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Over nearly two decades, AlgoSec has undergone a remarkable evolution in both technology and offerings. Initially founded with the... Application Connectivity Management Evolving network security: AlgoSec’s technological journey and its critical role in application connectivity Nitin Rajput 2 min read Nitin Rajput 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 12/13/23 Published Over nearly two decades, AlgoSec has undergone a remarkable evolution in both technology and offerings. Initially founded with the mission of simplifying network security device management, the company has consistently adapted to the changing landscape of cybersecurity. Proactive Network Security In its early years, AlgoSec focused on providing a comprehensive view of network security configurations, emphasizing compliance, risk assessment, and optimization. Recognizing the limitations of a reactive approach, AlgoSec pivoted to develop a workflow-based ticketing system, enabling proactive assessment of traffic changes against risk and compliance. Cloud-Native Security As organizations transitioned to hybrid and cloud environments, AlgoSec expanded its capabilities to include cloud-native security controls. Today, AlgoSec seamlessly manages public cloud platforms such as Cisco ACI, NSX, AWS, GCP, and Azure, ensuring a unified security posture across diverse infrastructures. Application Connectivity Discovery A recent breakthrough for AlgoSec is its focus on helping customers navigate the challenges of migrating applications to public or private clouds. The emphasis lies in discovering and mapping application flows within the network infrastructure, addressing the crucial need for maintaining control and communication channels. This discovery process is facilitated by AlgoSec’s built-in solution or by importing data from third-party micro-segmentation solutions like Cisco Secure Workloads, Guardicore, or Illumio. Importance of Application Connectivity Why is discovering and mapping application connectivity crucial? Applications are the lifeblood of organizations, driving business functions and, from a technical standpoint, influencing decisions related to firewall rule decommissioning, cloud migration, micro-segmentation, and zero-trust frameworks. Compliance requirements further emphasize the necessity of maintaining a clear understanding of application connectivity flows. Enforcing Micro-Segmentation with AlgoSec Micro-segmentation, a vital network security approach, aims to secure workloads independently by creating security zones per machine. AlgoSec plays a pivotal role in enforcing micro-segmentation by providing a detailed understanding of application connectivity flows. Through its discovery modules, AlgoSec ingests data and translates it into access controls, simplifying the management of north-south and east-west traffic within SDN-based micro-segmentation solutions. Secure Application Connectivity Migration In the complex landscape of public cloud and application migration, AlgoSec emerges as a solution to ensure success. Recognizing the challenges organizations face, AlgoSec’s AutoDiscovery capabilities enable a smooth migration process. By automatically generating security policy change requests, AlgoSec simplifies a traditionally complex and risky process, ensuring business services remain uninterrupted while meeting compliance requirements. In conclusion, AlgoSec’s technological journey reflects a commitment to adaptability and innovation, addressing the ever-changing demands of network security. From its origins in network device management to its pivotal role in cloud security and application connectivity, AlgoSec continues to be a key player in shaping the future of cybersecurity. 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

The research found that organizations are prioritizing security, seamless integration, and compliance in hybrid cloud environments with Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, AWS and Microsoft Azure among the leaders The 2024 State of Network Security Report Reveals a Shift Towards Multi-Cloud Environments, with a 47% Increase in SD-WAN and 25% Uptick in SASE Adoption The research found that organizations are prioritizing security, seamless integration, and compliance in hybrid cloud environments with Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, AWS and Microsoft Azure among the leaders June 27, 2024 Speak to one of our experts RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ, June 27, 2024 – Global cybersecurity leader AlgoSec has released its annual ‘The State of Network Security Report’ providing a broad view of network security in hybrid cloud environments, identifying the most popular strategies adopted by security professionals. The report sheds light on key market trends and highlights the solutions and technologies that are in demand and why, helping organizations to navigate the complexities of modern network security. Based on two comparative surveys conducted in H2 of 2022 and 2023, AlgoSec’s research evaluated market leaders including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Check Point, Palo Alto Networks, Cisco and more, identifying significant shifts in cloud platform adoption, deployment of firewalls and Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), as well as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) implementation. Key findings from the report include: ● Security, continuity, and compliance driving cloud platform selection – When selecting a cloud platform, organizations prioritize seamless integration, compliance, and robust security features. While the overall adoption of cloud platforms has grown, the ranking of different vendors has remained relatively stable. Azure continues to be the most widely used platform, closely followed by AWS, which has shown the fastest pace of growth. ● The growing adoption of SD-WAN – The move towards remote working and cloud computing has been the catalyst for the increased deployment of SD-WAN, ensuring secure and reliable connections across multiple locations. That is reflected in the report, with a steep decline in the number of organizations that had no SD-WAN solution from 55.2% in 2022 to 34% in 2023. ● The rise in SASE adoption – With network infrastructures becoming more complex, SASE has become a popular solution for organizations, consolidating multiple security functions into a single, unified, cloud service. The report found the rate of SASE adoption has increased year-on-year, with notable growth of Zscaler implementation from 21.9% in 2022 to 37% in 2023, and Prisma access implementation from 16.2% in 2022 to 22.8% in 2023. ● The increasing importance of firewalls in cloud estates – With more businesses looking to secure corporate resources across complex cloud networks, firewall implementation has increased as a result, providing organizations with the means to safeguard against external threats. The rate of adoption has risen significantly, with only 7.1% of respondents saying they had no firewalls deployed in 2023 - a sharp drop from the 28.4% recorded in 2022. ● The persistence of hybrid networks – Despite the general shift towards cloud adoption, on-premise data centers and device rollouts remain a significant feature of the network landscape. “According to our research there has been greater adoption of cloud-based network security solutions across the board”, said Eran Shiff, VP Product of AlgoSec. “However, there is still progress to be made in the SD-WAN and SASE space. By identifying the key trends and the most popular solutions on the market, we can provide some much-needed clarity into the complex world of network security.” The full report can be accessed here . About AlgoSec AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to secure application connectivity and cloud-native applications throughout their multi-cloud and hybrid network. Trusted by more than 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations, AlgoSec’s application-centric approach enables secure acceleration of business application deployment by centrally managing application connectivity and security policies across the public clouds, private clouds, containers, and on-premises networks. Using its unique vendor-agnostic deep algorithm for intelligent change management automation, AlgoSec enables the acceleration of digital transformation projects, helps prevent business application downtime and substantially reduces manual work and exposure to security risks. AlgoSec’s policy management and CNAPP platforms provide a single source for visibility into security and compliance issues within cloud-native applications as well as across the hybrid network environment, to ensure ongoing adherence to internet security standards, industry, and internal regulations. Learn how AlgoSec enables application owners, information security experts, DevSecOps and cloud security teams to deploy business applications up to 10 times faster while maintaining security at https://www.algosec.com . 

Learn how automation can simplify the process of rule recertification and help determine which rules are still necessary Webinars Play by the rules: Automation for simplified rule recertification As time goes by, once effective firewall rules can become outdated. This results in bloated security policies which can slow down application delivery. Therefore, best practice and compliance requirements calls for rule recertification at least once per year. While rule recertification can be done manually by going through the comments fields of every rule, this is a tedious process which is also subject to the weaknesses of human error. Automation can simplify the process and help determine which rules are still necessary, if done right. Join security experts Asher Benbenisty and Tsippi Dach to learn about: Rule recertification as part of application delivery pipeline The importance of recertifying rules regularly Methods used for rule recertification The business application approach for rule recertification October 27, 2021 Tsippi Dach Director of marketing communications Asher Benbenisty Director of product marketing Relevant resources AlgoSec Horizon AppViz – Rule Recertification Watch Video Changing the rules without risk: mapping firewall rules to business applications 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

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Review the top 4 alternatives to Tufin Ratings, features, price, pros cons, and top use cases Top 4 Tufin alternatives & competitors (ranked & rated) 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. Looking for an alternative to Tufin? Is Tufin your best security policy automation option? Top Tufin Competitors at a Glance 4 Top Tufin alternatives & competitors for 2023 1. AlgoSec 2. FireMon 3. Cisco defence orchestrator 4. RedSeal The bottom line on Tufin competitors 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

As 2022 comes to a close, Professor Avishai Wool, AlgoSec Co-Founder and CTO, provides his top 5 issues organizations will need to be... IaC 2023 Cybersecurity Predictions and Best Practices Prof. Avishai Wool 2 min read Prof. Avishai Wool Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 12/6/22 Published As 2022 comes to a close, Professor Avishai Wool, AlgoSec Co-Founder and CTO, provides his top 5 issues organizations will need to be aware in 2023 that will also dominate the cyber community conversation. 1) Application centric approach to network security will supersede basic NSPM I think the market has matured to the point where the NSPM approach has reached a tipping point and I see the shift to an application perspective becoming the de facto approach in network security policy management as there are better and more robust technologies in the market that can help organizations get there faster. I see this shift becoming even more viable in 2023 based on recent market trends in which organizations are opting for downsizing and trying to do more with the smaller staff at the expense of losing tribal knowledge. As a result, I see organizations shifting more towards adopting a holistic approach to network security that are more application centric in which they can retain critical knowledge, such as application traffic intent and application policy rules, so that the new generations can step in and pick up where the previous predecessors left off. 2) Containerization will enhance layered security I expect container security to be increasingly popular in the future, as companies understand that their existing network security mechanisms are not enough for the communication networks of today. Containers are seen as a cost-effective light-weight solution for deployment – and deploying them introduces another inner layer where security policies can be applied: behind the perimeter filters, the internal zoning, and the micro-segmentation, organizations can now also consider nano-segmentation at the container level. Vulnerability testing is another dimension of the container platform especially within cloud applications and SaaS products. The common Kubernetes platform offers both opportunities and challenges for vulnerability scanners. Beyond 2023 , businesses will need to enhance both their visibility and management capabilities of security within their containerized applications 3) Security driven IaaS ecosystems to improve network security I expect the popularity of Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to continue to soar, making it difficult for security teams to keep up with the associated risks and vulnerabilities. Pre-set security settings may not meet the needs of the organization and customizing these settings can prove to be difficult. The customizability of IaaS offers great potential for productivity, but it also makes it complicated to secure. The bottom line is that companies can no longer depend on their network perimeter to guard sensitive data. In response, I anticipate organizations that begin utilizing an “Always-on Security” approach such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) which would permit them to construct personalized policies to control the development environments during each phase of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and recognize potential risks, security flaws, and compliance issues on a what-if basis, before deploying flawed settings into production. 4) Cloud-native security tools will reign supreme I expect that cloud-based security systems will become more commonplace: these security solutions offer a wide range of abilities, such as secure access, identity and access management, data loss prevention, application security, automation of security, detection and prevention of intrusions, security information and event management, and encryption. With companies transitioning more workloads to the cloud, they will want to make use of many of these features. These tools make it possible for remote teams to manage a greater public cloud presence: comfortably configuring services and automating processes, to identify and preemptively tackle any kind of threats. To bridge the gap in cloud data security, I anticipate the emergence of data safeguarding systems that are designed specifically for cloud usage and are able to link up with public cloud systems in an advanced, agentless manner. This has been classified in the market as Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) . These platforms must be able to detect where the data is stored and what sorts of data are stored in the cloud, so that corporations can prioritize on what is most important – defending their most sensitive data and cloud-based applications without interfering with their normal operations. 5) Expect ransomware not to go away and get even more sophisticated Organizations in 2022 saw no let-up from ransomware threats, some of whom were attacked multiple times and I do not see any reason why this trend will change in 2023. Cyber criminals are getting more resourceful and savvier in their attempts to stay ahead of law enforcement, and I anticipate these attacks will only become more frequent as their perpetrators are proving more capable of infiltrating many organizations’ cyber defenses. In response, organizations will have to seek more technology solutions to protect data at the source. But that would not suffice. I think organizations will need to look beyond technological solutions and apply better preparedness strategies. Whether it be Zero Trust or something less overarching but more practical for an organization’s business needs, such as Micro-segmentation , it would ensure that threat-actors would not be able to access the data residing inside the security perimeter. 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

Webinars 5 proven ways to secure your hybrid network environment during team convergence Cloud and datacenter security teams are now one, but the tools, workflows, and policies haven’t caught up. Join ESG Principal Analyst John Grady alongside AlgoSec’s Field CTO Kyle Wickert and Product Manager Gal Yosef for a practical conversation on how leading organizations are tackling the operational challenges of security convergence. What you’ll learn: Why convergence between cloud and datacenter teams is accelerating How to reduce tool overload and policy inconsistencies What steps are teams taking to unify visibility, policy, and risk without slowing down delivery July 16, 2025 John Grady Principal Analyst | ESG Gal Yosef Product Manager | AlgoSec Kyle Wickert WW Strategic Architect Relevant resources 6 best practices to stay secure in the hybrid cloud Read Document Securing & managing hybrid network security See Documentation 6 must-dos to secure the hybrid cloud Read Document 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

Marking the start of a consolidation era defined by unification, automation, and centralized control State of Network Security 2026 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. Executive summary After years of expansion and tool proliferation, 2026 will mark the beginning of a consolidation period defined by unification, automation, and control. As hybrid architectures, AI-driven workloads, and shared operational responsibilities continue to blur the boundaries between security, cloud, and network teams, the focus has shifted from adding tools to simplifying them. Security management solutions are now being evaluated through a much more strategic lens. When respondents were asked to identify the primary driver behind their selection, the dominant theme was control: the ability to unify policies, streamline operations, and reduce the overhead that comes from managing multiple, disconnected systems. Since last year’s report, interest in consolidation and simplification has only intensified. Multi-cloud remains the dominant operating model, but instead of seeking scale and breadth, businesses are prioritizing visibility and control. 55% of companies now select cloud platforms primarily based on security, a trend reinforced by Deloitte’s 2024 findings that security plays a “major role” in cloud investment decisions. Increasingly, every cloud decision is a security decision. AI is reshaping this environment even further. The priority has shifted from pilot to practice, with teams applying AI to practical, low-risk functions such as hybrid network visibility, compliance enforcement, and rule optimization. Across all trends uncovered in this research paper, the unifying thread is consolidation. This reflects an industry moving from fragmentation to cohesion, simplifying technology stacks, standardizing workflows, and building shared accountability across disciplines that once operated separately. Based on insights from 504 security, network, and cloud professionals across 28 countries, this year’s report offers one of the clearest snapshots yet of this transformation. As the network security landscape enters this new period of consolidation and clarity, one message stands out: resilience now depends less on how many tools an organization deploys, and more on how effectively those tools connect technically, operationally, and organizationally. Trend 1: The great firewall rebalance Organizations no longer buy tools solely to check boxes for compliance or to deliver incremental improvements. Instead, they are motivated by the need to regain centralized control in the face of sprawling hybrid architectures and increasingly fragmented policy enforcement. When respondents were asked to identify the primary driver behind their selection, the dominant theme was control: the ability to unify policies, streamline operations, and reduce the overhead that comes from managing multiple, disconnected systems. Performance and cost continue to matter, but they are no longer defining factors with performance and scalability emerging as the top driver at 29.4%. Our findings indicate that organizations are prioritizing platforms that can deliver consistent visibility across hybrid environments, integrate seamlessly with cloud-native services, and support automation at scale. This shift reinforces a broader trend seen throughout the survey – that security teams are consolidating around fewer, more capable management layers that can provide visibility in an increasingly complex network environment. This strategic shift is tied closely to the broader evolution of the firewall itself. As hybrid and multi-cloud architectures continue to expand, the role of the firewall is undergoing its most significant shift in more than a decade. Firewalls remain a critical enforcement point for securing digital assets, but the way enterprises deploy, manage, and evaluate them is changing rapidly. Rather than treating firewalls as isolated perimeter controls, organizations are increasingly viewing them as part of a distributed, policy-driven security environment that must operate consistently across data centers, public clouds, and emerging application environments. This evolution is being driven by the growing complexity of distributed infrastructures and the rising need for unified visibility. With workloads and data now spanning multiple clouds and service layers, security teams are rethinking how firewall capabilities fit into broader governance and automation frameworks. Scalability, interoperability, and centralized orchestration have become as important as raw inspection performance. What’s left is a strategic rebalance, where organizations are demanding more flexibility at the edge, more consistency in the middle, and more visibility at the management layer. Firewall strategies split across three paths This year’s findings report that 30% of respondents plan to expand into multi-vendor environments to maintain flexibility and avoid lock-in, while 24% are actively consolidating. A further 22% intend to maintain their current mix, signaling a period of stabilization after years of expansion. The data suggests that rather than pursuing one path exclusively, enterprises are balancing control and choice, consolidating at the management layer while retaining multi-vendor diversity at the edge. Palo Alto and Fortinet lead a tightening vendor field Vendor preferences in 2026 highlight consolidation in practice. Palo Alto Networks has reclaimed the top position it lost in 2025, with Fortinet rising from fourth to second, showing the appeal of tightly integrated security and networking under one platform. Palo Alto has gone on the record this year stating that consolidating security data into a single platform will avoid redundant ingestion costs and, with the help of AI analytics, make insights available across the entire security stack1 Azure Firewall drops to third as organizations rebalance native integration with cross-cloud interoperability. AWS Firewall and Check Point maintain steady adoption, while GCP enters the ranking – perhaps evidence that, even as the market consolidates, ecosystem “fit” can create room for additional players. Notably, Cisco dropped out of the cloud-firewall list entirely, reflecting a maturing market where nearly all organizations now deploy some form of pure cloud-based firewalling. Top five firewall vendors ranked by enterprise deployment and market shifts Key takeaway Firewall strategy is moving into a more deliberate and balanced phase. Rather than expanding indiscriminately or consolidating outright, organizations are adopting nuanced approaches that blend flexibility with control. Multi-vendor diversity remains valuable at the edge, but consolidation at the management layer is becoming essential for achieving consistent policy enforcement and operational clarity. As hybrid environments grow more complex, the enterprises that succeed will be those that rationalize their footprint without sacrificing the adaptability required in a multi-cloud world. Trend 2: Cloud firewall strategies prioritize consolidation As organizations mature their hybrid and multi-cloud environments, 2026 marks an inflection point in firewall strategy. After several years of vendor diversification, the pendulum is swinging back toward consolidation. Businesses are prioritizing unified visibility, simplified operations, and consistency in policy enforcement across complex, distributed networks. In other words, the focus has shifted from expanding coverage to regaining control – reducing sprawl, streamlining management, and integrating security more deeply into cloud architectures. Cloud firewall adoption solidifies as a strategic standard The move toward cloud-based firewalls continues, but with a change in tone. Rather than experimenting with cloud-native protection, most organizations now view it as essential to enterprise security. 24% of respondents plan to move primarily to cloud firewalls over the next two years, confirming that cloud-native controls are no longer an emerging consideration but a baseline expectation. As hybrid infrastructures become the norm, firewall strategies are being designed to operate seamlessly across both on-premise and cloud environments, enforcing consistent policy without introducing operational complexity. Hybrid control replaces hybrid compromise On the face of it, the emphasis on consolidation might signal a retreat from hybrid operations, but it actually represents a new approach to managing them. The question has simply evolved from, “which firewall secures the cloud,” to “which cloud secures the enterprise?” Firewalls are evolving from perimeter defenses into unified control planes for policy orchestration, compliance, and risk management across all environments. As AI workloads and distributed applications proliferate, organizations are standardizing policy and automating enforcement to prevent drift and maintain continuous compliance. Over the next 2 years, how do you expect your firewall strategy to evolve? Key takeaway The firewall market is consolidating around fewer, more integrated vendors. Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet now anchor the field, with cloud-native solutions firmly mainstream and GCP emerging as a secondary player. The dominant priority for 2026 is control: simplifying management, tightening policy enforcement, and building the unified visibility layer that modern hybrid enterprises depend on for resilience. Trend 3: Security becomes the deciding factor in cloud platform selection The cloud has now confidently become the enterprise control layer, where security, data, and consolidation converge. As organizations mature their multi-cloud strategies, the criteria for choosing providers are shifting. Performance and price remain relevant, but they are no longer decisive. In 2026, the dominant priority will be security, confirming that every cloud decision will indeed be a security decision. The rise of AI-driven workloads, compliance requirements, and cross-platform orchestration has made security the critical benchmark for platform selection. Security leads cloud decision-making According to Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services reached $723.4 billion in 2025 (up from $595.7 billion in 2024)². More than half (55%) cited security as their top consideration, far exceeding any other factor. Ecosystem and integrations ranked second at 44%, while AI and data services (42%) followed closely behind. Collectively, this paints a picture of a market driven by protection, compatibility, and intelligence rather than cost. The finding also underscores a broader mindset shift – enterprises are no longer treating cloud as infrastructure, but as the foundation for secure operations. Integration and ecosystem strength outweigh price and performance The emphasis on ecosystem integration reflects how organizations are consolidating around platforms that offer tighter interoperability across security, networking, and data layers. Rather than adopting best-of-breed tools in isolation, businesses are favoring providers that enable unified visibility and shared policy control. This trend echoes the broader consolidation theme observed across firewall and automation data: complexity has reached its limit, and integration has become the differentiator. When selecting a cloud platform, which factor carries the most weight? AI and data services redefine platform value The inclusion of AI and data services among the top selection criteria signals a growing recognition that intelligence is now inseparable from security. Organizations increasingly choose cloud platforms that can support AI-enhanced monitoring, anomaly detection, and compliance analytics within the same environment. The result is a more strategic alignment between where data resides and how it is protected, a shift from infrastructure management to intelligent security orchestration. Consolidation shapes platform strategy These findings also reflect a broader pattern of consolidation across cloud ecosystems. While multi-cloud remains the operational norm, the drivers behind it have changed. Rather than spreading workloads for cost or redundancy, organizations are choosing fewer platforms and using them more deeply, consolidating workloads, policies, and visibility tools to reduce friction. The balance of flexibility and control remains key, but the overall gravitational pull is toward simplification. Consistent policy enforcement overtakes visibility as the top cloud security challenge The findings from the survey show a notable shift in the challenges organizations face when securing cloud applications. For the first time, maintaining consistent policies across on-premise and cloud environments (58.6%) has overtaken lack of visibility into cloud applications (54.3%) as the number-one obstacle. This change reflects the realities of growing tool sprawl and increasingly mixed deployment models. As businesses consolidate platforms and pursue unified control, the problem isn’t identifying what applications exist, but enforcing the right policies for those applications across multiple clouds, networks, and security layers. This also reinforces the broader consolidation narrative, where consistency is key to cloud security. Rank the cloud service providers most used in your organization Key takeaway It would be reasonable to say that cloud strategy and security strategy are now one and the same. With more than half of organizations ranking security as the defining factor in provider selection, this year has cemented the cloud’s role as the enterprise security backbone. The future of multi-cloud will not be decided by speed or scale alone, but by how effectively each platform can deliver integrated protection, data intelligence, and operational clarity across the entire digital estate. Trend 4: SD-WAN further cements its role The enterprise network edge continues to evolve, with SD-WAN now established as a mainstream capability rather than a specialist solution. As organizations expand their hybrid environments and distributed workforces, the demand for secure, high-performance connectivity has solidified SD-WAN’s role as the connective tissue between data centers, clouds, and users. This year’s findings show that the market is maturing: adoption is nearly universal, leadership has reshuffled, and the differentiator is no longer deployment speed but the depth of security integration. SD-WAN adoption reaches maturity For the first time, SD-WAN can be considered standard practice across most enterprise environments. The share of organizations reporting no solution applied has dropped sharply to 21.1%, confirming that SD-WAN has moved beyond early adoption. Businesses increasingly view it as foundational to hybrid and multi-cloud architectures, providing the visibility and policy control that traditional WAN models lacked. The focus now is on consolidating SD-WAN with broader security frameworks to create unified, adaptive network fabrics. Which SD-WAN ( Software-Defined WAN) solutions is your organization using? (select all that apply) Fortinet takes the lead in an increasingly competitive market This year’s results mark a significant milestone: Fortinet (31%) has become the most widely used SD-WAN solution for the first time, reflecting its strength in integrating advanced security and networking under one platform. Cisco (30.7%) remains a close second, leveraging both its Viptela and Meraki offerings to address enterprise and distributed site use cases. VMware (20.7%) and Palo Alto Networks (19.2%) maintain consistent adoption, while Aruba (16.1%) and Versa (13%) continue to serve mid-enterprise and service-provider environments. The data suggests a crowded but stabilizing market, with leadership now determined by convergence rather than coverage. Integration overtakes performance as the new priority While performance and scalability remain important, the defining value of SD-WAN this year will be integration, particularly its ability to operate seamlessly within consolidated security ecosystems. According to Gartner, by the end of 2026, 60% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering, up from 15 % in 2022.³ Organizations are no longer viewing SD-WAN as a stand-alone connectivity layer but as a key component of unified network and security orchestration. This trend is reinforced by the parallel growth of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), where many SD-WAN platforms now serve as the underlying transport for cloud-delivered security functions. Simplified management drives next-phase adoption As the market matures, ease of management has emerged as a primary differentiator. Enterprises want simplified, policy-based control that extends across both SD-WAN and security operations. Vendors capable of offering single-pane management, covering traffic routing, segmentation, and threat prevention, are gaining a decisive edge. This shift underscores the industry’s pivot from product expansion to platform unification, where value lies in operational simplicity and end-to-end visibility. Key takeaway SD-WAN has transitioned from optional to essential. Adoption is near-universal, and leadership now depends on the depth of integration with security and orchestration platforms. Fortinet has overtaken Cisco to lead the market, signaling that convergence, not performance, is the new metric for success. As enterprises strive to unify their networking and security stacks, SD-WAN’s role as the foundation of hybrid connectivity has never been clearer. Trend 5: SASE moves from exploration to standardization Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) continues its steady progression from a niche innovation to a mainstream framework for unified security and networking. Once viewed primarily as an aspirational goal, SASE is now being operationalized across industries as organizations seek to consolidate connectivity, control, and cloud-delivered protection within a single architecture. This year’s findings show a market that has matured beyond experimentation. Adoption is broadening, vendor leadership is stabilizing, and integration with SD-WAN has become the norm. Non-adoption falls for the third consecutive year For the third year running, the share of organizations without a SASE solution has declined, down to 27.5% from 40% in 2025. This consistent decrease signals that SASE adoption is no longer exploratory but a planned progression for most enterprises. The increasing prominence of SASE is also reflected by Gartner, who estimate that between 2025 and 2028 the market will have a CAGR of 26% and exceed $30 billion by the end of the decade. As hybrid and remote workforces become permanent fixtures, businesses are embedding SASE as the control layer that secures access, governs data movement, and enforces consistent policy across all environments. The technology’s role has shifted from experimental pilot to strategic pillar. Which SASE platform is your organization using? Zscaler and Prisma Access maintain leadership amid growing competition Zscaler (37.8%) remains the market leader in SASE adoption, closely followed by Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Access (34.4%). Both platforms have consolidated their positions through strong ecosystem partnerships and mature policy integration, particularly across large enterprise deployments. Netskope (21.9%) continues its rapid ascent as the fastest-growing challenger, driven by its focus on data protection and multi-cloud visibility. Smaller providers, including Cato (9.3%), Barracuda (4.7%), and other vendors (5.4%), maintain regional or industry-specific footholds where turnkey simplicity and localized deployment remain priorities. SD-WAN and SASE converge under single-vendor models According to the Dell’Oro Group, single vendor SASE will grow twice as fast as multi-vendor SASE in the next few years5. Organizations increasingly favor single-vendor frameworks that deliver both connectivity and security from the same platform, reducing latency and operational overhead. This reflects the same drive toward consolidation seen across the broader network security landscape to fewer moving parts, shared visibility, and unified control. Last year’s Gartner projection that more than half of SD-WAN purchases will be tied to integrated SASE offerings6 by 2026 appears well on track. In fact, the Dell’Oro Group anticipates single-vendor SASE will make up 90% of the market by the end of the decade. Implementation complexity gives way to operational consistency The challenges that once slowed SASE adoption, such as multi-component integration, legacy dependencies, and management fragmentation, are giving way to more standardized deployment models. Enterprises are learning to phase implementation, layering security and access capabilities without disrupting core connectivity. As policy orchestration becomes more automated and AI-assisted, SASE is evolving from a complex project to an achievable operational baseline for hybrid enterprises. Key takeaway SASE has crossed the threshold from early adoption to normalization. Zscaler and Prisma Access continue to lead, but Netskope’s rapid rise shows that innovation still drives competition. The decline in non-adoption rates confirms that SASE is now the de-facto model for secure, distributed access, valued for its operational simplicity and the consistency it delivers across the modern enterprise network. Trend 6: True zero trust remains elusive Zero Trust remains one of the most discussed principles in cybersecurity, yet one of the slowest to fully materialize in practice. The philosophy of “never trust, always verify” continues to guide strategic planning, but this year’s data reveals that operational progress has stalled. Awareness and intent are high, but implementation maturity has plateaued. Most organizations have laid the groundwork, such as segmentation, identity management, and access control, but few have advanced beyond these initial stages to comprehensive, policy-driven Zero Trust frameworks. Adoption steady, but forward motion limited Overall Zero Trust adoption remains consistent at around 55-60%, nearly identical to last year. However, the share of organizations still in the learning phase has increased from 20% to 31%, indicating that while more enterprises are engaging with the concept, fewer are moving to execution. This highlights a widening gap between intent and implementation, where Zero Trust is now universally recognized as the right approach, but practical deployment continues to challenge even mature security teams. What is your current Zero Trust implementation status? Execution gaps widen as awareness grows The data also shows that increased awareness has not translated into faster rollout. Many enterprises are still navigating legacy infrastructure, fragmented identity systems, and policy enforcement across hybrid networks. Even organizations that have implemented partial Zero Trust measures, such as micro-segmentation or network division, often lack unified governance models. The result is a growing class of “permanently pilot” deployments that are “active,” but not yet integrated or automated. This finding is echoed by Gartner, which revealed that in 2026, only 10 % of large enterprises will have a “mature and measurable” Zero Trust programme in place, up from less than 1 % today7. Fragmented approaches slow standardization The variety of adoption paths available further complicates progress. Some organizations are investing in Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) as an entry point, while others prioritize endpoint verification or identity-based access control. This flexibility allows for adaptation but prevents standardization, making it difficult to measure maturity consistently across industries. The absence of a universal framework also leads to uneven tool adoption and inconsistent results, reinforcing the need for clearer guidance and shared benchmarks. Education becomes the critical barrier The rising proportion of organizations still in the learning phase reflects a shortage of accessible best practices and practical guidance. Many teams understand the goal of Zero Trust but struggle to translate it into architectural blueprints or measurable outcomes. Training, governance alignment, and vendor-neutral frameworks are now essential to bridge this gap, ensuring that education accelerates adoption rather than replacing it. Key takeaway Zero Trust remains the strategic north star for enterprise security, but the journey toward full implementation has stalled. Awareness is at an all-time high, yet maturity has barely shifted. This year’s findings highlight an execution gap driven by complexity, fragmented infrastructure, and limited practical guidance. Organizations that focus on education, cross-team alignment, and measurable governance will be best positioned to move Zero Trust from aspiration to operational reality. Trend 7: AI-powered threats and defenses go mainstream Artificial intelligence has become both the newest threat vector and the next frontier of defense. According to McKinsey, phishing attacks have surged by 1200% since generative AI went mainstream in 2022, but at the same time, more than 90% of defensive AI capabilities are being outsourced to third parties – showing that businesses are keen to leverage the technology to defend themselves. That trend will continue in 2026, when the conversation around defensive AI will move beyond theory and into practice. Organizations are no longer asking if AI will change their security posture. Instead they want to know how fast they can adapt. Our findings show that while most enterprises are already taking steps to address AI-powered attacks, only a minority have made the deeper structural and procedural changes needed to counter them effectively. The result is a mixed picture - strong awareness, accelerating experimentation, but uneven readiness. How they are adapting to AI-powered attacks? Most organizations are adapting, but depth of change varies The majority (65%) have already adapted their strategies, with 23.6% making major structural changes and 40.9% implementing moderate adjustments. Surprisingly, only 15.6% reported no action at all. This points to an industry that has accepted the inevitability of AI as both an enabler and an adversary. However, while surface-level adaptations are widespread, the transformation of governance, tooling, and training remains in its early stages. AI investment shifts toward visibility and control This year’s responses mark a sharp contrast to last year. Where last year’s priorities centered on real-time notifications and incident response, this year focus has shifted to AI-powered visibility and risk prioritization (39.1%). Organizations are using AI to map hybrid networks, detect policy drift, and surface anomalies faster. AI-driven compliance and policy enforcement (23.7%) has emerged as the next priority, reflecting growing confidence in machine-led governance for structured, repeatable tasks. In essence, enterprises are applying AI where precision matters more than prediction. Operational hygiene overtakes experimentation While generative AI captured early attention, most organizations are deploying AI to improve operational hygiene rather than innovation. Application-centric security modeling (18.4%) and identification of unused or overly permissive rules (15.8%) rank lower but illustrate a pragmatic trend: using AI to clean up, not reinvent. These controlled, low-risk use cases deliver measurable value while avoiding the unpredictability associated with broader AI automation. The preference for predictability over experimentation signals a cautious but maturing stage of adoption. AI readiness exposes gaps in governance and skills Despite rising adoption, governance and human oversight remain persistent challenges. Many teams lack formal frameworks to validate AI-driven decisions or ensure accountability when automated systems act autonomously. The gap between AI’s technical potential and organizational readiness mirrors the early years of cloud adoption, where enthusiasm outpaced structured implementation. Without parallel investments in training, oversight, and transparent governance, AI-powered defenses risk replicating the same visibility issues they are meant to solve. Which AI cases will have the greatest impact over the next 2 years? Key takeaway AI has become a defining force in network security, driving both threat evolution and defensive transformation. Two-thirds of organizations have already adjusted their strategies, but maturity levels remain uneven. The focus has shifted decisively from detection to visibility, and from experimentation to control. As enterprises refine their governance frameworks and strengthen human oversight, AI will transition from a reactive tool to an operational cornerstone, turning awareness into measurable resilience. Trend 8: Automation maturity continues What began as a gradual shift toward orchestration and policy simplification in previous years has now become a defining operational capability. Our research confirms that automation has matured into a measurable discipline that directly influences efficiency, compliance, and resilience across hybrid networks. Yet while the benefits are increasingly clear, full-scale orchestration across environments remains a work in progress. Automation becomes a measurable benchmark The results show a clear divide: 24% of organizations now operate at a high level of automation, while 30% report moderate automation. Twenty-six percent remain at a low level, and 20% still rely primarily on manual processes. This sprawl validates last year’s prediction that automation would become foundational to network security. It also underscores the persistence of a maturity gap between those leveraging automation strategically and those applying it reactively to reduce workloads. From process acceleration to policy assurance Beyond accelerating workflows, organizations are now using automation to enforce security policy consistently across hybrid environments. This includes automated risk analysis, change verification, and compliance tracking - all areas once dominated by manual oversight. By shifting from speed to assurance, automation has become central to maintaining reliability and reducing configuration drift, particularly in multi-vendor or multi-cloud architectures where consistency is hardest to achieve. How would you describe your organization’s current level of automation in network security management? Operational and cultural barriers persist Despite progress, barriers remain. Many organizations struggle to extend automation across silos, particularly between cloud, network, and application security teams. Legacy approval processes, lack of centralized governance, and limited cross-tool integration continue to restrict scalability. This has resulted in “partial” automation, where specific workflows are automated, but end-to-end orchestration across systems and teams remains difficult to pin down. This mirrors the early adoption curve we saw in cloud migration – progress being built through incremental cultural and procedural change rather than technology alone. A proving ground for AI-enhanced orchestration The intersection between automation and AI is emerging as the next frontier. AI-assisted orchestration tools are beginning to optimize rule management, recommend policy changes, and predict the downstream impact of configuration updates. However, confidence in fully autonomous decision-making remains low. For now, organizations are embracing a human-in-the-loop model, where automation handles execution while humans retain control of validation and governance. This balance is shaping a pragmatic, risk-conscious approach to automation at scale. Key takeaway Automation has evolved from a strategic ambition into an operational benchmark. Nearly half of all organizations now operate with moderate to high levels of automation, validating its role as a core pillar of network security. Yet maturity remains uneven, with cultural inertia and fragmented governance slowing progress. The next leap will come from convergence and uniting automated workflows, AI-assisted orchestration, and unified policy management to deliver the end-to-end agility and assurance enterprises have long aimed for. Trend 9: Consolidation - teams and platforms move toward unified control As hybrid environments expand and the boundaries between cloud, network, and security responsibilities continue to blur, businesses are rethinking not only what they manage but how they manage it. Our findings reveal an industry shifting toward shared accountability, unified visibility, and integrated control. Consolidation is happening at two levels: teams and platforms, and both are accelerating. Team structures shift toward shared ownership The operational model for security is undergoing a quiet but significant transformation. Organizations are moving away from isolated, domain-specific teams and toward structures that promote shared priorities and cross-functional coordination. The findings show that only 19% are currently working in siloed departments, while 36% of respondents report that their cloud, network, and security teams have consolidated around shared tools. A further 25% of respondents have aligned around shared initiatives and 20% have gone further, operating as fully consolidated teams. This represents a substantial step toward unified governance. Instead of managing separate workflows or conflicting priorities, teams are aligning around common frameworks for risk, compliance, and service delivery. As AI and automation become more embedded in operations, this collaborative approach is emerging as the new standard for effective decision-making and consistent policy enforcement. Shared tools become the foundation for cross-team alignment The rise of shared tooling reflects a deliberate move toward standardization. When cloud, network, and security teams use different systems, visibility fractures and operational gaps appear. But when they converge around shared management layers and shared data sources, collaboration becomes frictionless. This year’s results show that shared tools are now the primary mechanism for team alignment, which is the strongest sign yet that consolidation is being built from the ground up through day-to-day operational workflows rather than top-down restructuring. How would you best describe the current alignment of cloud & network security teams? Platform consolidation accelerates as organizations seek While team structures are converging, platform consolidation is accelerating even faster. According to our findings, 75% of organizations have consolidated at least some portion of their security tools or policies under a single platform of management layer. While team structures are converging, platform consolidation is accelerating even faster. According to the 2026 findings, 75% of organizations have consolidated at least some portion of their security tools or policies under a single platform or management layer. Around 30% report partial consolidation, 19% say the majority of their infrastructure now sits under one platform, and 10% have achieved full consolidation. Only a quarter still operate with fragmented tooling. What percentage of your cloud and network security tools are currently consolidated under a single platform or policy engine? This reflects a broader desire for unified visibility and simplified operations. As hybrid and multi-cloud deployments grow in scale, point solutions are becoming operationally burdensome. Organizations increasingly want fewer dashboards, fewer approval workflows, and fewer interfaces to manage, instead preferring integrated platforms that are capable of enforcing policy consistently across environments. Key takeaway Consolidation is redefining how enterprises operate, both structurally and technologically. Teams are aligning around shared tools, shared responsibilities, and, increasingly, shared governance models. At the same time, platforms are consolidating to provide unified visibility and consistent policy enforcement across hybrid environments. Conclusion The state of network security this year is defined by clarity emerging from complexity. After several years of rapid expansion across multi-cloud environments, AI-powered operations, and hybrid architectures, organizations are entering a new phase of consolidation and control. Our survey findings reveal a collective recalibration, with organizations moving away from tool proliferation toward unified management, shared visibility, and measurable automation. Firewalls, SD-WAN, and SASE have all evolved into foundational pillars of a more cohesive network security stack, while Zero Trust and AI continue to mature, bridging the gap between strategy and execution. Compared to last year, we are now seeing a transition from experimentation to optimization. Where last year’s findings reflected a market still expanding in every direction, this year captures a shift toward simplification. The drive for flexibility has given way to the pursuit of consistency, where performance metrics are being replaced by governance and assurance benchmarks. Consolidation of vendors, tools, and even teams, now defines the path forward. Adding layers of protection is not enough – those layers need to operate cohesively. Looking ahead, the next generation of network security will hinge on visibility, automation, and collaboration, not as separate initiatives, but as integrated capabilities that span every layer of the digital ecosystem. For an industry that has long been dominated by complexity and a “more is better” approach, the next year might be quite surprising. As organizations continue to align their cloud, network, and security teams, the most resilient will be those that embrace simplicity rather than complexity, transforming control into confidence. Methodology This report is based on comprehensive research conducted by AlgoSec, gathering insights from security, network, and cloud professionals across a broad range of industries and regions. The data was collected through a global survey carried out in the second half of 2025, designed to capture real-world perspectives on the challenges, priorities, and evolving trends shaping network security in 2026. Survey scope and participants The study reflects responses from 504 professionals representing 28 countries. Participants span a diverse set of roles, including security architects, engineers, and analysts (25%); IT and network managers (21%); CISOs and heads of security (13%); consultants and specialists (9%); CTOs, CIOs, and senior IT leaders (6%); business, program, and product managers (7%); DevOps, cloud, and software professionals (8%); and other or undefined roles (11%). This broad representation ensures a balanced view across enterprise, mid-market, and specialist organizations operating within hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Research objectives The primary goal of this study was to identify key trends and shifts in network security practice, from strategic priorities to operational realities. The research explores: How organizations are consolidating security management across hybrid and multi-cloud architectures The evolving role of automation, orchestration, and AI-driven security in modern frameworks Adoption trends across firewalls, SD-WAN, SASE, and Zero Trust architectures The impact of consolidation on tool selection, team alignment, and visibility How enterprises are adapting to AI-powered threats and increasing operational complexity Data collection and analysis Participants were asked to provide both quantitative and qualitative feedback on their current deployments, planned investments, and primary challenges in managing network security infrastructure. The survey established new baselines in several areas, including AI-powered attack readiness, automation maturity, and consolidation of tools and teams, while tracking multi-year trends from previous editions of the research. Responses were analyzed to identify correlations, emerging patterns, and year-over-year changes in market behavior. By leveraging direct insights from practitioners and decision-makers, this study provides an objective, vendor-neutral snapshot of the global network security landscape. Its findings are intended to help organizations benchmark their progress, assess market maturity, and make informed decisions as they navigate the next stage of digital transformation. About AlgoSec AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to securely accelerate application delivery up to 10 times faster by automating application connectivity and security policy across the hybrid network environment. With two decades of expertise securing hybrid networks, over 2200 of the world’s most complex organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads. AlgoSec Horizon platform utilizes advanced AI capabilities, enabling users to automatically discover and identify their business applications across multi-clouds, and remediate risks more effectively. It serves as a single source for visibility into security and compliance issues across the hybrid network environment, to ensure ongoing adherence to internet security standards, industry, and internal regulations. Additionally, organizations can leverage intelligent change automation to streamline security change processes, thus improving security and agility. Learn how AlgoSec enables application owners, information security experts, SecOps and cloud security teams to deploy business applications faster while maintaining security at www.algosec.com . For more information, visit www.algosec.com Get the latest insights from the experts Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... 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Master the full vulnerability management lifecycle by learning how to prioritize risks to harden your infrastructure against modern threats, and how to choose the ideal vulnerability management tool. Vulnerability management 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. What is vulnerability management? Vulnerability management (VM) is the continuous, systematic process of identifying, evaluating, reporting, and remediating vulnerabilities existing in cyber assets, processes, endpoints, and systems. Adversaries are constantly scanning for exploitable gaps, making vulnerability management an ongoing discipline that helps organizations recognize and fix these gaps before adversaries find and weaponize them. The global average cost of a data breach stands at $4.44 million , per IBM’s 2025 report. This includes disruptions, loss of customer trust, and regulatory fines, making proper vulnerability management critical. Vulnerability management vs. patch management: Are they the same? No. Patch management involves the deployment of a solution, such as a software update, to fix a vulnerability. Vulnerability management , on the other hand, encompasses the broader process of identifying, assessing, and addressing all categories of vulnerabilities through diverse strategies. The strategic benefits of vulnerability management Effective vulnerability management brings numerous benefits: Improved asset visibility. Unified visibility across business applications and endpoints creates a baseline for capacity planning, license management, and technology refresh cycles. Fewer security risks. VM also directly reduces the probability of successful cyberattacks by systematically identifying and addressing exploitable weaknesses. Enhanced operational efficiency. Mature vulnerability management programs establish structured processes for security remediation, replacing ad hoc firefighting with systematic resolution workflows. Prevention of business disruption. The financial hit of a breach doesn’t stop at ransom payments. Operational disruption, reputational damage, customer attrition, and regulatory penalties often dwarf the costs of immediate incident response (IR). Support for compliance and audit requirements. From PCI-DSS to HIPAA, regulatory requirements mandate regular vulnerability assessments, including documented vulnerability management processes and evidence of continuous improvement. What are the types of managed vulnerabilities? Vulnerabilities manifest across diverse technical domains, with multiple types requiring specialized assessment approaches and remediation strategies: Software vulnerabilities : These bugs in application code, operating systems, firmware, or supporting libraries remain the most prevalent, particularly as complex application portfolios span legacy systems, commercial off-the-shelf products, and custom-developed code. Hardware vulnerabilities : These exist within the physical components and embedded firmware of computing devices and are especially relevant for on-premises infrastructure, which can be locally exploited. Network vulnerabilities: Arising from misconfigurations, design flaws, or network infrastructure and protocol weaknesses, network vulnerabilities often serve as force multipliers, allowing attackers who gain initial access to expand their presence across your entire environment. Process vulnerabilities : Weaknesses in operational procedures, change management practices, and organizational workflows are human and procedural gaps that can be as consequential as technical weaknesses. Control vulnerabilities: Encompassing weaknesses in security mechanisms themselves, i.e., the systems designed to prevent, detect, or respond to threats, this type of vulnerability includes: Inadequately tuned intrusion detection systems that generate false negatives Logging configurations that fail to capture security-relevant events Backup processes that cannot support timely recovery Incident response procedures that prove inadequate during actual crises Mixed vulnerabilities: These represent complex weaknesses that span multiple categories, requiring coordinated remediation across technical domains. How does vulnerability management work? An effective vulnerability management process has overlapping phases that feed insights from one stage into another. This cyclical approach helps ensure that the process matures over time by incorporating lessons learned from one stage into another. The five steps involved in the vulnerability management process are discovery, prioritization, resolution, verification, and reporting. Step 1: Discovery Discovery lays the foundation for effective vulnerability management. It encompasses the identification of vulnerable assets and data flows using scanners, agents, or pen tests: Vulnerability scanners: Scan infrastructure for vulnerabilities present in the CVE database; classified into what they scan and how they scan, i.e., network-based , host-based, or web-based Agent-based scans: Scan endpoints, servers, and workstations using lightweight software agents to identify vulnerabilities missed by external scanners, e.g., local privilege escalation, insecure configurations in applications that don't expose network services, and compliance violations in endpoint security controls Penetration tests: Employ white-hat hackers to identify vulnerabilities; more resource-intensive than agents but can uncover complex weaknesses scanners miss, plus validate the exploitability of found vulnerabilities The next phase involves making sure the right vulnerabilities receive attention first. Step 2: Prioritization A common vulnerability prioritization approach uses the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). CVSS provides severity ratings based on technical characteristics, for example, potential impact, attack complexity, or privileges needed. A CVSS score of zero indicates the lowest possible severity, while 10 is the highest. However, CVSS scores don't account for asset criticality and threat context, making these scores alone insufficient for business risk prioritization. For this, the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) helps by augmenting CVSS with an assessment of how likely a vulnerability will be exploited within the next 30 days. Still, effective vulnerability prioritization extends beyond scoring systems. The business context is also important. So, instead of solely prioritizing vulnerabilities based on their severity scores or the likelihood of exploitation, organizations must pause and ask: Is my business at risk? If yes, what applications are at risk, and how will their exploitation affect business operations? Of course, there is then the task of successfully resolving vulnerabilities found. Step 3: Resolution Vulnerability resolution can follow three possible paths: remediation, mitigation, or containment. And sometimes, a mix of all three. Remediation Remediation involves eliminating a vulnerability from the source via patch application, version upgrades, or configuration corrections. Although this is the ideal resolution approach, it isn't always immediately feasible. Why? An organization’s legacy systems may lack vendor support, while critical applications may also require extensive testing before patching. Mitigation Mitigation reduces risk exposure in the event of actual exploitation. Example techniques for this approach to vulnerability resolution include network segmentation, firewalls that filter exploit attempts, and enhanced monitoring to provide early warning of exploitation attempts. Containment Containment isolates vulnerable systems from healthy ones while remediation measures are developed and deployed. This approach proves particularly valuable when actively exploited vulnerabilities affect critical systems that cannot be patched immediately. Step 4: Verification Verification confirms that your previous resolution efforts successfully addressed the identified vulnerabilities without introducing operational problems . This ensures CISOs and the rest of the C-suite that holes believed to be plugged are not, in fact, still leaking. A common way to verify resolution is to conduct post-remediation scans or even pen testing for vulnerabilities involving multiple systems. Verification also includes operational validation to check that security fixes haven't degraded system functionality or user experience. If this step reveals incomplete fixes or any new issues caused during resolution, the next step is a root cause analysis to identify gaps in scanning, remediation procedures, testing protocols, or change management processes. Step 5: Reporting CISOs rely on two metrics to reveal gaps in vulnerability management workflows and provide objective measures of program maturity: Mean time to detect (MTTD): Measures the speed of identification of new vulnerabilities Mean time to remediate (MTTR): Quantifies the average duration between vulnerability detection and successful resolution With the right tools, companies can typically achieve MTTD in hours and MTTR in days for critical vulnerabilities, instead of weeks or months. This highlights that an organization’s choice of solution is a key part of the vulnerability management process. What to look for in vulnerability management tools When evaluating vulnerability management solutions, prioritize tools with the following capabilities. Comprehensive visibility across hybrid environments The ideal tool should discover and assess your assets regardless of where they’re hosted—on-prem, multiple cloud platforms, remote endpoints, or containerized workloads. To check the tool’s ability to comprehensively discover assets, ask the following questions: Does the solution natively integrate with CSPs’ APIs? Does it support diverse operating systems? Can it assess both traditional and modern infra? Risk contextualization through embedded threat intelligence For the sake of your business, tools that use generic severity scores are inadequate. Opt for a solution that: Layers your business context onto technical risk Considers asset criticality within the context of your industry Understands the data sensitivity requirements of your organization The result of opting for such a solution is vulnerability prioritization that reflects genuine business risk rather than theoretical severity. Streamlined workflow integration The ideal vulnerability tool should naturally integrate with your existing operational workflows instead of creating parallel shadow processes. The integration should be smooth and easy, as integration difficulties can significantly reduce your ROI from vulnerability management. Actionable reporting for diverse audiences It’s a best practice to choose a solution that provides relevant, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-apply security reports. This allows your security team to immediately understand what steps to take next. Automated change management with rapid response The best solutions incorporate automation to accelerate every phase of the vulnerability management lifecycle. This shortens MTTD and MTTR, and improves your overall security posture. Manage your vulnerabilities with Horizon AppViz AlgoSec Horizon AppViz delivers business-specific value by prioritizing a detected vulnerability risk not only by severity but also by business criticality. This helps you: Focus on the most important vulnerabilities first Contextualize your risk reduction efforts within a business application perspective Also, in your on-prem and cloud environment, Horizon AppViz incorporates data about your exposure level into risky firewall rules and into the what-if risk check analysis report you'll get periodically. Ready to prioritize vulnerabilities based on your business operations and automate the isolation of infected servers? Schedule a demo of AlgoSec to see how. 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Explore best practices for security and compliance in financial institutions, ensuring robust protection and adherence to regulations amid digital transformation. Financial Institutions: Best Practices for Security & Compliance in the Era of Digital Transformation ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network