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Recommendations from Rajpreet Kaur, Senior Principal Analyst at Gartner, in her recent blog on remote working, and a perspective on how... Security Policy Management Deploying NSPM to Implement a Gartner Analyst’s Work from Home Network Security Advice Jeffrey Starr 2 min read Jeffrey Starr 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 4/27/20 Published Recommendations from Rajpreet Kaur, Senior Principal Analyst at Gartner, in her recent blog on remote working, and a perspective on how Network Security Policy Management systems can help enterprises act upon this guidance The COVID-19 pandemic has been the catalyst for a global migration to remote home working. Managing and mitigating the network security risks this presents, on such an unprecedented scale and for a long period of time, poses a significant challenge even for companies that had remote access working plans in place before the pandemic. Not only are cybercriminals taking advantage of network insecurities to leverage attacks, they are also exploiting human anxiety around the crisis to break through security barriers. In fact, a recent survey found that 40 percent of companies reported seeing increased cyberattacks as they enable remote working. So how should organizations manage their security during these massive changes in network usage? In a recent blog , Rajpreet Kaur , Gartner Senior Principal Analyst, and a specialized expert on both hybrid environment network security and NSPM tools, offered recommendations to organizations on how to handle remote infrastructure security challenges, many of which closely align with a focus on network policy automation and application security. Here’s how network security policy management systems can support and enable Rajpreet Kaur’s key recommendations. 1. Don’t panic and start moving things to the cloud without a proper architectural design in place. Panicking and starting a large-scale move to the cloud without a proper plan in place can lead to poor security controls and ill-prepared migration. Before moving to the cloud, organizations must consider their network’s architectural design, which should always start with analysis. The analytical and discovery capabilities of NSPM systems automate this process by discovering and mapping network connectivity and providing a network map, which helps you to understand your network components, making migrations easier, faster and glitch-free. 2. Design a proper network security architecture and plan considering limited disruption and supporting work from home. Implementing these immediate and urgent network changes can only be done effectively and securely with robust change management processes. As with network analysis, NSPM automation capabilities are also vital in rapid change management. Security automation dramatically accelerates change processes, with request generation to implementation time drastically shortened and enables better enforcement and auditing for regulatory compliance. It also helps organizations overcome skill gaps and staffing limitations, which may have already been impacted by the current crisis. NSPM solutions enable full end-to-end change analysis and automation, including what if security checks, automation design, push of changes, and full documentation and audit trail. This ensures that changes can be implemented rapidly, and applied consistently and efficiently, with a full audit trail of every change. 3. Plan for what you need now, don’t try to implement a long-term strategic solution to fix your immediate needs. The current widespread move to home working is adding an extra layer of complexity to remote network security, since organizations are finding themselves having to implement new security policies and roll out adoption in a very short timeframe. Considering this, it’s important for organizations to focus on short-term needs, rather than attempting to develop a long-term strategic solution. Trying to develop a long-term solution in such a short window can be overwhelming and increase the risk of opening security vulnerabilities. Using NSPM speeds up the configuration and implementation process, allowing you to get your remote network security firewall policies up and running as soon as possible, with minimum disruption to your remote workforce. Once you have dealt with the critical immediate needs, you can then focus on developing a more long-term strategy. 4. Try to support your existing work from home employees by doing minimal changes to the existing architecture, like meeting throughput requirements and upgrading the equipment or restricting the access to a group of employees at times. Managing application connectivity and accessibility is key to ensuring minimal work disruption as employees move to remote working. An effective NSPM solution allows you to discover, identify and map business applications to ensure that they are safe and have the necessary connectivity flows. Having such a view of all the applications that are accessing the network allows security teams to map the workflow and provides visibility of the application’s required connectivity in order to minimise outages. 5. For any new network changes and upgrades, or new deployments, consider developing a work from home first strategy. Developing a work from home (WFH) strategy has never been more essential. The challenge is that WFH is a more vulnerable environment; employees are accessing sensitive data from a range of home devices, via outside networks, that may not have the same security controls. On top of this, cyber threats have already seen a sharp increase as cybercriminals exploit the widespread anxiety and vulnerabilities caused by the global crisis. IT security and networking staff are therefore having to do more, with the same staffing levels, whilst also navigating the challenges of doing this remotely from home. NSPM capabilities can help in overcoming these WFH issues. Security teams may, for example, need to change many Firewall rules to allow secure access to sensitive data. An effective NSPM solution can facilitate this and enable fast deployment by providing the ability to make changes to applications’ firewall openings from a single management interface. 6. Enhance security around public facing applications to protect against COVID-19 related cyber-attacks. With the move to remote working, organizations are increasingly relying on applications to carry out their work from home. Ensuring that business-critical applications stay available and secure while shifting to remote work is key to avoiding workflow disruption. It’s essential to take an application centric approach to application security, and an effective NSPM solution can help you to better manage and secure your business-critical applications . As discussed above, application visibility is key here. NSPM systems provides comprehensive application visibility, security operation teams can monitor critical applications for risks and vulnerabilities to ensure that they are safe. Gartner’s Rajpreet Kaur has delivered a good combination of practical and timely guidance along with the logical insights underlying the useful recommendations. These tips bring helpful guidance on the Work from Home security challenge that stands out for its clear relevance when there is now so much other noise out there. A robust NSPM can help you rapidly implement these invaluable recommendations. 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

Understand the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Learn key requirements, best practices, and how to achieve and maintain FISMA compliance. FISMA compliance defined: Requirements & best practices Everything You wanted to know about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) is a U.S. federal law that requires federal government agencies and their third-party partners to implement an information security program to protect their sensitive data. It provides a comprehensive security and risk management framework to implement effective controls for federal information systems. Introduced in 2002, FISMA is part of the E-Government Act of 2002 that’s aimed at improving the management of electronic government services and processes. Both these U.S. government regulations are implemented to uphold federal data security standards and protect sensitive data in government systems. FISMA 2002 was amended by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA 2014). Schedule a Demo What is FISMA compliance? FISMA compliance means adhering to a set of policies, standards, and guidelines to protect the personal or sensitive information contained in government systems. FISMA requires all government agencies and their vendors, service providers, and contractors to improve their information security controls based on these pre-defined requirements. Like FISMA, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) enables federal agencies and their vendors to protect government data, albeit for cloud services. FISMA is jointly overseen by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST develops the FISMA standards and guidelines – including the minimum security requirements – that bolster the IT security and risk management practices of agencies and their contractors. The DHS administers these programs to help maximize federal information system security. FISMA non-compliance penalties FISMA non-compliance can result in many penalties, including reduced federal funding and censure by the U.S. Congress. Companies can also lose federal contracts and suffer damage to their reputation. Further, non-compliance indicates a poor cybersecurity infrastructure, which may result in costly cyberattacks or data breaches, which could then result in regulatory fines or legal penalties. Schedule a Demo Who must be FISMA-compliant? FISMA’s data protection rules were originally applicable only to U.S. federal agencies. While these standards are still applicable to all federal agencies without exception, they are now applicable to other organizations as well. Thus, any third-party contractor or other organization that provides services to a federal agency and handles sensitive information on behalf of the government must also comply with FISMA. Thus the list of organizations that must comply with FISMA includes: Public or private sector organizations having contractual agreements with federal agencies Public or private organizations that support a federal program or receive grants from federal agencies State agencies like Medicare and Medicaid Schedule a Demo What are the FISMA compliance requirements? The seven key requirements of FISMA compliance are: 1. Maintain an inventory of information systems All federal agencies and their contractors must maintain an updated list of their IT systems. They must also identify and track the integrations between these systems and any other systems in the network. The inventory should include systems that are not operated by or under their direct control. 2. Categorize information security risks Organizations must categorize their information and information systems in order of risk. Such categorizations can help them to focus their security efforts on high-risk areas and ensure that sensitive information is given the highest level of security. The NIST’s FIPS 199 standard provides risk categorization guidelines. It also defines a range of risk levels that organizations can assign to their information systems during risk categorization. 3. Implement security controls Since FISMA’s purpose is to protect the information in government systems, security controls that provide this protection are a mandatory requirement. Under FISMA, all government information systems must meet the minimum security requirements defined in FIPS 200. Organizations are not required to implement every single control. However, they must implement the controls that are relevant to them and their systems. They must also document the selected controls in their system security plan (SSP). NIST 800-53 (NIST special publication or SP) provides a list of suggested security controls for FISMA compliance. 4. Conduct risk assessments A risk assessment is a review of an organization’s security program to identify and assess potential risks. After identifying cyber threats and vulnerabilities, the organization should map them to the security controls that could mitigate them. Based on the likelihood and impact of a security incident, they must determine the risk of that threat. The final risk assessment includes risk calculations of all possible security events plus information about whether the organization will accept or mitigate each of these risks. NIST SP 800-30 provides guidance to conduct risk assessments for FISMA compliance. The NIST recommends identifying risks at three levels: organizational, business process, and information system. 5. Create a system security plan All federal agencies must implement an SSP to help with the implementation of security controls. They must also regularly maintain it and update it annually to ensure that they can implement the best and most up-to-date security solutions. The SSP should include information about the organization’s security policies and controls, and a timeline to introduce further controls. It can also include security best practices. The document is a major input in the agency’s (or third party’s) security certification and accreditation process. 6. Conduct annual security reviews Under FISMA, all program officers, compliance officials, and agency heads must conduct and oversee annual security reviews to confirm that the implemented security controls are sufficient and information security risks are at a minimum level. Agency officials can also accredit their information systems. By doing this, they accept responsibility for the security of these systems and are accountable for any adverse impacts of security incidents. Accreditation is part of the four-phase FISMA certification process. Its other three phases are initiation and planning, certification, and continuous monitoring. 7. Continuously monitor information systems Organizations must monitor their implemented security controls and document system changes and modifications. If they make major changes, they should also conduct an updated risk assessment. They may also need to be recertified. Schedule a Demo What are the benefits of FISMA compliance? FISMA compliance benefits both government agencies and their contractors and vendors. By following its guidelines and implementing its requirements, they can: Adopt a robust risk management-centered approach to security planning and implementation Continually assess, monitor, and optimize their security ecosystem Increase org-wide awareness about the need to secure sensitive data Improve incident response and accelerate incident and risk remediation Benefits of FISMA compliance for federal agencies FISMA compliance increases the cybersecurity focus within federal agencies. By implementing its mandated security controls, it can protect its information and information systems, and also protect the privacy of individuals and national security. In addition, by continuously monitoring their controls, they can maintain a consistently strong security posture. They can also eliminate newly-discovered vulnerabilities quickly and cost-effectively. Benefits of FISMA compliance for other organizations FISMA-compliant organizations can strengthen their security postures by implementing its security best practices. They can better protect their data and the government’s data, prevent data breaches and improve incident response planning. Furthermore, they can demonstrate to federal agencies that they have implemented FISMA’s recommended security controls, which gives them an advantage when trying to get new business from these agencies. Schedule a Demo The three levels of FISMA compliance FISMA defines three compliance levels, which refer to the possible impact of a security breach on an organization. These three impact levels are: 1. Low impact Low impact means that the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability is likely to have a limited adverse effect on the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For this reason, the security controls for these systems or data types need only meet the low level of FISMA compliance. 2. Moderate impact A moderate impact incident is one in which the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could have serious adverse consequences for the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For example, it may result in significant financial loss to the organization or significant harm to individuals. However, it is unlikely to cause severe damage or result in the loss of life. 3. High impact The compromise of a high-impact information system could have catastrophic consequences for the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For example, a breach may prevent the organization from performing its primary functions, resulting in major financial loss. It may also cause major damage to assets or result in severe harm to individuals (e.g., loss of life or life-threatening injuries). To prevent such consequences, these systems must be protected with the strongest controls. Schedule a Demo FISMA compliance best practices Following the best practices outlined below can ease the FISMA compliance effort and enable organizations to meet all applicable FISMA requirements: Identify the information that must be protected and classify it based on its sensitivity level as it is created Create a security plan to monitor data activity and detect threats Implement automatic encryption for sensitive data Conduct regular risk assessments to identify and fix vulnerabilities and outdated policies Regularly monitor information security systems Provide cybersecurity awareness training to employees Maintain evidence of FISMA compliance, including records of system inventories, risk categorization efforts, security controls, SSPs, certifications, and accreditations Stay updated on changes to FISMA standards, new NIST guidelines, and evolving security best practices Schedule a Demo How AlgoSec can help you with FISMA compliance? Using the AlgoSec platform , you can instantly and clearly see which applications expose you to FISMA compliance violations. You can also automatically generate pre-populated, audit-ready compliance reports to reduce your audit preparation efforts and costs and enhance your audit readiness. AlgoSec will also uncover gaps in your FISMA compliance posture and proactively check every change for possible compliance violations. Schedule a Demo Select a size Everything You wanted to know about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) What is FISMA compliance? Who must be FISMA-compliant? What are the FISMA compliance requirements? What are the benefits of FISMA compliance? The three levels of FISMA compliance FISMA compliance best practices How AlgoSec can help you with FISMA compliance? 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

Get your application discovery and dependency mapping questions answered. Find clear explanations, best practices, and learn how to improve your understanding of your IT landscape. Application Discovery & Dependency Mapping Explained (FAQs) Introduction A network is the sum of its components, and if you want to ensure its functioning at the highest level, you need to be able to pinpoint every app that exists inside it. However, when the average company has 254 SaaS apps, identifying all the apps and dependencies that exist throughout an on-premise or cloud environment is easier said than done. Organizations cannot afford to rely on manual IP scanning to catalog or inventory each app their employees use every day; they need an AI-powered, automated, and scalable application discovery process. In this post we are going to examine what application discovery is, and how an automated dependency mapping tool can help. Schedule a Demo What is application discovery? Application discovery is the process of identifying and creating an inventory of the apps installed and used throughout an environment. This not only includes apps used within on-premise servers, but also those in the cloud, in containers, and even on employees’ personal devices. Discovering applications is essential for IT administrators because it helps to set out a framework they can use to navigate the network and understand how different elements fit together. It also enables security teams to manage the performance and security of the business apps used by the organization. Schedule a Demo What is a dependency mapping tool? A dependency mapping tool is essentially a tool that automatically maps apps and dependencies. A typical dependency mapping tool automates the discovery of applications within a network and provides a visual map to which an IT administrator can refer. Dependency mapping tools are a popular choice among IT teams because manually identifying and inventorying apps is a time-consuming process. Schedule a Demo Key benefits of application dependency mapping Taking the time to map application dependencies, or investing in a tool that automates the process, pays dividends because it provides administrators with a heightened understanding of their organization’s IT environment. Greater visibility over how apps connect to each other reduces the amount of time it takes to conduct troubleshooting and root cause analysis, which means that disruptions can be resolved faster, limiting the overall operational impact of downtime. Dependency mapping also enhances change management, giving administrators the ability to identify the impact that changing the topology or composition of the network will have on critical services. At the same time, better knowledge of the IT environment makes it easier to spot inefficiencies and redundancies, giving insights into more cost-effective ways of structuring the network and decreasing resource consumption. As an added bonus, having a complete understanding of application topology decreases the risk of vulnerabilities in the network, and reduces the likelihood of data leakage and intrusions from unauthorized third parties. Organizations interested in mapping application dependencies at scale would be well-advised to incorporate an application dependency mapping tool so they do not have to manually poll apps from scratch. Schedule a Demo Application discovery in cloud environments AlgoSec AlgoSec is the industry-leading AI-powered application and connectivity management solution for mapping apps, security policies, and connectivity flows across on-premise, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. As a solution, it is designed to enable network security operations teams to map and understand app and connectivity flows through their organization. This top-down, topological perspective allows users to identify business risks and remediate them ASAP. For example, an administrator can use the platform to identify obsolete traffic that could serve as a potential entry point for malicious traffic. At a high level, application discovery not only helps administrators keep up with topology changes in the network and reduce the risk of downtime, it also provides the visibility needed to simplify the management of firewall and SSL configurations. Features Discovery of applications and connectivity flows Real-time map of app connectivity requirements Impact assessment of topology changes on application connectivity , security and compliance Complete easy-to-use workflows for streamlining migration to a new data center or cloud environment Zero-touch change management and access rule recertification Use cases Create a real-time map of applications and connectivity flows to outline network topology. Use workflows to support users who migrate apps as part of the data center migration process. Before migration, assess and predict the impact of topology changes on application connectivity, performance and security. Automatically configure application security policies post-migration. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the AWS application discovery service AWS application discovery service is a common choice for migrating apps to an AWS environment. The AWS discovery service can automatically discover on-premise applications, and integrates with AWS Migration Hub to help migrate multiple applications at the same time. While this approach is useful for identifying applications in on-premise environments, unlike AlgoSec, it does not offer deep visibility into connectivity flows. It also offers limited support for cloud migration, lacking automated change management capabilities and migration workflows. Features The AWS application discovery service is designed to enable organizations to identify applications across AWS-powered cloud environments. The service includes the following features: Encrypt data in transit and at rest Create a snapshot of your on-premise application inventory Integrate discovery data with other AWS services, such as AWS Migration Hub and SMS Plan migrations for servers that share applications Connect applications to servers Group servers to migrate Mix agentless and agent-based approaches Use cases The main use case for AWS Application Discovery is discovering and creating an inventory of on-premise Information you can gather includes hostnames, IP addresses, MAC addresses and more. Map connections between applications and servers to create a visual representation of your network environment. Ingest utilization data to plan for your migration to the AWS Migration Hub. Microsoft Azure Migrate: Discovery and assessment tool One of the next biggest alternatives to the AWS application discovery service is the Microsoft Azure Migrate: Discovery and assessment tool. This solution enables users to automatically create an inventory of on-premise databases software, web apps, and SQL or AWS server instances. The Microsoft Azure Migrate: Discovery and assessment tool also integrates with Azure Monitor ’s Application Insight, an application monitoring solution. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Oracle Cloud also offers its own migration tool designed to migrate on-premise applications and virtual machines from on-premise environments to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure using automated migration and provisioning. Oracle Cloud’s migration tool also offers templates, workflow automation and connectors for popular workloads including SQL Server, MySQL, Java, etc. Like Azure, Oracle Cloud also offers Application performance Monitoring integration. Schedule a Demo Other cloud providers and SaaS solutions Besides the top three cloud vendors, there are a number of other cloud security and SaaS-vendors offering application discovery capabilities. Some of these are listed below: Datadog Feature summary: Automated application and dependency mapping in real-time, alerts, latency graphs, and performance anomaly detection. Pros and cons: Rapid app and dependency mapping but beyond that lacks functionality for supporting cloud migrations. ManageEngine applications manager Feature summary: Application Discovery and Dependency Mapping (ADDM) with IP range application discovery, scheduled discoveries, scan summary reports, and a dependency map view. Pros and cons: IP range based discovery offers a broad view of apps and dependencies but does not offer migration workflows and change management capabilities. SolarWinds server & application monitor Feature summary: Polling to create application and dependency maps, tracking the response time of services, creating custom alerts for network latency, packet loss, and uptime monitoring. Pros and cons: Designed for monitoring application performance in on-premise environments, but it too lacks migration support. Schedule a Demo Application discovery in on-premises environments One of the main challenges that organizations face when trying to discover applications in on-premise environments is reliance on outdated legacy monitoring tools. Manually discovering and mapping applications is inefficient, and offers limited visibility over configuration data and metrics across the environment. Application discovery tools such as AlgoSec’s tools enable security teams to discover application dependencies and connections throughout the environment that could easily be overlooked by relying on manual approaches alone. Automation also opens the door for an organization to leverage virtualization technologies from providers like VMware and Hyper-V, which unlock new cloud-native capabilities that cannot necessarily be replicated on-premises. Schedule a Demo FAQs How does AlgoSec help with application discovery and asset management? AlgoSec can help you to discover, identify, and map applications across your on-premise and cloud environments in real-time using AI, so you can keep an up-to-date perspective of your entire network. How does AlgoSec help optimize traffic flows and improve firewall performance? Deploying AlgoSec enables an organization to scan traffic flows and match them to applications within the environment. Once you discovered traffic flows, you can start to automatically optimize application flows and the maximum number of flows per application in order to optimize your firewall throughput and performance for end users. How does AlgoSec help enforce security and compliance across the data center? Increased transparency of application, traffic and firewall flows makes it easier for IT security teams to assess the effectiveness of security policies in the environment, and creates an audit trail that can be used to manage potential compliance violations. Enhanced visibility makes it easier to maintain compliance and to ensure that security controls are effective at protecting your critical data assets from compromise or misuse. For example, administrators can automatically identify compliance gaps and generate compliance reports to document the state of firewalls and surrounding infrastructure to comply with PCI, HIPAA, SOX, and NERC. How does AlgoSec help with business continuity and disaster recovery? AlgoSec helps your organization to maintain business continuity not only through proactive network security policy management, but also by simplifying the process of migrating application connectivity flows and firewall policies to the cloud and ensuring compliance. Migrating your apps and data to a secondary site ensures that if your primary site is affected by a power outage or natural disaster, you will still be able to access critical information. Furthermore, according to an EMA survey, network security policy management also enhances business continuity by helping organizations to enforce more consistent security policies, conduct more proactive disaster recovery testing, and limit the number of change-related outages. How does AlgoSec help with data center migration? AlgoSec can help you to migrate your data center by discovering and mapping applications and connectivity flows, and connecting them to the relevant policies. Once these are discovered, the solution can migrate them to a new on-premise installation or cloud platform, while automatically identifying and removing obsolete and redundant firewall rules. This reduces the amount of overall manual processes associated with the migration. How does AlgoSec help with cloud cost optimization? AlgoSec’s application discovery and mapping capabilities help your organization to optimize costs in the cloud by giving you a reference point to conduct application performance monitoring and ensure that your cloud bandwidth is used efficiently. This ensures that you are getting the maximum throughput from your network infrastructure and are not being held back by outages or other application performance issues. What are ADDM solutions and their advantages? Application Discovery and Dependency Mapping (ADDM) is a category of software solutions that can map applications and dependencies to help human users understand how they connect together and interact. ADDM solutions are a popular choice for IT administrators because they enable users to identify and map dependencies automatically rather than spending a substantial amount of time locating them manually. How does application performance monitoring work? Application performance monitoring is where an organization monitors performance metrics from applications located throughout their environment. Monitoring application performance helps to generate insights into how to optimize system availability, performance and response time. It also helps to ensure that end users enjoy a solid user experience with minimal downtime. What are some common application discovery methods? There are a number of common application discovery methods that organizations can deploy. These include: Sweep and poll – A technique for discovering IT assets whereby a system pings IP addresses and identifies the devices that issue a response. Network monitoring – Monitoring real-time packet information to generate data on application dependencies. This can be done at the packet level by capturing packets or at the flow level with NetFlow. Agent on Server – A process for identifying applications that uses a software agent deployed to a server to conduct real-time monitoring of incoming and outgoing traffic in order to map dependencies. Orchestration-Level Discovery – Where an organization uses an orchestration platform like AlgoSec to discover applications and dependencies automatically without having to deploy agents to servers. What is the role of DevOps in application discovery? Application discovery plays an important role in the DevOps process because it enables development teams to work toward automated app deployment. Automating the discovery of apps and connectivity flows means that users do not need coding knowledge to understand the environment. Increased visibility also supports a DevSecOps strategy, offering security teams greater transparency over application components. For example, a security analyst can view apps and connected dependencies and get a clear perspective of the entire attack surface and potential vulnerabilities a hacker could exploit. What is the role of application discovery in cloud migration? Discovering applications and dependencies helps you to fast-track your cloud migration by identifying what components you need to move and allowing you to phase the deployment in steps. Schedule a Demo Take control of your network Gaining visibility over applications in your environment is a critical step on your journey toward enhancing your business agility and continuity and minimizing downtime. A better understanding of app topology helps administrators find risks and remediate them quickly to ensure ongoing compliance. If you cannot see how effectively your applications are being delivered, or how they perform, then there is no way to consistently optimize performance or enforce security policies. While manually developing an inventory of apps and dependencies is a time-consuming process, the AlgoSec platform can completely eliminate the need for this by discovering apps in real-time so you can see how these components connect to each other on-premise, and across the private or public cloud. Real-time visibility over apps gives you everything you need to manage performance, risk, and compliance challenges at enterprise pace. Schedule a Demo Select a size Introduction What is application discovery? What is a dependency mapping tool? Key benefits of application dependency mapping Application discovery in cloud environments Other cloud providers and SaaS solutions Application discovery in on-premises environments FAQs Take control of your network 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 Solution overview Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure Solution overview Choose a better way to manage your network

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Properly configured firewalls are vital in any comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. However, even the most robust configurations can be... Uncategorized How To Prevent Firewall Breaches (The 2024 Guide) 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 1/11/24 Published Properly configured firewalls are vital in any comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. However, even the most robust configurations can be vulnerable to exploitation by attackers. No single security measure can offer absolute protection against all cyber threats and data security risks . To mitigate these risks, it’s crucial to understand how cybercriminals exploit firewall vulnerabilities. The more you know about their tactics, techniques, and procedures, the better-equipped you are to implement security policies that successfully block unauthorized access to network assets. In this guide, you’ll understand the common cyber threats that target enterprise firewall systems with the goal of helping you understand how attackers exploit misconfigurations and human vulnerabilities. Use this information to protect your network from a firewall breach. Understanding 6 Tactics Cybercriminals Use to Breach Firewalls 1. DNS Leaks Your firewall’s primary use is making sure unauthorized users do not gain access to your private network and the sensitive information it contains. But firewall rules can go both ways – preventing sensitive data from leaving the network is just as important. If enterprise security teams neglect to configure their firewalls to inspect outgoing traffic, cybercriminals can intercept this traffic and use it to find gaps in your security systems. DNS traffic is particularly susceptible to this approach because it shows a list of websites users on your network regularly visit. A hacker could use this information to create a spoofed version of a frequently visited website. For example, they might notice your organization’s employees visit a third-party website to attend training webinars. Registering a fake version of the training website and collecting employee login credentials would be simple. If your firewall doesn’t inspect DNS data and confirm connections to new IP addresses, you may never know. DNS leaks may also reveal the IP addresses and endpoint metadata of the device used to make an outgoing connection. This would give cybercriminals the ability to see what kind of hardware your organization’s employees use to connect to external websites. With that information in hand, impersonating managed service providers or other third-party partners is easy. Some DNS leaks even contain timestamp data, telling attackers exactly when users requested access to external web assets. How to protect yourself against DNS leaks Proper firewall configuration is key to preventing DNS-related security incidents. Your organization’s firewalls should provide observability and access control to both incoming and outgoing traffic. Connections to servers known for hosting malware and cybercrime assets should be blocked entirely. Connections to servers without a known reputation should be monitored closely. In a Zero Trust environment , even connections to known servers should benefit from scrutiny using an identity-based security framework. Don’t forget that apps can connect to external resources, too. Consider deploying web application firewalls configured to prevent DNS leaks when connecting to third-party assets and servers. You may also wish to update your security policy to require employees to use VPNs when connecting to external resources. An encrypted VPN connection can prevent DNS information from leaking, making it much harder for cybercriminals to conduct reconnaissance on potential targets using DNS data. 2. Encrypted Injection Attacks Older, simpler firewalls analyze traffic by looking at different kinds of data packet metadata. This provides clear evidence of certain denial-of-service attacks, clear violations of network security policy , and some forms of malware and ransomware . They do not conduct deep packet inspection to identify the kind of content passing through the firewall. This provides cybercriminals with an easy way to bypass firewall rules and intrusion prevention systems – encryption . If malicious content is encrypted before it hits the firewall, it may go unnoticed by simple firewall rules. Only next-generation firewalls capable of handling encrypted data packets can determine whether this kind of traffic is secure or not. Cybercriminals often deliver encrypted injection attacks through email. Phishing emails may trick users into clicking on a malicious link that injects encrypted code into the endpoint device. The script won’t decode and run until after it passes the data security threshold posed by the firewall. After that, it is free to search for personal data, credit card information, and more. Many of these attacks will also bypass antivirus controls that don’t know how to handle encrypted data. Task automation solutions like Windows PowerShell are also susceptible to these kinds of attacks. Even sophisticated detection-based security solutions may fail to recognize encrypted injection attacks if they don’t have the keys necessary to decrypt incoming data. How to protect yourself against encrypted injection attacks Deep packet inspection is one of the most valuable features next-generation firewalls provide to security teams. Industry-leading firewall vendors equip their products with the ability to decrypt and inspect traffic. This allows the firewall to prevent malicious content from entering the network through encrypted traffic, and it can also prevent sensitive encrypted data – like login credentials – from leaving the network. These capabilities are unique to next-generation firewalls and can’t be easily replaced with other solutions. Manufacturers and developers have to equip their firewalls with public-key cryptography capabilities and obtain data from certificate authorities in order to inspect encrypted traffic and do this. 3. Compromised Public Wi-Fi Public Wi-Fi networks are a well-known security threat for individuals and organizations alike. Anyone who logs into a password-protected account on public Wi-Fi at an airport or coffee shop runs the risk of sending their authentication information directly to hackers. Compromised public Wi-Fi also presents a lesser-known threat to security teams at enterprise organizations – it may help hackers breach firewalls. If a remote employee logs into a business account or other asset from a compromised public Wi-Fi connection, hackers can see all the data transmitted through that connection. This may give them the ability to steal account login details or spoof endpoint devices and defeat multi-factor authentication. Even password-protected private Wi-Fi connections can be abused in this way. Some Wi-Fi networks still use outdated WEP and WPA security protocols that have well-known vulnerabilities. Exploiting these weaknesses to take control of a WEP or WPA-protected network is trivial for hackers. The newer WPA2 and WPA3 standards are much more resilient against these kinds of attacks. While public Wi-Fi dangers usually bring remote workers and third-party service vendors to mind, on-premises networks are just as susceptible. Nothing prevents a hacker from gaining access to public Wi-Fi networks in retail stores, receptions, or other areas frequented by customers and employees. How to protect yourself against compromised public Wi-Fi attacks First, you must enforce security policies that only allow Wi-Fi traffic secured by WPA2 and WPA3 protocols. Hardware Wi-Fi routers that do not support these protocols must be replaced. This grants a minimum level of security to protected Wi-Fi networks. Next, all remote connections made over public Wi-Fi networks must be made using a secure VPN. This will encrypt the data that the public Wi-Fi router handles, making it impossible for a hacker to intercept without gaining access to the VPN’s secret decryption key. This doesn’t guarantee your network will be safe from attacks, but it improves your security posture considerably. 4. IoT Infrastructure Attacks Smartwatches, voice-operated speakers, and many automated office products make up the Internet of Things (IoT) segment of your network. Your organization may be using cloud-enriched access control systems, cost-efficient smart heating systems, and much more. Any Wi-Fi-enabled hardware capable of automation can safely be included in this category. However, these devices often fly under the radar of security team’s detection tools, which often focus on user traffic. If hackers compromise one of these devices, they may be able to move laterally through the network until they arrive at a segment that handles sensitive information. This process can take time, which is why many incident response teams do not consider suspicious IoT traffic to be a high-severity issue. IoT endpoints themselves rarely process sensitive data on their own, so it’s easy to overlook potential vulnerabilities and even ignore active attacks as long as the organization’s mission-critical assets aren’t impacted. However, hackers can expand their control over IoT devices and transform them into botnets capable of running denial-of-service attacks. These distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are much larger and more dangerous, and they are growing in popularity among cybercriminals. Botnet traffic associated with DDoS attacks on IoT networks has increased five-fold over the past year , showing just how promising it is for hackers. How to protect yourself against IoT infrastructure attacks Proper network segmentation is vital for preventing IoT infrastructure attacks . Your organization’s IoT devices should be secured on a network segment that is isolated from the rest of the network. If attackers do compromise the entire network, you should be protected from the risk of losing sensitive data from critical business assets. Ideally, this protection will be enforced with a strong set of firewalls managing the connection between your IoT subnetwork and the rest of your network. You may need to create custom rules that take your unique security risk profile and fleet of internet-connected devices into account. There are very few situations in which one-size-fits-all rulemaking works, and this is not one of them. All IoT devices – no matter how small or insignificant – should be protected by your firewall and other cybersecurity solutions . Never let these devices connect directly to the Internet through an unsecured channel. If they do, they provide attackers with a clear path to circumvent your firewalls and gain access to the rest of your network with ease. 5. Social Engineering and Phishing Social engineering attacks refer to a broad range of deceptive practices used by hackers to gain access to victims’ assets. What makes this approach special is that it does not necessarily depend on technical expertise. Instead of trying to hack your systems, cybercriminals are trying to hack your employees and company policies to carry out their attacks. Email phishing is one of the most common examples. In a typical phishing attack , hackers may spoof an email server to make it look like they are sending emails from a high-level executive in the company you work for. They can then impersonate this executive and demand junior accountants pay fictitious invoices or send sensitive customer data to email accounts controlled by threat actors. Other forms of social engineering can use your organization’s tech support line against itself. Attackers may pretend to represent large customer accounts and will leverage this ruse to gain information about how your company works. They may impersonate a third-party vendor and request confidential information that the vendor would normally have access to. These attacks span the range from simple trickery to elaborate confidence scams. Protecting against them can be incredibly challenging, and your firewall capabilities can make a significant difference in your overall state of readiness. How to protect yourself against social engineering attacks Employee training is the top priority for protecting against social engineering attacks . When employees understand the company’s operating procedures and security policies, it’s much harder for social engineers to trick them. Ideally, training should also include in-depth examples of how phishing attacks work, what they look like, and what steps employees should take when contacted by people they don’t trust. 6. Sandbox Exploits Many organizations use sandbox solutions to prevent file-based malware attacks. Sandboxes work by taking suspicious files and email attachments and opening them in a secure virtual environment before releasing them to users. The sandbox solution will observe how the file behaves and quarantine any file that shows malicious activity. In theory, this provides a powerful layer of defense against file-based attacks. But in practice, cybercriminals are well aware of how to bypass these solutions. For example, many sandbox solutions can’t open files over a certain size. Hackers who attach malicious code to large files can easily get through. Additionally, many forms of malware do not start executing malicious tasks the second they are activated. This delay can provide just enough of a buffer to get through a sandbox system. Some sophisticated forms of malware can even detect when they are being run in a sandbox environment – and will play the part of an innocent program until they are let loose inside the network. How to protect yourself against sandbox exploits Many next-generation firewalls include cloud-enabled sandboxing capable of running programs of arbitrary size for a potentially unlimited amount of time. More sophisticated sandbox solutions go to great lengths to mimic the system specifications of an actual endpoint so malware won’t know it is being run in a virtual environment. Organizations may also be able to overcome the limitations of the sandbox approach using Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) techniques. This approach keeps potentially malicious files off the network entirely and only allows a reconstructed version of the file to enter the network. Since the new file is constructed from scratch, it will not contain any malware that may have been attached to the original file. Prevent firewall breaches with AlgoSec Managing firewalls manually can be overwhelming and time-consuming – especially when dealing with multiple firewall solutions. With the help of a firewall management solution , you easily configure firewall rules and manage configurations from a single dashboard. AlgoSec’s powerful firewall management solution integrates with your firewalls to deliver unified firewall policy management from a single location, thus streamlining the entire process. With AlgoSec, you can maintain clear visibility of your firewall ruleset, automate the management process, assess risk & optimize rulesets, streamline audit preparation & ensure compliance, and use APIs to access many features through web services. 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 the basics of managing multiple workloads in the cloud and how to create a successful enterprise level security management program Webinars Merging the Cloud with Application Connectivity Discover the hottest trends and best practices for application-based security management As more companies make the leap into distributed architecture, the smallest gaps in network security can quickly become targets for attack. While an application-based security strategy can help you protect your hybrid cloud estate better, this shift in focus comes with its own challenges. In this webinar, we discuss: How securing application connectivity plays a key role in hybrid cloud risk management Why application orchestration is critical to managing your network within the hybrid cloud environment How to achieve effective cloud security solutions and best practices To learn more, go to https://www.algosec.com/resources/hub/hybrid_cloud/ September 27, 2022 Hillary Baron Cloud Security Alliance Oren Amiram Director Product Management, Algosec Relevant resources Firewall Rule Recertification with Application Connectivity Keep Reading What is cloud network security? Keep Reading Cloud migration: How to move applications to the cloud 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

Empower your cloud security posture with AlgoSec s Prevasio CSPM Achieve compliance and peace of mind Dive deeper now Cloud security posture management (CSPM) Real-time monitoring for comprehensive cloud security Schedule a demo Watch a video Watch a video Remove blind spots and take control of your multi-cloud Uncover all services and resources within your multi-cloud environment. Supporting Amazon AWS , Microsoft Azure and Google GCP, Prevasio scans a comprehensive range of asset classes such as Lambda functions, S3 buckets, Azure VMs and 60 other cloud service assets. Prioritize risks and misconfigurations to focus on what's critical Thousands of alerts are generated by over 600 CSPM alert types at the asset, service and aggregated levels. Build a prioritized risk list according to CIS Benchmarks to make sense of the deluge of alerts and misconfigurations. Confidently meet compliance requirements With Prevasio , compliance posture is constantly being assessed through continuous monitoring of cloud assets. Organizations can prioritize data security and adhere to regulatory frameworks such as PCI-DSS and HIPAA . Close the loop on your risk mitigation through Jira integration Turn Prevasio CSPM alerts into Jira tasks to ensure a streamlined approach to risk mitigation. Empower collaborative efforts between teams to address and resolve security posture issues. Get the latest insights from the experts What is a Cloud Security Assessment? Read blog Shaping tomorrow: Leading the way in cloud security Read blog CSPM importance for CISOs. What security issues can be prevented\defended with CSPM? 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 mastering network object management Webinars From chaos to control - overcoming 5 challenges of network object management Learn how to master network object management Join our free webinar on conquering 5 common network object management obstacles! Learn practical tips and strategies to simplify your network management process and boost efficiency. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to improve your network performance and minimize headaches. May 24, 2023 Kfir Tabak Product Manager Relevant resources Synchronized Object Management in a Multi-Vendor Environment Watch Video How to Structure Network Objects to Plan for Future Policy Growth Watch Video How to Manage Dynamic Objects in Cloud Environments 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

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