AlgoSec’s new product manages network objects in firewall, SDN and cloud platforms to securely accelerate connectivity changes Finally, a single source of truth for Network Security Objects with AlgoSec Horizon ObjectFlow AlgoSec’s new product manages network objects in firewall, SDN and cloud platforms to securely accelerate connectivity changes May 18, 2022 Speak to one of our experts RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., May 18, 2022 – AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader in securing application connectivity, has announced their new product, AlgoSec Horizon ObjectFlow, a network security object management solution for hybrid environments spanning cloud networks, SDNs and on-premises. According to Rik Turner, principal analyst at Omdia “in the complex environments that ensue from modern architectures such as SDN, as well as hybrid and multi-cloud environments, there is a very real risk of overlapping objects, making both their management from a security perspective a real headache. There is clearly the potential for automation to be applied to further streamline management.”  AlgoSec Horizon ObjectFlow offers the most comprehensive visibility and control of network objects across an entire hybrid environment. As a turnkey SaaS based solution, customers can leverage Horizon ObjectFlow’s advantages within minutes upon activation.  Professor Avishai Wool, AlgoSec CTO and co-founder states that Horizon ObjectFlow addresses a dire need in the market for optimal network object management as “most enterprise networks rely on a vast number of network objects that often refer to the same addresses in various forms, creating duplications and inconsistencies that can slow down changes to network connectivity and security policies. As a result, this leads to an increased risk of misconfigurations, outages and security breaches.”  Key benefits that Horizon ObjectFlow delivers to IT, network and security experts include:   Single source of truth   Horizon ObjectFlow is a central repository of all network objects used in security policies, allowing customers to maintain consistency of definitions across the multiple management systems used by various vendors. Object discovery and complete object visibility   Horizon ObjectFlow helps enterprises tap into SDNs and firewalls to discover all the objects on a network. Unique naming conventions can be created and organized based on individual needs and from multiple vendors. Automation of object changes   Horizon ObjectFlow makes automation of object changes possible from a central location. With official vendor API Integrations, manual labor is avoided, allowing for changes to be made within minutes instead of days.  Risk reduction   Horizon ObjectFlow provides full visibility and uniformity over network objects, breaking down organizational silos. With these processes in place, objects can be easily identifiable, allowing networks to be completely secure.  “Network security objects are the bread and butter of your network security posture,” said Eran Shiff, Vice President, Product of AlgoSec. “With Horizon ObjectFlow we give organizations a simple, effective way to manage their network security objects in a centralized object management solution. It helps IT teams to secure application connectivity and reduce the time spent by the security team, increasing efficiency across the board.”  To see how AlgoSec can help you better manage your network security objects with Horizon ObjectFlow, schedule your personal demo today. About AlgoSec   AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to secure application connectivity by automating connectivity flows and security policy, anywhere.  The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network.   AlgoSec’s patented application-centric view of the hybrid network enables business owners, application owners, and information security professionals to talk the same language, so organizations can deliver business applications faster while achieving a heightened security posture.  Over 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks, while taking advantage of almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management.  See what securely accelerating your digital transformation, move-to-cloud, infrastructure modernization, or micro-segmentation initiatives looks like at www.algosec.com     Media Contacts:  Tsippi Dach  AlgoSec  [email protected]     Jenni Livesley  Context Public Relations  [email protected]  +44(0)300 124 6100 

Algosec Horizon AppViz provides clear visibility into application connectivity, ensuring optimal security and simplifying network management. Horizon AppViz: AI-Powered Application Discovery, Visualization & Security Remove blind spots across your hybrid network Schedule a demo AI-Powered Application Discovery Horizon AppViz’s AI driven application discovery transforms how applications are onboarded. Instead of relying on manual identification, Horizon AppViz uses embedded AI to automatically surface high confidence application candidates based on real network and change data. The result is faster onboarding, broader coverage, and reduced operational effort while keeping you in control of what gets added to your environment. Accelerate secure change requests Reduce manual interventions and accelerate application delivery Gain faster visibility Gain a unified view of your network's security posture Strengthen governance Stay ahead of regulatory requirements with automated compliance checks Reduce manual mapping Prioritizes risks based on application criticality, risk severity, and threat exposure Horizon AppViz allows you to scale, secure, and simplify hybrid network security Horizon AppViz’s application first approach simplifies hybrid network security with: AI-Driven Discovery Engine Horizon AppViz automatically identifies application dependencies and traffic flows across hybrid networks. It enables a unified view of business application flows, spanning on-premises data centers and multi-cloud environments. Learn more Prioritize risk on context Horizon AppViz doesn’t just show vulnerabilities; it reveals them through a business lens, mapping them directly to the critical applications that underpin a company’s operations. Learn more Ensure Application-centric compliance Real-time visibility into compliance status across hybrid environments helps organizations stay ahead of regulatory demands. Horizon AppViz allow application recertification workflows that ensure tracking of compliance expiration dates without manual intervention, reducing audit preparation time by eliminating the need for rule-by-rule recertification. Learn more Automated change management Manual change-management processes can be error-prone and inefficient. To streamline security policy updates, it is essential to analyze the impact of planned network changes before implementation. Automating security policy changes reduces errors and accelerates processes. Integrating security, DevOps, and IT teams into a collaborative workflow enhances efficiency, while proactively addressing security risks helps lower change-request rejection rates. Learn more “The key is understanding your applications; if you don’t understand your applications fully, you can’t manage them, and you can’t reduce the risk around them” “Preparing for audits became 50% faster with AppViz” “We reduced change request rejections from 10% to 0%” Don’t just take our word for it Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

How To Reduce Attack Surface: 6 Proven Tactics Security-oriented organizations continuously identify, monitor, and manage... Cyber Attacks & Incident Response How To Reduce Attack Surface: 6 Proven Tactics 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 12/20/23 Published How To Reduce Attack Surface: 6 Proven Tactics Security-oriented organizations continuously identify, monitor, and manage internet-connected assets to protect them from emerging attack vectors and potential vulnerabilities. Security teams go through every element of the organization’s security posture – from firewalls and cloud-hosted assets to endpoint devices and entry points – looking for opportunities to reduce security risks. This process is called attack surface management. It provides a comprehensive view into the organization’s cybersecurity posture, with a neatly organized list of entry points, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses that hackers could exploit in a cyberattack scenario. Attack surface reduction is an important element of any organization’s overall cybersecurity strategy. Security leaders who understand the organization’s weaknesses can invest resources into filling the most critical gaps first and worrying about low-priority threats later. What assets make up your organization’s attack surface? Your organization’s attack surface is a detailed list of every entry point and vulnerability that an attacker could exploit to gain unauthorized access. The more entry points your network has, the larger its attack surface will be. Most security leaders divide their attention between two broad types of attack surfaces: The digital attack surface This includes all network equipment and business assets used to transfer, store, and communicate information. It is susceptible to phishing attempts , malware risks, ransomware attacks, and data breaches. Cybercriminals may infiltrate these kinds of assets by bypassing technical security controls, compromising unsecured apps or APIs, or guessing weak passwords. The physical attack surface This includes business assets that employees, partners, and customers interact with physically. These might include hardware equipment located inside data centers and USB access points. Even access control systems for office buildings and other non-cyber threats may be included. These assets can play a role in attacks that involve social engineering, insider threats, and other malicious actors who work in-person. Even though both of these attack surfaces are distinct, many of their security vulnerabilities and potential entry points overlap in real-life threat scenarios. For example, thieves might steal laptops from an unsecured retail location and leverage sensitive data on those devices to launch further attacks against the organization’s digital assets. Organizations that take steps to minimize their attack surface area can reduce the risks associated with this kind of threat. Known Assets, Unknown Assets, and Rogue Assets All physical and digital business assets fall into one of three categories: Known assets are apps, devices, and systems that the security team has authorized to connect to the organization’s network. These assets are included in risk assessments and they are protected by robust security measures, like network segmentation and strict permissions. Unknown assets include systems and web applications that the security team is not aware of. These are not authorized to access the network and may represent a serious security threat. Shadow IT applications may be part of this category, as well as employee-owned mobile devices storing sensitive data and unsecured IoT devices. Rogue assets connect to the network without authorization, but they are known to security teams. These may include unauthorized user accounts, misconfigured assets, and unpatched software. A major part of properly managing your organization’s attack surface involves the identification and remediation of these risks. Attack Vectors Explained: Minimize Risk by Following Potential Attack Paths When conducting attack surface analysis, security teams have to carefully assess the way threat actors might discover and compromise the organization’s assets while carrying out their attack. This requires the team to combine elements of vulnerability management with risk management , working through the cyberattack kill chain the way a hacker might. Some cybercriminals leverage technical vulnerabilities in operating systems and app integrations. Others prefer to exploit poor identity access management policies, or trick privileged employees into giving up their authentication credentials. Many cyberattacks involve multiple steps carried out by different teams of threat actors. For example, one hacker may specialize in gaining initial access to secured networks while another focuses on using different tools to escalate privileges. To successfully reduce your organization’s attack surface, you must follow potential attacks through these steps and discover what their business impact might be. This will provide you with the insight you need to manage newly discovered vulnerabilities and protect business assets from cyberattack. Some examples of common attack vectors include: API vulnerabilities. APIs allow organizations to automate the transfer of data, including scripts and code, between different systems. Many APIs run on third-party servers managed by vendors who host and manage the software for customers. These interfaces can introduce vulnerabilities that internal security teams aren’t aware of, reducing visibility into the organization’s attack surface. Unsecured software plugins. Plugins are optional add-ons that enhance existing apps by providing new features or functionalities. They are usually made by third-party developers who may require customers to send them data from internal systems. If this transfer is not secured, hackers may intercept it and use that information to attack the system. Unpatched software. Software developers continuously release security patches that address emerging threats and vulnerabilities. However, not all users implement these patches the moment they are released. This delay gives attackers a key opportunity to learn about the vulnerability (which is as easy as reading the patch changelog) and exploit it before the patch is installed. Misconfigured security tools. Authentication systems, firewalls, and other security tools must be properly configured in order to produce optimal security benefits. Attackers who discover misconfigurations can exploit those weaknesses to gain entry to the network. Insider threats. This is one of the most common attack vectors, yet it can be the hardest to detect. Any employee entrusted with sensitive data could accidentally send it to the wrong person, resulting in a data breach. Malicious insiders may take steps to cover their tracks, using their privileged permissions and knowledge of the organization to go unnoticed. 6 Tactics for Reducing Your Attack Surface 1. Implement Zero Trust The Zero Trust security model assumes that data breaches are inevitable and may even have already occurred. This adds new layers to the problems that attack surface management resolves, but it can dramatically improve overall resilience and preparedness. When you develop your security policies using the Zero Trust framework, you impose strong limits on what hackers can and cannot do after gaining initial access to your network. Zero Trust architecture blocks attackers from conducting lateral movement, escalating their privileges, and breaching critical data. For example, IoT devices are a common entry point into many networks because they don’t typically benefit from the same level of security that on-premises workstations receive. At the same time, many apps and systems are configured to automatically trust connections from internet-enabled sensors and peripheral devices. Under a Zero Trust framework, these connections would require additional authentication. The systems they connect to would also need to authenticate themselves before receiving data. Multi-factor authentication is another part of the Zero Trust framework that can dramatically improve operational security. Without this kind of authentication in place, most systems have to accept that anyone with the right username and password combination must be a legitimate user. In a compromised credential scenario, this is obviously not the case. Organizations that develop network infrastructure with Zero Trust principles in place are able to reduce the number of entry points their organization exposes to attackers and reduce the value of those entry points. If hackers do compromise parts of the network, they will be unable to quickly move between different segments of the network, and may be unable to stay unnoticed for long. 2. Remove Unnecessary Complexity Unknown assets are one of the main barriers to operational security excellence. Security teams can’t effectively protect systems, apps, and users they don’t have detailed information on. Any rogue or unknown assets the organization is responsible for are almost certainly attractive entry points for hackers. Arbitrarily complex systems can be very difficult to document and inventory properly . This is a particularly challenging problem for security leaders working for large enterprises that grow through acquisitions. Managing a large portfolio of acquired companies can be incredibly complex, especially when every individual company has its own security systems, tools, and policies to take into account. Security leaders generally don’t have the authority to consolidate complex systems on their own. However, you can reduce complexity and simplify security controls throughout the environment in several key ways: Reduce the organization’s dependence on legacy systems. End-of-life systems that no longer receive maintenance and support should be replaced with modern equivalents quickly. Group assets, users, and systems together. Security groups should be assigned on the basis of least privileged access, so that every user only has the minimum permissions necessary to achieve their tasks. Centralize access control management. Ad-hoc access control management quickly leads to unknown vulnerabilities and weaknesses popping up unannounced. Implement a robust identity access management system so you can create identity-based policies for managing user access. 3. Perform Continuous Vulnerability Monitoring Your organization’s attack surface is constantly changing. New threats are emerging, old ones are getting patched, and your IT environment is supporting new users and assets on a daily basis. Being able to continuously monitor these changes is one of the most important aspects of Zero Trust architecture . The tools you use to support attack surface management should also generate alerts when assets get exposed to known risks. They should allow you to confirm the remediation of detected risks, and provide ample information about the risks they uncover. Some of the things you can do to make this happen include: Investing in a continuous vulnerability monitoring solution. Vulnerability scans are useful for finding out where your organization stands at any given moment. Scheduling these scans to occur at regular intervals allows you to build a standardized process for vulnerability monitoring and remediation. Building a transparent network designed for visibility. Your network should not obscure important security details from you. Unfortunately, this is what many third-party security tools and services achieve. Make sure both you and your third-party security partners are invested in building observability into every aspect of your network. Prioritize security expenditure based on risk. Once you can observe the way users, data, and assets interact on the network, you can begin prioritizing security initiatives based on their business impact. This allows you to focus on high-risk tasks first. 4. Use Network Segmentation to Your Advantage Network segmentation is critical to the Zero Trust framework. When your organization’s different subnetworks are separated from one another with strictly protected boundaries, it’s much harder for attackers to travel laterally through the network. Limiting access between parts of the network helps streamline security processes while reducing risk. There are several ways you can segment your network. Most organizations already perform some degree of segmentation by encrypting highly classified data. Others enforce network segmentation principles when differentiating between production and live development environments. But in order for organizations to truly benefit from network segmentation, security leaders must carefully define boundaries between every segment and enforce authentication policies designed for each boundary. This requires in-depth knowledge of the business roles and functions of the users who access those segments, and the ability to configure security tools to inspect and enforce access control rules. For example, any firewall can block traffic between two network segments. A next-generation firewall can conduct identity-based inspection that allows traffic from authorized users through – even if they are using mobile devices the firewall has never seen before. 5. Implement a Strong Encryption Policy Encryption policies are an important element of many different compliance frameworks . HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and many other regulatory frameworks specify particular encryption policies that organizations must follow to be compliant. These standards are based on the latest research in cryptographic security and threat intelligence reports that outline hackers’ capabilities. Even if your organization is not actively seeking regulatory compliance, you should use these frameworks as a starting point for building your own encryption policy. Your organization’s risk profile is largely the same whether you seek regulatory certification or not – and accidentally deploying outdated encryption policies can introduce preventable vulnerabilities into an otherwise strong security posture. Your organization’s encryption policy should detail every type of data that should be encrypted and the cipher suite you’ll use to encrypt that data. This will necessarily include critical assets like customer financial data and employee payroll records, but it also includes relatively low-impact assets like public Wi-Fi connections at retail stores. In each case, you must implement a modern cipher suite that meets your organization’s security needs and replace legacy devices that do not support the latest encryption algorithms. This is particularly important in retail and office settings, where hardware routers, printers, and other devices may no longer support secure encryption. 6. Invest in Employee Training To truly build security resilience into any company culture, it’s critical to explain why these policies must be followed, and what kinds of threats they address. One of the best ways to administer standardized security compliance training is by leveraging a corporate learning platform across the organization, so that employees can actually internalize these security policies through scenario based training courses. It’s especially valuable in organizations suffering from consistent shadow IT usage. When employees understand the security vulnerabilities that shadow IT introduces into the environment, they’re far less likely to ignore security policies for the sake of convenience. Security simulations and awareness campaigns can have a significant impact on training initiatives. When employees know how to identify threat actors at work, they are much less likely to fall victim to them. However, actually achieving meaningful improvement may require devoting a great deal of time and energy into phishing simulation exercises over time – not everyone is going to get it right in the first month or two. These initiatives can also provide clear insight and data on how prepared your employees are overall. This data can make a valuable contribution to your attack surface reduction campaign. You may be able to pinpoint departments – or even individual users – who need additional resources and support to improve their resilience against phishing and social engineering attacks. Successfully managing this aspect of your risk assessment strategy will make it much harder for hackers to gain control of privileged administrative accounts. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

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Visit Algosec's Media Center for the latest news, press releases, and media resources on network security and policy management solutions Media Center Press Releases AlgoSec Horizon A33.30 eliminates security silos, accelerates application delivery, automates policy management and continuously reduces cyber risk 7/22/26 Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. AlgoSec Posts 37% YoY new Business Growth in 2025 as Enterprises Prioritize Application-Centric Security 2/18/26 Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. AlgoSec’s 2026 State of Network Security Report Reveals Rising Demand for Consolidation and Control 2/4/26 Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. Show all press releases Awards and Recognitions Cyber Defense Magazine, Global InfoSec Award Cyber Defense Magazine recognized AlgoSec for advancing AI-powered cybersecurity - applying intelligence to understand applications, prioritize risk by business impact, and automate policy across hybrid environments. SC Award - Best Risk / Policy Management Solution SC Media named AlgoSec the 2026 winner for Best Risk/Policy Management Solution - recognizing an application-centric approach across virtual, cloud, and physical environments. Globee Awards Gold, Cybersecurity Gold winner and Best of Category for Risk and Policy Management at the 2026 Globee Cybersecurity Awards - validating AlgoSec's unified approach across cloud and on-prem networks. Top InfoSec Innovator Cyber Defense Magazine named AlgoSec a "Trailblazing" company in Network Security and Management as part of the 2025 Top InfoSec Innovator Awards recognizing innovation that is shaping the future of the industry. Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice Recognition earned directly from the people who use AlgoSec every day: security architects, network engineers and compiance leaders. Based on verified, in-depth reviews of real deployments and outcomes. G2 Leader, Enterprise Named a Leader in the Enterprise segment of the G2 Spring 2026 Grid® Report - based on verified reviews from enterprise users and strong market presence. Global InfoSec Awards Winner 2025 (Cyber Defense Magazine) Cyber Defense Magazine announced AlgoSec as a winner of the 2025 Global InfoSec Award for "Best Service – Cybersecurity Company," validating our mission to deliver secure application connectivity. Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice 2025 Sustaining an average rating of 4.5 stars on Gartner Peer Insights, AlgoSec is highly recognized by users who praise our platform’s depth and ease of use in managing hybrid networks. Globee Awards Gold Winner Cybersecurity 2026 AlgoSec takes home Gold at the 2026 Globee Cybersecurity Awards, underscoring our ongoing commitment to innovation in zero-trust architectures and hybrid cloud security. G2 Leader Enterprise Spring 2026 Consistently ranked at the top of our category on peer review sites, AlgoSec has been recognized as a Leader in the Enterprise segment in G2’s Spring 2026 reports. In the News Minimize security risks with micro-segmentation December 20, 2023 The importance of IT compliance in the digital landscape December 20, 2023 Efficiently contain cyber risks December 20, 2023 Show all news Company Overview AlgoSec enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network. AlgoSec’s patented application-centric view of the hybrid network enables business owners, application owners, and information security professionals to talk the same language, so organizations can deliver business applications faster while achieving a heightened security posture. Read more Customer Reviews We empower the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network. Learn why over 2,300 customers in 80 countries and across every industry vertical rely on AlgoSec to help them become more agile, more secure, and continuously compliant. Read more Media Contacts AlgoSec Tsippi Dach [email protected] Public Relations USA Megan Davis [email protected] +1 706-527-9536 Public Relations UK Jenni Livesly / Patrick Giffney [email protected] +44(0) 300 124 6100 Public Relations DACH Florian Stark / Carmen Ritter [email protected] +49(0) 89 211 871 66 AlgoSec Logo Download kit Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

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Streamline network management with AlgoSec Application Discovery. Gain visibility into application connectivity to optimize performance and enhance security policies. AlgoSec application discovery Enhance the discovery of your network applications ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Given the benefits of a micro segmentation strategy, it is worth understanding how to navigate these common challenges, and move towards a more consolidated, secure network Webinars Rescuing Your Network with Micro-Segmentation Cybersecurity has turned into a top priority as hackers grow more sophisticated. Micro-segmentation is a protective measure that allows you to put in gateways separating specific areas. This buffer can serve as a major deterrent keeping criminals from attacking sensitive data, and providing you with the ability to minimize the damage caused by unauthorized intrusions. It can also help with detection of weak points which expose your network to breaches. Join our panel of experts to learn how to plan and build your micro-segmentation strategy while avoiding common pitfalls along the way. In this session, we will discuss: The basics of micro-segmentation and it can help your network Why today’s environment has contributed to a greater need for micro-segmentation How to spot and avoid critical errors that can derail your micro-segmentation implementation July 5, 2021 Alex Hilton Chief Executive at Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) Prof. Avishai Wool CTO & Co Founder AlgoSec Relevant resources Building a Blueprint for a Successful Micro-segmentation Implementation Keep Reading Micro-Segmentation Implementation - Taking the Leap from Strategy to Execution Keep Reading Micro-segmentation – from strategy to execution Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

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Understand HIPAA network compliance requirements. Learn how to safeguard patient data with robust network security measures and ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations. HIPAA network compliance & security requirements explained ---- ------- 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

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Discover everything you need to know about Network Security Policy Management (NSPM) solutions, including their benefits, features, and how they streamline security operations. Everything you need to know about NSPM solutions | AlgoSec Overview In this IT Central Station Peer Paper, learn the key factors driving selection of Network Security Policy Management solutions based on actual user feedback. Schedule a Demo Abstract Network Security Policy Management (NSPM) solution selection factors need to align with business needs. Security shouldn’t be a barrier to the business, but frequently, security needs are shortchanged to ensure business agility. Ideally, this tradeoff should not exist. Network and security managers thus look for NSPM solutions that can make the business run better by efficiently automating network security policy management, improving visibility in network traffic and rules, and facilitating compliance. This paper offers insights and feedback from real users, who discuss what went into their NSPM selection process. Schedule a Demo Introduction What constitutes a good Network Security Policy Management (NSPM) solution? Selection criteria relate to Information Technology (IT) and security, but both tie into the business. The technical qualities of an NSPM solution should support existing business processes and help the business move forward. Security should not get in the way of business agility. Indeed, business and IT stakeholders are increasingly recognizing that security risks have a clear financial impact on your business – from reputational damage, to lost business and lower corporate valuations. Breaches are costly and time-consuming to remediate. The loss from a data breach or outage is real. The right NSPM solution enables the business to achieve its strategic and operational goals while cost-effectively mitigating risk. In this paper, enterprise IT professionals discuss how the right NSPM solution addresses such challenges through greater visibility into the network, policy automation and compliance. Their insights come from reviews of the AlgoSec NSPM solution, published on IT Central Station. Schedule a Demo The continuing evolution of NSPM Network security managers face pressure on multiple fronts. They’re dealing with increased network complexity. There are growing global compliance requirements and rules to track. The network itself now spans on-premises, public clouds, private clouds and everything in between. At the same time, the business wants to accelerate time-to-market, increase agility, produce more innovative applications and on and on—all without suffering a data breach or outage. Aligning security with businesses requirements in NSPM requires automation. Old, manual processes that rely on Visio and Excel are unable to keep up with the pace of business changes. The new generation of NSPM solutions gives network security managers and network administrators the tools they need to deliver what the business wants—without overspending or stretching network operations teams beyond reason. They do this by unifying visibility, policy automation, and compliance. All of this is happening in a complex environment. To stay secure and agile, the business needs its NSPM solution to automate the policy change process, conduct continuous network analysis, and monitor the network across the cloud and on-premises data center. Figure 1 depicts some of the elements the NSPM solution must interact with to realize such functions. Figure 1: NSPM solutions must provide visibility and automation for a wide range of network hardware, software and functional areas—on top of physical networks, private clouds frequently running software-defined networks (SDNs), and public cloud infrastructure. Schedule a Demo Challenges inherent in selecting an NSPM solution There is no NSPM solution that satisfies all needs. Every organization has different technical and business requirements and security cultures. Solutions have to fit the network, business strategies, and existing business processes. However, when evaluating an NSPM solution, there are four critical issues: Dealing with misconfigurations – Manual processes frequently lead to misconfigurations. According to industry data, nearly all firewall breaches are caused by misconfigurations, not flaws. Automating previously-manual processes results in fewer mistakes and misconfigurations. Automation as a strategy – Network policy automation is not an end unto itself. Rather, it supports the business strategy like maintaining security, ensuring SLAs, increasing cooperation and reducing friction between departments. It improves competitive differentiation through better customer engagement, e.g., by moving applications to the cloud. Network policy automation aids regulatory compliance, and frees IT time from housekeeping so it can be applied to digital transformation and supporting strategic initiatives. Understanding visibility requirements – Powerful NSPM tools give network admins and security managers new depths of visibility into both network devices and business applications. By understanding their traffic flows across multi-vendor and hybrid devices, they can plug security holes, troubleshoot more easily, and discover applications and services. Compliance requirements – Meeting an audit requirement often consumes all the IT department’s resources as they focus on auditing. Organizations need to determine their regulatory compliance requirements, decide how much time they want to spend preparing for audits, and figure out how important continuous compliance is to them. They need to make sure that new changes do not violate internal or regulatory compliance requirements. Schedule a Demo NSPM solution selection factors Members of IT Central Station, an industry site that features candid discussions and peer-to-peer user reviews from enterprise technology professionals, weighed numerous factors in their processes of selecting an NSPM solution. As they described in reviews of AlgoSec, a key consideration was the alignment of network security with business objectives. Their assessments touched on a wide variety of issues. These included the solution’s ability to reduce misconfigurations during the process of digital transformation when assets move some of their data to the cloud and organizations embrace hybrid networks. NSPM user reviews also discussed the efficiency of network management operations and team performance. Visibility and automation were significant factors affecting selection of an NSPM solution. Users want visibility into the network, traffic, and applications. They want to see what is happening with rules and applications while also monitoring policy changes. Regarding automation, what mattered to users was the ability to automate rules management, as well as configuration and change management. “Zero-touch” automation was considered useful, as was the ability to automate a multi-vendor environment. Compliance is the other main driver of NSPM selection. Users rely on their solutions to facilitate compliance, including reporting. These needs include ensuring a state of continuous compliance as well as ensuring and demonstrating audit-ready regulatory compliance for major regulations such as PCI DSS, GDPR, and SOX. Users also have to ensure and demonstrate audit readiness for internal compliance requirements. Get a Demo Schedule a Demo Network security policy as a business issue Policies governing the network are inherently business-facing. Even when they address entirely technical matters, a business objective is ultimately driving the policy process. For example, an IP network expert at a comms service provider with more than 200 employees described the value of AlgoSec by commenting, “It provides faster go to market with fewer resources. In one system, users can request access through the firewall for business services, which can be approved by the appropriate team and can be implemented automatically by the system itself.” IT Central Station members spoke to the need to align network security with business objectives. An AlgoSec user at an energy/utilities company with over 10,000 employees remarked, “With AlgoSec, we can show a view of firewall compliance that is clean and easy to read and present. This also helps our business units ensure their policies are clean. With that data, we can show management that the firewalls connected to our network, but owned by other business units, meet our standards.” A network engineer at a tech services company with over 10,000 employees, shared that AlgoSec “helps us deploy new business applications quickly and securely. It ties cyber threats directly to critical business processes.” Enabling digital transformation and cloud migrations As network managers and security teams grapple with digital transformation and cloud initiatives, they want an NSPM solution that will facilitate the process. As an AlgoSec user put it, “We see the value… for organizations involved in digital transformation projects migrating to public/ private/hybrid cloud models.” A director of information security operations at a consumer products company with over 1,000 employees, similarly shared that AlgoSec helped him with cloud support , spanning both native and hybrid environments. Optimizing team performance Network operations and security managers are keenly aware of team performance and its impact on the broader business. Budget-cutting pressure is relentless, while skills shortages potentially hamper effective operations. SLAs are a constant pressure. At the same time, the faster the team, the more agile the business. For these reasons, users view team performance optimization as a selection factor for an NSPM solution. For instance, an IT technical consultant at a manufacturing company with over 10,000 employees said that AlgoSec FireFlow “increases business efficiency and helps avoid bottlenecks in our NOC [Network Operations Center] team.” A security engineer at a financial services firm with more than 500 employees had a similar experience. He said, “Since we deployed AlgoSec, we have been able to assign more of our time to what really matters . It now takes less than half of the time it took before we had this tool to deploy the flows requested by the business.” Previously, this had been a “very painful job,” as he put it. “Now,” he added, “We just put the source and destination into the AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and most of the job for the flows is done.” Another AlgoSec user found that the solution let him “increase the effectiveness of the team, allowing them to prioritize more complex and business-critical tasks in a faster manner.” Schedule a Demo Visibility Being able to align network security with business priorities depends on seeing what’s happening across the network as well as within its policies and rules. A manager of network service delivery at a financial services firm with over 10,000 employees summed up the issue when he said, “It is worth spending the cost for visibility on security .” A security engineer at a manufacturing company with over 1,000 employees, echoed this sentiment, commenting, “I think we have a great ROI due to the improved visibility and management that the solution now provides us.” Visibility into network and traffic The network itself is the starting point of business-oriented NSPM. Network managers must see how traffic and network policies affect the network and their applications. Without the right tooling, however, much of the network can remain hidden. To this point, an AlgoSec user at a company with over 10,000 employees said, “I use this solution to have full visibility of the network , to simulate traffic queries, and to generate security reports according to the security policies of my company. The most valuable features are the network map, which provides the full visibility of the network, and the security reports.” Another AlgoSec user spoke about the benefits of the network map, saying, it was “a very good thing to get a clear view of every single region in your network.” A lead security infrastructure consultant at a financial services firm with over 10,000 employees, added: “We also use AlgoSec to get better visibility into our traffic flows , to optimize our firewalls rules, and to analyze risks.” An AlgoSec user at a company with over 10,000 employees noted, “This solution provides visibility and comprehension of the network in our organization. It assists us in network security reviews and audits. In the end, a lot of time, we add context and build a security matrix matching our own standards.” A senior technical and integration designer at a retailer with over 10,000 employees further remarked that “AlgoSec provided a much easier way to process FCRs [Firewall Change Requests] and get visibility into traffic .” He contrasted this capability with his experience with previous vendors, a situation where, as he said, “we had to guess what was going on with our traffic and we were not able to act accordingly.” Get a Demo Visibility into applications Network managers need to understand the impact of policy changes on business-critical network applications. Security policies affect application migrations as well as initiatives to establish network segmentation. In this sense, visibility into applications on the network is essential for aligning network security policy with business objectives. The network engineer addressed the issue by stating, “It [AlgoSec] automatically discovers applications and their connectivity flows, then associates connectivity with their underlying firewall rules.” For a system architect at a school with more than 500 employees, the benefit came from the solution’s traffic simulation query. In his case, this “helps to understand which rules match or don’t match for a specific traffic pattern, helping troubleshoot application issues .” “I have found the firewall optimization feature to be very valuable because most developers don’t know the ports or services their applications are running ,” said an AlgoSec user. He then added, “After running the rules on any services for a short while, AlgoSec helps get the right service ports and IP addresses.” A network manager at a financial services firm with over 1,000 employees felt that AlgoSec has enabled his team to analyze rules to check access for an application or user. He related, “Breaking down a rule to specify used objects within groups and protocols used has proved invaluable for us to narrow exposure to potential threats.” Visibility into rules NSPM users want visibility into rules. According to an AlgoSec user, the solution “provides great visibility into your firewall rules , thereby allowing you to eliminate redundant or overlapping rules.” In particular, visibility into rules saved time by allowing his administrators to test network traffic and pinpoint which rules were being triggered for a particular traffic flow. A technical presales engineer at a tech services company with more than 500 employees, described the value of AlgoSec’s policy tightening feature, which gave him visibility into ‘any to any’ rules. The tool could tell him which sources and destinations were used as well as the actual traffic from overly permissive rules . From this, he said, “We are able to tighten the policy of the firewall.” Visibility into changes Policy changes are a potential source of risk exposure, especially in a large organization where team members may not be aware of others’ actions. IT Central Station members highlighted this capability in their assessments of NSPM solutions. “Now, we can easily track the changes in policies,” said a network security engineer at a financial services firm with over 10,000 employees. “With every change, AlgoSec automatically sends an email to the IT audit team. It increases our visibility of changes in every policy.” “The compliance module provides full visibility of the risk required in firewall change requests ,” said the manager of network service delivery. An AlgoSec user at a company with over 10,000 employees felt that “AlgoSec also allows us to have a history of changes .” He believed the history was especially useful in the event of an outage or an unwanted change. For another AlgoSec user, “Policy optimization, visibility, and a faster change management process has reduced unnecessary times required for manually changing processes. The resources are now utilized more effectively for other areas.” Schedule a Demo Automation IT Central Station members stressed the importance of automation capabilities in selecting an NSPM solution. Reliance on manual processes is unsustainable. Experience shows that manual policy management leads to mistakes, misconfigurations, and missed SLAs. As the IT technical consultant pointed out, with AlgoSec, “we have eliminated any human mistakes that we have dealt with in the past and now we want to avoid as we are moving toward a completely automated network.” Manual processes negatively affect agility as well. The issue is particularly salient today, as companies expect network operations to be as lean as possible. Automated rules management AlgoSec users are putting the solution to work in automating rules management. A network and security engineer said, “We are also using AlgoSec to automate machine provisioning (creation of new rules associated with that machine) and machine decommissioning (removal of rules associated with that machine).” This capability is viewed as a positive attribute in an NSPM solution. According to an AlgoSec user, “We are currently in a rule base performance improvement process and AlgoSec is an invaluable tool to accomplish this. Furthermore, we are starting rule creation automation , which will also provide some relief on our workload.” Other notable comments about rule management automation include: “My organization has used Firewall Analyzer for many years to simplify and automate rule set management across an estate of hundreds of Check Point firewalls. Key functionality provided covers compliance reporting and identification of duplicate and unused, as well as risky rules.” – Security consultant at a financial services firm with over 1,000 employees “We recently moved our data center to a new location, and we migrated our firewalls from one vendor to a different vendor. AlgoSec helped us tremendously to clean up shadow rules , unused objects even before moving to a new vendor.” – AlgoSec user at a healthcare company with over 1,000 employees “Our primary use case is to clean up firewall rules of migration from Cisco ASA to another firewall vendor. We try to get rid of old rules and get these converted into new rules which apply better to our environment.” – AlgoSec User Automated configuration and change management Being able to automate configuration and change management saves time. As a result, it’s a driver of preference for NSPM solutions. “Automated change notification is a must and is critical in maintaining a safe environment and compliance,” said an AlgoSec user. An information security specialist at a company with over 10,000 employees also spoke to this benefit of AlgoSec when he said, “The best feature for us is the ability to automate the change requests that come through our service desk, which is done via the tool’s intelligence to analyze the conditional rules.” In his case, as he put it, “This used to be a big time sink for the guys which is now less of an issue. This means that the company can claim back valuable man-hours for other means (also showing a labor cost saving to the board).” Zero-touch automation To achieve the productivity gains desired by network security and operations managers, an NSPM solution should enable automation with as few hours as possible. The network engineer acknowledged AlgoSec in this regard, saying, “AlgoSec delivers a rich set of change management workflows and enables zero-touch change processes if no risks are identified.” A global network security engineer similarly noted, “Initial deployment was straightforward . The FireFlow workflow can be configured to match the existing flow – customizing this to match any workflow permutations takes the most time.” Automating the multi-vendor environment Network security and operations environments are often multi-vendor in nature. They invariably have to support firewalls from Check Point, Fortinet, and Palo Alto as well as a host of other technologies, as shown in Figure 2. For this reason, users prefer NSPM solutions that work well with more than one vendor platform. An IT Security Engineer III at a software company with over 10,000 employees, shared how he had previously spent time manually looking through rule bases trying to find risk rules. “Now we see it via AlgoSec,” he said, adding, “It also helps because we see those risks across multiple vendors .” This reduced the potential for error, in his view. A senior consultant at a consultancy said, “We use this solution for the management of firewalls on a client with a multi-vendor landscape .” An AlgoSec user at an energy/utilities company with over 1,000 employees valued AlgoSec’s “ability to manage multiple vendor firewall policies and traditional firewalls with an intelligent way to prevent cyberattacks and reduce outages.” The AlgoSec user at the energy/utilities company further noted, “We are moving towards an automated environment so the ability to work with Ansible, ServiceNow, and Palo Alto gives us the ability to automate our firewall policy creation. And 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.” Figure 2: Some of the platforms and technologies with which an NSPM solution should integrate Schedule a Demo Compliance An NSPM solution must make it easier to enforce the network-level policies required for compliance with government regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and PCI DSS, than is possible without the solution. NSPM should also make it simpler to bring the network into compliance with internal-facing security policies and rules, e.g., “Routers may not be set to factory defaults.” These expectations are increasingly relevant as organizations adopt continuous compliance—no longer treating audits as a point-in-time exercise but rather working to adhere to policies and controls and continually maintaining compliance, even during frequent and extensive network changes. For example, a security consultant in a financial services firm with over 1,000 employees said, “Compliance and risk reporting are the most valuable features of the product.” A Global Network Solution Architect at AXA, an insurance company with over 10,000 employees, used AlgoSec for firewall rules compliance with global security policies. He relied on the solution “to ensure global policies are applied to all regional firewalls, provide auditing and compliance.” Firewall compliance Network managers need to demonstrate that their firewalls comply with policies established to meet the audit requirements of regulations like SOX and HIPAA. This is a familiar aspect of network management and security, but one that gets revisited regularly as users try to make the process more efficient. In this context, the Prudential manager of network service delivery stated, “The compliance module is one of the best features which can help anyone to perform security review with predefined security matrix configurations. The compliance module can save a lot of time for security reviews and provide full visibility of the risk required in firewall change requests.” The security engineer said, “It’s a great tool when preparing for audits and ensuring your firewalls are in compliance .” Regulatory compliance Companies that are obligated to comply with government regulations benefit from automated policy management. The network engineer, for example, found that using an NSPM solution reduced his audit preparation efforts and costs drastically while enabling his team to maintain continuous compliance. An AlgoSec user also felt the solution helped in maintaining and providing regulatory compliance metrics and optimizing the overall security of the organization. The PCI DSS compliance standard, required for companies that process credit card transactions, emerged as a frequent use case for NSPM: “The baseline of in-built policies such as PCI DSS helps us maintain good security ratings in compliance with regulatory standards.” – Security operations manager at a financial services firm with more than 200 employees “I work at a multi-vendor firewall environment. AlgoSec is primarily used to see what firewall policies are in place, as well as PCI compliance ” – Senior firewall engineer at a tech consulting company with over 1,000 employees “It is very useful for PCI DSS compliance .” – Presales manager at a small company Internal Compliance IT Central Station members discussed their internal compliance needs as well. The network manager placed this issue into context by saying, “The risk and compliance area is key to ensuring we conform to company regulations . Having a number of compliance options to baseline ensures that we get the basics right before looking at advanced risks and remediation.” Addressing this point, the security engineer said, “We also need the audit report and risk assessment features to send to our InfoSec team so that they can use it in our audit documentation . This is also very important because it significantly reduces our workload and makes it very easy to have the documentation ready to show to our auditors.” The network and security engineer was pleased that AlgoSec enabled his team to provide reports to auditors “without losing a single day from the network support department.” He said, “We simply provide AlgoSec reports and analysis.” Another AlgoSec user acknowledged AlgoSec’s ability to help him prepare for the audit in a short time and assist with continuous compliance . The network manager added, “The risk and compliance area is key to ensuring we conform to company regulations .” A network administrator at a government agency with over 10,000 employees, simply stated, “For us, it is a great management and audit tool .” Schedule a Demo Conclusion Many factors come into play in the selection of a network security policy management solution. In a business environment, where companies want to be agile, users want solutions that offer visibility into traffic and applications. For IT Central Station members, a good solution automates rules management along with configuration and change management. The best solution will also facilitate compliance, both internal and regulatory. With these qualities, an NSPM will be able to align security with business and make sure that your network adheres to your stated security policies. Schedule a Demo About IT Central Station User reviews, candid discussions, and more for enterprise technology professionals. The Internet has completely changed the way we make buying decisions. We now use ratings and review sites to see what other real users think before we buy electronics, book a hotel, visit a doctor or choose a restaurant. But in the world of enterprise technology, most of the information online and in your inbox comes from vendors. What you really want is objective information from other users. IT Central Station provides technology professionals with a community platform to share information about enterprise solutions. IT Central Station is committed to offering user-contributed information that is valuable, objective, and relevant. We validate all reviewers with a triple authentication process, and protect your privacy by providing an environment where you can post anonymously and freely express your views. As a result, the community becomes a valuable resource, ensuring you get access to the right information and connect to the right people, whenever you need it. www.itcentralstation.com IT Central Station does not endorse or recommend any products or services. The views and opinions of reviewers quoted in this document, IT Central Station websites, and IT Central Station materials do not reflect the opinions of IT Central Station. Schedule a Demo About AlgoSec AlgoSec enables the world’s largest organizations to align business and security strategies, and manage their network security based on what matters most — the applications that power their businesses. Through a single pane of glass, the AlgoSec Security Management Solution provides holistic, business-level visibility across the entire network security infrastructure, including business applications and their connectivity flows — in the cloud and across SDN and on-premise networks. With AlgoSec users can auto-discover and migrate application connectivity, proactively analyze risk from the business perspective, tie cyber-attacks to business processes and intelligently automate time-consuming security changes— all zero-touch, and seamlessly orchestrated across any heterogeneous environment. Over 1,800 leading organizations, including 20 Fortune 50 companies, have relied on AlgoSec to drive business agility, security and compliance. AlgoSec has provided the industry’s only money-back guarantee since 2005. Let's start your journey to our business-centric network security. Schedule a Demo Select a size Overview Abstract Introduction The continuing evolution of NSPM Challenges inherent in selecting an NSPM solution NSPM solution selection factors Network security policy as a business issue Visibility Automation Compliance Conclusion About IT Central Station About AlgoSec Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network