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Learn about the Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls and how they enhance your cybersecurity posture. Discover how AlgoSec helps achieve and maintain CIS compliance. What is CIS Compliance? (and How to Apply CIS Benchmarks) What are CIS benchmarks? CIS provides best practices to help companies like yours improve their cloud security posture. You’ll protect your systems against various threats by complying with its benchmark standards. This post will walk you through CIS benchmarks, their development, and the kinds of systems they apply to. We will also discuss the significance of CIS compliance and how Prevasio may help you achieve it. CIS stands for Center for Internet Security . It’s a nonprofit organization that aims to improve companies’ cybersecurity readiness and response. Founded in 2000, the CIS comprises cybersecurity experts from diverse backgrounds. They have the common goal of enhancing cybersecurity resilience and reducing security threats. CIS compliance means adhering to the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks. CIS benchmarks are best practices and guidelines to help you build a robust cloud security strategy. These CIS benchmarks give a detailed road map for protecting a business’s IT infrastructure. They also encompass various platforms, such as web servers or cloud bases. The CIS benchmarks are frequently called industry standards. They are normally in line with other regulatory organizations, such as ISO, NIST, and HIPAA. Many firms adhere to CIS benchmarks to ensure they follow industry standards. They also do this to show their dedication to cybersecurity to clients and stakeholders. The CIS benchmarks and CIS controls are always tested through on-premises analysis by leading security firms. This ensures that CIS releases standards that are effective at mitigating cyber risks. Schedule a Demo How are the CIS benchmarks developed? A community of cybersecurity professionals around the world cooperatively develops CIS benchmarks. They exchange their knowledge, viewpoints, and experiences on a platform provided by CIS. The end result is consensus-based best practices that will protect various IT systems. The CIS benchmark development process typically involves the following steps: 1. Identify the technology: The first step is to identify the system or technology that has to be protected. This encompasses a range of applications. It can be an operating system, database, web server, or cloud environment. 2. Define the scope: The following stage is to specify the benchmark’s parameters. It involves defining what must be implemented for the technology to be successfully protected. They may include precise setups, guidelines, and safeguards. 3. Develop recommendations: Next, a community of cybersecurity experts will identify ideas for safeguarding the technology. These ideas are usually based on current best practices, norms, and guidelines. They may include the minimum security requirements and measures to be taken. 4. Expert consensus review: Thereafter, a broader group of experts and stakeholders assess the ideas. They will offer comments and suggestions for improvement. This level aims to achieve consensus on the appropriate technical safeguards. 5. Pilot testing: The benchmark is then tested in a real-world setting. At this point, CIS aims to determine its efficacy and spot any problems that need fixing. 6.Publication and maintenance: The CIS will publish the benchmark once it has been improved and verified. The benchmark will constantly be evaluated and updated to keep it current and useful for safeguarding IT systems. Schedule a Demo What are the CIS benchmark levels? CIS benchmarks are divided into three levels based on the complexity of an IT system. It’s up to you to choose the level you need based on the complexity of your IT environment. Each level of the benchmarks offers better security recommendations than the previous level. The following are the distinct categories that benchmarks are divided into: Level 1 This is the most basic level of CIS standards. It requires organizations to set basic security measures to reduce cyber threats. Some CIS guidelines at this level include password rules, system hardening, and risk management . The level 1 CIS benchmarks are ideal for small businesses with basic IT systems. Level 2 This is the intermediate level of the CIS benchmarks. It is suitable for small to medium businesses that have complex IT systems. The Level 2 CIS standards offer greater security recommendations to your cloud platform. It has guidelines for network segmentation, authentication, user permissions, logging, and monitoring. At this level, you’ll know where to focus your remediation efforts if you spot a vulnerability in your system. Level 2 also covers data protection topics like disaster recovery plans and encryption. Level 3 Level 3 is the most advanced level of the CIS benchmarks. It offers the highest security recommendations compared to the other two. Level 3 also offers the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) profiles for companies. STIG are configuration guidelines developed by the Defense Information Systems Agency. These security standards help you meet US government requirements. This level is ideal for large organizations with the most sensitive and vital data. These are companies that must protect their IT systems from complex security threats. It offers guidelines for real-time security analytics, safe cloud environment setups, and enhanced threat detection. Schedule a Demo What types of systems do CIS benchmarks apply to? The CIS benchmarks are applicable to many IT systems used in a cloud environment. The following are examples of systems that CIS benchmarks can apply to: Operating systems: CIS benchmarks offer standard secure configurations for common operating systems, including Amazon Linux, Windows Servers, macOS, and Unix. They address network security, system hardening, and managing users and accounts. Cloud infrastructure: CIS benchmarks can help protect various cloud infrastructures, including public, private, and multi-cloud. They recommend guidelines that safeguard cloud systems by various cloud service providers. For example, network security, access restrictions, and data protection. The benchmarks cover cloud systems such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, IBM, Oracle, and Google Cloud Platform. Server software: CIS benchmarks provide secure configuration baselines for various servers, including databases (SQL), DNS, Web, and authentication servers. The baselines cover system hardening, patch management, and access restrictions. Desktop software: Desktop apps such as music players, productivity programs, and web browsers can be weak points in your IT system. CIS benchmarks offer guidelines to help you protect your desktop software from vulnerabilities. They may include patch management, user and account management, and program setup. Mobile devices: The CIS benchmarks recommend safeguarding endpoints such as tablets and mobile devices. The standards include measures for data protection, account administration, and device configuration. Network devices: CIS benchmarks also involve network hardware, including switches, routers, and firewalls. Some standards for network devices include access restrictions, network segmentation, logging, and monitoring. Print devices: CIS benchmarks also cover print devices like printers and scanners. The CIS benchmark baselines include access restrictions, data protection, and firmware upgrades. Schedule a Demo Why is CIS compliance important? CIS compliance helps you maintain secure IT systems. It does this by helping you adhere to globally recognized cybersecurity standards. CIS benchmarks cover various IT systems and product categories, such as cloud infrastructures. So by ensuring CIS benchmark compliance, you reduce the risk of cyber threats to your IT systems. Achieving CIS compliance has several benefits: Your business will meet internationally accepted cybersecurity standards The CIS standards are developed through a consensus review process. This means they are founded on the most recent threat intelligence and best practices. So you can rely on the standards to build a solid foundation for securing your IT infrastructure. It can help you meet regulatory compliance requirements for other important cybersecurity frameworks CIS standards can help you prove that you comply with other industry regulations. This is especially true for companies that handle sensitive data or work in regulated sectors. CIS compliance is closely related to other regulatory compliances such as NIST, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. By implementing the CIS standards, you’ll conform to the applicable industry regulations. Achieving CIS continuous compliance can help you lower your exposure to cybersecurity risks In the process, safeguard your vital data and systems. This aids in preventing data breaches, malware infections, and other cyberattacks. Such incidents could seriously harm your company’s operations, image, and financial situation. A great example is the Scottish Oil giant, SSE. It had to pay €10M in penalties for failing to comply with a CIS standard in 2013. Abiding by the security measures set by CIS guidelines can help you achieve your goals faster as a business The guidelines cover the most important and frequently attacked areas of IT infrastructure. CIS compliance enhances your general security posture It also decreases the time and resources needed to maintain security. It does this by providing uniform security procedures across various platforms. Schedule a Demo How to achieve CIS compliance? Your organization can achieve CIS compliance by conforming to the guidelines of the CIS benchmarks and CIS controls. Each CIS benchmark usually includes a description of a recommended configuration. It also usually contains a justification for the implementation of the configuration. Finally, it offers step-by-step instructions on how to carry out the recommendation manually. While the standards may seem easy to implement manually, they may consume your time and increase the chances of human errors. That is why most security teams prefer using tools to automate achieving and maintaining CIS compliance. CIS-hardened images are great examples of CIS compliance automation tools. They are pre-configured images that contain all the necessary recommendations from CIS benchmarks. You can be assured of maintaining compliance by using these CIS-hardened images in your cloud environment. You can also use CSPM tools to automate achieving and maintaining CIS compliance. Cloud Security Posture Management tools automatically scan for vulnerabilities in your cloud. They then offer detailed instructions on how to fix those issues effectively. This way, your administrators don’t have to go through the pain of doing manual compliance checks. You save time and effort by working with a CSPM tool. Schedule a Demo Use Prevasio to monitor CIS compliance. Prevasio is a cloud-native application platform (CNAPP) that can help you achieve and maintain CIS compliance in various setups, including Azure, AWS, and GCP. A CNAPP is basically a CSPM tool on steroids. It combines the features of CSPM, CIEM, IAM, and CWPP tools into one solution. This means you’ll get clearer visibility of your cloud environment from one platform. Prevasio constantly assesses your system against the latest version of CIS benchmarks. It then generates reports showing areas that need adjustments to keep your cloud security cyber threat-proof. This saves you time as you won’t have to do the compliance checks manually. Prevasio also has a robust set of features to help you comply with standards from other regulatory bodies. So using this CSPM tool, you’ll automatically comply with HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR. Prevasio offers strong vulnerability evaluation and management capabilities besides CIS compliance monitoring. It uses cutting-edge scanning algorithms to find known flaws, incorrect setups, and other security problems in IT settings. This can help you identify and fix vulnerabilities before fraudsters can exploit them. Schedule a Demo The bottom line on CIS compliance Achieving and maintaining CIS compliance is essential in today’s continually changing threat landscape . However, doing the compliance checks manually takes time. You may not also spot weaknesses in your cloud security in time. This means that you need to automate your CIS compliance. And what better solution than a cloud security posture management tool like Prevasio? Prevasio is the ideal option for observing compliance and preventing malware that attack surfaces in cloud assets. Prevasio offers a robust security platform to help you achieve CIS compliance and maintain a secure IT environment. This platform is agentless, meaning it doesn’t run on the cloud like most of its competitors. So you save a lot in costs every time Prevasio runs a scan. Prevaiso also conducts layer analysis. It helps you spot the exact line of code where the problem is rather than give a general area. In the process, saving you time spent identifying and solving critical threats. Schedule a Demo Select a size What are CIS benchmarks? How are the CIS benchmarks developed? What are the CIS benchmark levels? What types of systems do CIS benchmarks apply to? Why is CIS compliance important? How to achieve CIS compliance? Use Prevasio to monitor CIS compliance. The bottom line on CIS compliance Get the latest insights from the experts Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) Read more Hybrid cloud management: All you need to know Learn more Prevasio CNAPP data-sheet Solution brochure Choose a better way to manage your network

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Energy supplier keeps the lights on with automated network change management Organization Energy Supplier Industry Utilities & Energy Headquarters International Download case study Share Customer
success stories "AlgoSec has saved us a lot of time in managing our rule base.” Large energy supplier empowers internal stakeholders and streamlines network security policy change process Background The company is the provider of electricity and gas for their country. They are responsible for the planning, construction, operation, maintenance and global technical management of both these grids and associated infrastructures. The Challenge In order to provide power to millions of people, the company runs more than twenty IT and OT firewalls from multiple vendors that are hosted in multiple data centers throughout the country. Some of the challenges included: Lack of visibility over a complex architecture – With multiple networks, IT managers needed to know which network is behind which firewall and connect traffic flows to firewall rules. Change management processes were being managed by network diagrams created in Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets – tools that were not designed for network security policy management. Thousands of rules – Each firewall may have thousands of rules each. Many of these rules are unneeded and introduce unnecessary risk. Managing the maze of rules was time consuming and took time away from other strategic initiatives. Unnecessary requests – Business stakeholders were requesting status information about network traffic and making duplicate and unnecessary change requests for items covered by existing rules. The Solution The company was searching for a solution that provided: Visibility into their network topology, including traffic flows. Optimization of their firewall rules. Alerts before time-based rules expire. Automatic implementation of their rule base onto their firewall devices. They implemented AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and AlgoSec FireFlow, as well as AlgoBot, AlgoSec’s ChatOps solution. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. AlgoBot is an intelligent chatbot that handles network security policy management tasks. AlgoBot answers business user’s questions, submitted in plain English, and automatically assists with security policy change management processes – without requiring manual inputs or additional research. The Results Some of the ways the company benefitted from using AlgoSec include: Visibility and topology mapping – They are able to get a picture of their entire network and view traffic flows to each network device. Optimized firewall rules – They are able to adjust the placement of their rules, placing their most used rules higher in the rule base, improving performance, and also checking for unused objects or rules to clean up, removing unused rules, improving firewall performance. Improved communication and transparency for time-based rules – Before time-based rules expire (rule with an expiration date), the requester is automatically notified and asked if the rule should be extended or removed. Better, more refined rule requests – By first gathering information from AlgoBot, rule requests are better focused. Internal customers are able to check if rules are already in place before making requests, therefore avoiding requests that are already covered by existing rules. Empower internal stakeholders – Able to save the IT team’s time by empowering internal stakeholders to use AlgoBot to get the answers themselves to traffic queries. Met change implementation SLAs – By implementing their rules with AlgoSec, the company meets their internal SLAs for change implementation. Streamlined auditing processes – By documenting the changes they made in the firewalls, who made them, and when, their audit processes are streamlined. Zero-touch automation – Automatically implementing rules in multiple firewalls simultaneously ensures policy consistency across multiple devices, while preserving staff resources. This also eliminates the need to use the management consoles from individual vendors, saving time and reducing misconfigurations. Staff efficiencies – Hundreds of monthly change requests are able to be managed by a single staff member. He would not be able to do it without AlgoSec. The company switched from a competing solution because it was more user-friendly and provided greater visibility than the competing solution they were previously using. They are also impressed with AlgoSec’s scalability. “The initial setup is really easy. It has been running flawlessly since installation. Even upgrades are pretty straightforward and have never given us problems,” they noted. Schedule time with one of our experts

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Leading Life Insurance Company Ensures Security and Compliance Organization Life Insurance Industry Financial Services Headquarters Texas, USA Download case study Share Customer
success stories "AlgoSec worked right out of the box. We got started quickly and never looked back.” A leading insurance provider of life, disability and other benefits for individuals increases efficiency and ensures continuous compliance on their networks. Background This life insurance company provides insurance and wealth-management products and services to millions of Americans. The company employs thousands of people and maintains a network of several thousand financial representatives. They offer a wide range of insurance products and services that include life insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, investments, dental and vision. Challenges For decades, the company operated a large and growing data center in Bethlehem, PA which they recently transferred to Dallas, TX. During and since the transfer, the company has been replacing much of its multi-vendor network infrastructure, consolidating on Cisco Firepower technology, but still maintaining vestiges of other routers, firewalls and network equipment. At the new data center, the company’s IT staff maintains more than 100 firewalls that host some 10,000 rules. The company’s network security engineer described the considerable pressure on the security staff: “Change requests are frequent, 25-30 per week, demanding considerable time and effort by the security team.” Due to the presence of firewalls from multiple vendors, change requests were analyzed manually and pushed to devices with great care so as not to interrupt the operation of a rapidly growing body of applications. “The change–request process was tedious and very time consuming,” declared the engineer. “as was the pressure to maintain a strong compliance posture at all times.” The company is subject to a litany of demanding insurance-industry regulations that concern the care of personal information and processes. Managing risk is critical to the success of the business and being able to ascertain compliance with regulations is always vital. Solution The security team turned to AlgoSec to help them manage network security policy across the large data center that includes firewalls from multiple vendors. After a careful review, the security team acquired AlgoSec’s Firewall Analyzer to speed up the process of firewall change management as well as to continuously quantify the degree of compliance and level of risk. Vendor-agnostic AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer delivers visibility and analysis of complex network security policies across on–premise and cloud networks. It automates and simplifies security operations including troubleshooting, auditing and risk analysis. Firewall Analyzer optimizes the configuration of firewalls, routers, web proxies and related network infrastructure to ensure security and compliance. Results After a very short installation and learning period, the security staff became proficient at operating Firewall Analyzer’s helpful capabilities. Soon thereafter, staff members undertook AlgoSec certification courses to become experts in using the solution for firewall analysis. “AlgoSec worked right out of the box,” said the engineer. “We got started quickly and never looked back.” The AlgoSec solution has significantly improved processes, delivering significantly improved results for their security team: Reduced time to analyze and optimize firewall rules, automatically checking for shadow rules and discovering other rules eligible for consolidation or deletion. Continual optimization of firewall rules across their entire network estate. Increased efficiency of security staff, enabling them to keep up with the volume of change requests. Accelerated and more accurate change verification. Audit-readiness, generating scheduled and on-demand compliance reports. The security staff looks forward to implementing AlgoSec FireFlow (AFF), that will enable them to push changes automatically to their population of firewalls, eliminating errors and further reducing risk. With AFF, the staff will be able to respond to changing business requirements with increased speed and agility. They added: “We are also checking out AlgoSec’s new cloud-security solution since we are migrating a growing number of applications to AWS.” Schedule time with one of our experts

Driving Security Through Observability: Transforming Application Risk into Resilience WhitePaper Download PDF Schedule time with one of our experts Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Tal Dayan, security expert for AlgoSec, discusses the secret to passing audits seamlessly and how to introduce automated compliance... Auditing and Compliance Compliance Made Easy: How to improve your risk posture with automated audits Tal Dayan 2 min read Tal Dayan Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 4/29/21 Published Tal Dayan, security expert for AlgoSec, discusses the secret to passing audits seamlessly and how to introduce automated compliance Compliance standards come in many different shapes and sizes. Some organizations set their own internal policies, while others are subject to regimented global frameworks such as PCI DSS , which protects customers’ card payment details; SOX to safeguard financial information or HIPAA , which protects patients’ healthcare data. Regardless of which industry you operate in, regular auditing is key to ensuring your business retains its risk posture whilst also remaining compliant. The problem is that running manual risk and security audits can be a long, drawn-out, and tedious affair. A 2020 report from Coalfire and Omdia  found that for the majority of organizations, growing compliance obligations are now consuming 40% or more of IT security budgets and threaten to become an unsustainable cost.  The report suggests two reasons for this growing compliance burden.  First, compliance standards are changing from point-in-time reviews to continuous, outcome-based requirements. Second, the ongoing cyber-skills shortage is stretching organizations’ abilities to keep up with compliance requirements. This means businesses tend to leave them until the last moment, leading to a rushed audit that isn’t as thorough as it could be, putting your business at increased risk of a penalty fine or, worse, a data breach that could jeopardize the entire organization. The auditing process itself consists of a set of requirements that must be created for organizations to measure themselves against. Each rule must be manually analyzed and simulated before it can be implemented and used in the real world. As if that wasn’t time-consuming enough, every single edit to a rule must also be logged meticulously. That is why automation plays a key role in the auditing process. By striking the right balance between automated and manual processes, your business can achieve continuous compliance and produce audit reports seamlessly. Here is a six-step strategy that can set your business on the path to sustainable and successful ongoing auditing preservation: Step 1: Gather information This step will be the most arduous but once completed it will become much easier to sustain. This is when you’ll need to gather things like security policies, firewall access logs, documents from previous audits and firewall vendor information – effectively everything you’d normally factor into a manual security audit. Step 2: Define a clear change management process A good change management process is essential to ensure traceability and accountability when it comes to firewall changes. This process should confirm that every change is properly authorized and logged as and when it occurs, providing a picture of historical changes and approvals. Step 3: Audit physical & OS security With the pandemic causing a surge in the number of remote workers and devices used, businesses must take extra care to certify that every endpoint is secured and up-to-date with relevant security patches. Crucially, firewall and management services should also be physically protected, with only designated personnel permitted to access them. Step 4: Clean up & organize rule base As with every process, the tidier it is, the more efficient it is. Document rules and naming conventions should be enforced to ensure the rule base is as organized as possible, with identical rules consolidated to keep things concise. Step 5: Assess & remediate risk Now it’s time to assess each rule and identify those that are particularly risky and prioritize them by severity. Are there any that violate corporate security policies? Do some have “ANY” and a permissive action? Make a list of these rules and analyze them to prepare plans for remediation and compliance. Step 6: Continuity & optimization Now it’s time to simply hone the first five steps and make these processes as regular and streamlined as possible. By following the above steps and building out your own process, you can make day-to-day compliance and auditing much more manageable. Not only will you improve your compliance score, you’ll also be able to maintain a sustainable level of compliance without the usual disruption and hard labor caused by cumbersome and expensive manual processes. To find out more about auditing automation and how you can master compliance, watch my recent webinar and visit our firewall auditing and compliance page. Schedule a demo Related Articles Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Organizations no longer keep their data in one centralized location. Users and assets responsible for processing data may be located... Zero Trust How to Create a Zero Trust Network 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 2/12/24 Published Organizations no longer keep their data in one centralized location. Users and assets responsible for processing data may be located outside the network, and may share information with third-party vendors who are themselves removed from those external networks. The Zero Trust approach addresses this situation by treating every user, asset, and application as a potential attack vector whether it is authenticated or not. This means that everyone trying to access network resources will have to verify their identity, whether they are coming from inside the network or outside. What are the Zero Trust Principles and Concepts? The Zero Trust approach is made up of six core concepts that work together to mitigate network security risks and reduce the organization’s attack surface. 1. The principle of least privilege Under the Zero Trust model, network administrators do not provide users and assets with more network access than strictly necessary. Access to data is also revoked when it is no longer needed. This requires security teams to carefully manage user permissions , and to be able to manage permissions based on users’ identities or roles. The principle of least privilege secures the enterprise network ecosystem by limiting the amount of damage that can result from a single security failure. If an attacker compromises a user’s account, it won’t automatically gain access to a wide range of systems, tools, and workloads beyond what that account is provisioned for. This can also dramatically simplify the process of responding to security events, because no user or asset has access to assets beyond the scope of their work. 2. Continuous data monitoring and validation Zero trust policy assumes that there are attackers both inside and outside the network. To guarantee the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of network assets, it must continuously evaluate users and assets on the network. User identity and privileges must be checked periodically along with device identity and security. Organizations accomplish this in a variety of ways. Connection and login time-outs are one way to ensure periodic monitoring and validation since it requires users to re-authenticate even if they haven’t done anything suspicious. This helps protect against the risk of threat actors using credential-based attacks to impersonate authenticated users, as well as a variety of other attacks. 3. Device access control Organizations undergoing the Zero Trust journey must carefully manage and control the way users interact with endpoint devices. Zero Trust relies on verifying and authenticating user identities separately from the devices they use. For example, Zero Trust security tools must be able to distinguish between two different individuals using the same endpoint device. This approach requires fundamental changes to the way certain security tools work. For example, firewalls that allow or deny access to network assets based purely on IP address and port information aren’t sufficient. Most end users have more than one device at their disposal, and it’s common for mobile devices to change IP addresses. As a result, the cybersecurity tech stack needs to be able to grant and revoke permissions based on the user’s actual identity or role. 4. Network micro segmentation Network segmentation is a good security practice even outside the Zero Trust framework, but it takes on special significance when threats can come from inside and outside the network. Microsegmentation takes this one step further by breaking regular network segments down into small zones with their own sets of permissions and authorizations. These microsegments can be as small as a single asset, and an enterprise data center may have dozens of separately secured zones like these. Any user or asset with permission to access one zone will not necessarily have access to any of the others. Microsegmentation improves security resilience by making it harder for attackers to move between zones. 5. Detecting lateral movement Lateral movement is when threat actors move from one zone to another in the network. One of the benefits of micro segmentation is that threat actors must interact with security tools in order to move between different zones on the network. Even if the attackers are successful, their activities generate logs and audit trails that analysts can follow when investigating security incidents. Zero Trust architecture is designed to contain attackers and make it harder for them to move laterally through networks. When an attack is detected, the compromised asset can be quarantined from the rest of the network. Assets can be as small as individual devices or user accounts, or as large as entire network segments. The more granular your security architecture is, the more choices you have for detecting and preventing lateral movement on the network. 6. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) Passwords are a major problem for traditional security models, because most security tools automatically extend trust to anyone who knows the password. Once a malicious actor learns a privileged user’s login credentials, they can bypass most security checks by impersonating that user. Multi-factor authentication solves that problem by requiring users to provide more information. Knowing a password isn’t enough – users must authenticate by proving their identity in another way. These additional authentication factors can come in the form of biometrics, challenge/response protocols, or hardware-based verifications. How To Implement a Zero Trust Network 1. Map Out Your Attack Surface There is no one-size-fits-all solution for designing and implementing Zero Trust architecture. You must carefully define your organization’s attack surface and implement solutions that protect your most valuable assets. This will require a variety of tools, including firewalls, user access controls, permissions, and encryption. You will need to segment your network into individual zones and use microsegmentation to secure high-value and high-volume zones separately. Pay close attention to how your organization secures its most important assets and connections: Sensitive data . This might include customer and employee data, proprietary information, and intellectual property that you can’t allow threat actors to gain access to. It should benefit from the highest degree of security. Critical applications. These applications play a central role in your organization’s business processes, and must be protected against the risk of disruption. Many of them process sensitive data and must benefit from the same degree of security. Physical assets. This includes everything from customer-facing kiosks to hardware servers located in a data center. Access control is vital for preventing malicious actors from interacting with physical assets. Third-party services. Your organization relies on a network of partners and service providers, many of whom need privileged access to your data. Your Zero Trust policy must include safeguards against attacks that compromise third-party partners in your supply chain. 2. Implement Zero Trust Controls using Network Security Tools The next step in your Zero Trust journey is the implementation of security tools that allow you collect, analyze, and respond to user behaviors on your network. This may require the adjustment of your existing security tech stack, and the addition of new tools designed for Zero Trust use cases. Firewalls must be able to capture connection data beyond the traditional IP, port, and protocol data that most simple solutions rely on. The Zero Trust approach requires inspecting the identities of users and assets that connect with network assets, which requires more advanced firewall technology. This is possible with next generation firewall (NGFW) technology. VPNs may need to be reconfigured or replaced because they do not typically enforce the principle of least privilege. Usually, VPNs grant users access to the entire connected network – not just one small portion of it. In most cases, organizations pursuing Zero Trust stop using VPNs altogether because they no longer provide meaningful security benefits. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) provides secure access to network resources while concealing network infrastructure and services. It is similar to a software-defined perimeter that dynamically responds to network changes and grants flexibility to security policies. ZTNA works by establishing one-to-one encrypted connections between network assets, making imprecise VPNs largely redundant. 3. Configure for Identity and Access Management Identity-based monitoring is one of the cornerstones of the Zero Trust approach. In order to accurately grant and revoke permissions to users and assets on the network, you must have some visibility into the identities behind the devices being used. Zero Trust networks verify user identities in a variety of ways. Some next-generation firewalls can distinguish between user traffic, device traffic, application traffic, and content. This allows the firewall to assign application sessions to individual users and devices, and inspect the data being transmitted between individuals on networks. In practice, this might mean configuring a firewall to compare outgoing content traffic with an encrypted list of login credentials. If a user accidentally logs onto a spoofed phishing website and enters their login credentials, the firewall can catch the data before it is transferred off the network. This would not be possible without the ability to distinguish between different types of traffic using next-generation firewall technology. Multi-factor authentication is also vital to identity and access management. A Zero Trust network should not automatically authenticate a user who presents the correct username and password combination to access a secure account. This does not prove the identity of the individual who owns the account – it only proves that the individual knows the username and password. Additional verification factors make it more likely that this person is, in fact, the owner of the account. 4. Create a Zero Trust Policy for Your IT Environment The process of implementing Zero Trust policies in cloud-native environments can be complex. Every third-party vendor and service provider has a role to play in establishing and maintaining Zero Trust. This often puts significant technical demands on third-party partners, which may require organizations to change their existing agreements. If a third-party partner cannot support Zero Trust, they can’t be allowed onto the network. The same is true for on-premises and data center environments, but with added emphasis on physical security and access control. Security leaders need to know who has physical access to servers and similar assets so they can conduct investigations into security incidents properly. Data centers need to implement strict controls on who interacts with protected equipment and how their access is supervised. How to Operationalize Zero Trust Your Zero Trust implementation will not automatically translate to an operational security context that you can immediately use. You will need to adopt security operations that reflect the Zero Trust strategy and launch adaptive security measures that address vulnerabilities in real-time. Gain visibility into your network. Your network perimeter is no longer strictly defined by its hardware. It consists of cloud resources, automated workflows, operating systems, and more. You won’t be able to enforce Zero Trust without gaining visibility into every aspect of your network environment. Monitor network infrastructure and traffic. Your security team will need to monitor and respond to access requests coming from inside and outside your network. This can lead to significant bottlenecks if your team is not equipped with solutions for automatically managing network traffic and access. Streamline detection and response. Zero Trust networks mitigate the risks of cyberattacks, malware, ransomware, and other potential threats, but it’s still up to individual security analysts to detect and investigate security incidents. The volume of data analysts must inspect may increase significantly, so you should be prepared to mitigate the issue of alert fatigue. Automate Endpoint Security. Consider implementing an automated Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution that can identify malicious behaviors on network devices and address them in real-time. Implement Zero Trust With AlgoSec AlgoSec is a global cybersecurity leader that provides secure application connectivity and policy management through a unified platform. It aligns with Zero Trust principles to provide comprehensive traffic flow analysis and optimization while automated policy changes and eliminating the risk of compliance violations. Security leaders rely on AlgoSec to implement and operationalize Zero Trust deployments while proactively managing complex security policies . AlgoSec can help you establish a Zero Trust network quickly and efficiently, providing visibility and change management capabilities to your entire security tech stack and enabling security personnel to address misconfiguration risks in real-time. Book a demo now to find out how AlgoSec can help you adopt Zero Trust security and prevent attackers from infiltrating your organization. Schedule a demo Related Articles Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. 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What is Firewall Traffic Analysis? Firewall traffic analysis (FTA) is a network security operation that grants visibility into the data... Firewall Policy Management Firewall Traffic Analysis: The Complete Guide 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 10/24/23 Published What is Firewall Traffic Analysis? Firewall traffic analysis (FTA) is a network security operation that grants visibility into the data packets that travel through your network’s firewalls. Cybersecurity professionals conduct firewall traffic analysis as part of wider network traffic analysis (NTA) workflows. The traffic monitoring data they gain provides deep visibility into how attacks can penetrate your network and what kind of damage threat actors can do once they succeed. NTA vs. FTA Explained NTA tools provide visibility into things like internal traffic inside the data center, inbound VPN traffic from external users, and bandwidth metrics from Internet of Things (iOT) endpoints. They inspect on-premises devices like routers and switches, usually through a unified, vendor-agnostic interface. Network traffic analyzers do inspect firewalls, but might stop short of firewall-specific network monitoring and management. FTA tools focus more exclusively on traffic patterns through the organization’s firewalls. They provide detailed information on how firewall rules interact with traffic from different sources. This kind of tool might tell you how a specific Cisco firewall conducts deep packet inspection on a certain IP address, and provide broader metrics on how your firewalls operate overall. It may also provide change management tools designed to help you optimize firewall rules and security policies . Firewall Rules Overview Your firewalls can only protect against security threats effectively when they are equipped with an optimized set of rules. These rules determine which users are allowed to access network assets and what kind of network activity is allowed. They play a major role in enforcing network segmentation and enabling efficient network management. Analyzing device policies for an enterprise network is a complex and time-consuming task. Minor mistakes can lead to critical risks remaining undetected and expose network devices to cyberattacks. For this reason, many security leaders use automated risk management solutions that include firewall traffic analysis. These tools perform a comprehensive analysis of firewall rules and communicate the risks of specific rules across every device on the network. This information is important because it will inform the choices you make during real-time traffic analysis. Having a comprehensive view of your security risk profile allows you to make meaningful changes to your security posture as you analyze firewall traffic. Performing Real-Time Traffic Analysis AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer captures information on the following traffic types: External IP addresses Internal IP addresses (public and private, including NAT addresses) Protocols (like TCP/IP, SMTP, HTTP, and others) Port numbers and applications for sources and destinations Incoming and outgoing traffic Potential intrusions The platform also supports real-time network traffic analysis and monitoring. When activated, it will periodically inspect network devices for changes to their policy rules, object definitions, audit logs, and more. You can view the changes detected for individual devices and groups, and filter the results to find specific network activities according to different parameters. For any detected change, Firewall Analyzer immediately aggregates the following data points: Device – The device where the changes happened. Date/Time – The exact time when the change was made. Changed by – Tells you which administrator performed the change. Summary – Lists the network assets impacted by the change. Many devices supported by Firewall Analyzer are actually systems of devices that work together. You can visualize the relationships between these assets using the device tree format. This presents every device as a node in the tree, giving you an easy way to manage and view data for individual nodes, parents nodes, and global categories. For example, Firewall Analyzer might discover a redundant rule copied across every firewall in your network. If its analysis shows that the rule triggers frequently, it might recommend moving to a higher node on the device tree. If it turns out the rule never triggers, it may recommend adjusting the rule or deleting it completely. If the rule doesn’t trigger because it conflicts with another firewall rule, it’s clear that some action is needed. Importance of Visualization and Reporting Open source network analysis tools typically work through a command-line interface or a very simple graphic user interface. Most of the data you can collect through these tools must be processed separately before being communicated to non-technical stakeholders. High-performance firewall analysis tools like AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer provide additional support for custom visualizations and reports directly through the platform. Visualization allows non-technical stakeholders to immediately grasp the importance of optimizing firewall policies, conducting netflow analysis, and improving the organization’s security posture against emerging threats. For security leaders reporting to board members and external stakeholders, this can dramatically transform the success of security initiatives. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer includes a Visualize tab that allows users to create custom data visualizations. You can save these visualizations individually or combine them into a dashboard. Some of the data sources you can use to create visualizations include: Interactive searches Saved searches Other saved visualizations Traffic Analysis Metrics and Reports Custom visualizations enhance reports by enabling non-technical audiences to understand complex network traffic metrics without the need for additional interpretation. Metrics like speed, bandwidth usage, packet loss, and latency provide in-depth information about the reliability and security of the network. Analyzing these metrics allows network administrators to proactively address performance bottlenecks, network issues, and security misconfigurations. This helps the organization’s leaders understand the network’s capabilities and identify the areas that need improvement. For example, an organization that is planning to migrate to the cloud must know whether its current network infrastructure can support that migration. The only way to guarantee this is by carefully measuring network performance and proactively mitigating security risks. Network traffic analysis tools should do more than measure simple metrics like latency. They need to combine latency into complex performance indicators that show how much latency is occuring, and how network conditions impact those metrics. That might include measuring the variation in delay between individual data packets (jitter), Packet Delay Variation (PDV), and others. With the right automated firewall analysis tool, these metrics can help you identify and address security vulnerabilities as well. For example, you could automate the platform to trigger alerts when certain metrics fall outside safe operating parameters. Exploring AlgoSec’s Network Traffic Analysis Tool AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer provides a wide range of operations and optimizations to security teams operating in complex environments. It enables firewall performance improvements and produces custom reports with rich visualizations demonstrating the value of its optimizations. Some of the operations that Firewall Analyzer supports include: Device analysis and change tracking reports. Gain in-depth data on device policies, traffic, rules, and objects. It analyzes the routing table that produces a connectivity diagram illustrating changes from previous reports on every device covered. Traffic and routing queries. Run traffic simulations on specific devices and groups to find out how firewall rules interact in specific scenarios. Troubleshoot issues that emerge and use the data collected to prevent disruptions to real-world traffic. This allows for seamless server IP migration and security validation. Compliance verification and reporting. Explore the policy and change history of individual devices, groups, and global categories. Generate custom reports that meet the requirements of corporate regulatory standards like Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and others. Rule cleanup and auditing. Identify firewall rules that are either unused, timed out, disabled, or redundant. Safely remove rules that fail to improve your security posture, improving the efficiency of your firewall devices. List unused rules, rules that don’t conform to company policy, and more. Firewall Analyzer can even re-order rules automatically, increasing device performance while retaining policy logic. User notifications and alerts. Discover when unexpected changes are made and find out how those changes were made. Monitor devices for rule changes and send emails to pre-assigned users with device analyses and reports. Network Traffic Analysis for Threat Detection and Response By monitoring and inspecting network traffic patterns, firewall analysis tools can help security teams quickly detect and respond to threats. Layer on additional technologies like Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Network Detection and Response (NDR), and Threat Intelligence feeds to transform network analysis into a proactive detection and response solution. IDS solutions can examine packet headers, usage statistics, and protocol data flows to find out when suspicious activity is taking place. Network sensors may monitor traffic that passes through specific routers or switches, or host-based intrusion detection systems may monitor traffic from within a host on the network. NDR solutions use a combination of analytical techniques to identify security threats without relying on known attack signatures. They continuously monitor and analyze network traffic data to establish a baseline of normal network activity. NDR tools alert security teams when new activity deviates too far from the baseline. Threat intelligence feeds provide live insight on the indicators associated with emerging threats. This allows security teams to associate observed network activities with known threats as they develop in real-time. The best threat intelligence feeds filter out the huge volume of superfluous threat data that doesn’t pertain to the organization in question. Firewall Traffic Analysis in Specific Environments On-Premises vs. Cloud-hosted Environments Firewall traffic analyzers exist in both on-premises and cloud-based forms. As more organizations migrate business-critical processes to the cloud, having a truly cloud-native network analysis tool is increasingly important. The best of these tools allow security teams to measure the performance of both on-premises and cloud-hosted network devices, gathering information from physical devices, software platforms, and the infrastructure that connects them. Securing the Internet of Things It’s also important that firewall traffic analysis tools take Internet of Things (IoT) devices in consideration. These should be grouped separately from other network assets and furnished with firewall rules that strictly segment them. Ideally, if threat actors compromise one or more IoT devices, network segmentation won’t allow the attack to spread to other parts of the network. Conducting firewall analysis and continuously auditing firewall rules ensures that the barriers between network segments remain viable even if peripheral assets (like IoT devices) are compromised. Microsoft Windows Environments Organizations that rely on extensive Microsoft Windows deployments need to augment the built-in security capabilities that Windows provides. On its own, Windows does not offer the kind of in-depth security or visibility that organizations need. Firewall traffic analysis can play a major role helping IT decision-makers deploy technologies that improve the security of their Windows-based systems. Troubleshooting and Forensic Analysis Firewall analysis can provide detailed information into the causes of network problems, enabling IT professionals to respond to network issues more quickly. There are a few ways network administrators can do this: Analyzing firewall logs. Log data provides a wealth of information on who connects to network assets. These logs can help network administrators identify performance bottlenecks and security vulnerabilities that would otherwise go unnoticed. Investigating cyberattacks. When threat actors successfully breach network assets, they can leave behind valuable data. Firewall analysis can help pinpoint the vulnerabilities they exploited, providing security teams with the data they need to prevent future attacks. Conducting forensic analysis on known threats. Network traffic analysis can help security teams track down ransomware and malware attacks. An organization can only commit resources to closing its security gaps after a security professional maps out the killchain used by threat actors to compromise network assets. Key Integrations Firewall analysis tools provide maximum value when integrated with other security tools into a coherent, unified platform. Security information and event management (SIEM) tools allow you to orchestrate network traffic analysis automations with machine learning-enabled workflows to enable near-instant detection and response. Deploying SIEM capabilities in this context allows you to correlate data from different sources and draw logs from devices across every corner of the organization – including its firewalls. By integrating this data into a unified, centrally managed system, security professionals can gain real-time information on security threats as they emerge. AlgoSec’s Firewall Analyzer integrates seamlessly with leading SIEM solutions, allowing security teams to monitor, share, and update firewall configurations while enriching security event data with insights gleaned from firewall logs. Firewall Analyzer uses a REST API to transmit and receive data from SIEM platforms, allowing organizations to program automation into their firewall workflows and manage their deployments from their SIEM. Schedule a demo Related Articles Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Convergence didn’t fail, compliance did. Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

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Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. International Components Company Strengthens Network Security & Reduces Risks Organization Components Company Industry Retail & Manufacturing Headquarters International Download case study Share Customer
success stories "We quickly identified some unused rules, which we were able to safely remove. We're confident in the fact that we’re closing paths and we’ve also quickly managed to get compliance going,” says the company’s Head of Security Architecture." A leading international components company automates security policy change management and eliminates duplicate rules. BACKGROUND The company is a leading company specializing in high–performance components and sub-systems for the aerospace, defense, and energy markets. Backed by over a century of expertise, the company deliver solutions for the most challenging environments, enabling safe, cost-effective flight, power, and defense systems. CHALLENGE The company’s firewalls were growing consistently. There had not been enough insight and analysis into their network over the years, leading to a bloated and redundant network infrastructure. Firewalls and infrastructure did not get the care and attention they needed. Some of their challenges included: Legacy firewalls that had not been adequately maintained. Unused or overly permissive rules, which left open many security holes. Difficulty identifying and quantifying network risk. Change requests for functionality already covered by existing rules. SOLUTION The client searched for a vendor that understood their environment and challenges and could integrate into their existing solutions. They would need to offer: Faster implementation of firewall changes. Comprehensive firewall support. Automation of security policy change management. Visibility into their business applications and traffic flows. They implemented the AlgoSec Security Policy Management Solution, made up of AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and AlgoSec FireFlow. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. RESULTS By using the AlgoSec Security Management Solution, the customer gained: Greater insight and oversight into their firewalls and other network devices. Identification of risky rules and other holes in their network security policy. Audits and accountability into their network security policy changes. They were able to ensure ongoing compliance and make sure that rules submitted did not introduce additional risk. Identification and elimination of duplicate rules. The customer is also impressed with the dedicated attention they receive from AlgoSec. AlgoSec’s support team is familiar with their challenges and provides attention tailored to their exact needs. Schedule time with one of our experts