Ransomware attacks have become more sophisticated, as attackers change tactics from spray and pray to more targeted server based attacks So how do you protect your network from such attacks Webinars Reducing Risk of Ransomware Attacks - Back to Basics Did you know that 50% of organizations were hit by ransomware attacks in 2020? These attacks have become more sophisticated, as attackers change tactics from “spray and pray” to more targeted server-based attacks. So how do you protect your network from such attacks? We invite you to join our series of webinars about ransomware with AlgoSec and Cisco, to learn practical methods to reduce your network attack surface and protect your organization from ransomware and other cyber-attacks. In our first webinar in the series, Yitzy Tannenbaum, Product Marketing Manager from AlgoSec and Jan Heijdra, Cisco Security Specialist , will take you back to the basics. They will discuss: Popular methods used to infect your network with ransomware The importance of a layered defense-in-depth strategy Best practices for managing your security devices How to build a security wall with Cisco Secure and AlgoSec Network Security Policy Management to block ransomware January 13, 2021 Jan Heijdra Cisco Security Specialist Yitzy Tannenbaum Product Marketing Manager Relevant resources Reducing your risk of ransomware attacks Keep Reading Ransomware Attack: Best practices to help organizations proactively prevent, contain and Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Discover how global customers use Algosec to enhance their network security, streamline operations, and ensure continuous compliance. Our customers Financial Services Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more We empower the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network. NCR Nationwide Insurance Testimonial See what people who use AlgoSec have to say about it Read customers stories Filter by industry All industries Energy and Utilities Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more Government Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more Motor Vehicles Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more Technology Read the story Read the story Show more Retail and Consumer Goods Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more Telecom, IT, MSSP Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Read the story Show more Transportation Read the story Show more 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

Security Policy Management with Professor Wool Firewall Management 201 Firewall Management with Professor Wool is a whiteboard-style series of lessons that examine the challenges of and provide technical tips for managing security policies in evolving enterprise networks and data centers. Lesson 1 In this lesson, Professor Wool discusses his research on different firewall misconfigurations and provides tips for preventing the most common risks. Examining the Most Common Firewall Misconfigurations Watch Lesson 2 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines the challenges of managing firewall change requests and provides tips on how to automate the entire workflow. Automating the Firewall Change Control Process Watch Lesson 3 In this lesson, Professor Wool offers some recommendations for simplifying firewall management overhead by defining and enforcing object naming conventions. Using Object Naming Conventions to Reduce Firewall Management Overhead Watch Lesson 4 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines some tips for including firewall rule recertification as part of your change management process, including questions you should be asking and be able to answer as well as guidance on how to effectively recertify firewall rules Tips for Firewall Rule Recertification Watch Lesson 5 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines how virtualization, outsourcing of data centers, worker mobility and the consumerization of IT have all played a role in dissolving the network perimeter and what you can do to regain control. Managing Firewall Policies in a Disappearing Network Perimeter Watch Lesson 6 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines some of the challenges when it comes to managing routers and access control lists (ACLs) and provides recommendations for including routers as part of your overall security policy with tips on change management, auditing and ACL optimization. Analyzing Routers as Part of Your Security Policy Watch Lesson 7 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines the complex challenges of accurately simulating network routing, specifically drilling into three options for extracting the routing information from your network: SNMP, SSH and HSRP or VRPP. Examining the Challenges of Accurately Simulating Network Routing Watch Lesson 8 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines the complex challenges of accurately simulating network routing, specifically drilling into three options for extracting the routing information from your network: SNMP, SSH and HSRP or VRPP. NAT Considerations When Managing Your Security Policy Watch Lesson 9 In this lesson, Professor Wool explains how you can create templates - using network objects - for different types of services and network access which are reused by many different servers in your data center. Using this technique will save you from writing new firewall rules each time you provision or change a server, reduce errors, and allow you to provision and expand your server estate more quickly. How to Structure Network Objects to Plan for Future Policy Growth Watch Lesson 10 In this lesson, Professor Wool examines the challenges of migrating business applications and physical data centers to a private cloud and offers tips to conduct these migrations without the risk of outages. Tips to Simplify Migrations to a Virtual Data Center Watch Lesson 11 In this lesson, Professor Wool provides the example of a virtualized private cloud which uses hypervisor technology to connect to the outside world via a firewall. If all worksloads within the private cloud share the same security requirements, this set up is adequate. But what happens if you want to run workloads with different security requirements within the cloud? Professor Wool explains the different options for filtering traffic within a private cloud, and discusses the challenges and solutions for managing them. Tips for Filtering Traffic within a Private Cloud Watch Lesson 12 In this lesson Professor Wool discusses ways to ensure that your security policy on your primary site and on your disaster recovery (DR) site are always sync. He presents multiple scenarios: where the DR and primary site use the exact same firewalls, where different vendor solutions or different models are used on the DR site, and where the IP address is or is not the same on the two sites. Managing Your Security Policy for Disaster Recovery Watch Lesson 13 In this lesson, Professor Wool highlights the challenges, benefits and trade-offs of utilizing zero-touch automation for security policy change management. He explains how, using conditional logic, its possible to significantly speed up security policy change management while maintaining control and ensuring accuracy throughout the process. Zero-Touch Change Management with Checks and Balances Watch Lesson 14 Many organizations have different types of firewalls from multiple vendors, which typically means there is no single source for naming and managing network objects. This ends up creating duplication, confusion, mistakes and network connectivity problems especially when a new change request is generated and you need to know which network object to refer to. In this lesson Profession Wool provides tips and best practices for how to synchronize network objects in a multi-vendor environment for both legacy scenarios, and greenfield scenarios. Synchronized Object Management in a Multi-Vendor Environment Watch Lesson 15 Many organizations have both a firewall management system as well as a CMDB, yet these systems do not communicate with each other and their data is not synchronized. This becomes a problem when making security policy change requests, and typically someone needs to manually translate the names used by in the firewall management system to the name in the CMDB, which is a slow and error-prone process, in order for the change request to work. In this lesson Professor Wool provides tips on how to use a network security policy management to coordinate between the two system, match the object names, and then automatically populate the change management process with the correct names and definitions. How to Synchronize Object Management with a CMDB Watch Lesson 16 Some companies use tools to automatically convert firewall rules from an old firewall, due to be retired, to a new firewall. In this lesson, Professor Wool explains why this process can be risky and provides some specific technical examples. He then presents a more realistic way to manage the firewall rule migration process that involves stages and checks and balances to ensure a smooth, secure transition to the new firewall that maintains secure connectivity. How to Take Control of a Firewall Migration Project Watch Lesson 17 PCI-DSS 3.2 regulation requirement 6.1 mandates that organizations establish a process for identifying security vulnerabilities on the servers that are within the scope of PCI. In this new lesson, Professor Wool explains how to address this requirement by presenting vulnerability data by both the servers and the by business processes that rely on each server. He discusses why this method is important and how it allows companies to achieve compliance while ensuring ongoing business operations. PCI – Linking Vulnerabilities to Business Applications Watch Lesson 18 Collaboration tools such as Slack provide a convenient way to have group discussions and complete collaborative business tasks. Now, these automated chatbots can be used for answering questions and handling tasks for development, IT and infosecurity teams. For example, enterprises can use chatbots to automate information-sharing across silos, such as between IT and application owners. So rather than having to call somebody and ask them “Is that system up? What happened to my security change request?” and so on, tracking helpdesk issues and the status of help requests can become much more accessible and responsive. Chatbots also make access to siloed resources more democratic and more widely available across the organization (subject, of course to the necessary access rights). In this video, Prof. Wool discusses how automated chatbots can be used to help a wide range of users for their security policy management tasks – thereby improving service to stakeholders and helping to accelerate security policy change processes across the enterprise. Sharing Network Security Information with the Wider IT Community With Team Collaboration Tools Watch Have a Question for Professor Wool? Ask him now 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

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? 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

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

Attacks on water treatment plants show just how vulnerable critical infrastructure is to hacking – here’s how these vital services should... Cyber Attacks & Incident Response Stop hackers from poisoning the well: Protecting critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks Tsippi Dach 2 min read Tsippi Dach Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 3/31/21 Published Attacks on water treatment plants show just how vulnerable critical infrastructure is to hacking – here’s how these vital services should be protected. Criminals plotting to poison a city’s water supply is a recurring theme in TV and movie thrillers, such as 2005’s Batman Begins. But as we’ve seen recently, it’s more than just a plot device: it’s a cyber-threat which is all too real. During the past 12 months, there have been two high-profile attacks on water treatment systems that serve local populations, both with the aim of causing harm to citizens. The first was in April 2020, targeting a plant in Israel . Intelligence sources said that hackers gained access to the plant and tried altering the chlorine levels in drinking water – but luckily the attack was detected and stopped. And in early February, a hacker gained access to the water system of Oldsmar, Florida and tried to pump in a dangerous amount of sodium hydroxide. The hacker succeeded in starting to add the chemical, but luckily a worker spotted what was happening and reversed the action. But what could have happened if those timely interventions had not been made? These incidents are a clear reminder that critical national infrastructure is vulnerable to attacks – and that those attacks will keep on happening, with the potential to impact the lives of millions of people.  And of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted how essential critical infrastructure is to our daily lives. So how can better security be built into critical infrastructure systems, to stop attackers being able to breach them and disrupt day-to-day operations?  It’s a huge challenge, because of the variety and complexity of the networks and systems in use across different industry sectors worldwide. Different systems but common security problems For example, in water and power utilities, there are large numbers of cyber-physical systems consisting of industrial equipment such as turbines, pumps and switches, which in turn are managed by a range of different industrial control systems (ICS). These were not designed with security in mind:  they are simply machines with computerized controllers that enact the instructions they receive from operators.  The communications between the operator and the controllers are done via IP-based networks – which, without proper network defenses, means they can be accessed over the Internet – which is the vector that hackers exploit. As such, irrespective of the differences between ICS controls, the security challenges for all critical infrastructure organizations are similar:  hackers must be stopped from being able to infiltrate networks; if they do succeed in breaching the organization’s defenses, they must be prevented from being able to move laterally across networks and gain access to critical systems. This means  network segmentation  is one of the core strategies for securing critical infrastructure, to keep operational systems separate from other networks in the organization and from the public Internet and surround them with security gateways so that they cannot be accessed by unauthorized people. In the attack examples we mentioned earlier, properly implemented segmentation would prevent a hacker from being able to access the PC which controls the water plant’s pumps and valves. With damaging ransomware attacks increasing over the past year, which also exploit internal network connections and pathways to spread rapidly and cause maximum disruption,  organizations should also employ security best-practices to block or limit the impact of ransomware attacks  on their critical systems. These best practices have not changed significantly since 2017’s massive WannaCry and NotPetya attacks, so organizations would be wise to check and ensure they are employing them on their own networks. Protecting critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks is a complex challenge because of the sheer diversity of systems in each sector.  However, the established security measures we’ve outlined here are extremely effective in protecting these vital systems – and in turn, protecting all of us. 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

Learn about how CSPM tools secure clouds, fix misconfigurations, and ensure compliance. CSPM Tools 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. Cloud security posture management (CSPM) explained Cloud adoption is peaking. Firmly mission-critical, the cloud is every enterprise’s go-to for robust IT operations. However, with every passing year, cloud environments become increasingly ephemeral, dynamic, and maze-like. Today’s federated multi- and hybrid cloud architectures may serve as a business engine, but they’re stacked with novel security and compliance risks that can potentially undermine their benefits. Since these architectures are so intertwined and interconnected, the smallest of cloud misconfigurations can lead to exploitable vulnerabilities, visibility gaps, and noncompliance incidents. Furthermore, in multi-vendor setups, shared responsibility models can be hard to decipher, complicating remediation. Mitigating cloud misconfigurations demands a dedicated security solution for c loud security posture management (CSPM). Integrating CSPM tools into your broader multi-cloud security stack can reinforce security and help maximize cloud adoption and investments. What is cloud security posture management (CSPM)? Cloud security posture management involves the use of cloud security solutions purpose-built to detect and remediate cloud misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. As cloud architectures proliferate and shapeshift, CSPM tools: Provide complete and continuous visibility across critical assets and resources Support consistent policy enforcement Detect configuration errors and drift CSPM tools have become essential to maintaining a robust security and compliance posture. This is reflected in the global CSPM tools market , projected to hit $8.6 billion by 2027, a CAGR of more than 15%. The best CSPM tools do more than catch cloud misconfigurations after incidents occur. Instead, they proactively scour cloud environments and pinpoint potential threats via contextualized risk analysis. They ensure your cloud is always secure and resilient—not just in the aftermath of security events. How do CSPM tools work? CSPM tools continuously assess cloud environments for risks. By identifying and remediating cloud misconfigurations in real time, they are a key weapon in the multi-cloud security arsenal. Leading CSPM tools can perform the following security functions: Identify every single cloud asset and build a consolidated cloud asset inventory across disparate services and vendors Cross-analyze every item in a cloud asset inventory against configuration benchmarks and baselines to validate policy enforcement Proactively monitor cloud environments to identify and curb configuration drift Identify hybrid and multi-cloud security risks, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities Employ contextualized risk analysis and cross-cloud correlation to ensure accurate risk prioritization and triage Offer automated remediation capabilities to mitigate cloud misconfigurations Provide continuous regulatory checks, compliance automation, and report generation for audits Below, we’ll discuss why these features are required in modern cloud ecosystems. Why CSPM tools are crucial for hybrid cloud and multi-cloud security Beyond knowing their core capabilities and how they operate, it’s important to understand why cloud security posture management solutions are non-negotiables in modern hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Complex cloud infrastructure Today, enterprise cloud setups are labyrinths, continuously increasing in complexity. According to Gartner , 9 out of 10 companies will have hybrid cloud architectures by 2027. The more complex cloud architectures are, the harder it becomes to achieve visibility, enforce policies, and prioritize risks. Generalist tools and legacy solutions will struggle to connect to these proliferating environments, making CSPM tools a pressing need. Proliferation of cloud misconfigurations With the proliferation of cloud environments comes the proliferation of cloud misconfigurations. Cloud misconfigurations include overprivileged identities, assets with weak credentials, and exposed storage buckets. Any of these exploitable cloud misconfigurations could result in major hybrid and multi-cloud security events. CSPM tools proactively address cloud misconfigurations, pruning the attack surface before incidents occur. Alert fatigue Handling security in dynamic cloud environments can be overwhelming. Security teams often suffer from alert fatigue, receiving alerts for hundreds of cloud misconfigurations without any way of knowing which ones are critical. Through contextualized risk analysis and accurate risk prioritization, CSPM tools surface the concerns that matter most. This context-based triage ensures that teams only receive alerts for high-risk cloud misconfigurations. Evolving regulatory requirements With new technologies like AI becoming business-critical, cloud regulations are evolving at unprecedented rates. Policy enforcement in accordance with criss-crossing compliance obligations becomes challenging, and reactive compliance strategies simply fail. CSPM tools, via automated compliance and stringent policy enforcement, help companies stay on top of today’s complicated regulatory landscape. Supply chain vulnerabilities Third-party risks are a major hybrid and multi-cloud security hurdle. The addition of numerous dependencies, APIs, and third-party components makes cloud environments susceptible to a wider range of cloud misconfigurations. Top CSPM tools shine a light on these serpentine supply chains, handing you the visibility needed to surface critical cloud misconfigurations, along with automated remediation and guidance to mitigate them. Recap: The benefits of robust CSPM tools Let’s review the advantages of commissioning a leading CSPM solution. Complete visibility: Unified, full-stack view of cloud resources, configurations, security controls, and policies Streamlined risk management: Proactive cloud evaluations, contextualized risk analysis, and automated remediation to diminish critical risks Stronger identity and access management: Continuous right-sizing of permissions across cloud identities, ensuring alignment with zero trust principles like least privilege Issue triage: Intelligent risk prioritization to escalate and mitigate only those cloud misconfigurations that are business-critical Fewer security incidents: Sustained mitigation of cloud misconfigurations, reducing exploitability and preventing escalation into data breaches and other major events Stronger compliance posture: Compliance automation to ensure that cloud configurations always align with regulatory baselines Business resilience and continuity: Accelerated remediation of critical cloud misconfigurations for stable IT operations Must-have features in CSPM tools When evaluating CSPM solutions, be on the lookout for the following non-negotiables. Feature Description Multi-cloud coverage Seamless interoperability and centralized policy enforcement, plus a unified view across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure assets, data, firewall rules, and security groups Cloud asset inventory Comprehensive discovery and classification of every single resource across multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments, including applications, networks, connectivity flows, data, serverless functions, and containerized workloads Cloud misconfiguration detection Continuous measurement of cloud settings against baselines and best practices to detect misconfigured assets, security vulnerabilities, and noncompliant resources Automated policy enforcement Intelligent automation to design, validate, and enforce cloud security policies without adding complexity or interrupting existing processes, tools, and workflows. Contextualized risk analysis + risk prioritization Intricate correlation to map cloud misconfigurations and network risks to business applications, enabling security teams to address risks based on asset criticality and actual threat exposure Automated remediation Automatic corrective mechanisms to fix cloud misconfigurations and remediation guidance for complex issues that require human intervention Compliance Automation Automated reporting and remediation to align policies, data practices, and cloud resources with regulations like GDPR, PCI DSS, and HIPAA, and prove adherence. DevSecOps and CI/CD integration Integrations with CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps workflows to reinforce shift left strategies and prevent cloud misconfigurations from seeping into production The future of CSPM As hybrid and multi-cloud security needs increase in scope and scale, market and technology trends suggest that CSPM tools will evolve alongside or even ahead of cloud security complexities. For starters, we are already seeing CSPM innovations involving the integration of more advanced AI and ML capabilities. AI-driven CSPM tools will not only match the dynamism of contemporary cloud environments, but also feature higher levels of accuracy in detecting and triaging cloud misconfigurations. What does this mean? Security will become inherently predictive, with advanced ML algorithms improving contextualized risk analysis and risk prioritization by deriving insights faster and from a broader spectrum of telemetry. Lastly, the best CSPM tools will transcend silos and integrate with broader cloud network and application security platforms. In summary, the future of CSPM is set to bring even more advanced hybrid and multi-cloud security capabilities. The priority for companies should be making sure they commission a CSPM tool from a reputable provider at the forefront of these future trends. Horizon ACE: AlgoSec’s ultimate AI-powered CSPM Companies today require a CSPM tool with comprehensive and cutting-edge coverage. Cloud security posture management involves many moving parts. AlgoSec covers them all. AlgoSec’s AI-driven Horizon ACE platform features a robust CSPM component, complemented by a CNAPP, Kubernetes security, and IaC scanning. Like all of AlgoSec’s security offerings, Horizon ACE also has an application-centric edge, which is crucial considering applications constitute the majority of business-critical cloud assets. Horizon ACE CSPM’s standout attributes include: Complete multi-cloud coverage Zero blind spots Continuous and customizable compliance monitoring Augmenting Horizon ACE's CSPM capabilities are the AlgoSec Security Management Suite (ASMS), with its flagship Horizon Security Analyzer, Horizon FireFlow, and Horizon AppViz. How do ASMS and ACE further support CSPM? By providing: Automated policy enforcement and management Application-centric visibility and security Advanced network security coverage Contextualized risk analysis and mapping Comprehensive compliance management Together, AlgoSec's ASMS and Horizon ACE are all that an enterprise needs to tackle multi-cloud security challenges and reinforce cloud operations. How Horizon ACE elevates CSPM Businesses are rapidly scaling their cloud operations to remain competitive and boost their bottom line. However, the cloud is both an engine and a security vulnerability. Failure to address cloud misconfigurations can cancel out every one of the radical benefits it brings. Dialing in the CSPM component of multi-cloud security paves the path for robust cloud performance, both now and in the future. AlgoSec's ASMS strengthens cloud application and network security, and Horizon ACE takes CSPM to the next level. From comprehensive cloud asset inventorying and automated remediation to compliance automation and CI/CD integration, Horizon ACE covers all CSPM bases. Want to see how Horizon ACE CSPM can boost your multi-cloud security program? Schedule a demo today. 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

Webinars Tightening security posture with micro-segmentation Micro-segmentation protects your network by limiting the lateral movement of ransomware and other threats in your network. Yet successfully implementing a defense-in-depth strategy using micro-segmentation may be complicated. In this second webinar in a series of two webinars about ransomware, Yitzy Tannenbaum, Product Marketing Manager from AlgoSec and Jan Heijdra, Cisco Security Specialist, will provide a blueprint to implementing micro-segmentation using Cisco Secure Workload (formerly Cisco Tetration) and AlgoSec Network Security Policy Management. Join our live webinar to learn: Why micro-segmentation is critical to fighting ransomware Understand your business applications to create your micro-segmentation policy Validate your micro-segmentation policy is accurate Enforce these granular policies on workloads and summarized policies across your infrastructure Use risk and vulnerability analysis to tighten your workload and network security Identify and manage security risk and compliance in your micro-segmented environment January 27, 2021 Jan Heijdra Cisco Security Specialist Yitzy Tannenbaum Product Marketing Manager Relevant resources Micro-segmentation – from strategy to execution Keep Reading Defining & Enforcing a Micro-segmentation Strategy Read Document Building a Blueprint for a Successful Micro-segmentation Implementation Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

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

Hospitals are increasingly becoming a favored target of cyber criminals. Yet if you think about medical equipment that is vulnerable to... Cyber Attacks & Incident Response Checking the cybersecurity pulse of medical devices Prof. Avishai Wool 2 min read Prof. Avishai Wool 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 6/14/16 Published Hospitals are increasingly becoming a favored target of cyber criminals. Yet if you think about medical equipment that is vulnerable to being hacked at a hospital, you might not immediately think of high-end, critical equipment such as MRI and X-ray scanners, and nuclear medicine devices. After all, these devices go through rigorous approval processes by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) before they are approved for safe use on patients. Yet today many, if not most, medical devices, have computers embedded in them, are connected to the hospital network, and often to the internet as well, so they provide a potential attack vector for cyber criminals. In late 2015 security researchers found that thousands of medical devices were vulnerable to attack and exposed to the public Internet. Interestingly, these researchers also found that many of the devices in question were running Windows XP – which is no longer supported or updated by Microsoft – and did not run antivirus software to protect them against malware. This combination raises an obvious security red flag. Ironically, these security vulnerabilities were further exacerbated because of the very FDA approvals process that certifies the devices. The approval process is, quite rightly, extremely rigorous. It is also lengthy and expensive. And if a manufacturer or vendor makes a change to a device, it needed to be re-certified. Until very recently, a ‘change’ to a medical device meant any sort of change – including patching devices’ operating systems and firmware to close off potential network security vulnerabilities. You can see where this is going: making simple updates to medical equipment to improve its defenses against cyberattacks was made that much more difficult and complex for the device manufacturers, because of the need for FDA re-certification every time a change was made. And of course, this potential delay in patching vulnerabilities made it easy for a hacker to try and ‘update’ the device in his own way, for criminal purposes. Hackers are usually not too concerned about getting FDA approval for their work. Fortunately, the FDA released new guidelines last year that allowed equipment manufacturers to patch software as required without undergoing re-certification—provided the change or modification does not ‘significantly affect the safety or effectiveness of the medical device’. That’s good news – but it’s not quite the end of the story. The FDA’s guidelines are only a partial panacea to the overall problem. They overlook the fact that many medical devices are running obsolete operating systems like Windows XP. What’s more, the actual process of applying patches to the computers in medical devices can vary enormously from manufacturer to manufacturer, with some patches needing to be downloaded and applied manually, while others may be pushed automatically. In either case, there could still be a window of weeks, months or even years before the device’s vendor issues a patch for a given vulnerability – a window that a hacker could exploit before the hospital’s IT team becomes aware that the vulnerability exists. This means that hospitals need to take great care when it comes to structuring and segmenting their network . It is vital that connected medical devices – particularly those where the internal OS may be out of date – are placed within defined, segregated segments of the network, and robustly protected with next-generation firewalls, web proxies and other filters. While network segmentation and filtering will not protect unpatched or obsolete operating system, they will ensure that the hospital’s network is secured to the best of its ability . 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

Convergence has been claimed. Security orgs merged their teams, aligned their titles, and drew the new boxes on the whiteboard. The... Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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 6/17/25 Published Convergence has been claimed. Security orgs merged their teams, aligned their titles, and drew the new boxes on the whiteboard. The result: security teams are now responsible for both cloud and on-premises network environments. But for many of those teams, compliance is still running on fumes. The reporting lines changed. The responsibilities increased. The oversight? Still patchy. The systems? Still fragmented. And the ability to demonstrate consistent policy enforcement across hybrid environments—where compliance lives or dies—has never been more at risk. This isn’t an edge case. It’s structural. And it’s quietly putting every converged team in a bind. The illusion of control If convergence was supposed to simplify compliance, most teams missed the memo. Cloud-native controls don’t sync with on-prem rule sets. Application deployments move faster than the audits tracking them. Policies drift. Risk assessments stall out. And when the next audit comes knocking, security teams are left reconciling evidence after the fact—manually stitching together logs, policies, and screenshots across tools that don’t talk to each other. The result? Ownership without visibility. Policy without context. Responsibility without control. Compliance at the application layer—or nowhere Security and compliance are often treated as parallel tracks. But in hybrid environments, they’re the same problem. The more distributed your network, the more fragmented your enforcement—and the harder it becomes to map controls to real business risk. What matters isn’t whether a port is open. It’s whether the application behind it should be reachable from that region, that VPC, or that user. That requires context. And today, context lives at the application layer. This is where AlgoSec Horizon changes the equation. AlgoSec Horizon is the first platform built to secure application connectivity across hybrid networks—with compliance embedded by design. Horizon: compliance that knows what it’s looking at With Horizon, compliance isn’t an add-on. It’s the outcome of deep visibility and policy awareness at the level that actually matters: the business application. Our customers are using Horizon to: Automatically discover and map every business application—including shadow IT and unapproved flows Simulate rule changes in advance, avoiding deployment errors that compromise compliance Track and enforce policies in context, with real-time validation against compliance frameworks Generate audit-ready reports across hybrid networks without assembling data by hand It’s compliance without the swivel chair. And it’s already helping converged teams move faster—without giving up control. Compliance can’t be an after-thought. Security convergence wasn’t the mistake. Stopping at structure was. When compliance is left behind, the risk isn’t just audit failure—it’s operational drag. Policy friction. Delays in application delivery. Missed SLAs. Because the real impact of compliance gaps isn’t found in the SOC—it’s found in the business outcomes that stall because security couldn’t keep pace. Horizon closes that gap. Because in a world of converged teams and hybrid environments, security has to operate with complete visibility—and compliance has to work at the speed of the application. 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

Protecting cloud-based applications and workloads requires robust security solutions such as CSPM, CIEM and CWPP. CNAPP tries to answer all 3 but how do you know which solution is right for your specific organization? Ava Chawla, AlgoSec’s Global Head of Cloud Security unravels the differences between them and shares her expert opinion on the solution that offers the most value for organizations. What is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)? A CSPM tool monitors the logs and configuration... Cloud Security CSPM vs. CNAPP: Which Solution to Choose? Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 11/24/22 Published Protecting cloud-based applications and workloads requires robust security solutions such as CSPM, CIEM and CWPP. CNAPP tries to answer all 3 but how do you know which solution is right for your specific organization? Ava Chawla, AlgoSec’s Global Head of Cloud Security unravels the differences between them and shares her expert opinion on the solution that offers the most value for organizations. What is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)? A CSPM tool monitors the logs and configuration files of the services you use in your cloud environment. It will scan the entire cloud environment to detect and prevent misconfiguration errors. This is important because configurations in the cloud happen quickly and just as quickly introduce new threats into the environment. For robust ongoing protection, you need to monitor the environment continuously and automatically. Here’s where CSPM comes in. The best CSPM solutions implement configuration best practices and automatically initiate corrective actions to remove risks, thus improving cloud security, ensuring adherence to compliance policies, and reducing the likelihood of breaches. Additionally, they are agentless, do not require long configuration, and don’t add to your cloud bills by utilizing additional cloud resources. What is Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)? In cloud environments, identity goes beyond users and groups. It also plays a vital role in managing all the resources and services that need to access data. All these accesses happen very quickly and constitute a complex web of interactions. It’s crucial to know when and between whom these interactions occur to ensure that only legitimate resources can access or modify data. But as your cloud resources increase, the complexity of entitlements also grows. It’s not easy to keep track of these entitlements or to maintain the security-focused principle of least privilege (PoLP). CIEM tools are specialized identity-centric solutions to manage cloud access risk and govern entitlements in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. With CIEM, you can manage entitlements across all your cloud resources and maintain PoLP to mitigate the risk created by granting excessive permissions to cloud resources. What is a Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)? CWPP solutions manage cloud applications and workloads. They can reach back into on- prem environments and thus effectively detect and prevent security problems like malware and vulnerabilities across the entire hybrid landscape. CWPP solutions can scale automatically and support your organization as your cloud environment grows or changes. What is a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP)? Each of these solutions are geared towards a specific area of cloud security. CSPM prevents misconfiguration errors, CIEM platforms manage cloud access risks, and CWPP protects your assets and workloads. But what if you want a single solution that can completely manage the security of your cloud environment? Try a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform . CNAPP solutions combine security posture management, workload protection, and entitlement management into one single platform to provide comprehensive, holistic security across multi-cloud environments. Thus, you can protect your entire cloud estate with one solution instead of having to implement and manage multiple point solutions. Another advantage of a CNAPP tool is that it will enable you to “shift left”. Thus, you can not only secure applications in production environments, but also manage the runtime and DevOps aspects of security. For this reason, these platforms are aimed at both security professionals and DevOps practitioners. Conclusion and Next Steps A CNAPP solution is the most comprehensive solution. However, in today’s market there is no one tool that truly covers all the functionalities that CNAPP promises. Therefore, each organization should choose the solution that fits its immediate needs, including taking other considerations into account such as the skill level and the maturity of its cloud adoption. One important thing to remember: Regardless of the solution you choose, make sure it’s agentless. Agentless is important in today’s cloud security because agent-based solutions are hard to manage, expensive, and intrusive. If you’re looking for a modern agentless CSPM with container protection to safeguard your cloud-based application and workload data, then Horizon ACE might be the best option for you. 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