AlgoSec - Products - FireFlow™ Key FAQ

FireFlow™ Frequently Asked Questions

Do you follow the entire network security policy change process? Yes, we automate the process from submission to audit. Though we do not actually implement the changes we provide end-to-end guidance and audit oversight to ensure that changes are approved, necessary and implemented as intended.

How do you help reduce risk? FireFlow proactively helps enterprises reduce risk. FireFlow is based on AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer technology, which has the market’s leading analytics engine – calculating every potential packet the firewall or router may encounter and comparing the allowed traffic with industry best practices. With FireFlow administrators can run ‘what-if’ analyses against this analytics engine to identify potential security risks and the potential impact of those risks.

How do you increase operational efficiency? FireFlow enables administrators to get the network security policy change lifecycle right the first time around ensuring that additional clutter is not injected into the policy base. Thanks to its unique ability to detect the network topology, FireFlow automatically recognizes unnecessary changes, and pinpoints what needs to be changed in the policy to honor the request.

How do you treat requests that are technically vague? Since FireFlow “speaks” firewall languages, it provides mechanisms to translate these business requests into actionable technical requirements.

Do you integrate with enterprise change management systems? Yes, we integrate with several including BMC Remedy, HP ServiceCenter (formerly Peregrine) and others.

Do you integrate with enterprise user authentication servers? Yes, we integrate with Enterprise User Authentication Servers including Radius and Active Directory.

We use email and web forms to submit change requests as many users issuing the requests are not from IT. Do you integrate with these methods or do we need to train our end users on new methods? Yes, we retain existing change management processes within our end-to-end framework, eliminating the need to train end users.

How do we know that actual changes match the tickets, can you verify this? Part of our lifecycle includes ‘reconciliation’ which automatically matches request tickets to detected changes and reports on mismatches and unauthorized changes.

We have our own criteria we want to see on request tickets, can you customize the ticket attributes? Yes, the solution is highly customizable and you can customize attributes based on your needs.

We have specific criteria we need to view, can you customize the dashboard? Yes, we offer a customizable dashboard and you can determine which pieces of the dashboard you would like to be visible and to whom.

We have people who move among teams and are decision makers in certain instances, how would we provide specific permissions to them? FireFlow was designed with this need in mind and is role based. FireFlow defines roles, assigns users to roles and grants permissions to roles.

Do you actually implement the change? No, we are not a provisioning solution.

We would like the interface to be in our country’s native language. Can this be done? Yes. FireFlow’s front-end has multi-language support capabilities.

What is the cost of the solution? Pricing starts at $24,000.

“AlgoSec’s Firewall Analyzer is a must have for anyone who manages a rule set of 100 or more. ”

Network World Magazine

“By creating FireFlow using the AFA engine, AlgoSec has effectively created a solution that can automate the entire network security lifecycle...”

Frost & Sullivan Analyst

“We quickly saw a clear return on our investment with the AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer... ”

Anton Spitzer,
Infrastructure Services, Porsche Informatik

“The AFA allows us to get all of our firewall information in one place, providing IT Governance and visibility where it did not exist.”

Anton Spitzer,
Infrastructure Services, Porsche Informatik

“Network security VARs, take note: AlgoSec’s FireFlow network policy change workflow management software is the next hot-ticket item for customers.”

eWeek Magazine

“The AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer fills a critical need for us by automating what was a manual, labor intensive and error prone process. ”

Anton Spitzer,
Infrastructure Services, Porsche Informatik

“By utilizing AFA we no longer require the services of an external source to perform an audit.”

Ruza Manojilovic,
Manager Security Operations Teranet

“It (AFA) easily and quickly provided Atos Worldline with the ability to understand, track and verify changes to our firewall infrastructure…”

Massoud Kamran,
Security Consultant at Atos Worldline Belgium

“AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer’s automated and intelligent analysis lets us know the implications of a change and avoid potential risks which save us time, effort and money. ”

Peter Johannes,
head of Security and Architecture Policy at Atos Worldline Belgium

“AlgoSec’s Firewall Analyzer has helped us significantly improve our overall network security.”

Ruza Manojilovic,
Manager Security Operations Teranet

“Using AFA’s turnkey solution for PCI DSS has been invaluable for us in terms of time and effort.”

Ruza Manojilovic,
Manager Security Operations Teranet

“The integrity of the company (AlgoSec) and its employees surpassed our expectations and has raised the bar for what we look for in other vendors as well.”

Lutz Bleyer, Chief Security Officer,
FIDUCIA

“By utilizing AFA we no longer require the services of an external source to perform an audit.”

Ruza Manojilovic,
Manager Security Operations Teranet.

“With the AFA we can focus on what is most important to Porsche Informatik – our customers.”

Anton Spitzer,
Infrastructure Services, Porsche Informatik

“AlgoSec affords us realizing operational efficiencies in global security policy management and compliance.”

Hugo Van der Veeken,
Atos Worldline SA/NVsecurity department head