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Everything you ever wanted to know about security policy management, and much more.

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Keeping tabs on your critical business applications

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The more valuable something is, the more you want to protect it.  This applies to any business:  your local retail megastore for example, will supplement its basic security measures (such as CCTV and store detectives) by attaching electronic tags to high-value items like TVs and electronic goods.  If triggered, the tag system immediately alerts to the store’s security staff that an incident is taking place which needs an urgent response.

The same principle also applies to network security management.  The average enterprise network supports hundreds or even thousands of applications – yet only some of them are business-critical applications, such as an order processing system for an e-commerce site, an airline’s baggage routing system, or a manufacturer’s ERP system.

However, while your IT and security teams will likely know which applications are business-critical, the direct impact of a firewall rule or security policy change on these business applications may not always be immediately apparent to the team. So how can IT and security teams ensure that they focus and prioritize their security management efforts on the applications that really drive the business?

Tagging your most valuable assets

In the same way that a retailer will tag high-value items as an additional protective measure, AlgoSec enables security teams to tag the applications that are critical to their business.  This ensures that the traffic flows and connectivity serving those applications are continually and automatically monitored through a customizable dashboard.  If an event such as a policy or rule change affects the applications’ connectivity, AlgoSec will automatically alert the security team, so that the issues can be remediated as an urgent priority to minimize business disruption. In the event of a cyber-attack affecting such an application , the “Business-Critical” tag will also assist the incident response team in prioritizing remediation efforts, further enhancing AlgoSec’s incident response capabilities by adding additional business context.

This capability gives security and network operations teams the visibility and business context they need to strategically prioritize and focus their security management actions on the processes that directly drive the organization’s productivity.

Performance matters

Monitoring high-value business applications also helps with application performance management (APM) efforts.  APM solutions monitor the speed of transactions and response times to user requests to ensure that critical applications are delivering the levels of performance, availability and user experience that the business expects.

If an application is not performing as expected, the team responsible for it will investigate to find the root cause. AlgoSec’s tagging capability makes it quick and easy to identify and remediate any security-related connectivity or traffic flow issues in these core applications, helping to minimize disruption.

To find out more about What’s New in AlgoSec 6.11 please see here.

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