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Discover seamless IaC security scanning with AlgoSec s Prevasio Protect your cloud infrastructure effortlessly Learn more now Enhance DevOps with automated IaC security scanning Leverage a single tool and policy for seamless collaborationbetween developers and security teams Schedule a demo Schedule a demo Watch a video End-to-end cloud configuration management Leverage Prevasio's advanced capabilities to identify misconfigurations within your IaC templates . We support a range of compliance frameworks covering technologies such as Terraform and Kubernetes. End-to-end network security control management Consolidate and streamline network security controls, including security groups and Azure firewalls, into one centralized system. Easily manage multiple clouds, accounts, regions, and VPC/VNETs, to save time and minimize misconfigurations by handling similar security controls through a single security policy. End-to-end container lifecycle management Utilize Prevasio's mitigation rules including domain, country, CVE and open port coverage, to perform container image scanning during the build phase to block the inclusion of non-compliant images in the registry. Ensure compliance with continuous scanning. Get the latest insights from the experts cloud-security-prevasio-iac-security-scanning Read blog Bridging the DevSecOps Application Connectivity Disconnect via IaC Read blog Mitigating cloud security risks through comprehensive automated solutions Read blog Schedule time and secure your cloud Schedule time and secure your cloud Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

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Learn best practices for effective network firewall security management. Enhance your security posture with proper configuration, monitoring, and maintenance. Network firewall security management What are network firewalls? Network firewalls are the first round of defense against a wide range of external threats. Firewall policies filter incoming traffic to protect the network ecosystem from cyberattacks. Network traffic that doesn’t meet filter criteria gets blocked. Security teams continually optimize their organization’s firewall configuration to address new and emerging threats. Schedule a Demo Network firewall security challenges Network infrastructure is more complex than ever before. In the early days, your network firewall sat at the perimeter of your data center. Today, you may have a variety of firewalls operating on-premises, in public and private clouds, in a software-defined network, or a multi-cloud hybrid environment. Security leaders face four main challenges when implementing, maintaining and improving firewall performance: Complexity – The more individual firewall solutions your network relies on, the harder it is to analyze, configure, and scale firewall-related workflows. Visibility – The traffic flows over your network are complex. Lack of visibility over traffic flows makes managing firewall policies more difficult. Automation – Network firewalls have hundreds of security policies. Spread over multiple devices, manual management is difficult and time-consuming. Automation of network security management is the solution. Compliance – Proper configuration of your network security devices is a common regulatory requirement. Make sure you can demonstrate compliance. 1. Managing firewall configuration in a complex environment Since early networks were mostly on-premises, managing firewall configuration changes in real-time was simple. Once the cybersecurity team identified firewall changes they wanted to make, a single employee could upload those changes to the organization’s Cisco PIX device and call it a day. Today’s networks simply don’t work that way. They are designed to be scalable, supporting a wide range of endpoint devices and cloud-based applications with a much wider attack surface than ever before. Security teams must protect their networks against a more sophisticated set of attacks, including malware that leverages zero-day vulnerabilities and other unknown threats. At the same time, they must accommodate both users and attackers equipped with modern security tools like VPNs. The modern organization must deploy a wide range of firewalls, including hardware devices physically connected to local routers, software firewalls for hybrid cloud environments, and next-generation firewalls equipped with analyzers that can proactively detect unknown threats. Security leaders need to streamline visibility into firewall configuration, orchestration, and management through a single pane of glass. This ensures optimal firewall performance for both on-premises and cloud security solutions, while freeing team members to spend more time on higher impact strategic security goals. 2. Firewall deployments can compromise visibility into security processes Modern organizations with complex network configurations often don’t enjoy deep visibility into their security processes and event outcomes. Many third-party managed security vendors don’t offer in-depth data about their processes at all. Security leaders are often asked to simply trust that vendors provide enough value to justify premium pricing. But losing visibility into security processes makes it extremely challenging to improve those processes. It puts security leaders in the uncomfortable position of defending security outcomes they don’t have adequate data to explain. In the event of a negative outcome, it’s almost impossible to explain exactly what went wrong and why. If a particular firewall policy is ultimately responsible for that outcome, security leaders need to know. Effective firewall security management isn’t possible without deep visibility into firewall policies, and how those rules impact day-to-day business operations in real-time. Obtaining this kind of visibility in a complex network environment is not easy, but it’s vital to long-term success. 3. Manual configuration changes are costly and error-prone Increasing configuration errors are another knock-on consequence of the trend towards bigger and more complex networks. Where early network security professionals only had to update firewall rules for a handful of devices, now they must accommodate an entire stack of solutions made by different manufacturers, with complicated interdependencies between them. Most organizations rely on multiple providers for their full firewall stack. They may use Cisco hardware, Checkpoint next-generation firewalls, Tufin firewall management software, and Firemon asset management all at the same time. Managing and troubleshooting this kind of deployment without comprehensive firewall security management software is difficult and time-consuming. Security misconfigurations as a whole are responsible for more than one-third of all cyberattacks. This demonstrates the urgent need for security leaders to automate the process of configuring, updating, and validating firewall changes on complex networks. AlgoSec provides security leaders with a robust set of tools for automating network security policy updates and firewall changes without requiring organizations to dedicate additional employee-hours to time-consuming manual processes. 4. Don’t forget to document policy changes for compliance Security policy management is an important part of overall security compliance. Adhering to the latest security standards published by reputable organizations allows security leaders to meaningfully reduce cybersecurity risk. Documents like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework provide clear guidance into how organizations should address core functions in their security strategy, which includes deploying and updating firewalls. In particular, NIST Special Publication 800-41 describes the guidelines for firewall policies, requiring that they be based on comprehensive risk assessment for the organization in question. The guidelines also require that organizations with multiple firewalls sharing the same rules (or common subsets of rules) must have those rules synchronized across those firewalls. Importantly, all these changes must be documented. This requirement adds significant risk and complexity to network environments that rely on manual configuration processes. Even if you successfully implement changes the right way, reporting discrepancies can negatively impact your organization’s regulatory position. AlgoSec generates compliance reports for NIST SP 800-53 as a built-in feature, available right out of the box. Organizations that use AlgoSec to automate firewall security management and policy changes can ensure compliance with stringent security standards without having to commit valuable security resources to manually verifying reports. Schedule a Demo Firewall security management FAQs Understanding the network security devices in your network is crucial to maintaining your network’s security. What are some common network security devices? Network security devices include application and network firewalls, which are the most popular network security devices. However, your network may have other devices such as intrusion detection and protection systems, antivirus scanning devices, content filtering devices, as well as pen testing devices, and vulnerability assessment appliances. What is an application firewall? An application firewall controls access from an application or service, monitoring or blocking the system service calls that do not meet the firewall’s configured policy. The application firewall is typically built to control network traffic up to the application layer. What is a firewall device and how do firewalls work? A firewall is a network security device that monitors network traffic and decides whether to allow or deny traffic flows based on a defined set of security rules. Firewalls can be physical hardware devices, software, or both. What is network security management? Network security management lets network administrators manage their network, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid network, consisting of physical and virtual single and multi-vendor firewalls. What are some challenges in network security management? Network administrators need to get clear and comprehensive visibility into network behavior, automate single and multi-vendor device configuration, enforce global network security policies, view network traffic, and generate audit-ready compliance reports across their entire network. Network administrators must continuously deploy security policies across the network. Yet, there may be thousands of firewall policies accumulated over the years. Frequently, they are cluttered, duplicated, outdated, or conflict with new rules. This can adversely affect the network’s security and performance. Schedule a Demo Additional firewall security features How AlgoSec Helps with Network Firewall Security: End-to-end network visibility Get visibility of the underlying security policies implemented on firewalls and other security devices across the network. Understand your network’s traffic flows. Gain insights into how they relate to critical business applications so you can associate your security policies to their business context. Find unused firewall rules Enabling unused rules to be included in a policy goes against best practices and may pose a risk to the organization. The AlgoSec platform makes it easy to find and identify unused rules within your firewall policy. Associate policy rules with business applications Firewall rules support applications or processes that require network connectivity to and from specific servers, users, and networks. The AlgoSec AppViz add-on automatically associates the relevant business application that each firewall rule supports, enabling you to review associated firewall rules quickly and easily. Manage multi-vendor devices across your entire hybrid network Each firewall vendor often has its own management console, but your network is made up of multiple devices from an assortment of vendors. Ensure continuous compliance Simplify and reduce audit preparation efforts and costs with out-of-the-box audit reports for major regulations including PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOX, NERC, and GDPR. Schedule a Demo Network firewall security tips Conduct a network security audit Periodically auditing your network security controls are critical. Network security audits help to identify weaknesses in your network security posture so you know where your security policies need to be adapted. Firewall audits also demonstrate that you have been doing your due diligence in reviewing security controls and policy controls. Consider micro-segmentation By building and implementing a micro-segmentation strategy , networks can be broken down into multiple segments and made safer against potential breaches by dangerous cybercriminals and hackers. Conduct periodic compliance checks Your network firewalls are a critical part of many regulatory requirements . Ensuring that your network firewalls comply with critical regulations is a core part of your network security posture. Periodically evaluate your firewall rules Following firewall rules best practices, you should periodically evaluate your firewall rules. Identify and consolidate duplicate rules, remove obsolete or unused firewall rules, and perform periodic firewall rule recertification . Schedule a Demo Select a size What are network firewalls? Network firewall security challenges Firewall security management FAQs Additional firewall security features Network firewall security tips Get the latest insights from the experts Firewall rule recertification - An application-centric approach Watch webinar Firewalls ablaze? Put out network security audit & compliance fires Watch webinar Firewall rule recertification Read document Choose a better way to manage your network

Firewall Management: 5 Challenges Every Company Must Address Download PDF Schedule time with one of our experts Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

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

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

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. SecureLink Enables Business Agility with Hybrid Cloud Management Organization SecureLink Industry Security Service Provider Headquarters Malmo, Sweden Download case study Share Customer
success stories "To be able to apply the same policy on all your infrastructure is priceless" SecureLink is Europe’s premier, award-winning, cybersecurity company. Active since 2003, they operate from 15 offices in 8 countries, to build a safe, connected world. More than 2,000 experts and thought leaders are dedicated to delivering unrivalled information security value for over 1,300 customers. They are part of the Orange Group, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, and listed on Euronext Paris and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The Challenge SecureLink has been an on-site consultant for several years for a large global entertainment company. SecureLink’s client has over 100 firewalls running both on-premises and on AmazonWeb Services (AWS) from several different vendors. Some of the challenges included: “Shadow IT” had taken over, causing security risks and friction with IT, who had to support it. Security policies were being managed in tedious and unmaintainable Excel spreadsheets Lack of verification if official firewall policies accurately reflected traffic flows The business units were pushing a migration to a hybrid cloud environment rather than relying exclusively on an on-premises deployment. Business units were unilaterally moving business applications to the cloud, leading to “shadow IT.” Business application owners were unable to comply with security policies, troubleshoot their “shadow network,” nor connect cloud-based servers to local servers. When there were problems, the business units went back to the IT department, who had to fix a mess they didn’t create. The Solution SecureLink was searching for a solution that provided: Automation of security policy change management and documentation of security policy changes Comprehensive firewall support for their multi-vendor, hybrid estate Ability to determine compliance and risk profiles Full visibility and control for IT, while enabling business agility In order to keep the business happy and agile, but ensure that IT had full visibility and control, they implemented AlgoSec. The client selected AlgoSec’s Security Policy Management Solution, which includes AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and AlgoSec FireFlow. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer delivers visibility and analysis of complex network security policies across on-premise, cloud, and hybrid networks. It automates and simplifies security operations including troubleshooting, auditing, and risk analysis. Using Firewall Analyzer, SecureLink can optimize the configuration of firewalls, and network infrastructure to ensure security and compliance. AlgoSec FireFlow enables security staff to automate the entire security policy change process from design and submission to proactive risk analysis, implementation, validation, and auditing. Its intelligent, automated workflows save time and improve security by eliminating manual errors and reducing risk. The Results AlgoSec helped SecureLink gain control of shadow IT without slowing down the business. By using AlgoSec to gain full visibility of the entire network, IT was able to regain control over company’s security policy while supporting the move to the cloud. “AlgoSec lets us take ownership and be quick for the business,” said Björn Löfman, a consultant at SecureLink. “The way AlgoSec provides the whole map of the internal and cloud networks is outstanding, and to be able to apply the same policy on all your infrastructure is priceless.” By using the AlgoSec Security Management Solution, SecureLink was able to clean up risky firewall policies, gain increased understanding of their security policies, tighten compliance, and enhance migrations of hardware and implement a hybrid cloud environment with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Some benefits to the client of AlgoSec include: Greater understanding of network security policies Easier firewall migration – they migrated from Juniper NetScreen to Check Point firewalls Ability to optimize rules and reduce unneeded and duplicate rules and objects. They were able to go from 4,000 rules to 1,110 rules – a 72% reduction. Move to the hybrid cloud with the adoption of Amazon Web Services Able to reduce shadow IT and reclaim ownership of the cloud Full visibility of entire hybrid network – including both on-premise and devices in the cloud including firewalls, AWS security groups , and Access Control Lists (ACLs). Schedule time with one of our experts

Explore micro-segmentation: a powerful security strategy. Discover real-world examples, top solutions, and key benefits for enhanced security and reduced risk. Micro-segmentation: Examples, solutions & top benefits Micro-segmentation: What it is, how it works, benefits Micro-segmentation means breaking down enterprise networks into multiple segments and using security policies to dictate how the data and applications in each segment will be accessed. These determinations are made by limiting traffic based on zero trust and least privilege principles. It provides a viable solution to flawed network security policies that weaken enterprise security. A micro-segmentation strategy enables organizations to reduce the size of their attack surface and make their networks safer against potential breaches. It also allows them to improve incident response, contain the impact of breaches, and maintain compliance with relevant laws and regulations. Schedule a Demo The need for micro-segmentation All organizations must protect their data centers with robust and effective firewall policies. Without these policies and associated security controls, smart and devious cybercriminals can easily hack into enterprise networks and systems. Micro-segmentation provides an effective way to install strong, clean, and easily-manageable security policies that help to create a more secure on-prem or hybrid cloud environment. This environment can keep traffic safe and block potential breaches from corrupting servers or compromising data. Moreover, creating multiple logical segments that are isolated from each other and enforced with least-privileged access keeps threat actors out of the network and also helps to contain a breach if it does happen. Schedule a Demo How micro-segmentation works Micro-segmentation can be applied in both on-prem data centers and cloud environments. It isolates network workloads which enable security teams to create security policies. These policies dictate the type of traffic passing in and out of each micro-segment. The policies are used to manage and create secure network segments and determine how these segments or zones will be accessed. They dictate how applications and workloads will access the resources they need, how they will share data within a system, and in which direction. Micro-segmentation also enables security teams to determine what kind of security or authentication measures are required for the environment. There are three main micro-segmentation approaches. Micro-segmentation works differently depending on which approach is adopted. Agent-based/host-based micro-segmentation Agent-based micro-segmentation utilizes a software agent deployed on the workload. It doesn’t rely on static network-level rules based on network ports or IP addresses. The agent allows security teams to enforce granular isolation, better control individual hosts, and implement automated segmentation policies with human-readable labels. Agent-based micro-segmentation security solutions are infrastructure-independent so they can be deployed across both data center and cloud infrastructure. One drawback of the method is that not all workloads can have an agent installed on them. Also, attackers can exploit the trust in the network with host firewall-based micro-segmentation. Network-based micro-segmentation Network-based micro-segmentation leverages the network infrastructure to enforce security policies. The policies are configured and enforced using access control lists (ACLs) or IP constructs. There’s no need to deploy agents on workloads. A drawback of this method is that the policies can only be enforced per endpoint, so network firewalls cannot distinguish between legitimate software and malware and will therefore block or allow both. Also, the policies are static, which can cause performance issues in more dynamic (e.g., cloud) environments. Finally, the approach can be complicated to manage when more granular micro-segments and a higher number of firewall rules are created. Hypervisor-based micro-segmentation This method depends on virtualized environments and hypervisors to create overlay networks and enforce micro-segmentation. The approach does not require network hardware changes. Also, its policy constructs are easy to learn for security teams. The chief drawback of the approach is that it doesn’t support bare metal servers, container workloads, or public cloud environments. Also, it doesn’t provide host-level visibility into its software, processes, vulnerabilities, etc. Schedule a Demo Examples of micro-segmentation One common example of micro-segmentation is the separation of development and testing environments from production environments. Granularly limiting the connections between these environments prevents careless or dangerous activities, such as using sensitive/live data for testing. Other examples include: Application micro-segmentation: Restricting access to sensitive data in applications to prevent unauthorized use or malicious exfiltration User micro-segmentation: Leveraging user identity services to control access to applications and services Tier-level micro-management: Separating application components to allow only authorized users to access specific components and keep unauthorized users out Schedule a Demo Network segmentation vs. Micro-segmentation Network segmentation divides the enterprise network into multiple security zones. In traditional data center environments, network segmentation is usually accomplished using firewalls, VLANs, and access control lists (ACLs). In more modern, cloud-based environments, Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), subnets, and Security Groups (SGs). Microsoft Azure, for example, provides numerous network segmentation options, such as subscriptions (platform-powered separation between entities), virtual networks (isolated and secure networks to run virtual machines and applications), network security groups (access control mechanisms to control traffic between resources within a virtual network), and Azure firewall (a cloud-native stateful firewall-as-a-service to filter traffic flowing between cloud resources, the Internet, and on-premise). Regardless of the environment type, the zones created with network segmentation consist of multiple devices and applications. Admins can set access controls that permit only specific traffic between zones. Micro-segmentation is a more granular form of network segmentation. It involves placing each device or application within its own logically isolated segment instead of simply breaking a network into multiple, large segments. It thus provides more granular visibility and greater control than network segmentation. Unlike network segmentation which breaks the network based on north-south traffic (traffic running between clients and servers and crossing the security perimeter), micro-segmentation focuses on east-west traffic that moves laterally across and within the network. Moreover, it usually uses software policies and software-defined networking (SDN). With SDN, all network traffic is routed through an inspection point (e.g., a next-generation firewall) that can identify an attacker’s lateral movement and block inappropriate accesses to the network and its resources. Some SDN solutions, such as Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), can automatically assign endpoints to logical security zones called endpoint groups (EPGs). These EPGs may have a contract that is used to control traffic flow between EPGs within the ACI fabric. Schedule a Demo Network segmentation challenges and how micro-segmentation Helps Dividing a network into multiple smaller segments can improve both its security and performance. Effective network segmentation allows security teams to spot an attack and act early to mitigate its impact and prevent its spread across the network. Even so, it can be challenging to implement network segmentation. For one, dividing the network into many VLANs and subnets requires a lot of manual effort. Also, the network may need to be re-architected, which can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Micro-segmentation is a better and easier approach to securing a network, especially if host-based micro-segmentation is adopted. This is because the host-based approach is infrastructure-independent, provides more granular control, and enables micro-segmentation based on human-understandable policies instead of static network-level rules. Plus, the model can be deployed across both, cloud and data center environments without “coupling” to them. In addition, it decouples security policy enforcement from the physical infrastructure, simplifying administration and allowing more granular control. Also, it does not require network re-architecting so it is less time-consuming, less complex, and more cost-effective than network segmentation. Schedule a Demo Micro-segmentation: Essential for zero trust security Micro-segmentation is increasingly used to implement zero trust security . This new security model considers all users and devices untrustworthy by default. To gain access to network resources and become “trusted”, the user or device must meet the network’s conditions, for example, undergo a virus scan or complete multi-factor authentication (MFA). The zero trust model enables organizations to move away from traditional perimeter-based network security which is inadequate for modern-day remote workers and cloud environments. And micro-segmentation supports the model by: Dividing the network into smaller zones Creating a mini-perimeter around each endpoint to secure it individually Providing enhanced network visibility and stronger access controls In sum, zero trust, and micro-segmentation work in tandem by securing workloads in dynamic environments and preventing the lateral movement of unauthorized users in the network. Schedule a Demo The top 7 benefits of micro-segmentation The need for micro-segmentation is increasing because it provides all these benefits: Effective security through enhanced endpoint protection Micro-segmentation provides effective and cost-efficient security, particularly in modern network environments that are complex, dynamic, and fast-expanding. By logically dividing the data center into distinct security segments, it enables security architects to define security controls for each segment. This then reduces the size of the attack surface and enables the organization to better resist attacks or intrusions. Protection against network-based threats Micro-segmentation protects networks against network-based threats like DDoS attacks and WiFI attacks. It also allows admins to implement robust controls to restrict the flow of traffic on detecting a threat. Protection for cloud workloads and data Micro-segmentation can secure dynamic cloud systems, workloads, and data. With granular microsegments, security teams can easily monitor cloud traffic, identify suspicious or malicious traffic, and respond quickly once they detect dangerous breaches. Protection from advanced persistent threats (APTs) Individual micro-segments contain security checkpoints that help to keep cyber threats from spreading across the network. So, even if one part of a network is compromised, attackers cannot move laterally and reach or persist in other parts of the network. Thus, micro-segmentation protects the network from APTs. Improves breach containment Even if the network is breached, security staff can contain its impact with micro-segmentation. By monitoring traffic against secure policies, they can reduce the impact of a breach as well as their response time. Support for centralized policy management Organizations can use micro-segmentation to create and enforce granular security policies and to centralize policy management across networks. Without it, they would have to manually manage policies across a large fleet of devices and resources, which is a complex and time-consuming task. In addition, they can enforce zero-trust security policies, where access is allowed based on need, which can reduce the organization’s cyber risk. Endpoint separation enables regulatory compliance Micro-segmentation using the host-based approach helps isolate separately-secured endpoints, allowing security staff to easily control the traffic in systems that are subject to regulations. Policy granularity and visibility ensure that distributed devices are always protected by unified network security and also reduce the risks of non-compliant usage. Schedule a Demo Near-effortless micro-segmentation with AlgoSec By utilizing AlgoSec’s micro-segmentation method of network security, businesses can immediately feel safer against possible hackers and potential data breaches. Our application workload security platform will secure your compute instances across any infrastructure and any cloud. It will also enable trusted access through automated, exhaustive context from various systems to automatically adapt security policies. But there are always obstacles when installing new systems on existing servers, whether it’s evolving the firewalls already in place to accept the micro-segmented data center or navigating possible network segmentation pitfalls. Our team can work with you all the way from strategy to execution to ensure these challenges are met and handled with ease so your security improves and your data is confidently protected. We will make sure that all your segmentation policies will be applied beyond the native software and hardware sensors, extending them to all supported on-premise, cloud, and SDN technologies. By using AlgoSec, you will get consistent and defense-in-depth security across your entire hybrid network. You can also maximize your current investment by leveraging existing security technologies for micro-segmentation. Plus, we will help you secure your environment in minutes rather than days or weeks. Talk to us to know more about our business-driven security management. Schedule a Demo Select a size Micro-segmentation: What it is, how it works, benefits The need for micro-segmentation How micro-segmentation works Examples of micro-segmentation Network segmentation vs. Micro-segmentation Network segmentation challenges and how micro-segmentation Helps Micro-segmentation: Essential for zero trust security The top 7 benefits of micro-segmentation Near-effortless micro-segmentation with AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Use these six best practices to simplify compliance and risk mitigation with the AlgoSec platform White paper Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure continuous compliance Solution Overview See how this customer improved compliance readiness and risk management with AlgoSec Case study Choose a better way to manage your network

Discover everything you need to know about Network Security Policy Management (NSPM) solutions, including their benefits, features, and how they streamline security operations. Everything you need to know about NSPM solutions | AlgoSec ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network