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- Overly permissive firewall rules: Examples and remediation | AlgoSec
Learn what makes firewall rules overly permissive, how to identify risky access, and how to tighten rules without disrupting legitimate applications. Overly permissive firewall rules: Examples and remediation ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network
- How to generate audit-ready firewall policy evidence | AlgoSec
Learn what audit-ready firewall policy evidence should include and how to connect rules, owners, approvals, risk, changes, and validation for audit readiness. How to generate audit-ready firewall policy evidence ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network
- Network security policy management software (NSPM) | AlgoSec
Efficiently manage network security policies with AlgoSec’s solution to ensure compliance, reduce risks, and streamline operations across your hybrid IT environment. Network security policy management software (NSPM) ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Use these six best practices to simplify compliance and risk mitigation with the AlgoSec platform White paper Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure continuous compliance Solution overview See how this customer improved compliance readiness and risk management with AlgoSec Case study Choose a better way to manage your network
- AI in Firewall Policy | AlgoSec
With firewall rules skyrocketing to 100,000 lines, manual management is dangerous. Discover how AI firewall management restores control and security. AI in Firewall Policy ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network
- Semiconductor Materials | AlgoSec
Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Leading semiconductor and display equipment company reduces risk and increases efficiency Organization Semiconductor Materials Industry Utilities & Energy Headquarters International Download case study Share Customer success stories "Today, we are many times more efficient and secure thanks to AlgoSec." Background The company’s globally distributed network includes more than ten demilitarized zones (DMZs) with 20 billion events processed per month across the multiple company locations. Firewalls play a vital role in protecting intellectual property at the perimeter level. Every firewall event is logged and processed. Challenges The company’s operations require a very large and diverse network with a large Global Network Security operations team that is spread across the US, EMEA and Asia. The team is responsible for the management of all perimeter and internal security solutions, remote access solutions, customer connectivity solutions and the Security Operations Center (SOC). “We suffered from a lot of network security issues that prevented us from running at the speed of the business,” declared the Senior Manager of Global Security and SOC. Auditing Firewall rules was a long, tedious and painful process Access revocation was performed using a manual reminders process The diverse army of firewalls across the network estate resulted in a non-standard way of making and executing Firewall change requests, requiring many steps to complete the process An out-of-the-box ServiceNow workflow with limited functionality couldn’t keep up Limited reporting capabilities relied on manual data processing There was no way to track performance of SLAs The cumbersome approval process required managers to login to the company ticketing portal Notification of unauthorized or unapproved changes on firewalls was clumsy and slow The company decided to acquire an orchestration and automation solution that could identify and mitigate risky firewall rules. Since the company is subject to many industry and legal regulations, the solution would have to automate compliance reporting as well as ensure accountability for all firewall changes. The solution also would have to integrate into existing ticketing processes and workflows while enabling the company, at its own pace, to advance to more and more automation. Solution The company evaluated several solutions by reviewing their features carefully and putting the best among them to the test in parallel proof of concept projects. The senior manager recalls, “We had a very close look at the leading solutions in the Network Security Policy Management space. One of them definitely stood out from the pack as the superior solution.” The company chose AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer (AFA) and AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow (AFF), two of the flagship products in the AlgoSec arsenal. AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. Results In short order, the company was able to capitalize on the significant advantages of the AlgoSec solution. “It was easy to customize the AlgoSec solution to fit into our environment and enhance it,” continued the senior manager. “But it didn’t take long before we were using the power of the two products to help us adopt better practices for lower risk, higher security, and better efficiency of our team.” Today, the AlgoSec solution is delivering significant improvements to the company’s security processes such as: Visibility across the entire network with an easy-to-use-and-understand executive dashboard Integration with the ticketing tool Proactive analysis of change requests to ensure compliance risk mitigation Prevention of unauthorized changes Elimination of human errors and associated application outages Automatic discovery and mapping of application-connectivity flows Single Sign On (SSO) integration that eliminated static user passwords Support for mobile firewall change-request manager approval “We are a big company with an enormous volume of network-security activity,” stated the manager. “In addition to the superior capabilities of the solution, we greatly appreciated the excellent customization opportunities that AlgoSec’s Professional Services were able to help us with. Today, we are many times more efficient and secure thanks to AlgoSec.” Schedule time with one of our experts
- Leading Bank | AlgoSec
Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Leading Bank Transforms Digitalization Journey With AlgoSec Organization Leading Bank Industry Financial Services Headquarters United States Download case study Share Customer success stories "AlgoSec is like a person sitting in my bank taking care of everything - simplifying day-to-day operations and reducing human errors because everything is automated.” Background Background The bank is a full-service commercial bank headquartered in India. It offers a wide range of banking and financial products for corporate and retail customers through retail banking and asset management services. The bank offers personal, corporate, and internet banking services including accounts, deposits, credit cards, home loans, and personal loans. The Challenges The client’s key issues related to the management of the firewalls, dealing with rule duplication and human errors. Their network security operations teams were hampered by manual, slow, and error-prone security change-management processes. It often took around four days to process a single change across their complex network environment. The frequent errors that arose from manual processes opened security gaps and put them at risk of cyberattacks. Some of their challenges included: Human errors leading to misconfiguration – The organization was handling over 30 firewalls and 30 to 40 rules in a day across multiple firewalls. They lacked the skilled resources to implement these rule changes. This led to errors and misconfigurations. Lack of visibility – They lacked visibility into their overall network and traffic flows and failed to understand which rules applied to each firewall. Duplicate rules – They had many duplicate firewall policies, negatively impacting performance. Policy optimization – The organization required policies to be frequently optimized. Lack of visibility – The organization needed visibility across their networks, allowing them to quickly find and fix issues. Time-consuming manual change management processes. Solution The organization looked for a partner that understood their challenges, could integrate into their existing solutions, and could take full responsibility for any issues. In the words of the bank’s executive vice president, “ We were looking for a partner, not a product.” The key factors that the bank was looking for were: Alignment with their digital transformation vision – They wanted to align with key stakeholders among business, operations, network, and security teams. Automation as a key focus – Automation was important to reduce human errors, align with the considerable number of requests and adapt to the agile nature of critical applications. With automation, they were looking to implement firewall changes faster. Easy to use and integrate within the existing infrastructure. Unified view of their multi-vendor firewall estate – They wanted a single console where they could see all their firewalls, understand their collective risk, and gain a holistic view of the current state of their firewall policies. As a result, the customer implemented the AlgoSec Security Management Solution. Results: The AlgoSec Security Management Solution transformed the bank’s digitalization journey, leading to: Time to implement rule changes decreased from 4-5 days to less than 48 hours – a 60% reduction. Automatically implemented changes – Changes are automatically implemented, without needing to guess which rules and devices are in path. Reduced human error and elimination of repetitive, manual tasks. Simplified daily operations. Automated change management across application-centric infrastructure. Identified and mitigated risks. Transformed digitization journey. AlgoSec now has end-to-end visibility of which firewall it needs to implement the changes on. The bank was in the process of switching from a traditional infrastructure to Cisco ACI. The transition was smooth. AlgoSec seamlessly integrated into Cisco ACI and their existing Palo Alto Network devices. “I think we are the first in India who approached AlgoSec and got these solutions implemented – getting Cisco ACI, Palo Alto, and AlgoSec working hand in hand with full integration. This is the best thing we’ve seen till now,” noted the vice president. Looking ahead, they plan to extend AlgoSec’s offering, mapping rule applications, and other capabilities to help them migrate to the cloud. Schedule time with one of our experts
- AlgoSec | How to Implement a Security-as-Code Approach
Did you know that in 2023, the average data breach cost companies a whopping $4.45 million ? Ouch! And with development cycles spinning... Cloud Security How to Implement a Security-as-Code Approach Asher Benbenisty 2 min read Asher Benbenisty 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 11/18/24 Published Did you know that in 2023, the average data breach cost companies a whopping $4.45 million ? Ouch! And with development cycles spinning faster than a hyper-caffeinated hamster, those risks are only multiplying. So how do you keep security from becoming a costly afterthought in this high-speed race? Enter Security as Code (SaC) – your secret weapon for weaving security into the very fabric of your development process. Think of it as baking security into your code like chocolate chips in a cookie – it's part of the recipe from the start, not just a sprinkle on top. SaC isn't just about writing squeaky-clean code; it's about automating, version-controlling, and consistently applying your security policies and checks across your entire development lifecycle. It's like having an army of security experts reviewing every line of code, every configuration, and every deployment, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. And the best part? SaC helps you catch those pesky vulnerabilities early on, shrinking your attack surface and saving you a mountain of cash in the long run. It's like spotting a pothole before you drive into it – a little fix now saves you a major headache (and repair bill) later. Why Security as Code is Your Cloud's Best Friend Traditionally, security was treated like an unwelcome guest, showing up late to the party and trying to clean up the mess. But in today's fast-paced world, that approach is about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. SaC flips the script, making security an integral part of the development process from day one. It's like having a security guard at every checkpoint, ensuring that only the good guys get through. Here's why SaC is a game-changer for your cloud security: Early Threat Detection: Catch those vulnerabilities early on, when they're easier and cheaper to fix. It's like spotting a termite infestation before your entire house collapses. Boosted Visibility: Integrate security checks into every stage of your development lifecycle, leaving no room for those sneaky vulnerabilities to hide. Think of it as having X-ray vision for your code. Automated Enforcement: Say goodbye to manual errors and inconsistencies. SaC automates your security checks and enforcement, ensuring everything is locked down tight. It's like having a tireless robot army enforcing your security rules 24/7. Supercharged Efficiency: Streamline your development process and free up your team to focus on what they do best – building awesome applications. SaC is like giving your developers a jetpack, allowing them to soar through the development process without getting bogged down in security headaches. Compliance Confidence: Meet those pesky compliance requirements with ease. SaC helps you automate compliance checks and ensure your applications are always playing by the rules. It's like having a compliance officer built into your development process, keeping you on the straight and narrow. Taming the SaC Beast: Conquering the Challenges Okay, so SaC sounds awesome, right? But let's be real, change can be scarier than a clown holding a chainsaw. Many organizations hit a few roadblocks when trying to implement SaC. But fear not, cloud crusaders, we're here to help you conquer those challenges like a boss! Challenge #1: The Learning Curve The Problem: Switching to SaC can feel like learning to ride a unicycle on a tightrope – intimidating, to say the least. Your team might not be familiar with weaving security directly into their code. The Solution: Start small, like adding training wheels to that unicycle. Integrate those essential automated security tools (SAST, DAST) into your CI/CD pipeline. These tools deliver instant value and help your team get comfy with security checks early on. Empower your team with hands-on training and workshops, and cultivate those security champions within your dev teams to spread the SaC gospel. Challenge #2: The Price Tag The Problem: Adopting SaC requires an investment in tools, training, and tweaking your processes. It's like upgrading your security system – it costs some coin upfront, but it saves you a fortune in the long run. The Solution: Think long-term, my friend. The savings from dodging breaches, speeding up development, and automating compliance will make that initial investment look like peanuts. Start small and scale up as you go. Begin with open-source tools or pilot SaC in smaller projects before unleashing it across your entire organization. Challenge #3: Resistance to Change The Problem: Change can be tougher than convincing a cat to take a bath. Developers might worry that SaC will slow them down or cramp their style. The Solution: Rally the troops! Highlight the benefits of SaC – faster releases, fewer last-minute fire drills, and smoother compliance. Share success stories that show how SaC actually makes development better , not slower. And most importantly, communicate clearly. Make sure everyone understands why you're adopting SaC and how it benefits the entire team. Challenge #4: Integration Hiccups The Problem: Integrating SaC into your existing CI/CD pipeline can feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. The Solution: Start small and expand gradually. Begin by automating security checks at critical points in your development cycle, then add more as your team gets comfortable. Focus on those positive outcomes and ensure a smooth transition that enhances your workflow, not disrupts it. SaC in Action: Real-World Wins Don't just take our word for it – check out these real-world examples of how SaC is helping companies across different industries boost their security and efficiency: Financial Services: DMI Finance was drowning in manual security processes for their Salesforce platform. By embracing SaC, they streamlined their workflow, boosted their security, and supercharged their deployments by a whopping 133%! Talk about a win-win! Healthcare: Athenahealth , a healthcare giant serving over 110 million patients, needed to scale securely while keeping those HIPAA compliance wolves at bay. They chose SaC with Okta for identity and access management, ensuring secure patient data and streamlined user authentication. Even during the chaos of COVID-19, they emerged as a leader in secure, scalable healthcare infrastructure. Retail: Swiss sportswear brand On was facing a barrage of credential-based attacks. They fought back by adopting SaC and implementing best practices like least privilege, fortifying their security posture and protecting their customers' data. These success stories prove that SaC isn't just a buzzword – it's a powerful tool that helps organizations across all industries squash vulnerabilities, automate compliance, and streamline their operations. SaC Implementation: Your Step-by-Step Guide Ready to roll up your sleeves and implement SaC in your own development lifecycle? First things first, planning is key. Define those security requirements like your life depends on it. Threat analysis time, people! Gather your team, brainstorm those potential vulnerabilities, and lock down your defenses before you write a single line of code. Next up, design like a security ninja. Threat modeling is your secret weapon. Embrace secure design principles like they're your own personal commandments. And don't forget to plan for security testing – you'll thank me later. Now, let's get coding, but securely, of course. Stick to those secure coding standards like glue. Embrace automated code analysis tools – they're your digital code whisperers. Vet those third-party libraries like you're hiring a bodyguard. And for the love of all that is secure, don't skip those code reviews! Testing time! Automate everything you can. Fuzz testing, security regression testing – bring it on! (Insert Figure 2 here, because visuals are awesome!) Deployment is where the rubber meets the road. Scan that infrastructure as code (IaC) like a hawk. Validate those container images like your life depends on it. And lock down those access controls tighter than a drum. Finally, maintenance is the name of the game. Continuous monitoring is your 24/7 security guard. Keep those patches and updates flowing like a well-oiled machine. And don't forget those regular security audits – they're your security checkup, keeping your system healthy and strong. Boom! You've just implemented SaC like a boss. For a full checklist of SaC implementation, download our checklist : Security as Code Checklist: Download Your Free Copy Want a handy guide to keep track of all the essential SaC practices? Download our free checklist and ensure you're covering all the bases! Download Checklist Now! SaC Adoption: Start Small, Dream Big Implementing SaC might seem daunting, but remember, even the mightiest oak tree starts as a tiny seed. Start small, build gradually, and foster that security-first mindset within your team. It's like training your knights to be vigilant and always ready for battle. Begin by educating your teams on security best practices and gradually integrating those security tools and practices into your SDLC. Start with automated security testing tools like SAST and DAST, and build from there. Regularly review and optimize your security policies and procedures to ensure they're always sharp and ready to defend your cloud kingdom. Conclusion: SaC – Your Ticket to a Secure and Agile Cloud Security as code is no longer a nice-to-have; it's a must-have in today's fast-paced development world. By integrating security from the get-go, you can squash vulnerabilities, ensure compliance, and accelerate your development timelines. SaC is all about shared responsibility, empowering your teams to proactively tackle risks and build trust with your users and stakeholders. And hey, don't forget to grab your free Security as Code Checklist to make sure you're covering all your bases! 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
- SANS Research: AI + Network Control - AlgoSec
SANS Research: AI + Network Control WhitePaper Download PDF Download PDF Add a Title Add a Title Add a Title Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue
- Energy Company | AlgoSec
Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Leading Energy Company Embraces Network Security Policy Automation Organization Energy Company Industry Utilities & Energy Headquarters California, USA Download case study Share Customer success stories "We can demonstrate that the firewalls meet our standards." Fortune 50-listed energy company cleans up hundreds of firewall rules, gains continuous compliance. Background The customer is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Through its worldwide subsidiaries, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. The company explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and develops and deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of the company’s operations. They are listed on the Fortune 50 and a component of the S&P 100. The Challenge The customer has over 900 firewalls throughout the world, including in several remote sites. Some of their challenges included: Overly broad firewall policies Risky firewall rules Pressure from legal and compliance teams Manual processes and difficulty implementing automation Lack of visibility into security policies throughout the network “Before AlgoSec, we didn’t manage our firewalls very well,” stated Jeremy Haynes, a Solution Architect at the energy company. “We did not have a good enforcement and validation tool to verify that policies were accurate and did not introduce unacceptable risk.” The Solution The company was in the process of migrating from their previous firewall vendor to Palo Alto Networks. They used the opportunity for a fresh start to clean up and optimize their security policies. They were searching for a solution that provided: Automation of firewall policy management Identification of layer 7 (application-based) policies Innovative features that aligned with their strategic goals Strong support for Palo Alto Networks firewalls Following an in-depth evaluation, the company selected AlgoSec’s Security Policy Management Solution, which includes AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer and AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow (AFF). AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. The Results By using the AlgoSec Security Management Solution, the company was able to clean up risky firewall policies, reduce misconfigurations, and dedicate more workers to business-driven innovation instead of security policy maintenance. Some benefits gained include: Compliance with internal requirements Ability to map out their network and maintain network segmentation Less time needed to maintain firewall policies Easier time managing hundreds of firewalls spread out worldwide AlgoSec enabled their network segmentation initiatives. By mapping their network, and determining what zones should communicate with each other, they were able to fix existing policies that broke segmentation rules and not break segmentation policies in the future. This helped ensure a state of continuous compliance. “AlgoSec gives us an easy to read and present view of firewall compliance. This helps our business units ensure their policies are clean. We can also demonstrate that the firewalls connected to our network, but owned by other business units, meet our standards,” according to Haynes. They have over 1,700 change requests daily and therefore automation is crucial. “The ability to work with Ansible, ServiceNow, and Palo Alto gives us the ability to automate our firewall policy creation. It does so in a manner where we do not have to worry about a policy being created that may put our organization at risk,” continued Haynes. AlgoSec helps the company to not only quickly deploy firewall policies but also ensure the security of the business. “We want to make sure our money-making capabilities can conduct their business with minimal impact and do their job. The ROI for us is our great assurance in the security of our firewall policies,” concluded Haynes. Schedule time with one of our experts
- How to buy | AlgoSec
AlgoSec products are sold through our worldwide network of channel partners Request a quote, contact sales or locate a Partner How to buy Request a quote Contact Sales Locate a Partner AWS Marketplace Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Send us a note Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* Long answer Send message
- AlgoSec | Firewall migration tips & best practices
It goes without saying that security is the cornerstone of any organization today. This includes ensuring access to corporate data is... Firewall Change Management Firewall migration tips & best practices Joanne Godfrey 2 min read Joanne Godfrey 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. firewallmigration Tags Share this article 8/18/14 Published It goes without saying that security is the cornerstone of any organization today. This includes ensuring access to corporate data is secured, connectivity to the data center from both internal and external users is secured, and that critical security updates are installed. Now comes the big question: what if you have to migrate your security policy to a new platform? With cloud computing and distributed data centers across the world nothing in technology is ever constant anymore. So how do you control and manage a firewall migration? What if you use multiple vendors’ solutions with both virtual and physical appliances? A firewall migration can be as simple as moving from one model to another, or a lot more complicated. As an experienced cloud architect, I’ve been a part of a number of firewall migration projects. Here are three tips to help make your firewall migration project a little bit easier. Create powerful firewall and security visibility map. All aspects of your firewall must be documented and well planned before doing a migration, and you must plan for both current as well as future needs. Start by gathering information: create a visual, dynamic map of your firewall architecture and traffic, which should include all technical connectivity data. Understand, document and prepare policy migration. Once you have your visual firewall map it’s time to look under the hood. One firewall might be easy, but is it ever really just one security appliance? The dynamic nature of the modern data center means that multiple security vendors can live under one roof. So how do you create a policy migration plan around heterogeneous platforms? You need to identify and document all the security policies and services and network algorithms for each firewall end-point. Analyze business impact and create a migration path. How do your applications interact with various security policies? Do you have specific business units relying on specific firewall traffic? How are various data centers being segmented by your security policies? Migrating a firewall will have a business-wide impact. You must ensure that this impact is absolutely minimal. You need to understand how your entire business model interacts with firewall and security technologies and if any piece of the business is forgotten technological headaches may be the least of your worries. Migrating a firewall doesn’t have to be hard, but it must be well planned. With so much information traversing the modern data center, it’s imperative to have complete visibility across the security architecture. Ultimately, with the right tools to help you plan, map and actually implement a firewall change process, and lots of cups of coffee, you can greatly reduce security migration complexity. #FirewallMigration 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
- AlgoSec | Cloud Security: Current Status, Trends and Tips
Cloud security is one of the big buzzwords in the security space along with big data and others. So we’ll try to tackle where cloud... Information Security Cloud Security: Current Status, Trends and Tips 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 6/25/13 Published Cloud security is one of the big buzzwords in the security space along with big data and others. So we’ll try to tackle where cloud security is today, where its heading as well as outline challenges and offer tips for CIOs and CSOs looking to experiment with putting more systems and data in the cloud. The cloud is viewed by many as a solution to reducing IT costs and ultimately has led many organizations to accept data risks they would not consider acceptable in their own environments. In our State of Network Security 2013 Survey , we asked security professionals how many security controls were in the cloud and 60 percent of respondents reported having less than a quarter of their security controls in the cloud – and in North America the larger the organization, the less security controls in the cloud. Certainly some security controls just aren’t meant for the cloud, but I think this highlights the uncertainty around the cloud, especially for larger organizations. Current State of Cloud Security Cloud security has clearly emerged with both a technological and business case, but from a security perspective, it’s still a bit in a state of flux. A key challenges that many information security professionals are struggling with is how to classify the cloud and define the appropriate type of controls to secure data entering the cloud. While oftentimes the cloud is classified as a trusted network, the cloud is inherently untrusted since it is not simply an extension of the organization, but it’s an entirely separate environment that is out of the organization’s control. Today “the cloud” can mean a lot of things: a cloud could be a state-of-the-art data center or a server rack in a farm house holding your organization’s data. One of the biggest reasons that organizations entertain the idea of putting more systems, data and controls in the cloud is because of the certain cost savings. One tip would be to run a true cost-benefit-risk analysis that factors in the value of the data being sent into the cloud. There is value to be gained from sending non-sensitive data into the cloud, but when it comes to more sensitive information, the security costs will increase to the point where the analysis may suggest keeping in-house. Cloud Security Trends Here are several trends to look for when it comes to cloud security: Data security is moving to the forefront, as security teams refocus their efforts in securing the data itself instead of simply the servers it resides on. A greater focus is being put on efforts such as securing data-at-rest, thus mitigating the need to some degree the reliance on system administrators to maintain OS level controls, often outside the scope of management for information security teams. With more data breaches occurring each day, I think we will see a trend in collecting less data where is it simply not required. Systems that are processing or storing sensitive data, by their very nature, incur a high cost to IT departments, so we’ll see more effort being placed on business analysis and system architecture to avoid collecting data that may not be required for the business task. Gartner Research recently noted that by 2019, 90 percent of organizations will have personal data on IT systems they don’t own or control! Today, content and cloud providers typically use legal means to mitigate the impact of any potential breaches or loss of data. I think as cloud services mature, we’ll see more of a shift to a model where it’s not just these vendors offering software as a service, but also includes security controls in conjunction with their services. More pressure from security teams will be put on content providers to provide such things as dedicated database tiers, to isolate their organization’s data within the cloud itself. Cloud Security Tips Make sure you classify data before even considering sending it for processing or storage in the cloud. If data is deemed too sensitive, the risks of sending this data into the cloud must be weighed closely against the costs of appropriately securing it in the cloud. Once information is sent into the cloud, there is no going back! So make sure you’ve run a comprehensive analysis of what you’re putting in the cloud and vet your vendors carefully as cloud service providers use varying architectures, processes, and procedures that may place your data in many precarious places. 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





