“A great security management product with effective automation options”: SC Magazine gives AlgoSec a perfect 5-star review overall and in all 6 categories

SC Magazine’s product reviews are widely considered to be the most thorough in the information-security sector.

In addition, there are very few independent, objective, and detailed assessments of products in our space available in the public domain. Therefore, we are understandably delighted that the influential and highly credible magazine has bestowed on AlgoSec’s network security policy management solution 5-star ratings overall and across the board in its 2018 Risk and Policy Management Group Product Review.

In the review, SC Magazine assessed the AlgoSec Security Policy Management solution’s features, value for money, ease of use and performance, along with the support and documentation that AlgoSec provides. The solution was awarded the maximum 5-star rating in every category.

In an overview of the solution’s strengths, reviewers Katelyn Dunn and Dan Cure highlighted the solution’s automation capabilities, particularly the “Automation of change requests that are processed from start to finish with no human interaction.” They also recognized that AlgoSec is the only vendor to offer an intelligent chatbot for network security tasks, stating that AlgoBot’s integration with Slack and Skype for Business “opens the door to new ease of operability solutions.”

The reviewers drew attention to AlgoSec’s “business-driven mindset”, which they say, “crosses over to the return on investment their users are incurring with increased productivity and operational efficiency”. They found no weaknesses in the AlgoSec solution.

Convenient customization and special value for DevOps

The review stated that the level of customization that AlgoSec offers was a key strength. As a result, the solution “fits very well into the DevOps picture overall,” particularly given its “ability to spin up connectivity across the network programmatically as code”, with its open API customization and out-of-the-box playbooks. The review also notes the customizable elements of AlgoSec’s visibility features, such as viewing rules that support business applications in Policy Optimization view and running compliance reports in its “easy-to-read report card style view.”

AlgoBot – an industry first

The reviewers noted the introduction of AlgoBot, the first intelligent chatbot for network security tasks, which was introduced in March 2018. AlgoBot automatically answers network security questions and assists with security policy change management processes. The review states: “AlgoSec is the only vendor to provide a freely available chatbot for Slack, Skype for Business and soon, Microsoft Teams.” Dunn and Cure pointed out that this feature can be used to find out “if traffic is working between components”, “whether applications are working correctly” and for “checking status of change requests.”

Simple and comprehensive

The solution’s Policy Optimization view, where users see reports on redundant and risky policies, was highlighted, with the review stating that it “offers quick identification of all the rules supporting business applications” to “make it as simple and comprehensive for their users as possible”.

Notable automation tools

Dunn and Cure’s review focused closely on the elements that AlgoSec provides to save users time – not least its automation tools. They say these “can be applied to deliver requests significantly faster, driven entirely by the user’s comfort-level with automating steps”. They also note that AlgoSec enables users to submit and process change requests “with zero human interaction, fully automating the change request process without requiring a single mouse-click”. The review highlights that “Zero-touch can be applied to anything in the workflow for as much automation as desired.”

Overall, the verdict was that AlgoSec offers a “great security management product” that will “free up more time for your security teams”.

You can read the full review in SC Magazine here.