Global energy group streamlines change requests process
Organization
Industry
Headquarters
Energy Group
Utilities & Energy
International
“Now we can do a firewall change in around one hour. Before, it took five days or more with 20 engineers. Today, we do the same job, but much quicker, with 4 people - resulting in happier customers,” says the Security Service Delivery Manager. “One of the best things you win in the end, is the cost. With 500 changes on a firewall a month, that’s significant.”
IT Integrator Gets Faster Implementation of Firewall Changes – Leading to Greater Efficiency and Lower Costs
Background
The company is the IT integrator for a large energy group, which offers low-carbon energy and services. The group’s purpose is to act to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral world, through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally friendly solutions, reconciling economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet.
The IT integrator of the group designs, implements and operates IT solutions for all its business units and provides applications and infrastructure services. It includes four “families” of services: Digital and IT Consulting, Digital Workplace, Cloud Infrastructures, and Network and Cybersecurity, and Agile business solutions.
Challenges
This large group (with 170,000 employees) had a complex network with multiple elements in the firewall. With 240 firewall change requests and 500 changes a month, they needed an easier and faster way to manage these changes, ensuring their business applications functioned properly while maintaining their security posture.
The main challenges were:
- Large network with lots of rules.
- Slow execution of change requests.
- Change requests were very labor intensive.
Solution
With 500 monthly firewall changes, the customer was searching for a solution that provided:
- Faster implementation of firewall changes.
- Clear workflow and easier change management processes.
- Comprehensive firewall support.
- Visibility into their business applications and traffic flows.
The client chose AlgoSec for its workflow solution, requiring a tool that would help the customer seamlessly submit the request and enable the engineer to implement the optimal changes to the firewall.
They implemented the AlgoSec Security Policy Management Solution, made up of AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer, AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow, and AlgoSec Horizon AppViz and AppChange (formerly AlgoSec BusinessFlow).
AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. AlgoSec Horizon AppViz provides critical security information regarding the firewalls and firewall rules supporting each connectivity flow by letting users discover, identify, and map business applications. AlgoSec AppChange empowers customers to make changes at the business application level, including application migrations, server deployment, and decommissioning projects.
Results
“We do the job quicker, with less people. With 500 changes on a firewall a month, that’s significant.
I recommend AlgoSec as it gives a quick solution for the request and analysis,” said the Security Service Delivery Manager.
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.
- Easier cleanup process due to greater visibility.
- 80% reduction in manpower.
- Faster implementation of policy changes – from five days to one hour.
