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Containers aren’t VMs. They’re a great lightweight deployment solution, but they’re only as secure as you make them. You need to keep... Cloud Security Best Practices for Docker Containers’ Security Rony Moshkovich 3 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 7/27/20 Published Containers aren’t VMs. They’re a great lightweight deployment solution, but they’re only as secure as you make them. You need to keep them in processes with limited capabilities, granting them only what they need. A process that has unlimited power, or one that can escalate its way there, can do unlimited damage if it’s compromised. Sound security practices will reduce the consequences of security incidents. Don’t grant absolute power It may seem too obvious to say, but never run a container as root. If your application must have quasi-root privileges, you can place the account within a user namespace , making it the root for the container but not the host machine. Also, don’t use the –privileged flag unless there’s a compelling reason. It’s one thing if the container does direct I/O on an embedded system, but normal application software should never need it. Containers should run under an owner that has access to its own resources but not to other accounts. If a third-party image requires the –privileged flag without an obvious reason, there’s a good chance it’s badly designed if not malicious. Avoid running a Docker socket in a container. It gives the process access to the Docker daemon, which is a useful but dangerous power. It includes the ability to control other containers, images, and volumes. If this kind of capability is necessary, it’s better to go through a proper API. Grant privileges as needed Applying the principle of least privilege minimizes container risks. A good approach is to drop all capabilities using –cap-drop=all and then enabling the ones that are needed with –cap-add . Each capability expands the attack surface between the container and its environment. Many workloads don’t need any added capabilities at all. The no-new-privileges flag under security-opt is another way to protect against privilege escalation. Dropping all capabilities does the same thing, so you don’t need both. Limiting the system resources which a container guards not only against runaway processes but against container-based DoS attacks. Beware of dubious images When possible, use official Docker images. They’re well documented and tested for security issues, and images are available for many common situations. Be wary of backdoored images . Someone put 17 malicious container images on Docker Hub, and they were downloaded over 5 million times before being removed. Some of them engaged in cryptomining on their hosts, wasting many processor cycles while generating $90,000 in Monero for the images’ creator. Other images may leak confidential data to an outside server. Many containerized environments are undoubtedly still running them. You should treat Docker images with the same caution you’d treat code libraries, CMS plugins, and other supporting software, Use only code that comes from a trustworthy source and is delivered through a reputable channel. Other considerations It should go without saying, but you need to rebuild your images regularly. The libraries and dependencies that they use get security patches from time to time, and you need to make sure your containers have them applied. On Linux, you can gain additional protection from security profiles such as secomp and AppArmor . These modules, used with the security-opt settings, let you set policies that will be automatically enforced. Container security presents its distinctive challenges. Experience with traditional application security helps in many ways, but Docker requires an additional set of practices. Still, the basics apply as much as ever. Start with trusted code. Don’t give it the power to do more than it needs to do. Use the available OS and Docker features for enhancing security. Monitor your systems for anomalous behavior. If you take all these steps, you’ll ward off the large majority of threats to your Docker environment. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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* Phone number* country* Select country... By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Level Up Your Security Game: Time for a Mindset Reset! Hey everyone, and welcome! If you're involved in keeping your organization safe... 5 mindset shifts security teams must adopt to master multi-cloud security Iris Stein 2 min read Iris Stein Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 4/9/25 Published Level Up Your Security Game: Time for a Mindset Reset! Hey everyone, and welcome! If you're involved in keeping your organization safe online these days, you're in the right place. For years, security felt like building a super strong castle with thick walls and a deep moat, hoping the bad guys would just stay outside. But let's be real, in our multi-cloud world, that castle is starting to look a little... outdated. Think about it: your apps and data aren't neatly tucked away in one place anymore. They're bouncing around on AWS, Azure, GCP, all sorts of platforms – practically everywhere! Trying to handle that with old-school security is like trying to catch smoke with a fishing net. Not gonna work, right? That's why we're chatting today. Gal Yosef, Head of Product Management in the U.S., gets it. He's helped us dive into some crucial mindset shifts – basically, new ways of thinking – that are essential for navigating the craziness of modern security. We gotta ditch the old ways and get ready to be more agile, work together better, and ultimately, be way more effective. Mindset Shift #1: From "Our Stuff is Safe Inside This Box" to "Trust Nothing, Verify Everything" Remember the good old days? We built a perimeter – firewalls, VPNs – thinking that everything inside was safe and sound (danger!). Security was all about guarding that edge. The Problem: Well, guess what? That world is gone! Multi-cloud environments have totally shattered that perimeter. Trying to just secure the network edge leaves your real treasures – your applications, users, and data – vulnerable as they roam across different clouds. It's like locking the front door but leaving all the windows wide open! The New Way: Distributed Trust. Security needs to follow your assets, wherever they go. Instead of just focusing on the infrastructure (the pipes and wires), we need to embrace Zero-Trust principles . Think of it like this: never assume anyone or anything is trustworthy, even if they're "inside." We need identity-based, adaptive security policies that constantly validate trust, rather than just assuming it based on location. Security becomes built into applications and workloads, not just bolted onto the network. Think of it this way: Instead of one big, guarded gate, you have individual, smart locks on every valuable asset. You're constantly checking who's accessing what, no matter where they are. It's like having a personal bodyguard for each of your important things, always making sure they have the right ID. Mindset Shift #2: From "My Team Handles Network Security, Their Team Handles Cloud Security" to "Let's All Be Security Buddies!" Ever feel like your network security team speaks a different language than your cloud security team? You're not alone! Traditionally, these have been separate worlds, with network teams focused on firewalls and cloud teams on security groups. The Problem: These separate silos are a recipe for confusion and fragmented security policies. Attackers? They love this! It's like having cracks in your armor. They aren't always going to bash down the front door; they're often slipping through the gaps created by this lack of communication. The New Way: Cross-functional collaboration. We need to tear down those walls! Network and cloud security teams need to work together, speaking a shared security language. Unified visibility and consistent policies across all your environments are key. Think of it like a superhero team – everyone has their own skills, but they work together seamlessly to fight the bad guys. Regular communication, shared tools, and a common understanding of the risks are crucial. Mindset Shift #3: From "Reacting When Something Breaks" to "Always Watching and Fixing Things Before They Do" Remember the old days of waiting for an alert to pop up saying something was wrong? That's like waiting for your car to break down before you even think about checking the oil. Not the smartest move, right? The Problem: In the fast-paced world of the cloud, waiting for things to go wrong is a recipe for disaster. Attacks can happen super quickly, and by the time you react, the damage might already be done. Plus, manually checking everything all the time? Forget about it – it's just not scalable when you've got stuff spread across multiple clouds. The New Way: Continuous & Automated Enforcement. We need to shift to a mindset of constant monitoring and automated security actions. Think of it like having a security system that's always on, always learning, and can automatically respond to threats in real-time. This means using tools and processes that continuously check for vulnerabilities, enforce security policies automatically, and even predict potential problems before they happen. It's like having a proactive security guard who not only watches for trouble but can also automatically lock doors and sound alarms the moment something looks fishy. Mindset Shift #4: From "Locking Everything Down Tight" to "Finding the Right Balance with Flexible Rules" We used to think the best security was the strictest security – lock everything down, say "no" to everything. But let's be honest, that can make it super hard for people to actually do their jobs! It's like putting so many locks on a door that nobody can actually get through it. The Problem: Overly restrictive security can stifle innovation and slow things down. Developers can get frustrated, and the business can't move as quickly as it needs to. Plus, sometimes those super strict rules can even create workarounds that actually make things less secure in the long run. The New Way: Flexible Guardrails. We need to move towards security that provides clear boundaries (the "guardrails") but also allows for agility and flexibility. Think of it like setting clear traffic laws – you know what's allowed and what's not, but you can still drive where you need to go. This means defining security policies that are adaptable to different cloud environments and business needs. It's about enabling secure innovation, not blocking it. We need to find that sweet spot where security empowers the business instead of hindering it. Mindset Shift #5: From "Security is a Cost Center" to "Security is a Business Enabler" Sometimes, security gets seen as just an expense, something we have to do but doesn't really add value. It's like thinking of insurance as just another bill. The Problem: When security is viewed as just a cost, it often gets underfunded or seen as a roadblock. This can lead to cutting corners and ultimately increasing risk. It's like trying to save money by neglecting the brakes on your car – it might seem cheaper in the short term, but it can have disastrous consequences later. The New Way: Security as a Business Enabler. We need to flip this thinking! Strong security isn't just about preventing bad things from happening; it's about building trust with customers, enabling new business opportunities, and ensuring the long-term resilience of the organization. Think of it like a strong foundation for a building – without it, you can't build anything lasting. By building security into our processes and products from the start, we can actually accelerate innovation and gain a competitive advantage. It's about showing our customers that we take their data seriously and that they can trust us. Wrapping Up: Moving to a multi-cloud world is exciting, but it definitely throws some curveballs at how we think about security. By adopting these five new mindsets, we can ditch the outdated castle mentality and build a more agile, collaborative, and ultimately more secure future for our organizations. It's not about being perfect overnight, but about starting to shift our thinking and embracing these new approaches. So, let's level up our security game together! Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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* Phone number* country* Select country... By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Leading payment solutions company credits AlgoSec for increasing security and compliance Organization Payment Solutions Industry Financial Services Headquarters Download case study Share Customer
success stories "Leading fintech company rapidly improves security and compliance with AlgoSec jumpstart program" Background The company is one of the largest payment solutions providers, with offices processing more than 28 billion transactions worldwide. The company services 800,000 merchant outlets that generate $120 billion in processing volume. Its businesses include credit card processing, merchant acquisition and issuance of bank credit cards. The company grew to its enormous size through innovation and acquisition. It has introduced modern technology into the payments industry and has acquired many innovative companies over the last three decades. Challenges Today, the company operates 10 data centers with varying security architectures and firewall equipment from different vendors. The security staff is currently in the process of a cross-company firewall consolidation that will take several years to complete. The company is automating its change management of firewall rules to cut down on the time and effort spent on researching and implementing rules to keep up with its fast growth. It deploys rule changes during tight, scheduled “push windows” and conducts compliance reviews twice per year. The firewall change process is highly complex with many steps: Request Design Peer Review Management Approval Implementation Validation Success for the security team is all about time. They seek to automate the process by reducing time spent on: Research and writing rules Peer reviews Staging Security peering after staging Firewall push window requirements Quarterly firewall ruleset reviews as part of compliance objectives Solution The security team acquired AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer (AFA) and deployed it at two of its data centers in Arizona and Colorado. In both locations, the company is in the process of firewall migration to consolidate on one vendor. However, they need to add firewall clusters one at a time after each migration instead of all at once. The company took advantage of AlgoSec’s Jumpstart Program that delivers the benefits of AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer in conjunction with other AlgoSec solutions quickly. With Jumpstart, the company is quickly able to: Automate the discovery and mapping of enterprise applications Automate the change management processes Adopt the new processes across the company Realize rapid ROI The company’s lead security infrastructure consultant proclaimed, “AlgoSec customized their Jumpstart Program just for us. Their people are engaged, personable, skilled and highly efficient. They became part of our team dedicated to our success.” In addition to getting Firewall Analyzer up and running quickly and delivering its benefits, the Jumpstart team’s AFA deployment immediately identified network security gaps and helped the company close them, making them more secure and compliant. Results AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer is achieving all the goals of the security team. Time for policy writing reduced from 90 hours to 15 hours – 83% less Cut the total process time by half, enabling the security team to keep up with the barrage of change requests. Reduced the admin overhead from 30 to 4 – 87% less “Automation is definitely the way to go,” declared their security consultant. “We can now stay on top of the process even while we migrate our firewalls. We are looking for more from AlgoSec.” The company is now in the process of implementing AlgoSec FireFlow (AFF) to enhance the existing change management system with intelligent network and security automation. AlgoSec FireFlow enforces compliance and automatically documents the entire change-management lifecycle. Some of the features include: Processing of firewall changes with zero-touch automation Elimination of mistakes and rework, and improvement of accountability for change requests Proactive assessment of the impact of network changes to ensure security and continuous compliance Automation of the rule–recertification processes Schedule time with one of our experts

If your firewall shows a notification that it has detected a new network, it means it is doing one of its fundamental jobs properly. But... Firewall Change Management Firewall has detected a new network Tsippi Dach 7 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 8/9/23 Published If your firewall shows a notification that it has detected a new network, it means it is doing one of its fundamental jobs properly. But good network security does not stop with just detecting a new network. You will have to analyze the network location, ensure it is authorized to connect with your network, automate this process, and ensure full-on monitoring so that none of the intrusive attempts ever go unnoticed. A good amount of all these tasks can be made more efficient, accurate, and automated with the help of strong network security solutions. What should you do if your firewall has detected an unrecognized network? 1. Analyze the incoming network request If the process is not automated, you might have to check for the incoming network request’s trustworthiness manually. You can check the security certificates associated with the request, check its source, validate with the right information whether this source can be trusted, and then decide whether to allow access. The best way to deal with any new network detection is to automate the authorization by using a strong network security policy that outlines what sources can be trusted, what cannot be trusted, and which decisions require further approval. 2. Analyze your network for any impact In case of an untrusted new network detection and possible intrusion, you should be able to check the impact or effect it has had on your current assets. You should analyze the entire system for performance, feature validation, and asset availability. A quick way to do this would be to use any network visualization product, such as Firewall Analyzer . This tool can also assess how your overall home network will be impacted by any possible security policy 3. Reassess your security policies and improve them In the event of any security incident, you will have to isolate your network, mitigate any impact caused by the intrusion and reset the system to a healthy state. And most importantly, you will have to investigate the incident, figure out the root cause, and fix it. This would require updating your security policies, risk management, and local network security settings. Following up on any security incident is highly recommended so that no unauthorized intrusion attempts go unnoticed and are handled appropriately. And like any other seemingly enormous task, this can be automated too. Check out firewall change management tools to help you implement continuous improvement within your network security management, contributing to network protection. How to setup strong firewall protection Here are some security measures and troubleshooting tips you need to employ to strengthen your Microsoft firewall management and network security. 1. Establish a strong network security policy management To implement a strong network security management framework, you must design the security policies, systems, and solutions as per your operating system. A network security policy framework can help you guide and streamline the security design and guide you with the enforcement of the same. As with any process, policy management should also be a continuously evolving framework and must be managed well to facilitate all the relevant tasks. Use intelligent systems like Algosec’s Algobot to help your firewall admins to carry out their tasks efficiently. And if you are looking to automate the security policy management tasks, you can also check out Fireflow . It helps you automate the security policy change process across the many phases of policy management, from planning to implementation and validation. 2. Visualize the network data Network monitoring is critical to enabling t strong firewall While AI-based alerting and monitoring systems could greatly help automate intrusion detection and notification, certain tasks require human supervision and deep analysis of the network logs. This way, you can not only analyze the network for any intrusion attempts (whether it be through malware sent through a web browser, file sharing, router, ethernet network adapter, or wi-fi) but also get to have a good understanding of your traffic and business trends. Appviz Firewall Analyzer from Algosec is a helpful tool for achieving this functionality. 3. Optimize your firewall configuration Firewall configurations include a broad range of activities that range from designing your firewall solution and choosing the right software/hardware to setting up the firewall rules and management processes. Set these configurations early on with all necessary considerations regarding your environment and applications. This process should also include the overall policy configurations and security rules that define the change process, firewall administration, monitoring, and management operations. Read this resourceful guide to learn more about firewall configuration, its challenges, and guidance on implementation. 4. Ensure cloud compliance Compliance and security go hand in hand in protecting your assets and boosting the overall goodwill and trust associated with your brand. Cloud compliance frameworks provide guidelines and cover most of the pain points of managing cloud security. Staying compliant with these guidelines means that your security is up to date and can be considered on par with the high standards set by these frameworks. 5. Micro-segmentation Micro-segmentation is a domain network security technique that helps you implement flexible security measures for individually segmented data center parts. It is most helpful with protecting your virtual machine implementations as it allows you to deploy specific security measures crafted to fit each virtual machine’s requirements. With security deployed on segmented workloads, your network becomes more resilient to attacks. 6. Perform regular firewall audits To ensure continuous compliance, you must conduct regular audit checks on the status of your firewall settings, policies, and implementations. Gather all the related documents and key information, review your current processes, firewall mechanisms, perform penetration tests, assess the security measures, and optimize as required. Perform a complete risk assessment on your Windows server and fix any issues that might be discovered as part of the audit process. Tips and best practices for enhanced network security 1. Firewall for native cloud applications Make use of cloud-first prioritized firewall solutions to protect your native cloud applications. You need comprehensive visibility on all your cloud assets, ensuring advanced threat detection and protection. This requires a whole set of tools and security applications working together to provide a centralized security system. You will also have to ensure data compliance at all levels as well. You can try to employ native cloud solutions such as the extensive tools provided by Algosec. 2. Use centralized solutions Make use of centralized solutions to manage hybrid and multi-cloud applications so that you have all the important information accessible from a single platform. AlgoSec Cloud from Algosec is an amazing solution to achieve centralized visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud accounts and assets. 3. Follow the best security practices and guidelines Look into the best security practices and guidelines put forth by your cloud vendor and follow them to get the best out of the collective knowledge. You can also use vendor-specific firewall management solutions to help you deal with issues related to specific cloud accounts you might be using. Additionally, having an antivirus like Windows Defender and using a VPN also helps. A good practice to follow in case of uncertainty is to block by default. Any new network or source must be blocked unless specifically permitted by the user. Regarding access privileges, you can follow the principle of least privilege, where users are only granted as many privileges as would be required for their specific roles and responsibilities. Use audit tools for regular auditing and keep improving on any vulnerabilities your firewall may have. To increase the performance of your firewall applications, you can look into how you have set up your firewall rules and optimize them for better performance. Here are some more best practices you can follow when setting up your firewall rules: Document all your rules and firewall configurations across all the devices. Make sure to document every new rule created and keep your documentation up to date. This can help security admins review the rules and optimize them as and when necessary. As mentioned earlier, follow a zero trust policy where you block traffic by default and permit network access only on a need basis. Monitor your firewall logs even when there is no particular security incident to investigate. Regular monitoring and analysis will give you a better understanding of your network traffic and can help you identify suspicious activities early on. Group the firewall rules to boost performance and avoid complications and loopholes. You can hire expert security administrators and security solutions such as Algosec to help review your firewall rules and keep them updated. Firewall management FAQs What can a firewall do? A Windows firewall can be interpreted as similar to a literal wall. It blocks unwanted access to your system and lets you decide whether or not to allow any new network connection or access request. Similar to how a fort works, you only give access to access requests that you trust and block the rest. It is the first defensive setup you can set up for your network security. You can set a list of trusted sources, and the requests from these sources will be given automated access. The rest of the access requests from any other source, be it a third-party network, mobile devices, internet connection, or any other endpoint, can be blocked by your firewall. You can set up firewall rules that dictate which type of requests and sources can be trusted. A firewall can be implemented by using multiple methods. It can be a cloud app, hardware, software, virtualizations, an access-restricted private cloud, and more. A typical firewall ruleset consists of the following specifications: Source address Source port Destination address Destination port Information on whether to block or permit the traffic to the respective address and port criteria. A firewall can be implemented by using multiple methods. It can be a cloud app, hardware, software, virtualizations, an access-restricted private cloud, and more. How does a firewall protect businesses from cyberthreats? The obvious main use of the firewall is to restrict all kinds of unauthorized access, thus protecting your systems from cyberattacks. But it also has several other benefits, such as: Providing data privacy so your work network traffic is guarded from outside public networks. Restricting content access to your private network For instance, educational institutions can block inappropriate sites for their students while in class. Blocking unwanted traffic from ads, spam, and gaming sites. Ensuring data confidentiality and keeping you compliant with security standards. Monitoring all your incoming traffic, helping you analyze your network profile, and helping you gain insights into trending user behavior. Filtering out unwanted traffic and restricting access to certain websites. Providing secure remote access through VPNs and similar remote access mechanisms. What are the most common types of firewalls? Based on the way data is filtered through a firewall, it can be broadly classified into one of the following types: Packet filtering Stateful inspection firewalls Circuit-level gateway firewalls Proxy firewalls Next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) Threat focused NGFWs Virtual firewalls Cloud-native firewalls Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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* Phone number* country* Select country... By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

AlgoSec FireFlow Automate and secure policy changes 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... phone By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Learn how to unify, consolidate, and automate your entire network security policy management across your Cisco and multi vendor estate Webinars Cisco & AlgoSec Achieving application-driven security across your hybrid network Your network extends into hybrid environments and may include private clouds running Cisco ACI, and on-premises devices. Managing network security policies in your multi-vendor estate is complex. Because your network is made up of multiple vendors and each part of your network estate is managed in its own silo, it is tough to get centralized management of your entire network. Making changes is a chore and validating security is difficult. Learn how to unify, consolidate, and automate your entire network security policy management across your Cisco and multi-vendor estate. In this session Roxana Diaz, Worldwide Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco, and Yonatan Klein, AlgoSec’s Director of Product, will discuss how to manage the Cisco and multi-cloud estate and how to: Capitalize on your Cisco ACI investment to take advantage of its full capabilities Bring centralized visibility, automation, and compliance monitoring into your Cisco and multi-vendor network ecosystem Get full visibility of your entire hybrid network estate, including items within the Cisco ACI security environment, as well as outside it, including Cisco firewalls and routers, as well as multi-vendor devices. Take advantage of Cisco Tetration Analytics and AlgoSec’s intelligent discovery to get a full picture of your network and application traffic and to design and provision a micro-segmentation network policy design. Unify, consolidate, and automate your network security policy management Proactively assess risk throughout your entire network, including Cisco ACI contracts, and recommend the necessary changes to eliminate misconfigurations and compliance violations June 10, 2020 Yonatan Klein irector of Product Management Roxana Diaz Worldwide Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco Relevant resources AlgoSec Joins Cisco’s Global Price List Keep Reading Migrating and Managing Security Policies in a Segmented Data Center Keep Reading AlgoSec Cisco ACI App Center Demo Watch Video Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... phone By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

In this webinar, our experts demonstrate the usage of Objectflow in managing network objects Webinars Introducing Objectflow: Network Security Objects Made Simple In this webinar, our experts demonstrate the usage of Objectflow in managing network objects. January 31, 2022 Yoni Geva Product Manager Jacqueline Basil Product Marketing Manager Relevant resources AlgoSec 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... phone By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Multi-Cloud Security Network Policy and Configuration Management 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... phone By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Arcon Maintains Security Across Diverse Customer Networks With AlgoSec Organization ARCON Industry Financial Services Headquarters Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Download case study Share Customer
success stories "Using AlgoSec is a double benefit to us because we can reduce the cost and number of errors in our daily operation and also expand our offerings to our customers" Global Managed Services Company Optimizes Firewall Policies and Reduces Risks AlgoSec Business Impact • Improve security and assure compliance of its customers • Deliver comprehensive reports • Reduce costs and misconfiguration errors • Expand offerings to Arcon’s customers Background Founded in 1995, Arcon is the leading MSSP in Brazil. The company operates facilities in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasília, Flórida, Salvador and Belém, managing the networks of many of Brazil’s top 100 companies, including banks, retailers, manufacturers and telecom companies. Arcon protectsmore than 600,000 users across five continents and processes more than one billion transactions each day. In addition to strategic management of IT security, Arcon protects data, servers, workstations and mobile devices and helps customers identify and control access to their systems. The company also evaluates risks in applications and provides technology infrastructure to support its customers’ businesses. Challenge Arcon provides security services to hundreds of other companies, including major retailers and banks, which require the tools that enable it to rapidly identify compliance issues and assess risks associated with network configurations. It must also be able to determine how to best optimize customers’ security policies and track changes made to firewall rules. With so many customers and service level agreements that require near immediate responses, Arcon needed visibility across the networks it manages and into reports allowing them to quickly find and fix issues and to counsel customers on changes that would improve their systems’ security. Solution Flavio Carvalho, the Security Management Services Director at Arcon, was charged with maintaining security across its own network, as well as diverse customers’ networks. Carvalho and his team selected the AlgoSec Security Management solution. “The combination of ease-of-use and the value add of AlgoSec’s reports, the ability to manage different technologies from multiple vendors, the cost per device managed, and the visibility across customer’s networks were key for us,” comments Carvalho.The quality of the AlgoSec’s reports clinched the deal. “With AlgoSec, we can quickly and easily provide PCI compliance reports to our customers, including banks and large retail stores. The excellent quality of the reports adds value to the services we manage for them,” says Carvalho. Results Arcon’s clients expect regular updates on the security of their networks — including recommendations for policy optimization, risk mitigation strategies, compliance verification and the impact of rule changes. “It would be impossible for us to deliver all of these in monthly reports without AlgoSec,” Carvalho notes. We have a big retail customer with SLAs of just one hour. “With AlgoSec we have been able to meet these SLAs much more easily than before. A report that previously took a day to generate can now be completed in a few minutes at the click of a button,” Carvalho notes.Shortly after implementation, Arcon’s experience with one large bank customer validated their decision to use AlgoSec — and made their customer very happy. “Our customer was under pressure because of high CPU utilization in their main firewall cluster,” explains Carvalho. “They needed us to investigate what was going on and to solve the issue as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Using AlgoSec, we were able to easily identify a series of duplicate and poorly-written rules that were causing the trouble, and we solved the problem at no cost to the customer.”“Using AlgoSec is a double benefit to us because we can reduce the cost and number of errors in our daily operations and also expand our offerings to our customers,” adds Carvalho. “It’s easy to work with AlgoSec, as we have a direct contact and an excellent AlgoSec support team, which is always available to help us when necessary” concludes Carvalho. Schedule time with one of our experts

Top 5 misconfigurations to avoid for robust security Multi-cloud environments have become the backbone of modern enterprise IT, offering... Cloud Security 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Iris Stein 4 min read Iris Stein 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 6/23/25 Published Top 5 misconfigurations to avoid for robust security Multi-cloud environments have become the backbone of modern enterprise IT, offering unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and access to a diverse array of innovative services. This distributed architecture empowers organizations to avoid vendor lock-in, optimize costs, and leverage specialized functionalities from different providers. However, this very strength introduces a significant challenge: increased complexity in security management. The diverse security models, APIs, and configuration nuances of each cloud provider, when combined, create a fertile ground for misconfigurations. A single oversight can cascade into severe security vulnerabilities, lead to compliance violations, and even result in costly downtime and reputational damage. At AlgoSec, we have extensive experience in navigating the intricacies of multi-cloud security. Our observations reveal recurring patterns of misconfigurations that undermine even the most well-intentioned security strategies. To help you fortify your multi-cloud defences, we've compiled the top five multi-cloud misconfigurations that organizations absolutely must avoid. 1. Over-permissive policies: The gateway to unauthorized access One of the most pervasive and dangerous misconfigurations is the granting of overly broad or permissive access policies. In the rush to deploy applications or enable collaboration, it's common for organizations to assign excessive permissions to users, services, or applications. This "everyone can do everything" approach creates a vast attack surface, making it alarmingly easy for unauthorized individuals or compromised credentials to gain access to sensitive resources across your various cloud environments. The principle of least privilege (PoLP) is paramount here. Every user, application, and service should only be granted the minimum necessary permissions to perform its intended function. This includes granular control over network access, data manipulation, and resource management. Regularly review and audit your Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies across all your cloud providers. Tools that offer centralized visibility into entitlements and highlight deviations can be invaluable in identifying and rectifying these critical vulnerabilities before they are exploited. 2. Inadequate network segmentation: Lateral movement made easy In a multi-cloud environment, a flat network architecture is an open invitation for attackers. Without proper network segmentation, a breach in one part of your cloud infrastructure can easily lead to lateral movement across your entire environment. Mixing production, development, and sensitive data workloads within the same network segment significantly increases the risk of an attacker pivoting from a less secure development environment to a critical production database. Effective network segmentation involves logically isolating different environments, applications, and data sets. This can be achieved through Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), subnets, security groups, network access control lists (NACLs), and micro-segmentation techniques. The goal is to create granular perimeters around critical assets, limiting the blast radius of any potential breach. By restricting traffic flows between different segments and enforcing strict ingress and egress rules, you can significantly hinder an attacker's ability to move freely within your cloud estate. 3. Unsecured storage buckets: A goldmine for data breaches Cloud storage services, such as Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage, offer incredible scalability and accessibility. However, their misconfiguration remains a leading cause of data breaches. Publicly accessible storage buckets, often configured inadvertently, expose vast amounts of sensitive data to the internet. This includes customer information, proprietary code, intellectual property, and even internal credentials. It is imperative to always double-check and regularly audit the access controls and encryption settings of all your storage buckets across every cloud provider. Implement strong bucket policies, restrict public access by default, and enforce encryption at rest and in transit. Consider using multifactor authentication for access to storage, and leverage tools that continuously monitor for publicly exposed buckets and alert you to any misconfigurations. Regular data classification and tagging can also help in identifying and prioritizing the protection of highly sensitive data stored in the cloud. 4. Lack of centralized visibility: Flying blind in a complex landscape Managing security in a multi-cloud environment without a unified, centralized view of your security posture is akin to flying blind. The disparate dashboards, logs, and security tools provided by individual cloud providers make it incredibly challenging to gain a holistic understanding of your security landscape. This fragmented visibility makes it nearly impossible to identify widespread misconfigurations, enforce consistent security policies across different clouds, and respond effectively and swiftly to emerging threats. A centralized security management platform is crucial for multi-cloud environments. Such a platform should provide comprehensive discovery of all your cloud assets, enable continuous risk assessment, and offer unified policy management across your entire multi-cloud estate. This centralized view allows security teams to identify inconsistencies, track changes, and ensure that security policies are applied uniformly, regardless of the underlying cloud provider. Without this overarching perspective, organizations are perpetually playing catch-up, reacting to incidents rather than proactively preventing them. 5. Neglecting Shadow IT: The unseen security gaps Shadow IT refers to unsanctioned cloud deployments, applications, or services that are used within an organization without the knowledge or approval of the IT or security departments. While seemingly innocuous, shadow IT can introduce significant and often unmanaged security gaps. These unauthorized resources often lack proper security configurations, patching, and monitoring, making them easy targets for attackers. To mitigate the risks of shadow IT, organizations need robust discovery mechanisms that can identify all cloud resources, whether sanctioned or not. Once discovered, these resources must be brought under proper security governance, including regular monitoring, configuration management, and adherence to organizational security policies. Implementing cloud access security brokers (CASBs) and network traffic analysis tools can help in identifying and gaining control over shadow IT instances. Educating employees about the risks of unauthorized cloud usage is also a vital step in fostering a more secure multi-cloud environment. Proactive management with AlgoSec Cloud Enterprise Navigating the complex and ever-evolving multi-cloud landscape demands more than just awareness of these pitfalls; it requires deep visibility and proactive management. This is precisely where AlgoSec Cloud Enterprise excels. Our solution provides comprehensive discovery of all your cloud assets across various providers, offering a unified view of your entire multi-cloud estate. It enables continuous risk assessment by identifying misconfigurations, policy violations, and potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, AlgoSec Cloud Enterprise empowers automated policy enforcement, ensuring consistent security postures and helping you eliminate misconfigurations before they can be exploited. By providing this robust framework for security management, AlgoSec helps organizations maintain a strong and resilient security posture in their multi-cloud journey. Stay secure out there! The multi-cloud journey offers immense opportunities, but only with diligent attention to security and proactive management can you truly unlock its full potential while safeguarding your critical assets. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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* Phone number* country* Select country... By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Tal Dayan, security expert for AlgoSec, discusses the secret to passing audits seamlessly and how to introduce automated compliance... Auditing and Compliance Compliance Made Easy: How to improve your risk posture with automated audits Tal Dayan 3 min read Tal Dayan Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 4/29/21 Published Tal Dayan, security expert for AlgoSec, discusses the secret to passing audits seamlessly and how to introduce automated compliance Compliance standards come in many different shapes and sizes. Some organizations set their own internal policies, while others are subject to regimented global frameworks such as PCI DSS , which protects customers’ card payment details; SOX to safeguard financial information or HIPAA , which protects patients’ healthcare data. Regardless of which industry you operate in, regular auditing is key to ensuring your business retains its risk posture whilst also remaining compliant. The problem is that running manual risk and security audits can be a long, drawn-out, and tedious affair. A 2020 report from Coalfire and Omdia  found that for the majority of organizations, growing compliance obligations are now consuming 40% or more of IT security budgets and threaten to become an unsustainable cost.  The report suggests two reasons for this growing compliance burden.  First, compliance standards are changing from point-in-time reviews to continuous, outcome-based requirements. Second, the ongoing cyber-skills shortage is stretching organizations’ abilities to keep up with compliance requirements. This means businesses tend to leave them until the last moment, leading to a rushed audit that isn’t as thorough as it could be, putting your business at increased risk of a penalty fine or, worse, a data breach that could jeopardize the entire organization. The auditing process itself consists of a set of requirements that must be created for organizations to measure themselves against. Each rule must be manually analyzed and simulated before it can be implemented and used in the real world. As if that wasn’t time-consuming enough, every single edit to a rule must also be logged meticulously. That is why automation plays a key role in the auditing process. By striking the right balance between automated and manual processes, your business can achieve continuous compliance and produce audit reports seamlessly. Here is a six-step strategy that can set your business on the path to sustainable and successful ongoing auditing preservation: Step 1: Gather information This step will be the most arduous but once completed it will become much easier to sustain. This is when you’ll need to gather things like security policies, firewall access logs, documents from previous audits and firewall vendor information – effectively everything you’d normally factor into a manual security audit. Step 2: Define a clear change management process A good change management process is essential to ensure traceability and accountability when it comes to firewall changes. This process should confirm that every change is properly authorized and logged as and when it occurs, providing a picture of historical changes and approvals. Step 3: Audit physical & OS security With the pandemic causing a surge in the number of remote workers and devices used, businesses must take extra care to certify that every endpoint is secured and up-to-date with relevant security patches. Crucially, firewall and management services should also be physically protected, with only designated personnel permitted to access them. Step 4: Clean up & organize rule base As with every process, the tidier it is, the more efficient it is. Document rules and naming conventions should be enforced to ensure the rule base is as organized as possible, with identical rules consolidated to keep things concise. Step 5: Assess & remediate risk Now it’s time to assess each rule and identify those that are particularly risky and prioritize them by severity. Are there any that violate corporate security policies? Do some have “ANY” and a permissive action? Make a list of these rules and analyze them to prepare plans for remediation and compliance. Step 6: Continuity & optimization Now it’s time to simply hone the first five steps and make these processes as regular and streamlined as possible. By following the above steps and building out your own process, you can make day-to-day compliance and auditing much more manageable. Not only will you improve your compliance score, you’ll also be able to maintain a sustainable level of compliance without the usual disruption and hard labor caused by cumbersome and expensive manual processes. To find out more about auditing automation and how you can master compliance, watch my recent webinar and visit our firewall auditing and compliance page. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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* Phone number* country* Select country... By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call