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90% of organizations use a multi-cloud operating model to help achieve their business goals in a 2022 survey. AWS (Amazon Web Services)... Cloud Security The Complete Guide to Perform an AWS Security Audit Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 7/27/23 Published 90% of organizations use a multi-cloud operating model to help achieve their business goals in a 2022 survey. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is among the biggest cloud computing platforms businesses use today. It offers cloud storage via data warehouses or data lakes, data analytics, machine learning, security, and more. Given the prevalence of multi-cloud environments, cloud security is a major concern. 89% of respondents in the above survey said security was a key aspect of cloud success. Security audits are essential for network security and compliance. AWS not only allows audits but recommends them and provides several tools to help, like AWS Audit Manager. In this guide, we share the best practices for an AWS security audit and a detailed step-by-step list of how to perform an AWS audit. We have also explained the six key areas to review. Best practices for an AWS security audit There are three key considerations for an effective AWS security audit: Time it correctly You should perform a security audit: On a regular basis. Perform the steps described below at regular intervals. When there are changes in your organization, such as new hires or layoffs. When you change or remove the individual AWS services you use. This ensures you have removed unnecessary permissions. When you add or remove software to your AWS infrastructure. When there is suspicious activity, like an unauthorized login. Be thorough When conducting a security audit: Take a detailed look at every aspect of your security configuration, including those that are rarely used. Do not make any assumptions. Use logic instead. If an aspect of your security configuration is unclear, investigate why it was instated and the business purpose it serves. Simplify your auditing and management process by using unified cloud security platforms . Leverage the shared responsibility model AWS uses a shared responsibility model. It splits the responsibility for the security of cloud services between the customer and the vendor. A cloud user or client is responsible for the security of: Digital identities Employee access to the cloud Data and objects stored in AWS Any third-party applications and integrations AWS handles the security of: The global AWS online infrastructure The physical security of their facilities Hypervisor configurations Managed services like maintenance and upgrades Personnel screening Many responsibilities are shared by both the customer and the vendor, including: Compliance with external regulations Security patches Updating operating systems and software Ensuring network security Risk management Implementing business continuity and disaster recovery strategies The AWS shared responsibility model assumes that AWS must manage the security of the cloud. The customer is responsible for security within the cloud. Step-by-step process for an AWS security audit An AWS security audit is a structured process to analyze the security of your AWS account. It lets you verify security policies and best practices and secure your users, roles, and groups. It also ensures you comply with any regulations. You can use these steps to perform an AWS security audit: Step 1: Choose a goal and audit standard Setting high-level goals for your AWS security audit process will give the audit team clear objectives to work towards. This can help them decide their approach for the audit and create an audit program. They can outline the steps they will take to meet goals. Goals are also essential to measure the organization’s current security posture. You can speed up this process using a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool . Next, define an audit standard. This defines assessment criteria for different systems and security processes. The audit team can use the audit standard to analyze current systems and processes for efficiency and identify any risks. The assessment criteria drive consistent analysis and reporting. Step 2: Collect and review all assets Managing your AWS system starts with knowing what resources your organization uses. AWS assets can be data stores, applications, instances, and the data itself. Auditing your AWS assets includes: Create an asset inventory listing: Gather all assets and resources used by the organization. You can collect your assets using AWS Config, third-party tools, or CLI (Command Line Interface) scripts. Review asset configuration: Organizations must use secure configuration management practices for all AWS components. Auditors can validate if these standards are competent to address known security vulnerabilities. Evaluate risk: Asses how each asset impacts the organization’s risk profile. Integrate assets into the overall risk assessment program. Ensure patching: Verify that AWS services are included in the internal patch management process. Step 3: Review access and identity Reviewing account and asset access in AWS is critical to avoid cybersecurity attacks and data breaches. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM ) is used to manage role-based access control. This dictates which users can access and perform operations on resources. Auditing access controls include: Documenting AWS account owners: List and review the main AWS accounts, known as the root accounts. Most modern teams do not use root accounts at all, but if needed, use multiple root accounts. Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA): Implement MFA for all AWS accounts based on your security policies. Review IAM user accounts: Use the AWS Management Console to identify all IAM users. Evaluate and modify the permissions and policies for all accounts. Remove old users. Review AWS groups: AWS groups are a collection of IAM users. Evaluate each group and the permissions and policies assigned to them. Remove old groups. Check IAM roles: Create job-specific IAM roles. Evaluate each role and the resources it has access to. Remove roles that have not been used in 90 days or more. Define monitoring methods: Install monitoring methods for all IAM accounts and roles. Regularly review these methods. Use least privilege access: The Principle of Least Privilege Access (PoLP) ensures users can only access what they need to complete a task. It prevents overly-permissive access controls and the misuse of systems and data. Implement access logs: Use access logs to track requests to access resources and changes made to resources. Step 4: Analyze data flows Protecting all data within the AWS ecosystem is vital for organizations to avoid data leaks. Auditors must understand the data flow within an organization. This includes how data moves from one system to another in AWS, where data is stored, and how it is protected. Ensuring data protection includes: Assess data flow: Check how data enters and exits every AWS resource. Identify any vulnerabilities in the data flows and address them. Ensure data encryption: Check if all data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Review connection methods: Check connection methods to different AWS systems. Depending on your workloads, this could include AWS Console, S3, RDS (relational database service), and more. Use key management services: Ensure data is encrypted at rest using AWS key management services. Use multi-cloud management services: Since most organizations use more than one cloud system, using multi-cloud CSPM software is essential. Step 5: Review public resources Elements within the AWS ecosystem are intentionally public-facing, like applications or APIs. Others are accidentally made public due to misconfiguration. This can lead to data loss, data leaks, and unintended access to accounts and services. Common examples include EBS snapshots, S3 objects, and databases. Identifying these resources helps remediate risks by updating access controls. Evaluating public resources includes: Identifying all public resources: List all public-facing resources. This includes applications, databases, and other services that can access your AWS data, assets, and resources. Conduct vulnerability assessments: Use automated tools or manual techniques to identify vulnerabilities in your public resources. Prioritize the risks and develop a plan to address them. Evaluate access controls: Review the access controls for each public resource and update them as needed. Remove unauthorized access using security controls and tools like S3 Public Access Block and Guard Duty. Review application code: Check the code for all public-facing applications for vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit. Conduct tests for common risks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and buffer overflows. Key AWS areas to review in a security audit There are six essential parts of an AWS system that auditors must assess to identify risks and vulnerabilities: Identity access management (IAM) AWS IAM manages the users and access controls within the AWS infrastructure. You can audit your IAM users by: List all IAM users, groups, and roles. Remove old or redundant users. Also, remove these users from groups. Delete redundant or old groups. Remove IAM roles that are no longer in use. Evaluate each role’s trust and access policies. Review the policies assigned to each group that a user is in. Remove old or unnecessary security credentials. Remove security credentials that might have been exposed. Rotate long-term access keys regularly. Assess security credentials to identify any password, email, or data leaks. These measures prevent unauthorized access to your AWS system and its data. Virtual private cloud (VPC) Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) enables organizations to deploy AWS services on their own virtual network. Secure your VPC by: Checking all IP addresses, gateways, and endpoints for vulnerabilities. Creating security groups to control the inbound and outbound traffic to the resources within your VPC. Using route tables to check where network traffic from each subnet is directed. Leveraging traffic mirroring to copy all traffic from network interfaces. This data is sent to your security and monitoring applications. Using VPC flow logs to capture information about all IP traffic going to and from the network interfaces. Regularly monitor, update, and assess all of the above elements. Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) enables organizations to develop and deploy applications in the AWS Cloud. Users can create virtual computing environments, known as instances, to launch as servers. You can secure your Amazon EC2 instances by: Review key pairs to ensure that login information is secure and only authorized users can access the private key. Eliminate all redundant EC2 instances. Create a security group for each EC2 instance. Define rules for inbound and outbound traffic for every instance. Review security groups regularly. Eliminate unused security groups. Use Elastic IP addresses to mask instance failures and enable instant remapping. For increased security, use VPCs to deploy your instances. Storage (S3) Amazon S3, or Simple Storage Service, is a cloud-native object storage platform. It allows users to store and manage large amounts of data within resources called buckets. Auditing S3 involves: Analyze IAM access controls Evaluate access controls given using Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Query String Authentication Re-evaluate bucket policies to ensure adequate object permissions Check S3 audit logs to identify any anomalies Evaluate S3 security configurations like Block Public Access, Object Ownership, and PrivateLink. Use Amazon Macie to get alerts when S3 buckets are publically accessible, unencrypted, or replicated. Mobile apps Mobile applications within your AWS environment must be audited. Organizations can do this by: Review mobile apps to ensure none of them contain access keys. Use MFA for all mobile apps. Check for and remove all permanent credentials for applications. Use temporary credentials so you can frequently change security keys. Enable multiple login methods using providers like Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Threat detection and incident response The AWS cloud infrastructure must include mechanisms to detect and react to security incidents. To do this, organizations and auditors can: Create audit logs by enabling AWS CloudTrail, storing and access logs in S3, CloudWatch logs, WAF logs, and VPC Flow Logs. Use audit logs to track assessment trails and detect any deviations or notable events Review logging and monitoring policies and procedures Ensure all AWS services, including EC2 instances, are monitored and logged Install logging mechanisms to centralize logs on one server and in proper formats Implement a dynamic Incident Response Plan for AWS services. Include policies to mitigate cybersecurity incidents and help with data recovery. Include AWS in your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to improve disaster recovery. Dictate policies related to preparedness, crisis management elements, and more. Top tools for an AWS audit You can use any number of AWS security options and tools as you perform your audit. However, a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) like Prevasio is the ideal tool for an AWS audit. It combines the features of multiple cloud security solutions and automates security management. Prevasio increases efficiency by enabling fast and secure agentless cloud security configuration management. It supports Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. All security issues across these vendors are shown on a single dashboard. You can also perform a manual comprehensive AWS audit using multiple AWS tools: Identity and access management: AWS IAM and AWS IAM Access Analyzer Data protection: AWS Macie and AWS Secrets Manager Detection and monitoring: AWS Security Hub, Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Config, AWS CloudTrail, AWS CloudWatch Infrastructure protection: AWS Web Application Firewall, AWS Shield A manual audit of different AWS elements can be time-consuming. Auditors must juggle multiple tools and gather information from various reports. A dynamic platform like Prevasio speeds up this process. It scans all elements within your AWS systems in minutes and instantly displays any threats on the dashboard. The bottom line on AWS security audits Security audits are essential for businesses using AWS infrastructures. Maintaining network security and compliance via an audit prevents data breaches, prevents cyberattacks, and protects valuable assets. A manual audit using AWS tools can be done to ensure safety. However, an audit of all AWS systems and processes using Prevasio is more comprehensive and reliable. It helps you identify threats faster and streamlines the security management of your cloud system. 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

Firewall misconfigurations are one of the most common and preventable security issues that organizations face. Comprehensively managing access control, addressing vulnerabilities, and detecting configuration mistakes under these conditions is not easy It’s especially challenging for organizations that use the default firewall rules provided by their vendor. Your firewall policies should reflect your organization’s unique cybersecurity risk profile. This requires some degree of customization,... Firewall Change Management How to fix misconfigured firewalls (and prevent firewall breaches) Kyle Wickert 2 min read Kyle Wickert 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 Firewall misconfigurations are one of the most common and preventable security issues that organizations face. Comprehensively managing access control, addressing vulnerabilities, and detecting configuration mistakes under these conditions is not easy It’s especially challenging for organizations that use the default firewall rules provided by their vendor. Your firewall policies should reflect your organization’s unique cybersecurity risk profile. This requires some degree of customization, and intelligence into kinds of cyber attacks hackers use to target your organization. Understanding security misconfigurations and their impact on network security Security misconfigurations happen when elements of your security tech stack expose preventable vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. These misconfigurations can take a variety of forms, putting a wide range of security tools and open ports at risk. Network firewall misconfigurations can have a wide-ranging impact on your organization’s overall security posture. Hackers that target vulnerable infrastructure pose a threat to the entire application stack. They may be able to gain access to network services, application servers, and virtual machines. Depending on the specific misconfiguration, they may be able to compromise hardware routers and endpoints as well. In organizations with complex firewall deployments, attackers may be able to exploit misconfigurations, bypass security policies, and escalate their own privileges to make arbitrary changes to firewall security. From this point, attackers can easily modify access control lists (ACLs) to specifically allow the malware they wish to run, compromising the first line of defense against data breaches. This is exactly why Gartner recommends implementing a centralized solution for firewall management . Centralized visibility and control is crucial for maintaining effective firewall configurations and updating them accordingly. Otherwise, ensuring compliance with security best practices like the principle of least privilege becomes difficult or impossible. Routing network traffic through complex cloud-native infrastructure securely requires deep visibility into firewall configuration status, effective authentication processes, and automation-friendly security solutions. How hackers exploit misconfigured firewalls Common misconfigurations include implementing overly permissive rules, disabling critical security features, and neglecting to protect open ports against unauthorized access. This leaves organizations vulnerable to Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, remote control, and data breaches . Here are some of the ways cybercriminals can exploit misconfigured firewalls: 1. Taking advantage of permissions misconfigurations Overly permissive firewall rules are a common problem among organizations with complex cloud-enabled infrastructure. Often, the organization’s demand for productivity and connectivity take precedence over the need to protect sensitive data from unauthorized network traffic. Additionally, IT team members may misunderstand the cloud provider’s shared responsibility model and assume that the provider has already secured the data center from all potential threats. These situations are particularly risky when the organization is undergoing change. For example, many security professionals start with completely open permissions and tighten them as they learn more about the network’s needs. Obvious and highly visible permissions get secured first, while less visible parts of the security framework are deprioritized – or never addressed at all. Hackers can exploit this situation by focusing on less obvious access points first. Instead of sending malicious traffic to IP addresses associated with core business servers, they might infiltrate the network through an unsecured API, or look for an unpatched operating system somewhere in the network. 2. Exploiting disabled security features Many firewalls offer advanced security features to organizations willing to configure them. However, security teams are often strained for time and resources. They may already be flooded with a backlog of high-priority security alerts to address, making it challenging to spend extra time configuring advanced firewall policies or fine-tuning their security posture. Even organizations that can enable advanced features don’t always do it. Features like leak detection and port scan alerts can put additional strain on limited computing resources, impacting performance. Other features may generate false positives, which only add to the security workload. But many of these features offer clear benefits to organizations that use them. Sophisticated technologies like application and identity-based inspection allow organizations to prioritize firewall performance more efficiently throughout the network. If threat actors find out that advanced security features like these are disabled, they are free to deploy the attack techniques these features protect against. For example, in the case of identity-based inspection, a hacker may be able to impersonate an unidentified administrator-level account and gain access to sensitive security controls without additional authentication. 3. Scanning for unsecured open ports Hackers use specialized penetration testing tools to scan for open ports. Tools like Nmap, Unicornscan , and Angry IP Scanner can find open ports and determine the security controls that apply to them. If a hacker finds out that your ACLs neglect to cover a particular port, they will immediately look for ways to exploit that vulnerability and gain access to your network. These tools are the same network discovery tools that system administrators and network engineers use on a routine basis. Tools like Nmap allow IT professionals to run security audits on local and remote networks, identifying hosts responding to network requests, discovering operating system names and versions, and more. Threat actors can even determine what kind of apps are running and find the version number of those apps. They also allow threat actors to collect data on weak points in your organization’s security defenses. For example, they might identify a healthcare organization using an outdated app to store sensitive clinical trial data. From there, it’s easy to look up the latest patch data to find out what exploits the outdated app is vulnerable to. How to optimize firewall configuration Protecting your organization from firewall breaches demands paying close attention to the policies, patch versions, and additional features your firewall provider offers. Here are three steps security leaders can take to address misconfiguration risks and ensure a robust security posture against external threats: 1. Audit your firewall policies regularly This is especially important for organizations undergoing the transition to cloud-native infrastructure. It’s virtually guaranteed that certain rules and permissions will no longer be needed as the organization adjusts to this period of change over time. Make sure that your firewall rules are constantly updated to address these changes and adapt to them accordingly. Auditing should take place under a strict change management framework . Implement a change log and incorporate it into your firewall auditing workflow so that you can easily access information about historical configuration changes. This change log will provide security professionals with readymade data about who implemented configuration changes, what time those changes took place, and why they were made in the first place. This gives you at-a-glance coverage of historical firewall performance, which puts you one step closer to building a unified, centralized solution for handling firewall policies. 2. Update and patch firewall software frequently Like every element in your security tech stack, firewall software needs to be updated promptly when developers release new patches. This applies both to hardware firewalls operating on-premises and software firewalls working throughout your network. These patches address known vulnerabilities, and they are often the first line of defense against rapidly emerging threats. The sooner you can deploy software patches to your firewalls, the more robust your network security posture will be. These changes should also be noted in a change log. This provides valuable evidence for the strength of your security posture against known emerging threats. If hackers start testing your defenses by abusing known post-patch vulnerabilities, you will be prepared for them. 3. Implement an intrusion detection system (IDS) Firewalls form the foundation of good network security, and intrusion detection systems supplement their capabilities by providing an additional line of defense. Organizations with robust IDS capabilities are much harder to compromise without triggering alerts. IDS solutions passively monitor traffic for signs of potential threats. When they detect a threat, they generate an alert, allowing security operations personnel to investigate and respond. This adds additional layers of value to the basic function of the firewall – allowing or denying traffic based on ACLs and network security rules. Many next-generation firewalls include intrusion detection system capabilities as part of an integrated solutions. This simplifies security management considerably and reduces the number of different devices and technologies security teams must gain familiarity with. Pay attention to firewall limitations – and prepare for them Properly configured firewalls offer valuable security performance to organizations with complex network infrastructure. However, they can’t prevent every cyber attack and block every bit of malicious code. Security leaders should be aware of firewall limitations and deploy security measures that compensate appropriately. Even with properly configured firewalls, you’ll have to address some of the following issues: Zero-day attacks Firewalls may not block attacks that exploit new and undiscovered vulnerabilities. Since these are not previously known vulnerabilities, security teams have not yet had time to develop patches or fixes that address them. These types of attacks are generally able to bypass more firewall solutions. However, some next-generation firewalls do offer advanced features capable of addressing zero-day attacks. Identity-based inspection is one example of a firewall technology that can detect these attacks because it enforces security policies based on user identity rather than IP address. Sandboxes are another next-generation firewall technology capable of blocking zero-day attacks. However, no single technology can reliably block 100% of all zero-day attacks. Some solutions are better-equipped to handle these types of attacks than others, but it takes a robust multi-layered security posture to consistently protect against unknown threats. Timely incident response Firewall configuration plays an important role in incident response. Properly configured firewalls help provide visibility into your security posture in real-time, enabling security teams to create high-performance incident response playbooks. Custom playbooks ensure timely incident response by prioritizing the types of threats found in real-world firewall data. If your firewalls are misconfigured, your incident response playbooks may reflect a risk profile that doesn’t match with your real-world security posture. This can lead to security complications that reduce the effectiveness of incident response processes down the line. Planned outages when updating firewalls Updating firewalls is an important part of maintaining an optimal firewall configuration for your organization. However, the update process can be lengthy. At the same time, it usually requires scheduling an outage in advance, which will temporarily expose your organization to the threats your firewall normally protects against. In some cases, there may be compatibility issues with incoming version of the firewall software being updated. This may lengthen the amount of time that the organization has to endure a service outage, which complicates firewall security. This is one reason why many security leaders intentionally delay updating their firewalls. As with many other aspects of running and maintaining good security policies, effective change management is an important aspect of planning firewall updates. Security leaders should stagger their scheduled updates to avoid reducing risk exposure and provide the organization with meaningful security controls during the update process. Automate change management and avoid misconfigurations with algoSec AlgoSec helps organizations deploy security policy changes while maintaining accuracy and control over their security posture. Use automation to update firewall configuration policies, download new security patches, and validate results without spending additional time and energy on manual processes. Horizon Security Analyzer gives you the ability to discover and map business applications throughout your network. Find out how new security policies will impact traffic and perform detailed simulations of potential security scenarios with unlimited visibility. Schedule a demo to see AlgoSec in action for yourself. 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

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Dimension Data Enhances Delivery Of Managed Security Services With AlgoSec Organization DIMENSION DATA Industry Technology Headquarters Australia Download case study Share Customer
success stories "We were fortunate enough to get a double benefit from using AlgoSec in our environment — reducing costs to serve our clients, and expanding our service offerings" IT Solution Provider Streamlines and Automates Security Operations for Clients AlgoSec Business Impact Generate incremental revenue from new policy compliance management services Reduce cost of service for Managed Security Service offering Improve quality of service, assuring a direct and timely response to security issues Background Dimension Data, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Africa, provides global specialized IT services and solutions to help their clients plan, build, support and manage their IT infrastructures. The company serves over 6,000 clients in 58 countries and in all major industry verticals. Dimension Data serves 79% of the Global Fortune Top 100 and 63% of the Global Fortune 500. Challenge In an effort to bring greater efficiency and flexibility, Dimension Data Australia sought to apply security industry best practices and streamlined processes to its delivery methodology. Automation was identified as a key capability that would enable them to reduce service costs and increase quality of service. “The operational management of security infrastructure is quite labor intensive,” remarks Martin Schlatter, Security Services Product Manager at Dimension Data. “The principle reasons for automating managed services are reducing work time, freeing up people for other tasks, and leveraging expertise that is ‘built in’ the automated tool.” By doing this Dimension Data could offer better service to existing clients while expanding their client base. “Additionally, the increased appetite for the Managed Security Services offering has been fueled by an increasing focus on governance, risk management and compliance, and we are expected to deliver faster and more accurate visibility of the security and compliance posture of the network,” explains Schlatter. Solution Dimension Data selected the AlgoSec Security Management Solution as a part of their toolset to deliver their Managed Security Services, which include automated and fully integrated operational management of client security infrastructures. The intelligent automation at the heart of AlgoSec will enable Dimension Data’s team to easily and effectively perform change monitoring, risk assessment, compliance verification and policy optimization for their clients, and act upon the findings quickly. This includes getting rid of unused or obsolete rules in the policy, reordering rules to increase performance and identifying risky rules. Another key factor in the decision making process was the relationship between Dimension Data and AlgoSec. “AlgoSec was deemed most suitable to meet our delivery needs for Managed Services. We selected them for their specific technology fit, and flexibility to assist in growing our managed service business. The partnership element was eventually the overriding factor,” says Schlatter. Results With AlgoSec, Dimension Data is now able to deliver their clients a comprehensive view of the security posture of their network security devices. This is crucial to establishing a baseline understanding of a security network, which makes it possible to truly assess and remediate risks, errors and inefficiencies. The ability to automatically provide this type of information at the most accurate level provides a key competitive differentiator for the company and a large benefit for its clients. “The value-added contribution is saving time, in terms of automation,” remarked Schlatter. “We found a way to reduce costs by automating manual operational tasks. At the same time, we were fortunate enough to leverage AlgoSec to expand our service offerings, so we got a double benefit from using AlgoSec in our environment.” One of the major features of integrating AlgoSec into the Dimension Data solution is the ability to support multiple client domains from a single AlgoSec management console. “This scalable configuration has proven to be invaluable when managing multiple clients with complex multi-vendor, multi-device security environments,” says Schlatter. “It consolidates administrative tasks, cuts time and costs, and ensures proper administration and segregation of duties from our end.” AlgoSec enhances the Managed Security Services offerings by delivering comprehensive risk and compliance management. Dimension Data professionals can generate risk and audit-ready compliance reports in a fraction of the time and with much greater accuracy compared to traditional manual analysis. “Our clients who require ISO 27001 and PCI DSS accreditation have greatly benefitted from this,” said Schlatter. Schedule time with one of our experts

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Cloud environments are complex and dynamic. Due to the complexity and multifacetedness of cloud technologies, cloud-native applications... Cloud Security What is a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) Ava Chawla 2 min read Ava Chawla Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 11/24/22 Published Cloud environments are complex and dynamic. Due to the complexity and multifacetedness of cloud technologies, cloud-native applications are challenging to safeguard. As a result, security teams use multiple security solutions, like CWPP and CSPM, to protect applications. The problem with this approach is that handling multiple security tools is laborious, time-consuming, and inefficient. Cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is a new cloud security solution that promises to solve this problem. What is CNAPP? A cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is an all-in-one tool with the capabilities of different cloud-native security tools. It combines the security features of multiple tools and provides comprehensive protection – from the development and configuration stages to deployment and runtime. Container security is here to stay A CNAPP combines CSPM, CIEM, IAM, CWPP, and more in one tool. It streamlines cloud security monitoring, threat detection, and remediation processes. The all-in-one platform gives organizations better visibility into threats and vulnerabilities. Instead of using multiple tools to receive alerts and formulate a remediation plan, a CNAPP minimizes complexity and enables security teams to monitor and draw insights from a single platform. How Does CNAPP Work and Why is it So Important to Have? This new cloud security approach offers the capabilities of multiple security tools in one software. Some of these security functions include Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Scanning, Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP), Cloud Network Security Connectivity (CNSC), and Kubernetes Security Posture Management (CIEM). The all-in-one platform centralizes insights, enabling security professionals to monitor and analyze data from the same space. A CNAPP identifies risks with strong context, provides detailed alerts, and offers automation features to fix vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. A CNAPP is essential because it reduces complexity and minimizes overhead. Given how complex and dynamic the cloud environments are, organizations are faced with enormous security threats. Enterprises deploy applications on multiple private and public clouds leveraging various dynamic, mixed technologies. This makes securing cloud assets significantly challenging. To cope with the complexity, security operations teams rely on multiple cloud security solutions. SecOps use various solutions to protect modern development practices, such as containers, Kubernetes, serverless functions, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code (IaC). This approach has been helpful. That said, it’s laborious and inefficient. In addition to not providing a broad view of security risks, dealing with multiple tools negatively impacts accuracy and decreases productivity. Having to correlate data from several platforms leads to errors and delayed responses. A CNAPP takes care of these problems by combining the functionalities of multiple tools in one software. It protects every stage of the cloud application lifecycle, from development to runtime. Leveraging advanced analytics and remediation automation, CNAPPs help organizations address cloud-native risks, harden applications, and institute security best practices. What Problems Does a CNAPP Solve? This new category of cloud application security tool is revolutionizing the cybersecurity landscape. It solves major challenges DevSecOps have been dealing with. That said, a CNAPP helps security teams to solve the following problems. 1. Enhancing Visibility and Quantifying Risks A CNAPP offers a broader visibility of security risks. It leverages multiple security capabilities to enable DevOps and DevSecOps to spot and fix potential security issues throughout the entire application lifecycle. The all-in-one security platform enables teams to keep tabs on all cloud infrastructures ( like apps, APIs, and classified data) and cloud services (like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud). In addition, it provides insights that help security teams to quantify risks and formulate data-driven remediation strategies. 2. Combined Cloud Security Solution A CNAPP eliminates the need to use multiple cloud-native application protection solutions. It provides all the features needed to detect and solve security issues. Scanning, detection, notification, and reporting are consolidated in one software. This reduces human error, shortens response time, and minimizes the cost of operation. 3. Secure Software Development It reinforces security at every stage of the application lifecycle. The tool helps DevOps teams to shift left, thus minimizing the incidence of vulnerabilities or security issues at runtime. 4. Team Collaboration Collaboration is difficult and error-prone when teams are using multiple tools. Data correlation and analysis take more time since team members have more than one tool to deal with. A CNAPP is a game-changer! It has advanced workflows, data correlation, analytics, and remediation features. These functionalities enhance team collaboration and increase productivity. What are CNAPP Features and Capabilities/Key Components of CNAPP? Even though the features and capabilities of CNAPPs differ (based on vendors), there are key components an effective CNAPP should have. That being said, here are the seven key components: Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) A CSPM solution focuses on maintaining proper cloud configuration. It monitors, detects, and fixes misconfigurations & compliance violations. CSPM monitors cloud resources and alerts security teams when a non-compliant resource is identified. Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Scanning IaC Scanning enables the early detection of errors (misconfigurations) in code. Spotting misconfigurations before deployment helps to avoid vulnerabilities at runtime. This tool is used to carry out some kind of code review. The purpose is to ensure code quality by scanning for vulnerable points, compliance issues, and violations of policies. Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) Cloud workload protection platform (CSPM) secures cloud workloads, shielding your resources from security threats. CSPM protects various workloads, from virtual machines (VMs) and databases to Kubernetes and containers. A CWPP monitors and provides insights to help security teams prevent security breaches. Cloud Network Security Connectivity (CNSC) Cloud Network Security Connectivity (CNSC) provides complete real-time visibility and access to risks across all your cloud resources and accounts. This cloud security solution allows you to explore the risks, activate security rules, and suppress whole risks or risk triggers, export risk trigger details, access all network rules in the context of their policy sets and create risk reports. Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM) Kubernetes security posture management (KSPM) capability enables organizations to maintain standard security posture by preventing Kubernetes misconfigurations and compliance violations. KSPM solution, similar to Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), automates Kubernetes security, reinforces compliance, identifies misconfigurations, and monitors Kubernetes clusters to ensure maximum security. Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) A Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) tool is used to administer permissions and access policies. To maintain the integrity of cloud and multi-cloud environments, identities and access privileges must be regulated. This is where CIEM comes in! CIEM solutions, also known as Cloud permissions Management Solutions, help organizations prevent data breaches by enforcing the principle of least privileges. Integration to Software Development Activities This component of CNAPP focuses on integrating cloud-native application protection solutions into the development phase to improve reliability and robustness in the CI/CD pipeline stage. What are the Benefits of CNAPP? Transitioning from using multiple cloud security tools to implementing a CNAPP solution can benefit your company in many ways. Some benefits include: 1. Streamlines Security Operations Managing multiple security tools decreases efficiency and leads to employee burnout. Correlating data from different software is laborious and error-prone. It prolongs response time. A CNAPP streamlines activities by giving security teams broad visibility from a single tool. This makes monitoring and remediation easier than ever – making security teams more efficient and productive. 2. Better Visibility into Risks A CNAPP provides better visibility into security risks associated with your cloud infrastructure. It covers all aspects of cloud-native application protection, providing security teams with the necessary insights to close security gaps, harden applications, and ward off threats. 3. Improves Security With Automation Risk detection and vulnerability management are automated. Automation of security tasks increases reliability, reduces human error, and enables rapid response to threats. It combines automation and advanced analytics to offer organizations accurate insights into risks. 4. Reduces the Number of Bug Fixes A CNAPP prevents vulnerabilities at runtime by detecting threats and errors in the CI/CD pipeline phases. This approach improves DevOps team productivity and decreases the number of bug fixes after deployment. In other words, shifting left ensures the deployment of high-quality code. 5. Reduces Overhead Costs If you want to cut down the cost of operation, consider choosing a CNAPP over CSPM and other standalone cloud security tools. It reduces overhead by eliminating the need to operate and maintain multiple cloud security solutions. AlgoSec CNAPP with Prevasio and CloudFlow Cloud environments are increasingly complex and dynamic. Maintaining secure cloud infrastructures has become more challenging than ever. Security teams rely on multiple tools to gain visibility into risks. CNAPPs promise to fix the challenges of using multiple solutions to protect cloud-native applications. Gartner, the first to describe the CNAPP category, encourages organizations to consider emerging CNAPP providers and adopt an all-in-one security approach that takes care of the entire life cycle of applications – covering development and runtime protection. Prevasio makes transitioning to a CNAPP a fantastic experience. Prevasio takes pride in helping organizations protect their cloud-native applications and other cloud assets. Prevasio’s agentless cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) offers increased risk visibility and enables security teams to reinforce best practices. Contact us to learn how we can help you manage your cloud security. 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

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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

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Behind every important business process is a solid network infrastructure that lets us access all of these services. But for an efficient... Application Connectivity Management Understanding network lifecycle management Tsippi Dach 2 min read Tsippi Dach Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 7/4/23 Published Behind every important business process is a solid network infrastructure that lets us access all of these services. But for an efficient and available network, you need an optimization framework to maintain a strong network lifecycle. It can be carried out as a lifecycle process to ensure continuous monitoring, management, automation, and improvement. Keep in mind, there are many solutions to help you with connectivity management . Regardless of the tools and techniques you follow, there needs to be a proper lifecycle plan for you to be able to manage your network efficiently. Network lifecycle management directs you on reconfiguring and adapting your data center per your growing requirements. The basic phases of a network lifecycle In the simplest terms, the basic phases of a network lifecycle are Plan, Build, and Manage. These phases can also be called Design, Implement, and Operate (DIO). Now, in every single instance where you want to change your network, you repeat this process of designing, implementing, and managing the changes. And every subtask that is carried out as part of the network management can also follow the same lifecycle phases for a more streamlined process . Besides the simpler plan, build, and manage phases, certain network frameworks also provide additional phases depending on the services and strategies involved. ITIL framework ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library, which is an IT management framework. ITIL put forth a similar lifecycle process focusing on the network services aspect. The phases, as per ITIL, are: Service strategy Service design Service transition Service operations Continual service improvement PPDIOO framework PPDIOO is a network lifecycle model proposed by Cisco, a learning network services provider. This framework adds to the regular DIO framework with several subtasks, as explained below. Plan Prepare The overall organizational requirements, network strategy, high-level conceptual architecture, technology identification, and financial planning are all carried out in this phase. Plan Planning involves identifying goal-based network requirements, user needs, assessment of any existing network, gap analysis, and more. The tasks are to analyze if the existing infrastructure or operating environment can support the proposed network solution. The project plan is then drafted to align with the project goals regarding cost, resources, and scope. Design Network design experts develop a detailed, comprehensive network design specification depending on the findings and project specs derived from previous phases. Build The build phase is further divided into individual implementation tasks as part of the network implementation activities. This can include procurement, integrating devices, and more. The actual network solution is built as per the design, focusing on ensuring service availability and security. Operate The operational phase involves network maintenance, where the design’s appropriateness is tested. The network is monitored and managed to maintain high availability and performance while optimizing operational costs. Optimize The operational phase gives important data that can be utilized to optimize the performance of the network implementation further. This phase acts as a proactive mechanism to identify and solve any flaws or vulnerabilities within the network. It may involve network redesign and thus start a new cycle as well. Why develop a lifecycle optimization plan? A lifecycle approach to network management has various use cases. It provides an organized process, making it more cost-effective and less disruptive to existing services. Reduced total network ownership cost Early on, planning and identifying the exact network requirements and new technologies allow you to carry out a successful implementation that aligns with your budget constraints. Since there is no guesswork with a proper plan, you can avoid redesigns and rework, thus reducing any cost overheads. High network availability Downtimes are a curse to business goals. Each second that goes by without access to the network can be bleeding money. Following a proper network lifecycle management model allows you to plan your implementation with less to no disruptions in availability. It also helps you update your processes and devices before they get into an outage issue. Proactive monitoring and management, as proposed by lifecycle management, goes a long way in avoiding unexpected downtimes. This also saves time with telecom troubleshooting. Better business agility Businesses that adapt better thrive better. Network lifecycle management allows you to take the necessary action most cost-effectively in case of any quick economic changes. It helps you prepare your systems and operations to accommodate the new network changes before they are implemented. It also provides a better continuous improvement framework to keep your systems up to date and adds to cybersecurity. Improved speed of access Access to the network, the faster it is, the better your productivity can be. Proper lifecycle management can improve service delivery efficiency and resolve issues without affecting business continuity. The key steps to network lifecycle management Let us guide you through the various phases of network lifecycle management in a step-by-step approach. Prepare Step 1: Identify your business requirements Establish your goals, gather all your business requirements, and arrive at the immediate requirements to be carried out. Step 2: Create a high-level architecture design Create the first draft of your network design. This can be a conceptual model of how the solution will work and need not be as detailed as the final design would be. Step 3: Establish the budget Do the financial planning for the project detailing the possible challenges, budget, and expected profits/outcomes from the project. Plan Step 4: Evaluate your current system This step is necessary to properly formulate an implementation plan that will be the least disruptive to your existing services. Gather all relevant details, such as the hardware and software apps you use in your network. Measure the performance and other attributes and assess them against your goal specifics. Step 5: Conduct Gap Analysis Measure the current system’s performance levels and compare them with the expected outcomes that you want to achieve. Step 6: Create your implementation plan With the collected information, you should be able to draft the implementation plan for your network solution. This plan should essentially contain the various tasks that must be carried out, along with information on milestones, responsibilities, resources, and financing options. Design Step 7: Create a detailed network design Expand on your initial high-level concept design to create a comprehensive and detailed network design. It should have all the relevant information required to implement your network solution. Take care to include all necessary considerations regarding your network’s availability, scalability, performance, security, and reliability. Ensure the final design is validated by a proper approval process before being okayed for implementation. Implementation Step 8: Create an implementation plan The Implementation phase must have a detailed plan listing all the tasks involved, the steps to rollback, time estimations, implementation guidelines, and all the other details on how to implement the network design. Step 9: Testing Before implementing the design in the production environment, starting with a lab setting is a good idea. Implement in a lab testing environment to check for any errors and how feasible it is to implement the design. Improve the design depending on the results of this step. Step 10: Pilot implementation Implement in an iterative process starting with smaller deployments. Start with pilot implementations, test the results, and if all goes well, you can move towards wide-scale implementation. Step 11: Full deployment When your pilot implementation has been successful, you can move toward a full-scale deployment of network operations. Operate Step 12: Measure and monitor When you move to the Operational phase, the major tasks will be monitoring and management. This is probably the longest phase, where you take care of the day-to-day operational activities such as: Health maintenance Fault detection Proactive monitoring Capacity planning Minor updates (MACs – Moves, Adds, and Changes) Optimize Step 13: Optimize the network design based on the collected metrics. This phase essentially kicks off another network cycle with its own planning, designing, workflows, and implementation. Integrate network lifecycle with your business processes First, you must understand the importance of network lifecycle management and how it impacts your business processes and IT assets. Understand how your business uses its network infrastructure and how a new feature could add value. For instance, if your employees work remotely, you may have to update your infrastructure and services to allow real-time remote access and support personal network devices. Any update or change to your network should follow proper network lifecycle management to ensure efficient network access and availability. Hence, it must be incorporated into the company’s IT infrastructure management process. As a standard, many companies follow a three-year network life cycle model where one-third of the network infrastructure is upgraded to keep up with the growing network demands and telecommunications technology updates. Automate network lifecycle management with AlgoSec AlgoSec’s unique approach can automate the entire security policy management lifecycle to ensure continuous, secure connectivity for your business applications. The approach starts with auto discovering application connectivity requirements, and then intelligently – and automatically – guides you through the process of planning changes and assessing the risks, implementing those changes and maintaining the policy, and finally decommissioning firewall rules when the application is no longer in use. 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

Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Security Issues You’re in no doubt familiar with Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) technology and its... Information Security Are VLANs secure? VLAN security best practices Kevin Beaver 2 min read Kevin Beaver 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 9/23/14 Published Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Security Issues You’re in no doubt familiar with Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) technology and its ability to segment traffic within your network. It’s one of those decades-old technologies that businesses have come to rely on to reduce costs, minimize network broadcast domains, and protect certain systems from others. It sounds good on paper but it’s rare to see a VLAN environment that’s truly configured in the right way in order to realize its intended benefits. For example, I’ve seen some networks segmented by physical switches rather than using logical VLANs configured within each managed switch. This means that anyone on the same physical switch/broadcast domain can see every host on that segment. And if they want to see all traffic, it’s often just a matter of using Cain & Abel’s ARP Poison Routing feature . This is not an effective way to manage network devices and there’s no way to prevent inadvertent connections to the wrong segment during network upgrades, troubleshooting, and the like. It becomes a jumbled mess that negates any perceived switching or VLAN benefits. Furthermore, many “virtual” networks allow anyone to hop between segments if they know the IP addressing scheme. For example, say a user is on the 10.10.10.x network and he wants to get onto the production network of 10.0.0.x. No problem… he just points his Web browser, his vulnerability scanner, or whatever to 10.0.0.x and he’s good to go. Worst case, he might have to configure his system with a static IP address on that network, but that’s simple enough to do. This configuration may be considered a “VLAN” that’s managing broadcast traffic but there are no real ACLs, firewall rules, or packet tagging to prevent unauthorized access by internal attackers, malware, and the like. The network is basically flat with no policies and little to no security between any of the network segments and systems. Another thing to remember is that many VLANs are used to partition networks into distinctive segments to separate business units and their unique data sets. Even if the technical aspects of the VLAN configuration are spot on, these environments are often defined at a very high level without involving the actual business unit managers or information owners, therefore there are often security gaps in the segmentation. This means that information specific to a business unit and believed to be isolated is often anything but – it may well be scattered across numerous other VLANs and network hosts within those segments. How does this happen? Convenience and mobility and general carelessness. Users copy information to places where they can work on it and end up copying it to systems outside of the intended VLAN domain or to different hosts on other VLANs. IT may even copy information for backup or test purposes. Either way, confidential information often ends up on unprotected “islands” that no one knows about until it’s too late. Network security based on VLAN technology can work if it’s done properly. And while it’s not perfect, it can add another layer of security to your environment, one that can make the difference between breach and no breach. 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