Search results

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

The new alliance is designed to meet the growing needs of AlgoSec’s partners and customers to maintain their competitiveness by delivering enhanced services AlgoSec Teams with TD SYNNEX to Take Partner and Customer Service to New Heights The new alliance is designed to meet the growing needs of AlgoSec’s partners and customers to maintain their competitiveness by delivering enhanced services October 2, 2022 Speak to one of our experts RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., October 3, 2022 – AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader in securing application connectivity, has announced its new alliance with TD SYNNEX, a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem. This partnership will enable AlgoSec’s partners to leverage a whole host of customer-centric resources. These include extended partner support and key customer touchpoint services through TD SYNNEX’s expansive distribution channels. AlgoSec partners working through TD SYNNEX Security Solutions will benefit from: Expedited SLAs on all AlgoSec quotes and orders within less than one business day Quarter-end extended hours Access to a dedicated AlgoSec Product Manager from SYNNEX AlgoSec Partners will still have AlgoSec Channel Managers. In addition, AlgoSec customers will enjoy an enhanced service offering, including: Hands-on cybersecurity expertise through TD SYNNEX Cyber Range Dedicated security focused team Pre-sales engineering support Vulnerability assessments, Bill of Materials (BoM), design Proof of Concept (PoC) “We are excited to add AlgoSec to our portfolio of products. Securing applications and managing policy management across hybrid networks is a major challenge for IT teams.” said Scott Young, Sr. Vice President, Strategic Procurement, TD SYNNEX. Jim Fairweather, AlgoSec VP Channels adds “I am fully confident that our partnership with TD SYNNEX will enable our channel partners to accelerate time to market and improve overall support to meet customer demands”. About AlgoSec  AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to secure application connectivity by automating connectivity flows and security policy, anywhere.  The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network.   AlgoSec’s patented application-centric view of the hybrid network enables business owners, application owners, and information security professionals to talk the same language, so organizations can deliver business applications faster while achieving a heightened security posture.  Over 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks, while taking advantage of almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management.  See what securely accelerating your digital transformation, move-to-cloud, infrastructure modernization, or micro-segmentation initiatives looks like at www.algosec.com About TD SYNNEX TD SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) is a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem. We’re an innovative partner helping more than 150,000 customers in 100+ countries to maximize the value of technology investments, demonstrate business outcomes and unlock growth opportunities. Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, and Fremont, California, TD SYNNEX’ 22,000 co-workers are dedicated to uniting compelling IT products, services and solutions from 1,500+ best-in-class technology vendors. Our edge-to-cloud portfolio is anchored in some of the highest-growth technology segments including cloud, cybersecurity, big data/analytics, IoT, mobility and everything as a service. TD SYNNEX is committed to serving customers and communities, and we believe we can have a positive impact on our people and our planet, intentionally acting as a respected corporate citizen. We aspire to be a diverse and inclusive employer of choice for talent across the IT ecosystem. For more information, visit www.TDSYNNEX.com or follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram .

Streamline network management with AlgoSec Application Discovery. Gain visibility into application connectivity to optimize performance and enhance security policies. AlgoSec application discovery Enhance the discovery of your network applications Overview AlgoSec application discovery enhances the identification of business applications and services based on actual traffic flows and generates an up-to-date connectivity map for all applications. Schedule a Demo Introduction Business applications rely on a complex set of connectivity flows, spanning multiple servers and networks. Companies often struggle to identify their applications and the network traffic flows their applications depend on due to a lack of up-to-date documentation. Utilizing AI-powered solutions, AlgoSec helps understand the relationship between IT and business, which is critical when business applications are moved or migrated. Schedule a Demo Automatic discovery of flows and applications Utilize AI to automatically discover your traffic flows, connect them to your network applications, and accelerate application discovery. AlgoSec application discovery helps you: ANALYZE and VISUALIZE your network traffic IMPROVE your firewall performance and management AUTOMATICALLY document traffic changes Use AI to IDENTIFY the applications running on your network Schedule a Demo Key benefits Accelerate application delivery with AI-powered solutions Reduce the cost of manual application connectivity mapping efforts Avoid application outages due to network device misconfigurations Simplify application and server migrations using AI Enforce security and compliance across the data center Align application, security, and network teams Clearly visualize your network traffic AlgoSec application discovery analyzes your traffic flows, turning them into a clear map. It receives network traffic metadata as NetFlow, SFlow, or full packets and then digests multiple streams of traffic metadata to let you clearly visualize your network traffic. Improve firewall performance and management Your application contains many connections between different servers. The advanced optimization algorithm aggregates a group of connections into thick flows. Using these thick flows prevents overloading multiple rules on the firewalls which can lead to performance degradation. This also simplifies the experience of the security operation expert, making the firewall rules clearer to understand and manage. Moreover, the algorithm predicts the future behavior of the traffic and assures it is aligned with the enforcement policy. Automatically document traffic changes Once applications are discovered and optimized, the system keeps tracking changes in these applications. Once new connections are discovered in the network, the application description is updated with the new flows. Identify the network applications associated with traffic flows AlgoSec’s AI-powered algorithm enables you to identify the applications running on your network. The system can filter out traffic with low frequency and keep connections that appear more frequently. Using deep packet inspection and DNS, AlgoSec identifies the name and purpose of the application. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec The leading provider of business-driven security management solutions, AlgoSec helps the world’s largest organizations align security with their business processes. With AlgoSec, users can discover, map and migrate business application connectivity, proactively analyze risk from the business perspective, tie cyber-attacks to business processes and intelligently automate network security changes with zero touch – across their cloud, SDN and on-premise networks. Over 1,500 enterprises, including 20 Fortune 50 companies, utilize AlgoSec’s solutions to make their organizations more agile, more secure and more compliant – all the time. Since its inception, AlgoSec has provided the industry’s only money-back guarantee. Let's start your journey to our business-centric network security. Schedule a Demo Select a size Overview Introduction Automatic discovery of flows and applications Key benefits About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Hybrid cloud security uses a combination of on-premises equipment, private cloud deployments, and public cloud platforms to secure an... Uncategorized Top 6 Hybrid Cloud Security Solutions: Key Features for 2024 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 1/15/24 Published Hybrid cloud security uses a combination of on-premises equipment, private cloud deployments, and public cloud platforms to secure an organization’s data, apps, and assets. It’s vital to the success of any organization that uses hybrid cloud network infrastructure. The key factors that make hybrid cloud security different from other types of security solutions are flexibility and agility. Your hybrid cloud security solution must be able to prevent, detect, and respond to threats regardless of the assets they compromise. That means being able to detect anomalous behaviors and enforce policies across physical endpoints, cloud-hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments, and in public cloud data centers. You need visibility and control wherever your organization stores or processes sensitive data. What is Hybrid Cloud Security? To understand hybrid cloud security, we must first cover exactly what the hybrid cloud is and how it works. Hybrid cloud infrastructure generally refers to any combination of public cloud providers (like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and private cloud environments. It’s easy to predict the security challenges hosting some of your organization’s apps on public cloud infrastructure and other apps on its own private cloud. How do you gain visibility across these different environments? How do you address vulnerabilities and misconfiguration risks? Hybrid cloud architecture can create complex problems for security leaders. However, it provides organizations with much-needed flexibility and offers a wide range of data deployment options. Most enterprises use a hybrid cloud strategy because it’s very rare for a large organization to entrust its entire IT infrastructure to a single vendor. As a result, security leaders need to come up with solutions that address the risks unique to hybrid cloud environments. Key Features of Hybrid Cloud Security An optimized hybrid cloud security solution gives the organization a centralized point of reference for managing security policies and toolsets across the entire environment. This makes it easier for security leaders to solve complex problems and detect advanced threats before they evolve into business disruptions. Hybrid cloud infrastructure can actually improve your security posture if managed appropriately. Some of the things you can do in this kind of environment include: Manage security risk more effectively. Lock down your most sensitive and highly regulated data in infrastructure under your direct control, while saving on cloud computing costs by entrusting less sensitive data to a third party. Distribute points of failure. Diversifying your organization’s cloud infrastructure reduces your dependence on any single cloud platform. This amplifies many of the practical benefits of network segmentation. Implement Zero Trust. Hybrid cloud networks can be configured with strict access control and authentication policies. These policies should work without regard to the network’s location, providing a strong foundation for demonstrating Zero Trust . Navigate complex compliance requirements. Organizations with hybrid cloud infrastructure are well-prepared to meet strict compliance requirements that apply to certain regions, like CCPA or GDPR data classification . With the right tools, demonstrating compliance through custom reports is easy. Real-time monitoring and remediation . With the right hybrid cloud security solutions in place, you can gain in-depth oversight into cloud workloads and respond immediately to security incidents when they occur. How Do Hybrid Cloud Security Solutions Work? Integration with Cloud Platforms The first step towards building a hybrid cloud strategy is determining how your cloud infrastructure deployments will interact with one another. This requires carefully reviewing the capabilities of the major public cloud platforms you use and determining your own private cloud integration capabilities. You will need to ensure seamless operation between these platforms while retaining visibility over your entire network. using APIs to programmatically connect different aspects of your cloud environment can help automate some of the most time-intensive manual tasks. For example, you may need to manage security configurations and patch updates across many different cloud resources. This will be very difficult and time-consuming if done manually, but a well-integrated automation-ready policy management solution can make it easy. Security Controls and Measures Your hybrid cloud solution will also need to provide comprehensive tools for managing firewalls and endpoints throughout your environment. These security tools can’t work in isolation — they need consistent policies informed by observation of your organization’s real-world risk profile. That means you’ll need to deploy a centralized solution for managing the policies and rulesets these devices use, and continuously configure them to address the latest threats. You will also need to configure your hybrid cloud network to prevent lateral movement and make it harder for internal threat actors to execute attacks. This is achieved with network segmentation, which partitions different parts of your network into segments that do not automatically accept traffic from one another. Microsegmentation further isolates different assets in your network according to their unique security needs, allowing access only to an exclusive set of users and assets. Dividing cloud workloads and resources into micro-segmented network zones improves network security and makes it harder for threat actors to successfully launch malware and ransomware attacks. It reduces the attack surface and enhances your endpoint security capabilities by enabling you to quarantine compromised endpoints the moment you detect unauthorized activity. How to Choose a Hybrid Cloud Security Provider Your hybrid cloud security provider should offer an extensive range of features that help you optimize your cloud service provider’s security capabilities. It should seamlessly connect your security team to the cloud platforms it’s responsible for protecting, while providing relevant context and visibility into cloud security threats. Here are some of the key features to look out for when choosing a hybrid cloud security provider: Scalability and Flexibility. The solution must scale according to your hybrid environment’s needs. Changing security providers is never easy, and you should project its capabilities well into the future before deciding to go through with the implementation. Pay close attention to usage and pricing models that may not be economically feasible as your organization grows. SLAs and Compliance. Your provider must offer service-level agreements that guarantee a certain level of performance. These SLAs will also play an important role ensuring compliance requirements are always observed, especially in highly regulated sectors like healthcare. Security Posture Assessment. You must be able to easily leverage the platform to assess and improve your overall security posture in a hybrid cloud model. This requires visibility and control over your data, regardless of where it is stored or processed. Not all hybrid cloud security solutions have the integrations necessary to make this feasible. DevSecOps Integration. Prioritize cloud security providers that offer support for integrating security best practices into DevOps, and providing security support early in the software development lifecycle. If your organization plans on building continuous deployment capabilities now or in the future, you will need to ensure your cloud security platform is capable of supporting those workflows. Top 6 Hybrid Cloud Security Solutions 1. AlgoSec AlgoSec is an application connectivity platform that manages security policies across hybrid and multi-cloud environments . It allows security leaders to take control of their apps and security tools, managing and enforcing policies that safeguard cloud services from threats. AlgoSec supports the automation of data security policy changes and allows users to simulate configuration changes across their tech stack. This makes it a powerful tool for in-depth risk analysis and compliance reporting, while giving security leaders the features they need to address complex hybrid cloud security challenges . Key Features: Complete network visualization. AlgoSec intelligently analyzes application dependencies across the network, giving security teams clear visibility into their network topology. Zero-touch change management. Customers can automate application and policy connectivity changes without requiring manual interaction between administrators and security tools. Comprehensive security policy management. AlgoSec lets administrators manage security policies across cloud and on-premises infrastructure, ensuring consistent security throughout the organization. What Do People Say About AlgoSec? AlgoSec is highly rated for its in-depth policy management capabilities and its intuitive, user-friendly interface. Customers praise its enhanced visibility, intelligent automation, and valuable configuration simulation tools. AlgoSec provides security professionals with an easy way to discover and map their network, and scale policy management even as IT infrastructure grows. 2. Microsoft Azure Security Center Microsoft Azure Security Center provides threat protection and unified security management across hybrid cloud workloads. As a leader in cloud computing, Microsoft has equipped Azure Security Center with a wide range of cloud-specific capabilities like advanced analytics, DevOps integrations, and comprehensive access management features into a single cloud-native solution. Adaptive Application Controls leverages machine learning to give users personalized recommendations for whitelisting applications. Just-in-Time VM Access protects cloud infrastructure from brute force attacks by reducing access when virtual machines are not needed. Key Features: Unified security management. Microsoft’s security platform offers visibility both into cloud workflows and non-cloud assets. It can map your hybrid network and enable proactive threat detection across the enterprise tech stack. Continuous security assessments. The platform supports automated security assessments for network assets, services, and applications. It triggers alerts notifying administrators when vulnerabilities are detected. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) compatibility. Microsoft enables customers to extend visibility and protection to the IaaS layer, providing uniform security and control across hybrid networks. What Do People Say About Microsoft Azure Security Center? Customers praise Microsoft’s hybrid cloud security solution for its user-friendly interface and integration capabilities. However, many users complain about false positives. These may be the result of security tool misconfigurations that lead to unnecessary disruptions and expensive investigations. 3. Amazon AWS Security Hub Amazon AWS Security Hub is a full-featured cloud security posture management solution that centralized security alerts and enables continuous monitoring of cloud infrastructure. It provides a detailed view of security alerts and compliance status across the hybrid environment. Security leaders can use Amazon AWS Security Hub to automate compliance checks, and manage their security posture through a centralized solution. It provides extensive API support and can integrate with a wide variety of additional tools. Key Features: Automated best practice security checks. AWS can continuously check your security practices against a well-maintained set of standards developed by Amazon security experts. Excellent data visualization capabilities. Administrators can customize the Security Hub dashboard according to specific compliance requirements and generate custom reports to demonstrate security performance. Uniform formatting for security findings. AWS uses its own format — the AWS Security Findings Format (ASFF) — to eliminate the need to normalize data across multiple tools and platforms. What Do People Say About Amazon AWS Security Hub? Amazon’s Security Hub is an excellent choice for native cloud security posture management, providing granular control and easy compliance. However, the platform’s complexity and lack of visibility does not resonate well with all customers. Some organizations will need to spend considerable time and effort building comprehensive security reports. 4. Google Cloud Security Command Center Google’s centralized platform helps administrators identify and remediate security risks in Google Cloud and hybrid environments. It is designed to identify misconfigurations and vulnerabilities while making it easier for security leaders to manage regulatory compliance. Some of the key features it offers include real-time threat detection, security health analytics, and risk assessment tools. Google can also simulate the attack path that threat actors might use to compromise cloud networks. Key Features: Multiple service tiers. The standard service tier provides security health analytics and alerts, while the premium tier offers attack path simulations and event threat detection capabilities. AI-generated summaries. Premium subscribers can read dynamically generated summaries of security findings and attack paths in natural language, reducing this technology’s barrier to entry. Cloud infrastructure entitlement management. Google’s platform supports cloud infrastructure entitlement management, which exposes misconfigurations at the principal account level from an identity-based framework What Do People Say About Google Cloud Security Command Center? Customers applaud the feature included in Google’s premium tier for this service, but complain that it can be hard to get. Not all organizations meet the requirements necessary to use this platform’s most advanced features. Once properly implemented and configured, however, it provides state-of-the-art cloud security that integrates well with Google-centric workflows. 5. IBM Cloud Pak for Security IBM’s cloud security service connects disparate data sources across hybrid and multi-cloud environments to uncover hidden threats. It allows hybrid organizations to advance Zero Trust strategies without compromising on operational security. IBM provides its customers with AI-driven insights, seamless integrations with existing IT environments, and data protection capabilities. It’s especially well-suited for enterprise organizations that want to connect public cloud services with legacy technology deployments that are difficult or expensive to modify. Key Features : Open security. This platform is designed to integrate easily with existing security applications, making it easy for customers to scale their security tech stack and improve policy standards across the enterprise. Improved data stewardship. IBM doesn’t require customers to move their data from one place to another. This makes compliance much easier to manage, especially in complex enterprise environments. Threat intelligence integrations. Customers can integrate IBM Cloud Pak with IBM Threat Intelligence Insights to get detailed and actionable insights delivered to cloud security teams. What Do People Say About IBM Cloud Pak? IBM Cloud Pak helps connect security teams and administrators to the content they need in real time. However, it’s a complicated environment with a significant amount of legacy code, well-established workarounds, and secondary components. This impacts usability and makes it less accessible than other entries on this list. 6. Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud Palo Alto Networks offers comprehensive cloud-native security across multi-cloud and hybrid environments to customers. Prisma Cloud reduces risk and prevents security breaches at multiple points in the application lifecycle. Some of the key features this solution includes are continuous monitoring, API security, and vulnerability management. It provides comprehensive visibility and control to security leaders managing extensive hybrid cloud deployments. Key Features: Hardens CI/CD pipelines. This solution includes robust features for reducing the attack surface of application development environments and protecting CI/CD pipelines. Secures infrastructure-as-code (IaC) deployments. Extensive coverage for detecting and resolving misconfigurations in IaC templates like Terraform, Kubernetes, ARM, and CloudFormation. Provides context-aware prioritization. Palo Alto Networks addresses open source vulnerabilities and license compliance problems contextually, bringing attention to the most important issues first. What Do People Say About Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud? Palo Alto Networks is highly regarded as an enterprise security leader. Many customers praise its products, and Prisma Cloud is no different. However, it comes with a very high price tag that many organizations simply can’t afford. This is especially true when additional integration and implementation costs are factored in. Additionally, some customers have complained about the lack of embedded Identity and Access Management (IAM) controls in the solution. Optimize Hybrid Cloud Security with AlgoSec Security leaders must continually adapt their security deployments to meet evolving cybersecurity threats in hybrid cloud environments. As the threat landscape changes, the organization’s policies and capabilities must adjust to meet new demands. Achieving this level of flexibility is not easy with purely manual configuration and policy workflows. Human error is a major element in many data breaches, and organizations must develop security best practices that address that risk. Implementing the right cloud security platform can make a significant difference when it comes to securing complex hybrid cloud deployments. The ability to simulate in-depth configuration changes and automate the deployment of those changes across the entire environment offers significant advantages to operational security. Consider making AlgoSec your cybersecurity co-pilot for identifying vulnerabilities and addressing security gaps. Avoid costly misconfigurations and leverage intelligent automation to make your hybrid cloud environment more secure than ever before. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security 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 how to achieve and maintain firewall compliance with ISO/IEC 27001. Learn key requirements, best practices, and how to strengthen your overall security posture. Firewall ISO compliance: ISO/IEC 27001 explained Introductory prologue IT organizations and those dealing with digital assets often face many information security challenges. They must protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, as a crack in security can result in unimaginable losses. To keep information security risks minimal and optimize protection for organizations, ISO/IEC 27001 compliance was designed. What is ISO/IEC 27001 compliance? How does it work, and why does it matter? Read on to uncover answers to all your questions and more in this guide. Schedule a Demo What Is ISO/IEC 27001? ISO/IEC 27001 is an internationally accepted standard for data security. It is one of the standards jointly published by the ISO (International Standardization Organization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) in 2015. ISO/IEC 27001 aims to provide organizations with a framework for information security management, thereby protecting digital assets. Implementing the standard helps organizations minimize and effectively manage information security risks, such as hacks, data leaks or theft, and cyber attacks. Digital assets like intellectual property, software, employee information, and personal data are often a target for malicious actors. And that’s why asset management is crucial to companies and digital service providers. It demonstrates that the certified organization’s information security system is efficient as it follows the best practice. Any ISO/IEC 27001-certified organization can display its certification online (e.g., on its website, social media platforms, etc.) and offline. As a result, they get the trust and respect they deserve from partners, investors, customers, and other organizations. Schedule a Demo Evolution of ISO/IEC 27001 The International Standardization Organization (ISO) is a global federation of national standards bodies established in 1947. It is a leading organization that develops standards for ensuring the security of business systems. Since its emergence, ISO has published several standards, such as: ISO 27000 – Information Security Management Systems ISO 22301 – Business Continuity ISO 14000 – Environmental Management System ISO 45001 – Occupational Health and Safety ISO 9000 – Quality Management System etc. Although ISO/IEC 27001 was officially published in 2005, ISO had been providing measures for protecting digital systems and information before then. The rapid spread of the internet in the 1990s gave rise to the need for data security to prevent sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands. ISO 27001 was the first standard among the ISO 27000 series of standards for cybersecurity. Since its release, the standard has undergone revisions to tackle new and evolving cyber threats in the industry. The first revision took place in October 2013, when new controls were introduced, and the total controls numbered up to 114. This version is referred to as ISO/IEC 27001:2013 version. The second and latest revision of ISO/ICE 27001 was published in 2022 and enumerates 93 controls grouped into four sections. This revision was initially referred to as ISO/IEC 27001:2022 but is now known as ISO 27001. Another notable development in the latest version is the change in title. The new version’s complete title is – ISO 27001 (i.e., ISO/IEC 27001:2022) Information Security, Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection. Schedule a Demo Business Benefits of ISO/IEC 27001 Achieving ISO/IEC 27001 certification offers organizations several business benefits, especially for service providers handling people’s sensitive financial and personal data. Examples of such organizations are insurance companies, banks, health organizations, and financial institutions. Some of the business benefits of ISO 27001 are: 1. It prevents financial penalties and losses from data breaches Organizations that do not comply with the global security standard are at great risk of a data breach. Data breaches often attract financial penalties and cause companies to lose significant amounts. By implementing the best network security practices, organizations can prevent unnecessary financial losses and record more significant revenue in the long run. 2. It protects and enhances a company’s reputation. Partners, investors, and customers often prefer companies with a good reputation for handling data. In fact, the World Economic Forum states that reputation affects a quarter of a company’s market value. ISO/IEC 27001 certification can help businesses with an existing reputation to preserve their image. Companies with a previous record of security challenges can enhance their reputation and earn the trust and respect of others by becoming certified too. 3. Wins new business and sharpens competitive edge Certified companies stand a better chance of winning new businesses and recording more sales and profits than their competitors. That’s because clients want to feel safe knowing their data enjoy maximum protection. Also, certain organizations must attain other certifications like GDPR, HIPAA, NIST, etc., before commencing operation. And having ISO certification makes it easier to achieve such requirements. One major indicator that an organization can be trusted for security management is acquiring a worldwide certification. It sharpens its competitive advantage and propels the brand way ahead of others. 4. Improves structure and focus As businesses expand, new responsibilities arise, and it can be challenging to determine who should be responsible for what. But with ISO 27001 compliance, companies will have a clear structure to mirror. From authentication to network traffic management, the standard has an outlined structure that companies can apply to establish robust operations security. As a result, they can tackle rising needs while staying focused and productive. 5. It reduces the need for frequent audits. Organizations usually spend heavily performing frequent internal and external audits to generate valuable data about the state of their security. The data is deployed to improve cybersecurity so that threat intelligence and other security aspects are optimized. And even though it costs more and wastes more time, it doesn’t guarantee as much protection as implementing ISO 27001 standard. By becoming a certified name, companies can rest assured that the best cybersecurity practices protect them against attacks. Plus, frequent audits won’t be needed, thus saving cost and time. Schedule a Demo ISO/IEC 27001 Compliance Organizations looking to achieve ISO/IEC 27001 compliance must ensure the following: 1. Clearly Outline the Risk Assessment Process Develop your risk assessment process to detect vulnerabilities. State the categories of risks your organization is facing Outline your approach to tackle vulnerabilities. 2. Make Sure Executives Set the Tone Top management must be involved in the information security program. They should show financial support and be available to make strategic decisions that will help build robust security. Senior management should also conduct frequent assessments of the company’s ISMS to ensure it’s in sync with the globally agreed security standard. 3. Design an Information Security Policy (ISP) An ISP essentially functions to ensure that all the users and networks of your organization’s IT structure stick with the standard practices of digital data storage. You must design an effective ISP to achieve compliance as it governs information protection. Your ISP should encompass the A to Z of your organization’s IT security, including cloud security. You need to state who will be responsible for implementing the designed policy. 4. Write Out Your Statement of Applicability (SoA) Your SoA should carry core information about your ISMS. It should state the controls that your organization regards necessary to combat information security risks. It should document the controls that were not applied The SoA should only be shared with the certification body. 5. Create Your Risk Management Strategy Develop an effective risk management plan to address the possible risks of your chosen security controls. Ensure there’s an efficient security operations center (soc) to help detect cyber threats and forward notifications to the right systems. Design an information security incident management strategy to respond during threat detection. State who will implement specific security controls, how, and when they will deploy them. Schedule a Demo FAQs What does ISO/IEC 27001 stand for? ISO stands for International Standardization Organization, while IEC represents International Electrotechnical Commission. ISO/IEC 27001 is an internationally accepted standard for information security management, which ISO and IEC first created. What are the ISO 27001 Requirements? Every organization looking to apply for certification must prepare themselves and ensure to meet the requirements. These requirements are summarized in Clauses 4.1 to 10.2 below: 4.1 Understanding the organization and its context 4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties 4.3 Determining the scope of the ISMS 4.4 Information security management system (ISMS) 5.1 Leadership and commitment 5.2 Information Security Policy 5.3 Organisational roles, responsibilities, and authorities 6.1 Actions to address risks and opportunities 6.2 Information security objectives and planning to achieve them 7.1 Resources 7.2 Competence 7.3 Awareness 7.4 Communication 7.5 Documented information 8.1 Operational planning and control 8.2 Information security risk assessment 8.3 Information security risk treatment 9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation 9.2 Internal audit 9.3 Management review 10.1 Nonconformity and corrective action 10.2 Continual improvement What are the ISO/IEC 27001 controls? The latest version of ISO 27001 Annex A enumerates 93 security controls divided into four sections or themes. The ISO 27001 controls are designed to simplify information security management such that digital assets get the best protection against security threats. These 4 sections are labelled A5 to A8 and are as follows: A.5 Organizational controls – containing 37 controls A.6 People controls – containing 8 controls A.7 Physical controls – containing 14 controls A.8 Technological controls – containing 34 controls How Does ISO/IEC 27001 ensure data protection? ISO/IEC 27001 ensures data protection by providing a framework through which companies can store sensitive data and have full access control. This standard can be adapted to suit each organization’s specific needs and structure, thereby offering optimized protection. ISO/IEC 27001 aims to ascertain that three core information security aspects are taken care of, which are: Confidentiality: this guarantees that only authorized individuals can access information. Also, because organizations deal with different categories of data, each employee must only be given the degree of access required to execute their tasks efficiently. Integrity: this ensures that only authorized individuals can change information on the system. So even in the event of a security breach, the risks are minimal. This is due to the change management plan that ensures unauthorized persons can not alter information. Availability: information security becomes a problem if the secured information isn’t accessible when needed. ISO 27001 enables authorized persons to have access to information whenever required to ensure that business operations are uninterrupted. By maintaining these guidelines, companies can put in place an effective information security system and risk management plan to prevent data leaks, theft, or hacks. How does my firewall management help with ISO 27001? Firewalls are the software in your organization’s IT structure managing the connection between different networks. Effective firewall management can help in designing the right Information Security Policy (ISP). In turn, your organization will be able to achieve ISO 27001 compliance. Thus, your firewall policies can help with ISO 27001 by enabling organizations to design an Information Security Policy that agrees with the standard required for compliance. What is the Importance of ISO 27001 Certification, and how can I gain it? ISO 27001 certification offers several advantages to businesses and organizations. It demonstrates to partners, investors, and customers that the certified business has a reliable information security management system, thus winning their trust. Also, it enhances communications security so that third parties do not interfere with your company’s operating system. You also get to reduce the risk of security failure, saving you from financial losses and penalties. Once you’ve met the compliance requirements, you may gain an ISO 27001 certification by registering with an accredited certification body Schedule a Demo How can AlgoSec Help with ISO 27001 Compliance? Organizations must regularly conduct audits and prepare compliance reports to attain and maintain ISO 27001 certification. The data generated from event logs are equally helpful in enhancing threat intelligence and overall operations security. This process is often time-consuming and cost-demanding, and that’s where AlgoSec comes in. Being an ISO 27001-certified vendor, AlgoSec understands the challenges of ISO 27001 compliance and is dedicated to providing affordable and effective solutions. AlgoSec automatically generates pre-populated, audit-ready compliance reports for ISO 27001 and other leading industry regulations like SOX, BASEL II, GLBA, PCI DSS, and FISMA. This technique helps companies reduce audit preparation efforts and costs and uncovers loopholes in their ISMS. As a result, businesses can take proper measures to ensure full ISO 27001 compliance, thus becoming worthy of the certification. Schedule a Demo Select a size Introductory prologue What Is ISO/IEC 27001? Evolution of ISO/IEC 27001 Business Benefits of ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 Compliance FAQs How can AlgoSec Help with ISO 27001 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

In the context of the Zero Trust vs. least privilege debate, this post explores the difference between Zero Trust and least privilege, how the Zero Trust security model and least privilege access control work together, and where each fits in a modern security program. Organizations need both Zero Trust and least privilege. These two fundamental security approaches verify all requests and restrict all permissions. This article explains the operation of each security method as well as their distinct approaches to defense. It also provides guidance on their combined use for enhanced security. Zero trust vs least privilege Select a size Which network Can AlgoSec be used for continuous compliance monitoring? Yes, AlgoSec supports continuous compliance monitoring. As organizations adapt their security policies to meet emerging threats and address new vulnerabilities, they must constantly verify these changes against the compliance frameworks they subscribe to. AlgoSec can generate risk assessment reports and conduct internal audits on-demand, allowing compliance officers to monitor compliance performance in real-time. Security professionals can also use AlgoSec to preview and simulate proposed changes to the organization’s security policies. This gives compliance officers a valuable degree of lead-time before planned changes impact regulatory guidelines and allows for continuous real-time monitoring. Zero Trust vs. Least Privilege: What's the Difference and How Do They Work Together? In the context of the Zero Trust vs. least privilege debate, this post explores the difference between Zero Trust and least privilege, how the Zero Trust security model and least privilege access control work together, and where each fits in a modern security program. Organizations need both Zero Trust and least privilege. These two fundamental security approaches verify all requests and restrict all permissions. This article explains the operation of each security method as well as their distinct approaches to defense. It also provides guidance on their combined use for enhanced security. Zero Trust vs. Traditional Security Security operations previously focused on creating an unbreakable defensive boundary. The rule was: Trust the people and devices inside the network. Be suspicious of everything on the outside. This "castle-and-moat" security model proved effective when technology systems were run from restricted server rooms. But cloud computing, SaaS solutions, and hybrid work environments have resulted in traditional system perimeters dissolving. Cloud, SaaS, and remote endpoints now make up a fragmented and complex “frontline,” with inconsistent controls that create gaps attackers can exploit. Malicious actors know that if they find one unlocked door—usually a stolen password—they can often wander freely through the entire network. This is precisely what the Zero Trust security model was designed to prevent. What Is the Zero Trust Security Model? The Zero Trust security model follows a single core belief surrounding verification. The new rule is: All users and systems must require verification before being granted access. Under this model, there is no free pass. Every single time someone or something tries to access a resource, they must authenticate their identity and prove they have access rights to the resources they seek. What Are the Building Blocks of Zero Trust Access Management? Making a Zero Trust architecture work requires a few key components: Policy decision point (PDP): The PDP operates as the central regulatory system of the entire network. It's where you define and store all the rules about who has access to what. Policy enforcement point (PEP): This is your security guard. The system functions as a security checkpoint that protects all resources while implementing the policies defined by the PDP. Trust algorithm: This evaluates various real-time indicators (e.g., user identity, device health status, location data, and data sensitivity) to generate a trust score for each request. Zero Trust Architecture in Practice Implementing Zero Trust requires organizations to establish ongoing verification processes for all identity and device access, as well as network, workload, and data security: Devices: Companies must verify the security posture of all laptops and phones through software updates and security tool verification. The testing process identifies non-compliant devices, which are placed in a digital waiting area until they achieve safety standards. Networks: Micro-segmentation is the main player here. By dividing your network into tiny, isolated zones, you prevent an intruder from moving around freely. All traffic between servers (east-west) needs to be encrypted and pass through a PEP checkpoint. Applications & workloads: Applications, together with services, require robust identity systems. This can be done using methods like mTLS to ensure services are securely talking to each other, and by enforcing strict authorization checks at the front door (gateways) of every application. Data : Are you fully aware of what your data cons ists of and its level of sensitivity? The process of classification and labeling enables organizations to develop smart policies that implement least privilege access controls, preventing sensitive information from leaving the organization. The Least Privilege Principle and Least Privilege Access Control Following the least privilege principle, least privilege access control requires that all users and non-human identities receive permissions that exactly match their required tasks and only remain active during the time needed to complete those tasks. Limiting permissions to specific times and tasks: Minimizes system vulnerabilities Restricts damage from compromised credentials Prevents unauthorized system access Makes audit processes easier and regulatory requirements more achievable Provides clear visibility into all access elevation activities Teams use three main operational controls to implement least privilege in their daily operations: RBAC/ABAC function together to restrict resource access based on job titles and user characteristics ; RBAC handles basic access control, while ABAC offers detailed context-based authorization checks. Just-in-time (JIT) allows a user to ask for special permissions for a short period to perform a specific task, with any rights granted terminated when the work is complete. Time-boxed tokens grant access credentials with an expiration date, so even if a token is stolen, exposure is short‑lived and any impact contain ed. How Do You Implement Least Privilege Access Control? The implementation of least privilege access control requires a methodical approach to provide each identity with the smallest set of permissions needed to perform its duties for a limited duration. These are the essential steps for successful implementation: Inventory and map privileges: You cannot protect what you do not even know is yours. This step demands complete identification of human and machine identities to establish their current permissions and necessary access permissions. Shrink service account scopes: After creating a map, you can begin to limit the permissions of accounts that have excessive access. Credential rotation and exceptions: Organizations need to adopt credential rotation and temporary identity systems for automated operations while also making just-in-time access their default security approach. The Difference Between Zero Trust and Least Privilege The discussion of Zero Trust vs. least privilege comes down to the two concepts dealing with different security issues. Zero Trust vs. Least Privilege The table below presents a clear comparison. Feature Zero Trust Least Privilege Scope & Purpose The overall game plan for securing the entire organization A core access‑management principle limiting each identity to the minimum permissions required for specific tasks/resources Decision Focus Evaluation of whether to trust the present request Stopping users from getting unintended and extra access Primary Goal To get rid of assumed trust and verify everything, always To limit the damage if an account or system gets compromised Ownership Usually driven by the security and platform architecture teams Put into practice by the people who own the data and applications Conclusion Zero Trust and least privilege security solutions deliver a major security improvement when deployed together, despite their distinct implementation methods. Their combination significantly reduces the potential damage from a breach, makes it much harder for attackers to move around, and delivers a crystal-clear record of who is accessing what and why. If you’re evaluating platforms to operationalize these practices, AlgoSec can help by: Modeling application connectivity Orchestrating network security policy changes Supporting micro-segmentation Maintaining continuous compliance across hybrid and multi‑cloud environments All these capabilities reinforce both Zero Trust and least privilege. Explore AlgoSec Cloud Enterprise for multi‑cloud and hybrid policy automation, see how our approach helps application owners model and secure application connectivity, and learn about our native integrations with AWS . Schedule a demo of AlgoSec today. Get the latest insights from the experts Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Partner solution brief Enforcing micro-segmentation with Akamai and AlgoSec 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

Multi-cloud environments create complex IT architectures that are hard to secure. Although cloud computing creates numerous advantages... Cloud Security 3 Proven Tips to Finding the Right CSPM Solution Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 11/24/22 Published Multi-cloud environments create complex IT architectures that are hard to secure. Although cloud computing creates numerous advantages for companies, it also increases the risk of data breaches. Did you know that you can mitigate these risks with a CSPM? Rony Moshkovitch, Prevasio’s co-founder, discusses why modern organizations need to opt for a CSPM solution when migrating to the cloud and also offers three powerful tips to finding and implementing the right one. Cloud Security Can Get Messy if You Let it A cloud-based IT infrastructure can lower your IT costs, boost your agility, flexibility, and scalability, and enhance business resilience. These great advantages notwithstanding, the cloud also has one serious drawback: it is not easy to secure. When you move from an on-premise infrastructure to the cloud, the size of your digital footprint expands. This can attract hackers on the prowl who are looking for the first opportunity to compromise your assets or steal your data. Cloud security solutions include multiple elements that must be managed and protected, such as microservices, containers, and serverless functions. These elements increase cloud complexity, reduce visibility into the cloud estate, and make it harder to secure. For all these reasons, security issues arise in the cloud, increasing the risk of breaches that may result in financial losses, legal liabilities, or reputational damage. To protect the complex and fluid cloud environment, sophisticated automation is essential. Enter cloud security posture management. How to Identify and Implement the Right CSPM Solution 1) It must offer a flat learning curve to accelerate time to value: The CSPM solution can be easy to implement, adopt, and use. It should not burden your security team. Rather, it should simplify cloud security by providing non-intrusive, agentless scans of all cloud accounts, services, and assets. It should also provide actionable information in a single-pane-of-glass view that clearly reveals what needs to be remediated in order to strengthen your cloud security posture. In addition, the solution should generate reports that are easy to understand and share. 2) It must support non-intrusive, agentless, static and dynamic analyses: Some CSPM solutions only support static scans, leaving dynamic scans to other intrusive solutions. The problem with the latter is that they require agents to be deployed, managed, and updated for every scan, increasing the organization’s technical debt and forcing security teams to spend expensive (and scarce) resources on solution management. The best way to minimize the debt and the management burden on security teams is to choose a CSPM that can scan for threats in an agentless manner. It should also perform agentless dynamic analyses on all container applications and images that can reveal valuable information about exposed network ports and other risks. 3) It must be reasonably priced: CSPM is important but it shouldn’t burn a hole in your pocket. The solution should fit your security budget and match your organization’s size, cloud environment complexity, and cloud asset usage. Also, look for a vendor that provides a transparent license model and dynamic security features instead of just dynamic, expensive billing (that could reduce your ability to control your cloud costs). Conclusion and next steps The global CSPM market is set to double from $4.2 billion in 2022 to $8.6 billion by 2027. Already, many CSPM vendors and solutions are available. In order to select the best solution for your organization, make sure to consider the three tips discussed here. Need more tailored advice about the security needs of your enterprise cloud? Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security 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

Avivi Siman-Tov, Director of Product Management at AlgoSec, discusses the benefits of network automation and takes us through a... Firewall Change Management Change automation: A step-by-step guide to network security policy change management Avivi Siman Tov 2 min read Avivi Siman Tov Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 10/21/21 Published Avivi Siman-Tov, Director of Product Management at AlgoSec, discusses the benefits of network automation and takes us through a step-by-step process to standardize change management In today’s fast-paced, data-driven environment, the only constant that businesses can bank on is change. For organizations to function and compete in the modern digital landscape, they need their data to be able to move freely and unobstructed through every branch of their business, unimpeded by security issues that require constant manual attention. The network is arguably the beating heart of an organization but keeping it ticking requires more maintenance than it once did, owing to constantly changing risk profiles and circumstances. That’s why a greater number of businesses are turning to change automation to bridge the gap between network alerts and the action that needs to be taken. Barriers to automation According to Gartner , organizations that can automate more than 70% of their network changes can reduce the number of outages by at least 50% and deliver services up to 50% faster. That’s because a lot of legacy solutions tend to take a reactive rather than proactive approach to dealing with security. There are multiple controls in place that simply don’t talk to each other. While most businesses get alerts from SIEM solutions and vulnerability scanners, responding to them turns into a full-time job, distracting your team from other important work they could be doing. Most organizations know that manual policy changes impact their productivity, but they’re afraid to take the leap to automation because of an ill-placed perception around security. Production environments in all organizations are maintained by different teams — for example, DevOps, maintenance, cloud security, IT, and more. Not all of these teams are educated to the same level in security matters, and some see it as a constraint that slows their work. This can lead to conflict between teams, which means that automation is not always welcome. Despite some resistance to change, enterprise-wide change automation makes it possible to transform network security policies without needing to reinvent the wheel or replace existing business processes. Automation and actionable intelligence are proven to enhance security and business agility without the stress often associated with misconfigurations caused by manual, ad-hoc processes. A typical network change workflow By elevating firewall change management from a manual, arduous task to a fully automated, zero-touch process, networks can become more agile and organizations far more adaptive. There are several steps that organizations need to take towards complete network security automation, from a simple change request through to implementation and validation. Let’s take a look at the most common steps in establishing automation for a simple change request. Step 1 – Request a network change Every change begins with a request. At this stage, you need to clarify who is asking for the amendment and why because sometimes the request is unnecessary or covered by an existing ruleset. Step 2 – Find relevant security devices Once this request is translated, the change automation platform will handle the request and implement the changes to hybrid networks. The administrator will be able to see which firewall and routing devices are involved and what impact the change will have. Step 3 – Plan change The change automation platform understands how to deal with different vendor-specific settings and how to implement the requests in a way that avoids creating any duplicates. Step 4 – Risk check The administrator will get a ‘ what if’ analysis, which checks the change for any risks. In this phase, the decision as to whether to allow the change and expose the network to the risk mentioned is in the hands of the network admin or security manager, depending on who is handling this phase. Step 5 – Push change to device Once planned changes are approved, the ‘magic’ happens. The change automation platform implements and pushes the changes to the desired devices automatically, either through APIs or directly to the device (CLI). This is a fully automated action that can be conducted on multiple devices, whether cloud-based or on-premises. The push can be done in a scheduled manner, in your maintenance window, or on-demand. Step 6 – Validate change At the end of each request, the solution will check that the request was successfully implemented across all devices. The solution also provides ongoing audits of the whole process, enabling easy checking of each stage. Step 7 – Documentation and logging Network security automation platforms can provide you with a full, automated audit trail. Documentation happens on the go, saving IT and security teams time and accelerating tedious network compliance management tasks. Put your trust in network automation While change management is complex stuff, the decision for your business is simple. It’s like the engine of an expensive car. Would you drive at high speeds if you didn’t have your brakes tested or a steering wheel to keep your course straight? Hopefully, the answer is no. With AlgoSec FireFlow , you can automate the security policy change process without introducing any element of risk, vulnerability, or compliance violation. AlgoSec FireFlow allows you to analyze every change before it is introduced, and validate successful changes as intended, all within your existing IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions . By putting your trust in us we can put you firmly in the driving seat with zero-touch change management and secure application deployment. For more information, or to arrange a demo , visit our website . Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security 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

Challenges with managing Cisco Meraki in a complex enterprise environment We have worked closely with Cisco for many years in large... 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 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 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 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security 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

Automate network management and policy changes to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and ensure security compliance across your network infrastructure. Network management & policy change automation Overview This eBook provides practical suggestions for implementing a change automation process, lays out the pitfalls, and gives practical tips for choosing a change management solution. Schedule a Demo Cure the network management headache In today’s IT environment, the only constant is change. Business needs change. As your business changes, so must your security policies. The problem Change comes with challenges, leading to major headaches for IT operations and security teams. This develops into huge business problems: Manual workflows and change management processes are time-consuming and hinder business agility. Improper management changes lead to serious business risks – as benign as blocking legitimate traffic all the way to network outages. The solution Automation and actionable intelligence can enhance security and business agility – without the headaches and misconfigurations caused by manual, ad-hoc processes. In this document, you will learn the secrets of how to elevate your firewall change management from manual labor-intensive work to a fully automated zero-touch change management process. Schedule a Demo Why’s it hard to change network policies? Placing a sticky note on your firewall administrator’s desk or sending an email that gets lost in the clutter and expecting the change request to be performed pronto does not constitute a formal policy. Yet, shockingly, this is common. You need a formal change request process. Such a process dictates defined and documented steps about how to handle a change request, by whom, how it is addressed, defines an SLA, and more. Firewall change management requires detailed and concise steps that everyone understands and follows. Exceptions must be approved and documented so stakeholders can understand the risk. Your security policy management solution should seamlessly integrate with the tools you are already using to accelerate its adoption in your organization. AlgoSec enables business agility by integrating with ITSM systems like ServiceNow, BMC Helix ITSM (formerly Remedy), Clarity SM (formerly CA Service Management) and HP Service Management. Communication breakdown Network security and IT operations staff work in separate silos. Their goals, and even their languages, are different. Working in silos is a clear path to trouble. It is a major contributor to out-of-band changes that result in outages and security breaches. In many large companies, routine IT operational and administrative tasks may be handled by a team other than the one that handles security and risk. Although both teams have the same goal, decisions made by one team lead to problems for the other. Network complexity is a security killer Today’s networks exist across complex environments – on-premise data centers, multiple multi-vendor public and private clouds, spanning geographic borders. It’s difficult to keep track of your entire network estate. Security expert Bruce Schneider once stated that “Complexity is the worst enemy of security.” The sheer complexity of any given network can lead to a lot of mistakes. Simplifying and automating the firewall environment and management processes is necessary. Did you know? Up to 30 percent of implemented rule changes in large firewall infrastructures are unnecessary because the firewalls already allow the requested traffic! Under time pressure, firewall administrators often create rules that turn out to be redundant. This wastes valuable time and makes the firewalls even harder to manage. Get a Demo Schedule a Demo Mind the security gap Introducing new things open up security gaps. New hires, software patches, upgrades, server migrations, and network updates increase your exposure to risk. Who can keep track of it all? What about unexpected, quick fixes that enable access to certain resources or capabilities? A fix is made in a rush (after all, who wants a C-level exec breathing down their neck because he wants to access resources RIGHT NOW?) without sufficient consideration of whether that change is allowed under current security policies. Problems abound when speed is mistaken for agility and takes precedence over security. You need to be able to make changes fast and accurately – agility without compromising security. How can you get both agility and security? Network automation. There are solutions that automate firewall management tasks and record them so that they are part of the change management plan. Network automation helps bridge the gap between change management processes and reality. A sophisticated firewall and topology-aware system that identifies redundant change requests increases productivity. IT and security teams are responsible for making sure that systems function properly. However, they approach business continuity from different perspectives. The security department’s goal is to protect the business and its data, while the IT operations team focuses on keeping systems up and running. The business has to keep running AND it has to be secure. Alignment is easier said than done. To achieve alignment, organizations must reexamine IT and security processes. Let’s take a look at some examples of what happens when there is no alignment. Schedule a Demo Good changes gone bad Example 1 A classic lack of communication between IT operations and security groups put Corporation XYZ at risk. An IT department administrator, trying to be helpful, took the initiative to set up (with no security involvement or documentation) a file share for a user who needed to upload files in a hurry. By making this off-the-cuff change, the IT admin quickly addressed the client’s request. However, the account lingered unsecured. The security team noticed larger spikes of inbound traffic to the server from this account. Hackers abound. The site had been compromised and was being exploited. Example 2 A core provider of e-commerce services suffered a horrible fate due to a simple, but poorly managed, firewall change. One day, all e-commerce transactions in and out of its network ceased. The entire business was taken offline for several hours. The costs were astronomical. What happened? An out-of-band (and untested) change to a core firewall broke communications between the e-commerce application and the internet. Business activity ground to a halt. Because of this incident, executive management got involved and the responsible IT staff members were reprimanded. Hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the root cause of the outage was uncovered: IT staff chose not to test their firewall changes, bypassing their “burdensome” ITIL-based change management procedures. They failed to consider the consequences. Schedule a Demo Avoiding a firewall fire drill Automation is the key to gaining control. It helps staff disengage from firefighting. It bridges between agility and security to drive business-driven productivity. The right automation solution automates manual, error-prone workflows. It allows changes to be made accurately, with clear visibility across complex network topologies, while focusing on keeping the business running effectively. Automation helps teams track down potential traffic or connectivity issues and highlights risky areas. It can automatically pinpoint devices that require changes and show how to create and implement the changes. To ensure proper balance between business continuity and security, look for a firewall policy management solution that: Provides visibility of network traffic flows and network devices across complex, hybrid and multi-cloud network topologies Intelligently designs firewall rules to eliminate redundant rules and reduce clutter and complexity. Eliminates mistakes and rework. Improves accountability for change requests. Proactively assesses the impact of network changes to ensure security and continuous compliance. Identifies risky security policy rules and offers suggestions to de-risk your network environment Automatically pushes changes to devices Schedule a Demo 10 steps to automate and standardize the firewall change-management process Once a request is made, a change-request process should include these steps: Clarify the change request and determine the dependencies. Obtain all relevant information (i.e., who is requesting the change and why). Validate that the change is necessary. Many requests are unnecessary and already covered by existing rules. Get proper authorization for the change. Make sure you understand the dependencies and the impact on business applications, and other devices and systems. This usually involves multiple stakeholders from different teams. Perform a risk assessment. Before approving the change, thoroughly test it and analyze the results so as not to block desired traffic or violate compliance. Does the proposed change create a new risk in the security policy? Plan the change. Assign resources, create and test your back-out plans, and schedule the change. This is also a good time to ensure that everything is properly documented for troubleshooting or recertification purposes. Execute the change. Backup existing configurations, prepare target device(s) and notify appropriate workgroups of any planned outage, and then perform the actual change. Verify correct execution to avoid outages. Test the change, including affected systems and network traffic patterns. Audit and govern the change process. Review the executed change and any lessons learned. Having a non-operations-related group conduct the audit provides the necessary separation of duties and ensures a documented audit trail for every change. Measure SLAs. Establish new performance metrics and obtain a baseline measurement. Recertify policies. Part of your change management process should include a review and recertification of policies at a regular, defined interval (e.g., once a year). This step forces you to review why policies are in place, enabling you to improve documentation and remove or tweak policy rules. Schedule a Demo What to look for in a change-management solution Your solution must be firewall- and network-aware. This allows the system to pull information from the firewalls and understand the current policies. Your solution must support the firewalls, routers, security controls, load balancers, and other devices across your hybrid network. Your solution must be topology-aware. It must understand how the network is laid out, comprehend how the devices fit and interact, and provide the necessary visibility of how traffic is flowing through the network. Your solution must integrate with the existing general change management systems. You don’t want to undergo massive retraining of processes and systems simply because you have introduced a new solution. Your solution must provide out-of-the-box change workflows to streamline change-management processes and be highly customizable. No two organizations’ network and change processes are exactly the same. Schedule a Demo Summary While change management is complex stuff, the decision for your business is simple. You can continue to slowly chug along with manual change management processes or you can accelerate those processes with an automated network change management workflow solution that aligns stakeholders and helps your business run more smoothly. Think of your change process as a key component of the engine of an expensive car (in this case, your organization). Would you drive your car at high speed if you didn’t have tested, dependable brakes or a steering wheel? Hopefully, the answer is no! The brakes and steering wheel are analogous to change controls and processes. Rather than slowing you down, they actually make you go faster, securely! “Accelerate your business with security policy change automation” Power steering and power brakes (in this case firewall-aware integration and automation) help you zoom to success. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec AlgoSec enables the world’s largest organizations to align business and security strategies, and manage their network security based on what matters most — the applications that power their businesses. Through a single pane of glass, the AlgoSec Security Management Solution provides holistic, business-level visibility across the entire network security infrastructure, including business applications and their connectivity flows — in the cloud and across SDN and on-premise networks. With AlgoSec users can auto-discover and migrate application connectivity, proactively analyze risk from the business perspective, tie cyber-attacks to business processes and intelligently automate time-consuming security changes— all zero-touch, and seamlessly orchestrated across any heterogeneous environment. Over 1,800 leading organizations, including 20 Fortune 50 companies, have relied on AlgoSec to drive business agility, security and compliance. AlgoSec has provided the industry’s only money-back guarantee since 2005. Did you know? AlgoSec integrates with your existing business processes and multi-vendor security controls to keep your business safe and agile nomatter where your network resides. Let's start your journey to our business-centric network security. Schedule a Demo Select a size Overview Cure the network management headache Why’s it hard to change network policies? Mind the security gap Good changes gone bad Avoiding a firewall fire drill 10 steps to automate and standardize the firewall change-management process What to look for in a change-management solution Summary About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Migrate policies to Cisco ACI with AlgoSec 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