital for preventing malicious actors from interacting with physical assets. Third-party services. Your organization relies on a network of partners and service providers, many of whom need privileged access to your data. Your Zero Trust policy must include safeguards against attacks that compromise third-party partners in your supply chain. 2. Implement Zero Trust Controls using Network Security Tools The next step in your Zero Trust journey is the implementation of security tools that allow you collect, analyze, and respond to user behaviors on your network. This may require the adjustment of your existing security tech stack, and the addition of new tools designed for Zero Trust use cases. Firewalls must be able to capture connection data beyond the traditional IP, port, and protocol data that most simple solutions rely on. The Zero Trust approach requires inspecting the identities of users and assets that connect with network assets, which requires more advanced firewall technology. This is possible with next generation firewall (NGFW) technology. VPNs may need to be reconfigured or replaced because they do not typically enforce the principle of least privilege. Usually, VPNs grant users access to the entire connected network – not just one small portion of it. In most cases, organizations pursuing Zero Trust stop using VPNs altogether because they no longer provide meaningful security benefits. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) provides secure access to network resources while concealing network infrastructure and services. It is similar to a software-defined perimeter that dynamically responds to network changes and grants flexibility to security policies. ZTNA works by establishing one-to-one encrypted connections between network assets, making imprecise VPNs largely redundant. 3. Configure for Identity and Access Management Identity-based monitoring is one of the cornerstones of the Zero Trust approach. In order to accurately grant and revoke permissions to users and assets on the network, you must have some visibility into the identities behind the devices being used. Zero Trust networks verify user identities in a variety of ways. Some next-generation firewalls can distinguish between user traffic, device traffic, application traffic, and content. This allows the firewall to assign application sessions to individual users and devices, and inspect the data being transmitted between individuals on networks. In practice, this might mean configuring a firewall to compare outgoing content traffic with an encrypted list of login credentials. If a user accidentally logs onto a spoofed phishing website and enters their login credentials, the firewall can catch the data before it is transferred off the network. This would not be possible without the ability to distinguish between different types of traffic using next-generation firewall technology. Multi-factor authentication is also vital to identity and access management. A Zero Trust network should not automatically authenticate a user who presents the correct username and password combination to access a secure account. This does not prove the identity of the individual who owns the account – it only proves that the individual knows the username and password. Additional verification factors make it more likely that this person is, in fact, the owner of the account. 4. Create a Zero Trust Policy for Your IT Environment The process of implementing Zero Trust policies in cloud-native environments can be complex. Every third-party vendor and service provider has a role to play in establishing and maintaining Zero Trust. This often puts significant technical demands on third-party partners, which may require organizations to change their existing agreements. If a third-party partner cannot support Zero Trust, they can’t be allowed onto the network. The same is true for on-premises and data center environments, but with added emphasis on physical security and access control. Security leaders need to know who has physical access to servers and similar assets so they can conduct investigations into security incidents properly. Data centers need to implement strict controls on who interacts with protected equipment and how their access is supervised. How to Operationalize Zero Trust Your Zero Trust implementation will not automatically translate to an operational security context that you can immediately use. You will need to adopt security operations that reflect the Zero Trust strategy and launch adaptive security measures that address vulnerabilities in real-time. Gain visibility into your network. Your network perimeter is no longer strictly defined by its hardware. It consists of cloud resources, automated workflows, operating systems, and more. You won’t be able to enforce Zero Trust without gaining visibility into every aspect of your network environment. Monitor network infrastructure and traffic. Your security team will need to monitor and respond to access requests coming from inside and outside your network. This can lead to significant bottlenecks if your team is not equipped with solutions for automatically managing network traffic and access. Streamline detection and response. Zero Trust networks mitigate the risks of cyberattacks, malware, ransomware, and other potential threats, but it’s still up to individual security analysts to detect and investigate security incidents. The volume of data analysts must inspect may increase significantly, so you should be prepared to mitigate the issue of alert fatigue. Automate Endpoint Security. Consider implementing an automated Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution that can identify malicious behaviors on network devices and address them in real-time. Implement Zero Trust With AlgoSec AlgoSec is a global cybersecurity leader that provides secure application connectivity and policy management through a unified platform. It aligns with Zero Trust principles to provide comprehensive traffic flow analysis and optimization while automated policy changes and eliminating the risk of compliance violations. Security leaders rely on AlgoSec to implement and operationalize Zero Trust deployments while proactively managing complex security policies . AlgoSec can help you establish a Zero Trust network quickly and efficiently, providing visibility and change management capabilities to your entire security tech stack and enabling security personnel to address misconfiguration risks in real-time. Book a demo now to find out how AlgoSec can help you adopt Zero Trust security and prevent attackers from infiltrating your organization. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? 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Case Study Logisticas Horizon Platform released in July 2026. This paper refers to previous product offerings. Download PDF Download PDF Add a Title Add a Title Add a Title Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

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

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Yitzy Tannenbaum, Product Marketing Manager at AlgoSec, discusses how AWS customers can leverage AlgoSec for AWS to easily migrate... Uncategorized Migrating to AWS in six simple steps Yitzy Tannenbaum 2 min read Yitzy Tannenbaum 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 12/1/20 Published Yitzy Tannenbaum, Product Marketing Manager at AlgoSec, discusses how AWS customers can leverage AlgoSec for AWS to easily migrate applications Public cloud platforms bring a host of benefits to organizations but managing security and compliance can prove complex. These challenges are exacerbated when organizations are required to manage and maintain security across all controls that make up the security network including on-premise, SDN and in the public cloud. According to a Gartner study , 81% of organizations are concerned about security, and 57% about maintaining regulatory compliance in the public cloud. AlgoSec’s partnership with AWS helps organizations overcome these challenges by making the most of AWS’ capabilities and providing solutions that complement the AWS offering, particularly in terms of security and operational excellence. And to make things even easier, AlgoSec is now available in AWS Marketplace. Accelerating complex application migration with AlgoSec Many organizations choose to migrate workloads to AWS because it provides unparalleled opportunities for scalability, flexibility, and the ability to spin-up new servers within a few minutes. However, moving to AWS while still maintaining high-level security and avoiding application outages can be challenging, especially if you are trying to do the migration manually, which can create opportunities for human error. We help simplify the migration to AWS with a six-step automated process, which takes away manual processes and reduces the risk of error: Step 1 – AlgoSec automatically discovers and maps network flows to the relevant business applications. Step 2- AlgoSec assesses the changes in the application connectivity required to migrate it to AWS. Step 3- AlgoSec analyzes, simulates and computes the necessary changes, across the entire hybrid network (over firewalls, routers, security groups etc.), including providing a what-if risk analysis and compliance report. Step 4- AlgoSec automatically migrates the connectivity flows to the new AWS environment. Step 5 – AlgoSec securely decommissions old connectivity. Step 6- The AlgoSec platform provides ongoing monitoring and visibility of the cloud estate to maintain security and operation of policy configurations or successful continuous operation of the application. Gain control of hybrid estates with AlgoSec Security automation is essential if organizations are to maintain security and compliance across their hybrid environments, as well as get the full benefit of AWS agility and scalability. AlgoSec allows organizations to seamlessly manage security control layers across the entire network from on-premise to cloud services by providing Zero-Touch automation in three key areas. First, visibility is important, since understanding the network we have in the cloud helps us to understand how to deploy and manage the policies across the security controls that make up the hybrid cloud estate. We provide instant visibility, risk assessment and compliance, as well as rule clean-up, under one unified umbrella. Organizations can gain instant network visibility and maintain a risk-free optimized rule set across the entire hybrid network – across all AWS accounts, regions and VPC combinations, as well as 3rd party firewalls deployed in the cloud and across the connection to the on-prem network. Secondly, changes to network security policies in all these diverse security controls can be managed from a single system, security policies can be applied consistently, efficiently, and with a full audit trail of every change. Finally, security automation dramatically accelerates change processes and enables better enforcement and auditing for regulatory compliance. It also helps organizations overcome skill gaps and staffing limitations. Why Purchase Through AWS Marketplace? AWS Marketplace is a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors (ISVs). It makes it easy for organizations to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), giving them a further option to benefit from AlgoSec. The new listing also gives organizations the ability to apply their use of AlgoSec to their AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) spend commitment. With the addition of AlgoSec in AWS Marketplace, customers can benefit from simplified sourcing and contracting as well as consolidated billing, ultimately resulting in cost savings. It offers organizations instant visibility and in-depth risk analysis and remediation, providing multiple unique capabilities such as cloud security group clean-ups, as well as central policy management. This strengthens enterprises’ cloud security postures and ensures continuous audit-readiness. Ready to Get Started? The addition of AlgoSec in AWS Marketplace is the latest development in the relationship between AlgoSec and AWS and is available for businesses with 500 or more users. Visit the AlgoSec AWS Marketplace listing for more information or contact us to discuss it further. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 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 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

Discover five essential tips for securing your network in 2021 with Algosec's network security experts. Webinars 5 power tips to keep your network secure in 2021 No one could have predicted how unpredictable 2020 would be, so we’re here to help you get prepared for whatever is in store in 2021. No matter what happens in the upcoming year – there are five things you can do now to keep your network secure in 2021. Join network security experts Jade Kahn and Asher Benbenisty, and learn how to: Never fly blind: Ensure visibility across your entire hybrid network Do more with less: Accelerate digital transformation & avoid misconfigurations with automation Stay continuously compliant Fight ransomware with micro-segmentation Accelerate in the cloud January 13, 2021 Jade Kahn CMO Asher Benbenisty Director of product marketing Relevant resources 5 Network Security Management Predictions for 2020 Watch Video Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Learn how to unify, consolidate, and automate your entire network security policy management across your Cisco and multi vendor estate Webinars Cisco & AlgoSec Achieving application-driven security across your hybrid network Your network extends into hybrid environments and may include private clouds running Cisco ACI, and on-premises devices. Managing network security policies in your multi-vendor estate is complex. Because your network is made up of multiple vendors and each part of your network estate is managed in its own silo, it is tough to get centralized management of your entire network. Making changes is a chore and validating security is difficult. Learn how to unify, consolidate, and automate your entire network security policy management across your Cisco and multi-vendor estate. In this session Roxana Diaz, Worldwide Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco, and Yonatan Klein, AlgoSec’s Director of Product, will discuss how to manage the Cisco and multi-cloud estate and how to: Capitalize on your Cisco ACI investment to take advantage of its full capabilities Bring centralized visibility, automation, and compliance monitoring into your Cisco and multi-vendor network ecosystem Get full visibility of your entire hybrid network estate, including items within the Cisco ACI security environment, as well as outside it, including Cisco firewalls and routers, as well as multi-vendor devices. Take advantage of Cisco Tetration Analytics and AlgoSec’s intelligent discovery to get a full picture of your network and application traffic and to design and provision a micro-segmentation network policy design. Unify, consolidate, and automate your network security policy management Proactively assess risk throughout your entire network, including Cisco ACI contracts, and recommend the necessary changes to eliminate misconfigurations and compliance violations June 10, 2020 Yonatan Klein irector of Product Management Roxana Diaz Worldwide Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco Relevant resources AlgoSec Joins Cisco’s Global Price List Keep Reading Migrating and Managing Security Policies in a Segmented Data Center Keep Reading AlgoSec Cisco ACI App Center Demo Watch Video Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

In the previous parts of our blog ( part I and part II ), we have described the most important parts of the Sunburst backdoor... Cloud Security Sunburst Backdoor, Part III: DGA & Security Software 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 12/22/20 Published In the previous parts of our blog ( part I and part II ), we have described the most important parts of the Sunburst backdoor functionality and its Domain Generation Algorithm (DGA). This time, let’s have a deeper look into the passive DNS requests reported by Open-Source Context and Zetalytics . The valid DNS requests generated by the malware fall into 2 groups: DNS requests that encode a local domain name DNS requests that encode data The first type of DNS requests allows splitting long domain names into separate requests. These requests are generated by the malware’s functions GetPreviousString() and GetCurrentString() . In general, the format of a DNS request that encodes a domain name may look like: USER_ID.NUM.COMPUTER_DOMAIN[.]appsync-api.us-west-2[.]avsvmcloud[.]com where: USER_ID is an 8-byte user ID that uniquely identifies a compromised host, encoded as a 15-character string NUM is a number of a domain name – either 0 or 1, encoded as a character COMPUTER_DOMAIN is an encoded local computer domain Let’s try decoding the following 3 DNS requests: olc62cocacn7u2q22v02eu.appsync-api.us-west-2.avsvmcloud.com r1qshoj05ji05ac6eoip02jovt6i2v0c.appsync-api.us-west-2.avsvmcloud.com lt5ai41qh5d53qoti3mkmc0.appsync-api.us-west-2.avsvmcloud.com String 1 Let’s start from the 1st string in the list: olc62cocacn7u2q22v02eu.appsync-api.us-west-2.avsvmcloud.com. In this string, the first 15-character string is an encoded USER_ID : “olc62cocacn7u2q” . Once it is base-64 decoded, as explained in the previous post, it becomes a 9-byte byte array: 86 7f 2f be f9 fb a3 ae c4 The first byte in this byte array is a XOR key: 0x86 . Once applied to the 8 bytes that follow it, we get the 8-byte user ID – let’s take a note and write it down, we will need it later: f9 a9 38 7f 7d 25 28 42 Next, let’s take the NUM part of the encoded domain: it’s a character “2” located at the position #15 (starting from 0) of the encrypted domain. In order to decode the NUM number, we have to take the first character of the encrypted domain, take the reminder of its division by 36 , and subtract the NUM ‘s position in the string “0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz” : num = domain[0] % 36 – “0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz”.IndexOf(domain.Substring(15, 1)); The result is 1 . That means the decrypted domain will be the 2nd part of a full domain name. The first part must have its NUM decoded as 0. The COMPUTER_DOMAIN part of the encrypted domain is “2v02eu” . Once decoded, using the previously explained method, the decoded computer domain name becomes “on.ca” . String 2 Let’s decode the second passive DNS request from our list: r1qshoj05ji05ac6eoip02jovt6i2v0c.appsync-api.us-west-2.avsvmcloud.com Just as before, the decoded 8-byte user ID becomes: f9 a9 38 7f 7d 25 28 42 The NUM part of the encoded domain, located at the position #15 (starting from 0), is a character “6” . Let’s decode it, by taking the first character ( “r” = 114 ), take the reminder of its division by 36 ( 114 % 36 = 6 ), and subtracting the position of the character “6” in the “0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz” , which is 6 . The result is 0 . That means the decrypted domain will be the 1st part of the full domain name. The COMPUTER_DOMAIN part of the encrypted domain is “eoip02jovt6i2v0c” . Once decoded, it becomes “city.kingston.” Next, we need to match 2 decrypted domains by the user ID, which is f9 a9 38 7f 7d 25 28 42 in both cases, and concatenate the first and the second parts of the domain. The result will be “city.kingston.on.ca” . String 3 Here comes the most interesting part. Lets try to decrypt the string #3 from our list of passive DNS requests: lt5ai41qh5d53qoti3mkmc0.appsync-api.us-west-2.avsvmcloud.com The decoded user ID is not relevant, as the decoded NUM part is a number -29 . It’s neither 0 nor 1 , so what kind of domain name that is? If we ignore the NUM part and decode the domain name, using the old method, we will get “thx8xb” , which does not look like a valid domain name. Cases like that are not the noise, and are not some artificially encrypted artifacts that showed up among the DNS requests. This is a different type of DNS requests. Instead of encoding local domain names, these types of requests contain data. They are generated by the malware’s function GetNextStringEx() . The encryption method is different as well. Let’s decrypt this request. First, we can decode the encrypted domain, using the same base-64 method, as before . The string will be decoded into 14 bytes: 7c a5 4d 64 9b 21 c1 74 a6 59 e4 5c 7c 7f Let’s decode these bytes, starting from the 2nd byte, and using the first byte as a XOR key. We will get: 7c d9 31 18 e7 5d bd 08 da 25 98 20 00 03 In this array, the bytes marked in yellow are an 8-byte User ID, encoded with a XOR key that is selected from 2 bytes marked in red. Let’s decode User ID: for ( int i = 0 ; i < 8 ; i++) { bytes[i + 1 ] ^= bytes[ 11 - i % 2 ]; } The decoded byte array becomes: 7c f9 a9 38 7f 7d 25 28 42 25 98 20 00 03 The User ID part in marked in yellow. Does it look familiar? Indeed, it’s the same User ID we’ve seen before, when we decoded “city.kingston.on.ca” . The next 3 bytes marked in red are: 25 98 20 . 2 0x59820 The first number 2 stands for the size of data that follows – this data is 00 03 (selected in green). The number 0x59820 , or 366,624 in decimal, is a timestamp. It’s a number of 4-second periods of time since 1 January 2010. To obtain the real time stamp, we need to multiple it by 15 to get minutes, then add those minutes to 1 January 2010: var date = ( new DateTime( 2010 , 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 , DateTimeKind.Utc)).AddMinutes(timestamp * 15 ); For the number 0x59820 , the time stamp becomes 16 July 2020 12:00:00 AM – that’s the day when the DNS request was made. The remaining 2 bytes, 00 03 , encrypt the state of 8 security products, to indicate whether each one of them is running or whether it is stopped. The 8 security products are: Windows Live OneCare / Windows Defender Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Microsoft Defender for Identity Carbon Black CrowdStrike FireEye ESET F-Secure 2 states for 8 products require 2 * 8 = 16 bits = 2 bytes. The 2 bytes 00 03 in binary form are: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 11 Here, the least-significant bits 11 identify that the first product in the list, Windows Live OneCare / Windows Defender, is reported as ‘running’ ( 1 ) and as ‘stopped’ ( 1 ). Now we know that apart from the local domain, the trojanised SolarWinds software running on the same compromised host on “city.kingston.on.ca” domain has also reported the status of the Windows Defender software. What Does it Mean? As explained in the first part of our description, the malware is capable of stopping the services of security products, be manipulating registry service keys under Administrator account. It’s likely that the attackers are using DNS queries as a C2 channel to first understand what security products are present. Next, the same channel is used to instruct the malware to stop/deactivate these services, before the 2nd stage payload, TearDrop Backdoor, is deployed. Armed with this knowledge, let’s decode other passive DNS requests, printing the cases when the compromised host reports a running security software. NOTES: As a private case, if the data size field is 0 or 1 , the timestamp field is not followed with any data. Such type of DNS request is generated by the malware’s function GetNextString() . It is called ‘a ping’ in the listing below. If the first part of the domain name is missing, the recovered domain name is pre-pended with ‘*’ . The malware takes the time difference in minutes, then divides it by 30 and then converts the result from double type to int type; as a result of such conversion, the time stamps are truncated to the earliest half hour. 2D82B037C060515C SFBALLET Data: Windows Live OneCare / Windows Defender [running] 11/07/2020 12:00:00 AM Pings: 12/07/2020 12:30:00 AM 70DEE5C062CFEE53 ccscurriculum.c Data: ESET [running] 17/04/2020 4:00:00 PM Pings: 20/04/2020 5:00:00 PM AB902A323B541775 mountsinai.hospital Pings: 4/07/2020 12:30:00 AM 9ACC3A3067DC7FD5 *ripta.com Data: ESET [running] 12/09/2020 6:30:00 AM Pings: 13/09/2020 7:30:00 AM 14/09/2020 9:00:00 AM CB34C4EBCB12AF88 DPCITY.I7a Data: ESET [running] 26/06/2020 5:00:00 PM Pings: 27/06/2020 6:30:00 PM 28/06/2020 7:30:00 PM 29/06/2020 8:30:00 PM 29/06/2020 8:30:00 PM E5FAFE265E86088E *scroot.com Data: CrowdStrike [running] 25/07/2020 2:00:00 PM Pings: 26/07/2020 2:30:00 PM 26/07/2020 2:30:00 PM 27/07/2020 3:00:00 PM 27/07/2020 3:00:00 PM 426030B2ED480DED *kcpl.com Data: Windows Live OneCare / Windows Defender [running] 8/07/2020 12:00:00 AM Carbon Black [running] 8/07/2020 12:00:00 AM Full list of decoded pDNS requests can be found here . An example of a working implementation is available at this repo. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 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 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 environments are complex and dynamic. Due to the complexity and multifacetedness of cloud technologies, cloud-native applications are challenging to safeguard. As a result, security teams use multiple security solutions, like CWPP and CSPM, to protect applications. The problem with this approach is that handling multiple security tools is laborious, time-consuming, and inefficient. Cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is a new cloud security solution that promises to... Cloud Security What is a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) Ava Chawla 2 min read Ava Chawla Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 11/24/22 Published Cloud environments are complex and dynamic. Due to the complexity and multifacetedness of cloud technologies, cloud-native applications are challenging to safeguard. As a result, security teams use multiple security solutions, like CWPP and CSPM, to protect applications. The problem with this approach is that handling multiple security tools is laborious, time-consuming, and inefficient. Cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is a new cloud security solution that promises to solve this problem. What is CNAPP? A cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is an all-in-one tool with the capabilities of different cloud-native security tools. It combines the security features of multiple tools and provides comprehensive protection – from the development and configuration stages to deployment and runtime. Container security is here to stay A CNAPP combines CSPM, CIEM, IAM, CWPP, and more in one tool. It streamlines cloud security monitoring, threat detection, and remediation processes. The all-in-one platform gives organizations better visibility into threats and vulnerabilities. Instead of using multiple tools to receive alerts and formulate a remediation plan, a CNAPP minimizes complexity and enables security teams to monitor and draw insights from a single platform. How Does CNAPP Work and Why is it So Important to Have? This new cloud security approach offers the capabilities of multiple security tools in one software. Some of these security functions include Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Scanning, Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP), Cloud Network Security Connectivity (CNSC), and Kubernetes Security Posture Management (CIEM). The all-in-one platform centralizes insights, enabling security professionals to monitor and analyze data from the same space. A CNAPP identifies risks with strong context, provides detailed alerts, and offers automation features to fix vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. A CNAPP is essential because it reduces complexity and minimizes overhead. Given how complex and dynamic the cloud environments are, organizations are faced with enormous security threats. Enterprises deploy applications on multiple private and public clouds leveraging various dynamic, mixed technologies. This makes securing cloud assets significantly challenging. To cope with the complexity, security operations teams rely on multiple cloud security solutions. SecOps use various solutions to protect modern development practices, such as containers, Kubernetes, serverless functions, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code (IaC). This approach has been helpful. That said, it’s laborious and inefficient. In addition to not providing a broad view of security risks, dealing with multiple tools negatively impacts accuracy and decreases productivity. Having to correlate data from several platforms leads to errors and delayed responses. A CNAPP takes care of these problems by combining the functionalities of multiple tools in one software. It protects every stage of the cloud application lifecycle, from development to runtime. Leveraging advanced analytics and remediation automation, CNAPPs help organizations address cloud-native risks, harden applications, and institute security best practices. What Problems Does a CNAPP Solve? This new category of cloud application security tool is revolutionizing the cybersecurity landscape. It solves major challenges DevSecOps have been dealing with. That said, a CNAPP helps security teams to solve the following problems. 1. Enhancing Visibility and Quantifying Risks A CNAPP offers a broader visibility of security risks. It leverages multiple security capabilities to enable DevOps and DevSecOps to spot and fix potential security issues throughout the entire application lifecycle. The all-in-one security platform enables teams to keep tabs on all cloud infrastructures ( like apps, APIs, and classified data) and cloud services (like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud). In addition, it provides insights that help security teams to quantify risks and formulate data-driven remediation strategies. 2. Combined Cloud Security Solution A CNAPP eliminates the need to use multiple cloud-native application protection solutions. It provides all the features needed to detect and solve security issues. Scanning, detection, notification, and reporting are consolidated in one software. This reduces human error, shortens response time, and minimizes the cost of operation. 3. Secure Software Development It reinforces security at every stage of the application lifecycle. The tool helps DevOps teams to shift left, thus minimizing the incidence of vulnerabilities or security issues at runtime. 4. Team Collaboration Collaboration is difficult and error-prone when teams are using multiple tools. Data correlation and analysis take more time since team members have more than one tool to deal with. A CNAPP is a game-changer! It has advanced workflows, data correlation, analytics, and remediation features. These functionalities enhance team collaboration and increase productivity. What are CNAPP Features and Capabilities/Key Components of CNAPP? Even though the features and capabilities of CNAPPs differ (based on vendors), there are key components an effective CNAPP should have. That being said, here are the seven key components: Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) A CSPM solution focuses on maintaining proper cloud configuration. It monitors, detects, and fixes misconfigurations & compliance violations. CSPM monitors cloud resources and alerts security teams when a non-compliant resource is identified. Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Scanning IaC Scanning enables the early detection of errors (misconfigurations) in code. Spotting misconfigurations before deployment helps to avoid vulnerabilities at runtime. This tool is used to carry out some kind of code review. The purpose is to ensure code quality by scanning for vulnerable points, compliance issues, and violations of policies. Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) Cloud workload protection platform (CSPM) secures cloud workloads, shielding your resources from security threats. CSPM protects various workloads, from virtual machines (VMs) and databases to Kubernetes and containers. A CWPP monitors and provides insights to help security teams prevent security breaches. Cloud Network Security Connectivity (CNSC) Cloud Network Security Connectivity (CNSC) provides complete real-time visibility and access to risks across all your cloud resources and accounts. This cloud security solution allows you to explore the risks, activate security rules, and suppress whole risks or risk triggers, export risk trigger details, access all network rules in the context of their policy sets and create risk reports. Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM) Kubernetes security posture management (KSPM) capability enables organizations to maintain standard security posture by preventing Kubernetes misconfigurations and compliance violations. KSPM solution, similar to Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), automates Kubernetes security, reinforces compliance, identifies misconfigurations, and monitors Kubernetes clusters to ensure maximum security. Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) A Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) tool is used to administer permissions and access policies. To maintain the integrity of cloud and multi-cloud environments, identities and access privileges must be regulated. This is where CIEM comes in! CIEM solutions, also known as Cloud permissions Management Solutions, help organizations prevent data breaches by enforcing the principle of least privileges. Integration to Software Development Activities This component of CNAPP focuses on integrating cloud-native application protection solutions into the development phase to improve reliability and robustness in the CI/CD pipeline stage. What are the Benefits of CNAPP? Transitioning from using multiple cloud security tools to implementing a CNAPP solution can benefit your company in many ways. Some benefits include: 1. Streamlines Security Operations Managing multiple security tools decreases efficiency and leads to employee burnout. Correlating data from different software is laborious and error-prone. It prolongs response time. A CNAPP streamlines activities by giving security teams broad visibility from a single tool. This makes monitoring and remediation easier than ever – making security teams more efficient and productive. 2. Better Visibility into Risks A CNAPP provides better visibility into security risks associated with your cloud infrastructure. It covers all aspects of cloud-native application protection, providing security teams with the necessary insights to close security gaps, harden applications, and ward off threats. 3. Improves Security With Automation Risk detection and vulnerability management are automated. Automation of security tasks increases reliability, reduces human error, and enables rapid response to threats. It combines automation and advanced analytics to offer organizations accurate insights into risks. 4. Reduces the Number of Bug Fixes A CNAPP prevents vulnerabilities at runtime by detecting threats and errors in the CI/CD pipeline phases. This approach improves DevOps team productivity and decreases the number of bug fixes after deployment. In other words, shifting left ensures the deployment of high-quality code. 5. Reduces Overhead Costs If you want to cut down the cost of operation, consider choosing a CNAPP over CSPM and other standalone cloud security tools. It reduces overhead by eliminating the need to operate and maintain multiple cloud security solutions. AlgoSec CNAPP with Horizon ACE and CloudFlow Cloud environments are increasingly complex and dynamic. Maintaining secure cloud infrastructures has become more challenging than ever. Security teams rely on multiple tools to gain visibility into risks. CNAPPs promise to fix the challenges of using multiple solutions to protect cloud-native applications. Gartner, the first to describe the CNAPP category, encourages organizations to consider emerging CNAPP providers and adopt an all-in-one security approach that takes care of the entire life cycle of applications – covering development and runtime protection. Horizon ACE makes transitioning to a CNAPP a fantastic experience. Horizon ACE takes pride in helping organizations protect their cloud-native applications and other cloud assets. Horizon ACE’s agentless cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) offers increased risk visibility and enables security teams to reinforce best practices. Contact us to learn how we can help you manage your cloud security. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 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 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

In the fast-paced world of technology, where innovation drives success, organizations find themselves in a perpetual race to enhance their applications, captivate customers, and stay ahead of the competition. But as your organization launches its latest flagship CRM solution after months of meticulous planning, have you considered what happens beyond Day 0 or Day 1 of the rollout? Picture this: your meticulously diagrammed application architecture is in place, firewalls are fortified, and... Application Connectivity Management Navigating the complex landscape of dynamic app security with AlgoSec Horizon AppViz Malcom Sargla 2 min read Malcom Sargla 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 8/10/23 Published In the fast-paced world of technology, where innovation drives success, organizations find themselves in a perpetual race to enhance their applications, captivate customers, and stay ahead of the competition. But as your organization launches its latest flagship CRM solution after months of meticulous planning, have you considered what happens beyond Day 0 or Day 1 of the rollout? Picture this: your meticulously diagrammed application architecture is in place, firewalls are fortified, and cloud policies are strategically aligned. The application tiers are defined, the flows are crystal clear, and security guardrails are firmly established to safeguard your prized asset. The stage is set for success – until the application inevitably evolves, communicates, and grows. This dynamic nature of applications presents a new challenge: ensuring their security, compliance, and optimal performance while navigating a complex web of relationships. Do you know who your Apps are hanging out with? Enter AlgoSec Horizon AppViz – the game-changing solution that unveil the hidden intricacies of your application ecosystem, ensuring a secure and accelerated application delivery process. In a world where agility, insights, and outcomes reign supreme, Horizon AppViz offers a revolutionary approach to handling application security. The urgent need for application agility In a landscape driven by customer demands, competitive advantages, and revenue growth, organizations can’t afford to rest on their laurels. However, as applications become increasingly complex, managing them becomes a monumental task: – Infrastructure Complexity: Juggling on-premises, cloud, and multi-vendor solutions is a daunting endeavor. – Conflicting Demands: Balancing the needs of development, operations, and management often leads to a tug-of-war. – Rising Customer Expectations: Meeting stringent time-to-market and feature release demands becomes a challenge. – Resource Constraints : A scarcity of application, networking, and security resources hampers progress. – Instant Global Impact: A single misstep in application delivery or performance can be broadcasted worldwide in seconds. – Unseen Threats: Zero-day vulnerabilities and ever-evolving threat landscapes keep organizations on edge. The high stakes of ignoring dynamic application management Failure to adopt a holistic and dynamic approach to application delivery and security management can result in dire consequences for your business: – Delayed Time-to-Market: Lags in application deployment can translate to missed opportunities and revenue loss. – Revenue Erosion: Unsatisfied customers and delayed releases can dent your bottom line. – Operational Inefficiencies: Productivity takes a hit as resources are wasted on inefficient processes. – Wasted Investments: Ill-informed decisions lead to unnecessary spending. – Customer Dissatisfaction: Poor application experiences erode customer trust and loyalty. – Brand Erosion: Negative publicity from application failures tarnishes your brand image. – Regulatory Woes: Non-compliance and governance violations invite legal repercussions. The AlgoSec Horizon AppViz advantage So, how does Horizon AppViz address these challenges and fortify your application ecosystem? Let’s take a closer look at its groundbreaking features: – Dynamic Application Learning: Seamlessly integrates with leading security solutions to provide real-time insights into application paths and relationships. – Real-time Health Monitoring: Instantly detects and alerts you to unhealthy application relationships. – Intelligent Policy Management: Streamlines security policy control, ensuring compliance and minimizing risk. – Automated Provisioning: Safely provisions applications with verified business requirements, eliminating uncertainty. – Micro-Segmentation Mastery: Enables precise micro-segmentation, enhancing security without disrupting functionality. – Vulnerability Visibility: Identifies and helps remediate vulnerabilities within your business-critical applications. In a world where application agility is paramount, AlgoSec Horizon AppViz emerges as the bridge between innovation and security. With its robust features and intelligent insights, Horizon AppViz empowers organizations to confidently navigate the dynamic landscape of application security, achieving business outcomes that set them apart in a fiercely competitive environment. Request a demo and embrace the future of application agility – embrace AlgoSec Horizon AppViz. Secure, accelerate, and elevate your application delivery today. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 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 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

Firewalls form the first line of defense against intrusive hackers trying to infiltrate internal networks and steal sensitive data. They... Firewall Change Management 5 Types of Firewalls for Enhanced Network Security Asher Benbenisty 2 min read Asher Benbenisty 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 10/25/23 Published Firewalls form the first line of defense against intrusive hackers trying to infiltrate internal networks and steal sensitive data. They act as a barrier between networks, clearly defining the perimeters of each. The earliest generation of packet-filter firewalls were rudimentary compared to today’s next-generation firewalls, but cybercrime threats were also less sophisticated. Since then, cybersecurity vendors have added new security features to firewalls in response to emerging cyber threats. Today, organizations can choose between many different types of firewalls designed for a wide variety of purposes. Optimizing your organization’s firewall implementation requires understanding the differences between firewalls and the network layers they protect. How Do Firewalls Work? Firewalls protect networks by inspecting data packets as they travel from one place to another. These packets are organized according to the transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), which provides a standard way to organize data in transit. This protocol is a concise version of the more general OSI model commonly used to describe computer networks. These frameworks allow firewalls to interpret incoming traffic according to strictly defined standards. Security experts use these standards to create rules that tell firewalls what to do when they detect unusual traffic. The OSI model has seven layers: Application Presentation Session Transport Network Data link Physical Most of the traffic that reaches your firewall will use one of the three major Transport layer protocols in this model, TCP, UDP, or ICMP. Many security experts focus on TCP rules because this protocol uses a three-step TCP handshake to provide a reliable two-way connection. The earliest firewalls only operated on the Network Layer, which provides information about source and destination IP addresses, protocols, and port numbers. Later firewalls added Transport Layer and Application Layer functionality. The latest next-generation firewalls go even further, allowing organizations to enforce identity-based policies directly from the firewall. Related Read : Host-Based vs. Network-Based Firewalls 1. Traditional Firewalls Packet Filtering Firewalls Packet-filtering firewalls only examine Network Layer data, filtering out traffic according to the network address, the protocol used, or source and destination port data. Because they do not inspect the connection state of individual data packets, they are also called stateless firewalls. These firewalls are simple and they don’t support advanced inspection features. However, they offer low latency and high throughput, making them ideal for certain low-cost inline security applications. Stateful Inspection Firewalls When stateful firewalls inspect data packets, they capture details about active sessions and connection states. Recording this data provides visibility into the Transport layer and allows the firewall to make more complex decisions. For example, a stateful firewall can mitigate a denial-of-service attack by comparing a spike in incoming traffic against rules for making new connections – stateless firewalls don’t have a historical record of connections to look up. These firewalls are also called dynamic packet-filtering firewalls. They are generally more secure than stateless firewalls but may introduce latency because it takes time to inspect every data packet traveling through the network. Circuit-Level Gateways Circuit-level gateways act as a proxy between two devices attempting to connect with one another. These firewalls work on the Session layer of the OSI model, performing the TCP handshake on behalf of a protected internal server. This effectively hides valuable information about the internal host, preventing attackers from conducting reconnaissance into potential targets. Instead of inspecting individual data packets, these firewalls translate internal IP addresses to registered Network Address Translation (NAT) addresses. NAT rules allow organizations to protect servers and endpoints by preventing their internal IP address from being public knowledge. 2. Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) Traditional firewalls only address threats from a few layers in the OSI model. Advanced threats can bypass these Network and Transport Layer protections to attack web applications directly. To address these threats, firewalls must be able to analyze individual users, devices, and data assets as they travel through complex enterprise networks. Next-generation firewalls achieve this by looking beyond the port and protocol data of individual packets and sessions. This grants visibility into sophisticated threats that simpler firewalls would overlook. For example, a traditional firewall may block traffic from an IP address known for conducting denial-of-service attacks. Hackers can bypass this by continuously changing IP addresses to confuse and overload the firewall, which may allow routing malicious traffic to vulnerable assets. A next-generation firewall may notice that all this incoming traffic carries the same malicious content. It may act as a TCP proxy and limit the number of new connections made per second. When illegitimate connections fail the TCP handshake, it can simply drop them without causing the organization’s internal systems to overload. This is just one example of what next-gen firewalls are capable of. Most modern firewall products combine a wide variety of technologies to provide comprehensive perimeter security against comprehensive cyber attacks. How do NGFWs Enhance Network Security? Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) : NGFWs go beyond basic packet filtering by inspecting the content of data packets. They analyze the actual data payload and not just header information. This allows them to identify and block threats within the packet content, such as malware, viruses, and suspicious patterns. Application-Level Control : NGFWs can identify and control applications and services running on the network. This enables administrators to define and enforce policies based on specific applications, rather than just port numbers. For example, you can allow or deny access to social media sites or file-sharing applications. Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) : NGFWs often incorporate intrusion prevention capabilities. They can detect and prevent known and emerging cyber threats by comparing network traffic patterns against a database of known attack signatures. This proactive approach helps protect against various cyberattacks. Advanced Threat Detection: NGFWs use behavioral analysis and heuristics to detect and block unknown or zero-day threats. By monitoring network traffic for anomalies, they can identify suspicious behavior and take action to mitigate potential threats. U ser and Device Identification : NGFWs can associate network traffic with specific users or devices, even in complex network environments. This user/device awareness allows for more granular security policies and helps in tracking and responding to security incidents effectively. Integration with Security Ecosystem : NGFWs often integrate with other security solutions, such as antivirus software, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and security information and event management (SIEM) systems. This collaborative approach provides a multi-layered defense strategy . Security Automation : NGFWs can automate threat response and mitigation. For example, they can isolate compromised devices from the network or initiate other predefined actions to contain threats swiftly. In a multi-layered security environment, these firewalls often enforce the policies established by security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platforms. Content Filtering : NGFWs can filter web content, providing URL filtering and content categorization. This helps organizations enforce internet usage policies and block access to potentially harmful or inappropriate websites. Some NGFWs can even detect outgoing user credentials (like an employee’s Microsoft account password) and prevent that content from leaving the network. VPN and Secure Remote Access : NGFWs often include VPN capabilities to secure remote connections. This is crucial for ensuring the security of remote workers and branch offices. Advanced firewalls may also be able to identify malicious patterns in external VPN traffic, protecting organizations from threat actors hiding behind encrypted VPN providers. Cloud-Based Threat Intelligence : Many NGFWs leverage cloud-based threat intelligence services to stay updated with the latest threat information. This real-time threat intelligence helps NGFWs identify and block emerging threats more effectively. Scalability and Performance : NGFWs are designed to handle the increasing volume of network traffic in modern networks. They offer improved performance and scalability, ensuring that security does not compromise network speed. Logging and Reporting : NGFWs generate detailed logs and reports of network activity. These logs are valuable for auditing, compliance, and forensic analysis, helping organizations understand and respond to security incidents. 3. Proxy Firewalls Proxy firewalls are also called application-level gateways or gateway firewalls. They define which applications a network can support, increasing security but demanding continuous attention to maintain network functionality and efficiency. Proxy firewalls provide a single point of access allowing organizations to assess the threat posed by the applications they use. It conducts deep packet inspection and uses proxy-based architecture to mitigate the risk of Application Layer attacks. Many organizations use proxy servers to segment the parts of their network most likely to come under attack. Proxy firewalls can monitor the core internet protocols these servers use against every application they support. The proxy firewall centralizes application activity into a single server and provides visibility into each data packet processed. This allows the organization to maintain a high level of security on servers that make tempting cyberattack targets. However, these servers won’t be able to support new applications without additional firewall configuration. These types of firewalls work well in highly segmented networks that allow organizations to restrict access to sensitive data without impacting usability and production. 4. Hardware Firewalls Hardware firewalls are physical devices that secure the flow of traffic between devices in a network. Before cloud computing became prevalent, most firewalls were physical hardware devices. Now, organizations can choose to secure on-premises network infrastructure using hardware firewalls that manage the connections between routers, switches, and individual devices. While the initial cost of acquiring and configuring a hardware firewall can be high, the ongoing overhead costs are smaller than what software firewall vendors charge (often an annual license fee). This pricing structure makes it difficult for growing organizations to rely entirely on hardware devices. There is always a chance that you end up paying for equipment you don’t end up using at full capacity. Hardware firewalls offer a few advantages over software firewalls: They avoid using network resources that could otherwise go to value-generating tasks. They may end up costing less over time than a continuously renewed software firewall subscription fee. Centralized logging and monitoring can make hardware firewalls easier to manage than complex software-based deployments. 5. Software Firewalls Many firewall vendors provide virtualized versions of their products as software. They typically charge an annual licensing fee for their firewall-as-a-service product, which runs on any suitably provisioned server or device. Some software firewall configurations require the software to be installed on every computer in the network, which can increase the complexity of deployment and maintenance over time. If firewall administrators forget to update a single device, it may become a security vulnerability. At the same time, these firewalls don’t have their own operating systems or dedicated system resources available. They must draw computing power and memory from the devices they are installed on. This leaves less power available for mission-critical tasks. However, software firewalls carry a few advantages compared to hardware firewalls: The initial subscription-based cost is much lower, and many vendors offer a price structure that ensures you don’t pay for resources you don’t use. Software firewalls do not take up any physical space, making them ideal for smaller organizations. The process of deploying software firewalls often only takes a few clicks. With hardware firewalls, the process can involve complex wiring and time-consuming testing. Advanced Threats and Firewall Solutions Most firewalls are well-equipped to block simple threats, but advanced threats can still cause problems. There are many different types of advanced threats designed to bypass standard firewall policies. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) often compromise high-level user accounts and slowly spread throughout the network using lateral movement. They may move slowly, gathering information and account credentials over weeks or months before exfiltrating the data undetected. By moving slowly, these threats avoid triggering firewall rules. Credential-based attacks bypass simple firewall rules by using genuine user credentials to carry out attacks. Since most firewall policies trust authenticated users, attackers can easily bypass rules by stealing user account credentials. Simple firewalls can’t distinguish between normal traffic and malicious traffic by an authenticated, signed-in user. Malicious insiders can be incredibly difficult to detect. These are genuine, authenticated users who have decided to act against the organization’s interest. They may already know how the firewall system works, or have privileged access to firewall configurations and policies. Combination attacks may target multiple security layers with separate, independent attacks. For example, your cloud-based firewalls may face a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack while a malicious insider exfiltrates information from the cloud. These tactics allow hackers to coordinate attacks and cover their tracks. Only next-generation firewalls have security features that can address these types of attack. Anti-data exfiltration tools may prevent users from sending their login credentials to unsecured destinations, or prevent large-scale data exfiltration altogether. Identity-based policies may block authenticated users from accessing assets they do not routinely use. Firewall Configuration and Security Policies The success of any firewall implementation is determined by the quality of its security rules. These rules decide which types of traffic the firewall will allow to pass, and what traffic it will block. In a modern network environment, this is done using four basic types of firewall rules: Access Control Lists (ACLs). These identify the users who have permission to access a certain resource or asset. They may also dictate which operations are allowed on that resource or asset. Network Address Translation (NAT) rules. These rules protect internal devices by hiding their original IP address from the public Internet. This makes it harder for hackers to gain unauthorized access to system resources because they can’t easily target individual devices from outside the network. Stateful packet filtering . This is the process of inspecting data packets in each connection and determining what to do with data flows that do not appear genuine. Stateful firewalls keep track of existing connections, allowing them to verify the authentication of incoming data that claims to be part of an already established connection. Application-level gateways. These firewall rules provide application-level protection, preventing hackers from disguising malicious traffic as data from (or for) an application. To perform this kind of inspection, the firewall must know what normal traffic looks like for each application on the network, and be able to match incoming traffic with those applications. Network Performance and Firewalls Firewalls can impact network performance and introduce latency into networks. Optimizing network performance with firewalls is a major challenge in any firewall implementation project. Firewall experts use a few different approaches to reduce latency and maintain fast, reliable network performance: Installing hardware firewalls on high-volume routes helps, since separate physical devices won’t draw computing resources away from other network devices. Using software firewalls in low-volume situations where flexibility is important. Sometimes, being able to quickly configure firewall rules to adapt to changing business conditions can make a major difference in overall network performance. Configuring servers to efficiently block unwanted traffic is a continuous process. Server administrators should avoid overloading firewalls with denied outbound requests that strain firewalls at the network perimeter. Firewall administrators should try to distribute unwanted traffic across multiple firewalls and routers instead of allowing it to concentrate on one or two devices. They should also try reducing the complexity of the firewall rule base and minimize overlapping rules. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 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 Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... 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Avivi Siman-Tov, Director of Product Management at AlgoSec, discusses the benefits of network automation and takes us through a... Firewall Change Management Change automation: A step-by-step guide to network security policy change management Avivi Siman Tov 2 min read Avivi Siman Tov 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 10/21/21 Published Avivi Siman-Tov, Director of Product Management at AlgoSec, discusses the benefits of network automation and takes us through a step-by-step process to standardize change management In today’s fast-paced, data-driven environment, the only constant that businesses can bank on is change. For organizations to function and compete in the modern digital landscape, they need their data to be able to move freely and unobstructed through every branch of their business, unimpeded by security issues that require constant manual attention. The network is arguably the beating heart of an organization but keeping it ticking requires more maintenance than it once did, owing to constantly changing risk profiles and circumstances. That’s why a greater number of businesses are turning to change automation to bridge the gap between network alerts and the action that needs to be taken. Barriers to automation According to Gartner , organizations that can automate more than 70% of their network changes can reduce the number of outages by at least 50% and deliver services up to 50% faster. That’s because a lot of legacy solutions tend to take a reactive rather than proactive approach to dealing with security. There are multiple controls in place that simply don’t talk to each other. While most businesses get alerts from SIEM solutions and vulnerability scanners, responding to them turns into a full-time job, distracting your team from other important work they could be doing. Most organizations know that manual policy changes impact their productivity, but they’re afraid to take the leap to automation because of an ill-placed perception around security. Production environments in all organizations are maintained by different teams — for example, DevOps, maintenance, cloud security, IT, and more. Not all of these teams are educated to the same level in security matters, and some see it as a constraint that slows their work. This can lead to conflict between teams, which means that automation is not always welcome. Despite some resistance to change, enterprise-wide change automation makes it possible to transform network security policies without needing to reinvent the wheel or replace existing business processes. Automation and actionable intelligence are proven to enhance security and business agility without the stress often associated with misconfigurations caused by manual, ad-hoc processes. A typical network change workflow By elevating firewall change management from a manual, arduous task to a fully automated, zero-touch process, networks can become more agile and organizations far more adaptive. There are several steps that organizations need to take towards complete network security automation, from a simple change request through to implementation and validation. Let’s take a look at the most common steps in establishing automation for a simple change request. Step 1 – Request a network change Every change begins with a request. At this stage, you need to clarify who is asking for the amendment and why because sometimes the request is unnecessary or covered by an existing ruleset. Step 2 – Find relevant security devices Once this request is translated, the change automation platform will handle the request and implement the changes to hybrid networks. The administrator will be able to see which firewall and routing devices are involved and what impact the change will have. Step 3 – Plan change The change automation platform understands how to deal with different vendor-specific settings and how to implement the requests in a way that avoids creating any duplicates. Step 4 – Risk check The administrator will get a ‘ what if’ analysis, which checks the change for any risks. In this phase, the decision as to whether to allow the change and expose the network to the risk mentioned is in the hands of the network admin or security manager, depending on who is handling this phase. Step 5 – Push change to device Once planned changes are approved, the ‘magic’ happens. The change automation platform implements and pushes the changes to the desired devices automatically, either through APIs or directly to the device (CLI). This is a fully automated action that can be conducted on multiple devices, whether cloud-based or on-premises. The push can be done in a scheduled manner, in your maintenance window, or on-demand. Step 6 – Validate change At the end of each request, the solution will check that the request was successfully implemented across all devices. The solution also provides ongoing audits of the whole process, enabling easy checking of each stage. Step 7 – Documentation and logging Network security automation platforms can provide you with a full, automated audit trail. Documentation happens on the go, saving IT and security teams time and accelerating tedious network compliance management tasks. Put your trust in network automation While change management is complex stuff, the decision for your business is simple. It’s like the engine of an expensive car. Would you drive at high speeds if you didn’t have your brakes tested or a steering wheel to keep your course straight? Hopefully, the answer is no. With AlgoSec FireFlow , you can automate the security policy change process without introducing any element of risk, vulnerability, or compliance violation. AlgoSec FireFlow allows you to analyze every change before it is introduced, and validate successful changes as intended, all within your existing IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions . By putting your trust in us we can put you firmly in the driving seat with zero-touch change management and secure application deployment. For more information, or to arrange a demo , visit our website . Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? 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