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Gain comprehensive visibility and control over your network security with AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer. Simplify audits, optimize configurations, and enhance protection. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer- See the whole picture ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Partner solution brief AlgoSec and Illumio: stronger together 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

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

Partner solution brief AlgoSec and Check Point 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

Six levels of intelligent automation WhitePaper 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

Sunburst Backdoor A deeper look into The SolarWinds’ Supply Chain Malware 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

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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