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Modern organizations face a wide and constantly changing range of network security threats, and security leaders must constantly update... Network Security Network Security Threats & Solutions for Cybersecurity Leaders 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 2/11/24 Published Modern organizations face a wide and constantly changing range of network security threats, and security leaders must constantly update their security posture against them. As threat actors change their tactics, techniques, and procedures, exploit new vulnerabilities , and deploy new technologies to support their activities — it’s up to security teams to respond by equipping themselves with solutions that address the latest threats. The arms race between cybersecurity professionals and cybercriminals is ongoing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, high-profile ransomware attacks took the industry by storm. When enterprise security teams responded by implementing secure backup functionality and endpoint detection and response, cybercriminals shifted towards double extortion attacks. The cybercrime industry constantly invests in new capabilities to help hackers breach computer networks and gain access to sensitive data. Security professionals must familiarize themselves with the latest network security threats and deploy modern solutions that address them. What are the Biggest Network Security Threats? 1. Malware-based Cyberattacks Malware deserves a category of its own because so many high-profile attacks rely on malicious software to work. These include everything from the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware attack to historical events like Stuxnet . Broadly speaking, cyberattacks that rely on launching malicious software on computer systems are part of this category. There are many different types of malware-based cyberattacks, and they vary widely in scope and capability. Some examples include: Viruses. Malware that replicates itself by inserting its own code into other applications are called viruses. They can spread across devices and networks very quickly. Ransomware. This type of malware focuses on finding and encrypting critical data on the victim’s network and then demanding payment for the decryption key. Cybercriminals typically demand payment in the form of cryptocurrency, and have developed a sophisticated industrial ecosystem for conducting ransomware attacks. Spyware. This category includes malware variants designed to gather information on victims and send it to a third party without your consent. Sometimes cybercriminals do this as part of a more elaborate cyberattack. Other times it’s part of a corporate espionage plan. Some spyware variants collect sensitive information that cybercriminals value highly. Trojans. These are malicious applications disguised as legitimate applications. Hackers may hide malicious code inside legitimate software in order to trick users into becoming victims of the attack. Trojans are commonly hidden as an email attachment or free-to-download file that launches its malicious payload after being opened in the victim’s environment. Fileless Malware. This type of malware leverages legitimate tools native to the IT environment to launch an attack. This technique is also called “living off the land” because hackers can exploit applications and operating systems from inside, without having to download additional payloads and get them past firewalls. 2. Network-Based Attacks These are attacks that try to impact network assets or functionality, often through technical exploitations. Network-based attacks typically start at the edge of the network, where it sends and receives traffic to the public internet. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks. These attacks overwhelm network resources, leading to downtime and service unavailability, and in some cases, data loss . To launch DDoS attacks, cybercriminals must gain control over a large number of compromised devices and turn them into bots. Once thousands (or millions) of bots using unique IP addresses request server resources, the server breaks down and stops functioning. Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks: These attacks let cybercriminals eavesdrop on communications between two parties. In some cases, they can also alter the communications between both parties, allowing them to plan and execute more complex attacks. Many different types of man-in-the-middle attacks exist, including IP spoofing, DNS spoofing, SSL stripping, and others. 3. Social Engineering and Phishing These attacks are not necessarily technical exploits. They focus more on abusing the trust that human beings have in one another. Usually, they involve the attacker impersonating someone in order to convince the victim to give up sensitive data or grant access to a secure asset. Phishing Attacks. This is when hackers create fake messages telling victims to take some kind of action beneficial to the attacker. These deceptive messages can result in the theft of login credentials, credit card information, or more. Most major institutions are regularly impersonated by hackers running phishing scams, like the IRS . Social Engineering Attacks. These attacks use psychological manipulation to trick victims into divulging confidential information. A common example might be a hacker contacting a company posing as a third-party technology vendor, asking for access to a secure system, or impersonating the company CEO and demanding an employee pay a fictitious invoice. 4. Insider Threats and Unauthorized Access These network security threats are particularly dangerous because they are very difficult to catch. Most traditional security tools are not configured to detect malicious insiders, who generally have permission to access sensitive data and assets. Insider Threats. Employees, associates, and partners with access to sensitive data may represent severe security risks. If an authorized user decides to steal data and sell it to a hacker or competitor, you may not be able to detect their attack using traditional security tools. That’s what makes insider threats so dangerous, because they are often undetectable. Unauthorized Access. This includes a broad range of methods used to gain illegal access to networks or systems. The goal is usually to steal data or alter it in some way. Attackers may use credential-stuffing attacks to access sensitive networks, or they can try brute force methods that involve automatically testing millions of username and password combinations until they get the right one. This often works because people reuse passwords that are easy to remember. Solutions to Network Security Threats Each of the security threats listed above comes with a unique set of risks, and impacts organizations in a unique way. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to navigating these risks. Every organization has to develop a cybersecurity policy that meets its specific needs. However, the most secure organizations usually share the following characteristics. Fundamental Security Measures Well-configured Firewalls. Firewalls control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on security rules. These rules can deny unauthorized traffic attempting to connect with sensitive network assets and block sensitive information from traveling outside the network. In each case, robust configuration is key to making the most of your firewall deployment . Choosing a firewall security solution like AlgoSec can dramatically improve your defenses against complex network threats. Anti-malware and Antivirus Software. These solutions detect and remove malicious software throughout the network. They run continuously, adapting their automated scans to include the latest threat detection signatures so they can block malicious activity before it leads to business disruption. Since these tools typically rely on threat signatures, they cannot catch zero-day attacks that leverage unknown vulnerabilities. Advanced Protection Tools Intrusion Prevention Systems. These security tools monitor network traffic for behavior that suggests unauthorized activity. When they find evidence of cyberattacks and security breaches, they launch automated responses that block malicious activity and remove unauthorized users from the network. Network Segmentation. This is the process of dividing networks into smaller segments to control access and reduce the attack surface. Highly segmented networks are harder to compromise because hackers have to repeatedly pass authentication checks to move from one network zone to another. This increases the chance that they fail, or generate activity unusual enough to trigger an alert. Security and Information Event Management (SIEM) platforms. These solutions give security analysts complete visibility into network and application activity across the IT environment. They capture and analyze log data from firewalls, endpoint devices, and other assets and correlate them together so that security teams can quickly detect and respond to unauthorized activity, especially insider threats. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR). These solutions provide real-time visibility into the activities of endpoint devices like laptops, desktops, and mobile phones. They monitor these devices for threat indicators and automatically respond to identified threats before they can reach the rest of the network. More advanced Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solutions draw additional context and data from third party security tools and provide in-depth automation . Authentication and Access Control Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). This technology enhances security by requiring users to submit multiple forms of verification before accessing sensitive data. This makes it useful against phishing attacks, social engineering, and insider threats, because hackers need more than just a password to gain entry to secure networks. MFA also plays an important role in Zero Trust architecture. Strong Passwords and Access Policies. There is no replacement for strong password policies and securely controlling user access to sensitive data. Security teams should pay close attention to password policy compliance, making sure employees do not reuse passwords across accounts and avoid simple memory hacks like adding sequential numbers to existing passwords. Preventing Social Engineering and Phishing While SIEM platforms, MFA policies and strong passwords go a long way towards preventing social engineering and phishing attacks, there are a few additional security measures worth taking to reduce these risks: Security Awareness Training. Leverage a corporate training LMS to educate employees about phishing and social engineering tactics. Phishing simulation exercises can help teach employees how to distinguish phishing messages from legitimate ones, and pinpoint the users at highest risk of falling for a phishing scam. Email Filtering and Verification: Email security tools can identify and block phishing emails before they arrive in the inbox. They often rely on scanning the reputation of servers that send incoming emails, and can detect discrepancies in email metadata that suggest malicious intent. Even if these solutions generally can’t keep 100% of malicious emails out of the inbox, they significantly reduce email-related threat risks. Dealing with DDoS and MitM Attacks These technical exploits can lead to significant business disruption, especially when undertaken by large-scale threat actors with access to significant resources. Your firewall configuration and VPN policies will make the biggest difference here: DDoS Prevention Systems. Protect against distributed denial of service attacks by implementing third-party DDoS prevention solutions, deploying advanced firewall configurations, and using load balancers. Some next generation firewalls (NGFWs) can increase protection against DDoS attacks by acting as a handshake proxy and dropping connection requests that do not complete the TCP handshake process. VPNs and Encryption: VPNs provide secure communication channels that prevent MitM attacks and data eavesdropping. Encrypted traffic can only be intercepted by attackers who go through the extra step of obtaining the appropriate decryption key. This makes it much less likely they focus on your organization instead of less secure ones that are easier to target. Addressing Insider Threats Insider threats are a complex security issue that require deep, multi-layered solutions to address. This is especially true when malicious insiders are actually employees with legitimate user credentials and privileges. Behavioral Auditing and Monitoring: Regular assessments and monitoring of user activities and network traffic are vital for detecting insider threats . Security teams need to look beyond traditional security deployments and gain insight into user behaviors in order to catch authorized users doing suspicious things like escalating their privileges or accessing sensitive data they do not normally access. Zero Trust Security Model. Assume no user or device is trustworthy until verified. Multiple layers of verification between highly segmented networks — with multi-factor authentication steps at each layer — can make it much harder for insider threats to steal data and conduct cyberattacks. Implementing a Robust Security Strategy Directly addressing known threats should be just one part of your cybersecurity strategy. To fully protect your network and assets from unknown risks, you must also implement a strong security posture that can address risks associated with new and emerging cyber threats. Continual Assessment and Improvement The security threat landscape is constantly changing, and your security posture must adapt and change in response. It’s not always easy to determine exactly how your security posture should change, which is why forward-thinking security leaders periodically invest in vulnerability assessments designed to identify security vulnerabilities that may have been overlooked. Once you have a list of security weaknesses you need to address, you can begin the process of proactively addressing them by configuring your security tech stack and developing new incident response playbooks. These playbooks will help you establish a coordinated, standardized response to security incidents and data breaches before they occur. Integration of Security Tools Coordinating incident response plans isn’t easy when every tool in your tech stack has its own user interface and access control permissions. You may need to integrate your security tools into a single platform that allows security teams to address issues across your entire network from a single point of reference. This will help you isolate and address security issues on IoT devices and mobile devices without having to dedicate a particular team member exclusively to that responsibility. If a cyberattack that targets mobile apps occurs, your incident response plan won’t be limited by the bottleneck of having a single person with sufficient access to address it. Similarly, highly integrated security tools that leverage machine learning and automation can enhance the scalability of incident response and speed up incident response processes significantly. Certain incident response playbooks can be automated entirely, providing near-real-time protection against sophisticated threats and freeing your team to focus on higher-impact strategic initiatives. Developing and Enforcing Security Policies Developing and enforcing security policies is one of the high-impact strategic tasks your security team should dedicate a great deal of time and effort towards. Since the cybersecurity threat landscape is constantly changing, you must commit to adapting your policies in response to new and emerging threats quickly. That means developing a security policy framework that covers all aspects of network and data security. Similarly, you can pursue compliance with regulatory standards that ensure predictable outcomes from security incidents. Achieving compliance with standards like NIST, CMMC, PCI-DSS, and HIPPA can help you earn customers’ trust and open up new business opportunities. AlgoSec: Your Partner in Network Security Protecting against network threats requires continuous vigilance and the ability to adapt to fast-moving changes in the security landscape. Every level of your organization must be engaged in security awareness and empowered to report potential security incidents. Policy management and visibility platforms like AlgoSec can help you gain control over your security tool configurations. This enhances the value of continuous vigilance and improvement, and boosts the speed and accuracy of policy updates using automation. Consider making AlgoSec your preferred security policy automation and visibility platform. Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security 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

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

Webinars Cloud migrations made simpler: Safe, Secure and Successful Migrations Migrating applications to the cloud – without creating security holes, application outages or violating compliance – is within reach! In this webinar, Avivi Siman-Tov, Director of Product at AlgoSec, will guide you how to simplify and accelerate large-scale complex application migration projects. The webinar will cover: Why organizations choose to migrate their applications to the cloud What is required in order to move the security portion of your application and how long it may take Challenges and solutions to lower the cost, better prepare for the migration and reduce the risks involved How to deliver unified security policy management across the hybrid cloud environment October 28, 2020 Avivi Siman Tov Director of Product Relevant resources Cloud atlas: how to accelerate application migrations to the cloud Keep Reading A 3 Layered Approach to Application Migration Download (Multiligual) Migrating Application Connectivity to the Cloud Keep Reading CouchTalk: Software Defined Networks (SDN) – Migration, Security and Management Watch Video 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

Learn how to secure your hybrid cloud environment with best practices and strategies in this article Safeguard your sensitive data from potential threats Hybrid cloud security management: Best practices + solution Select a size Which network Can AlgoSec be used for continuous compliance monitoring? Yes, AlgoSec supports continuous compliance monitoring. As organizations adapt their security policies to meet emerging threats and address new vulnerabilities, they must constantly verify these changes against the compliance frameworks they subscribe to. AlgoSec can generate risk assessment reports and conduct internal audits on-demand, allowing compliance officers to monitor compliance performance in real-time. Security professionals can also use AlgoSec to preview and simulate proposed changes to the organization’s security policies. This gives compliance officers a valuable degree of lead-time before planned changes impact regulatory guidelines and allows for continuous real-time monitoring. What Is hybrid cloud security? What are the 2 other categories of cloud security? Security benefits of a hybrid cloud solution What are the risks in hybrid cloud security? Components of hybrid cloud security Hybrid cloud security infrastructure Hybrid cloud security best practices AlgoSec and hybrid cloud security Get the latest insights from the experts Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure continuous Solution Overview Use these six best practices to simplify compliance and risk Case study See how this customer improved compliance readiness and risk Case study Schedule time with 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 Continue

AlgoSec’s Integration with ServiceNow allows AlgoSec users to automate security change management and accelerate application deployments... Information Security AlgoSec and ServiceNow: Managing Network Security Policies and Processes Within ServiceNow Amir Erel 2 min read Amir Erel 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 2/3/20 Published AlgoSec’s Integration with ServiceNow allows AlgoSec users to automate security change management and accelerate application deployments within their existing ServiceNow platform It isn’t easy for organizations to get holistic visibility and management across their increasingly complex, hybrid network environments. Application owners need to make changes to existing applications or launch new ones quickly to drive the business. Meanwhile, IT and security teams must maintain security, reduce the risk of outages and misconfigurations, and meet audit and compliance demands. It’s a difficult balance to achieve. In our 2019 cloud security survey , a lack of visibility into their entire network estate and seamless management of cloud and on-prem environments were two of the biggest challenges cited by organizations. Over 40% also reported having a network or application outage, with the leading cause being operational or human errors in making changes. So robust network security management and automation of processes are increasingly mission-critical. To manage network security changes efficiently, application owners prefer to use the familiar tools and workflows that they already know, while security owners need to understand the business context of the policies to ensure that they are making the right decisions to protect the organization’s assets. AlgoSec’s integration with ServiceNow’s IT Service Management solution allows these different stakeholders to share a single management. This bridges the gap between application and security teams and gives them both a holistic view of security, risk and compliance across their entire network environment. This, in turn, accelerates application delivery and strengthens the organization’s security and compliance postures. By integrating the AlgoSec Security Management Suite with ServiceNow, organizations can automate and enrich security policy change management while remaining entirely within the tool their team is already using, with the added benefit of business context. The solution works seamlessly with existing processes and workflows, which helps accelerate the rate of adoption across entire networks. Automating change management processes Making a single change in a complex enterprise environment could take days or even weeks. Using intelligent, highly customizable workflows, AlgoSec automates the entire security policy change process – from planning and design through to submission, proactive risk analysis, implementation, validation and auditing – all with zero-touch, enabling organizations to reduce change request processing times to minutes. By working with the tools that your organization is already familiar with, you don’t need to learn new workflows and user interfaces. Your application and IT teams can continue to use the tools they already know, and encourage organizational buy-in for automated network security policy change management. For more information on AlgoSec’s integration with ServiceNow, download the datasheet or watch the demo . Schedule a demo Related Articles 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 5 Multi-Cloud Environments Cloud Security 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

AlgoSec extends Cisco ACI’s policy-based automation to security devices in the Data Center AlgoSec’s Network Security Management Solution Now on Cisco’s Global Price List AlgoSec extends Cisco ACI’s policy-based automation to security devices in the Data Center November 26, 2019 Speak to one of our experts Ridgefield Park, NJ, USA (November 26, 2019) – AlgoSec, a leading provider of business-driven network security management solutions, today announced the availability of its integrated solution for Cisco ACI and security devices on Cisco’s Global Price List. This enables Cisco’s direct and channel sales network to offer AlgoSec’s solutions to customers through Cisco’s SolutionsPlus program. Cisco ACI, the industry’s leading software-defined networking solution, facilitates application agility and Data Center automation. ACI enables scalable multi-cloud networks with a consistent policy model and provides the flexibility to move applications seamlessly to any location or any cloud while maintaining security and high availability. AlgoSec integrates with Cisco ACI to extend ACI’s policy-based automation to multi-vendor security devices across the Data Center, on its edges and in the cloud. AlgoSec Security Management Solution for ACI enables customers to better ensure continuous compliance and automates the provisioning of security policies across ACI fabric and multi-vendor security devices connected to the ACI fabric, helping customers build more secure Data Centers. “AlgoSec and Cisco ACI share an application-centric approach to network security management, allowing customers to realize the full potential of intent-based Data Centers. We are delighted to be a part of Cisco’s Solutions Plus program and get listed on Global Price List,” said Avishai Wool, CTO and co-founder at AlgoSec. “Extending Cisco ACI’s policy driven automation to security devices, closely aligns with AlgoSec’s strategies and will deliver powerful benefits to our mutual customers. It enables customers to build truly automated IT environments that are flexible, secure and responsive to their business needs,” added Bruno Weinberger, VP, Strategic Alliances at AlgoSec. “Networking teams are increasingly adopting application-centric, policy-driven approach to meet rapidly changing requirements from IT teams and application owners,” said Ranga Rao, Senior Director of Product Management and Solutions, Cisco Data Center Networking. “AlgoSec security management solution extends ACI’s policy model and automation capabilities to security devices, allowing customers and partners to build agile and more secure data centers.” Cisco and AlgoSec’s channel partners share an equal level of enthusiasm about this initiative. “This collaboration between Cisco and AlgoSec is a great news for Conscia. As a Cisco Gold Partner and AlgoSec’s strategic partner, we hope to enable customers to realize the potential of application driven security automation, help ensure continuous compliance and reduce the attack surface in their Data Centers” said Henrik Skovfoged, System Engineering Director, Conscia A/S. About Cisco DevNet SolutionsPlus Program DevNet Solutions Plus 2.0 places a select set of “Cisco Compatible” products on the Cisco Systems price list, making it faster for customers to order non-Cisco products from Cisco sales teams and channel partners. Products in Cisco DevNet Solutions Plus 2.0 complement and augment Cisco’s advanced technology products. Cisco DevNet Solutions Plus 2.0 vendors are also part of the Cisco® Solution Partner Program. About AlgoSec The leading provider of business-driven network security management solutions, AlgoSec helps the world’s largest organizations align security with their mission-critical business processes. With AlgoSec, users can discover, map and migrate business application connectivity, proactively analyze risk from the business perspective, tie cyber-attacks to business processes and intelligently automate network security changes with zero touch – across their cloud, SDN and on-premise networks. Over 1,800 enterprises , including 20 of the Fortune 50, have utilized AlgoSec’s solutions to make their organizations more agile, more secure and more compliant – all the time. Since 2005, AlgoSec has shown its commitment to customer satisfaction with the industry’s only money-back guarantee .All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. Media Contacts: Tsippi [email protected] Craig CowardContext Public [email protected] +44 (0)1625 511 966

Webinars 5 proven ways to secure your hybrid network environment during team convergence Cloud and datacenter security teams are now one, but the tools, workflows, and policies haven’t caught up. Join ESG Principal Analyst John Grady alongside AlgoSec’s Field CTO Kyle Wickert and Product Manager Gal Yosef for a practical conversation on how leading organizations are tackling the operational challenges of security convergence. What you’ll learn: Why convergence between cloud and datacenter teams is accelerating How to reduce tool overload and policy inconsistencies What steps are teams taking to unify visibility, policy, and risk without slowing down delivery July 16, 2025 John Grady Principal Analyst | ESG Gal Yosef Product Manager | AlgoSec Kyle Wickert WW Strategic Architect Relevant resources 6 best practices to stay secure in the hybrid cloud Read Document Securing & managing hybrid network security See Documentation 6 must-dos to secure the hybrid cloud Read Document 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

Best practices for network security governance in AWS and hybrid network environments Webinars Overcoming the Hybrid Cloud Policy Management Challenge: A Panel Discussion Visibility May 27, 2020 Omer Ganot Product Manager Yonatan Klein irector of Product Management Relevant resources State of cloud security: Concerns, challenges, and incidents Read Document Demystifying Network Security in Hybrid Cloud Environments Keep Reading A Pragmatic Approach to Network Security Across Your Hybrid Cloud Environment 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

Understand the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Learn key requirements, best practices, and how to achieve and maintain FISMA compliance. FISMA compliance defined: Requirements & best practices Everything You wanted to know about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) is a U.S. federal law that requires federal government agencies and their third-party partners to implement an information security program to protect their sensitive data. It provides a comprehensive security and risk management framework to implement effective controls for federal information systems. Introduced in 2002, FISMA is part of the E-Government Act of 2002 that’s aimed at improving the management of electronic government services and processes. Both these U.S. government regulations are implemented to uphold federal data security standards and protect sensitive data in government systems. FISMA 2002 was amended by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA 2014). Schedule a Demo What is FISMA compliance? FISMA compliance means adhering to a set of policies, standards, and guidelines to protect the personal or sensitive information contained in government systems. FISMA requires all government agencies and their vendors, service providers, and contractors to improve their information security controls based on these pre-defined requirements. Like FISMA, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) enables federal agencies and their vendors to protect government data, albeit for cloud services. FISMA is jointly overseen by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST develops the FISMA standards and guidelines – including the minimum security requirements – that bolster the IT security and risk management practices of agencies and their contractors. The DHS administers these programs to help maximize federal information system security. FISMA non-compliance penalties FISMA non-compliance can result in many penalties, including reduced federal funding and censure by the U.S. Congress. Companies can also lose federal contracts and suffer damage to their reputation. Further, non-compliance indicates a poor cybersecurity infrastructure, which may result in costly cyberattacks or data breaches, which could then result in regulatory fines or legal penalties. Schedule a Demo Who must be FISMA-compliant? FISMA’s data protection rules were originally applicable only to U.S. federal agencies. While these standards are still applicable to all federal agencies without exception, they are now applicable to other organizations as well. Thus, any third-party contractor or other organization that provides services to a federal agency and handles sensitive information on behalf of the government must also comply with FISMA. Thus the list of organizations that must comply with FISMA includes: Public or private sector organizations having contractual agreements with federal agencies Public or private organizations that support a federal program or receive grants from federal agencies State agencies like Medicare and Medicaid Schedule a Demo What are the FISMA compliance requirements? The seven key requirements of FISMA compliance are: 1. Maintain an inventory of information systems All federal agencies and their contractors must maintain an updated list of their IT systems. They must also identify and track the integrations between these systems and any other systems in the network. The inventory should include systems that are not operated by or under their direct control. 2. Categorize information security risks Organizations must categorize their information and information systems in order of risk. Such categorizations can help them to focus their security efforts on high-risk areas and ensure that sensitive information is given the highest level of security. The NIST’s FIPS 199 standard provides risk categorization guidelines. It also defines a range of risk levels that organizations can assign to their information systems during risk categorization. 3. Implement security controls Since FISMA’s purpose is to protect the information in government systems, security controls that provide this protection are a mandatory requirement. Under FISMA, all government information systems must meet the minimum security requirements defined in FIPS 200. Organizations are not required to implement every single control. However, they must implement the controls that are relevant to them and their systems. They must also document the selected controls in their system security plan (SSP). NIST 800-53 (NIST special publication or SP) provides a list of suggested security controls for FISMA compliance. 4. Conduct risk assessments A risk assessment is a review of an organization’s security program to identify and assess potential risks. After identifying cyber threats and vulnerabilities, the organization should map them to the security controls that could mitigate them. Based on the likelihood and impact of a security incident, they must determine the risk of that threat. The final risk assessment includes risk calculations of all possible security events plus information about whether the organization will accept or mitigate each of these risks. NIST SP 800-30 provides guidance to conduct risk assessments for FISMA compliance. The NIST recommends identifying risks at three levels: organizational, business process, and information system. 5. Create a system security plan All federal agencies must implement an SSP to help with the implementation of security controls. They must also regularly maintain it and update it annually to ensure that they can implement the best and most up-to-date security solutions. The SSP should include information about the organization’s security policies and controls, and a timeline to introduce further controls. It can also include security best practices. The document is a major input in the agency’s (or third party’s) security certification and accreditation process. 6. Conduct annual security reviews Under FISMA, all program officers, compliance officials, and agency heads must conduct and oversee annual security reviews to confirm that the implemented security controls are sufficient and information security risks are at a minimum level. Agency officials can also accredit their information systems. By doing this, they accept responsibility for the security of these systems and are accountable for any adverse impacts of security incidents. Accreditation is part of the four-phase FISMA certification process. Its other three phases are initiation and planning, certification, and continuous monitoring. 7. Continuously monitor information systems Organizations must monitor their implemented security controls and document system changes and modifications. If they make major changes, they should also conduct an updated risk assessment. They may also need to be recertified. Schedule a Demo What are the benefits of FISMA compliance? FISMA compliance benefits both government agencies and their contractors and vendors. By following its guidelines and implementing its requirements, they can: Adopt a robust risk management-centered approach to security planning and implementation Continually assess, monitor, and optimize their security ecosystem Increase org-wide awareness about the need to secure sensitive data Improve incident response and accelerate incident and risk remediation Benefits of FISMA compliance for federal agencies FISMA compliance increases the cybersecurity focus within federal agencies. By implementing its mandated security controls, it can protect its information and information systems, and also protect the privacy of individuals and national security. In addition, by continuously monitoring their controls, they can maintain a consistently strong security posture. They can also eliminate newly-discovered vulnerabilities quickly and cost-effectively. Benefits of FISMA compliance for other organizations FISMA-compliant organizations can strengthen their security postures by implementing its security best practices. They can better protect their data and the government’s data, prevent data breaches and improve incident response planning. Furthermore, they can demonstrate to federal agencies that they have implemented FISMA’s recommended security controls, which gives them an advantage when trying to get new business from these agencies. Schedule a Demo The three levels of FISMA compliance FISMA defines three compliance levels, which refer to the possible impact of a security breach on an organization. These three impact levels are: 1. Low impact Low impact means that the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability is likely to have a limited adverse effect on the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For this reason, the security controls for these systems or data types need only meet the low level of FISMA compliance. 2. Moderate impact A moderate impact incident is one in which the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could have serious adverse consequences for the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For example, it may result in significant financial loss to the organization or significant harm to individuals. However, it is unlikely to cause severe damage or result in the loss of life. 3. High impact The compromise of a high-impact information system could have catastrophic consequences for the organization’s operations, assets, or people. For example, a breach may prevent the organization from performing its primary functions, resulting in major financial loss. It may also cause major damage to assets or result in severe harm to individuals (e.g., loss of life or life-threatening injuries). To prevent such consequences, these systems must be protected with the strongest controls. Schedule a Demo FISMA compliance best practices Following the best practices outlined below can ease the FISMA compliance effort and enable organizations to meet all applicable FISMA requirements: Identify the information that must be protected and classify it based on its sensitivity level as it is created Create a security plan to monitor data activity and detect threats Implement automatic encryption for sensitive data Conduct regular risk assessments to identify and fix vulnerabilities and outdated policies Regularly monitor information security systems Provide cybersecurity awareness training to employees Maintain evidence of FISMA compliance, including records of system inventories, risk categorization efforts, security controls, SSPs, certifications, and accreditations Stay updated on changes to FISMA standards, new NIST guidelines, and evolving security best practices Schedule a Demo How AlgoSec can help you with FISMA compliance? Using the AlgoSec platform , you can instantly and clearly see which applications expose you to FISMA compliance violations. You can also automatically generate pre-populated, audit-ready compliance reports to reduce your audit preparation efforts and costs and enhance your audit readiness. AlgoSec will also uncover gaps in your FISMA compliance posture and proactively check every change for possible compliance violations. Schedule a Demo Select a size Everything You wanted to know about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) What is FISMA compliance? Who must be FISMA-compliant? What are the FISMA compliance requirements? What are the benefits of FISMA compliance? The three levels of FISMA compliance FISMA compliance best practices How AlgoSec can help you with FISMA compliance? 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

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Energy supplier keeps the lights on with automated network change management Organization Energy Supplier Industry Utilities & Energy Headquarters International Download case study Share Customer
success stories "AlgoSec has saved us a lot of time in managing our rule base.” Large energy supplier empowers internal stakeholders and streamlines network security policy change process Background The company is the provider of electricity and gas for their country. They are responsible for the planning, construction, operation, maintenance and global technical management of both these grids and associated infrastructures. The Challenge In order to provide power to millions of people, the company runs more than twenty IT and OT firewalls from multiple vendors that are hosted in multiple data centers throughout the country. Some of the challenges included: Lack of visibility over a complex architecture – With multiple networks, IT managers needed to know which network is behind which firewall and connect traffic flows to firewall rules. Change management processes were being managed by network diagrams created in Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets – tools that were not designed for network security policy management. Thousands of rules – Each firewall may have thousands of rules each. Many of these rules are unneeded and introduce unnecessary risk. Managing the maze of rules was time consuming and took time away from other strategic initiatives. Unnecessary requests – Business stakeholders were requesting status information about network traffic and making duplicate and unnecessary change requests for items covered by existing rules. The Solution The company was searching for a solution that provided: Visibility into their network topology, including traffic flows. Optimization of their firewall rules. Alerts before time-based rules expire. Automatic implementation of their rule base onto their firewall devices. They implemented AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and AlgoSec FireFlow, as well as AlgoBot, AlgoSec’s ChatOps solution. AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. AlgoBot is an intelligent chatbot that handles network security policy management tasks. AlgoBot answers business user’s questions, submitted in plain English, and automatically assists with security policy change management processes – without requiring manual inputs or additional research. The Results Some of the ways the company benefitted from using AlgoSec include: Visibility and topology mapping – They are able to get a picture of their entire network and view traffic flows to each network device. Optimized firewall rules – They are able to adjust the placement of their rules, placing their most used rules higher in the rule base, improving performance, and also checking for unused objects or rules to clean up, removing unused rules, improving firewall performance. Improved communication and transparency for time-based rules – Before time-based rules expire (rule with an expiration date), the requester is automatically notified and asked if the rule should be extended or removed. Better, more refined rule requests – By first gathering information from AlgoBot, rule requests are better focused. Internal customers are able to check if rules are already in place before making requests, therefore avoiding requests that are already covered by existing rules. Empower internal stakeholders – Able to save the IT team’s time by empowering internal stakeholders to use AlgoBot to get the answers themselves to traffic queries. Met change implementation SLAs – By implementing their rules with AlgoSec, the company meets their internal SLAs for change implementation. Streamlined auditing processes – By documenting the changes they made in the firewalls, who made them, and when, their audit processes are streamlined. Zero-touch automation – Automatically implementing rules in multiple firewalls simultaneously ensures policy consistency across multiple devices, while preserving staff resources. This also eliminates the need to use the management consoles from individual vendors, saving time and reducing misconfigurations. Staff efficiencies – Hundreds of monthly change requests are able to be managed by a single staff member. He would not be able to do it without AlgoSec. The company switched from a competing solution because it was more user-friendly and provided greater visibility than the competing solution they were previously using. They are also impressed with AlgoSec’s scalability. “The initial setup is really easy. It has been running flawlessly since installation. Even upgrades are pretty straightforward and have never given us problems,” they noted. Schedule time with one of our experts

Learn the basics of managing multiple workloads in the cloud and how to create a successful enterprise level security management program Webinars Journey to the Cloud Learn to speed up application delivery across a hybrid cloud environment while maintaining a high level of security Efficient cloud management helps simplify today’s complex network environment, allowing you to secure application connectivity anywhere. But it can be hard to achieve sufficient visibility when your data is dispersed across numerous public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises devices. Today it is easier than ever to speed up application delivery across a hybrid cloud environment while maintaining a high level of security. In this webinar, we’ll discuss: – The basics of managing multiple workloads in the cloud – How to create a successful enterprise-level security management program – The structure of effective hybrid cloud management July 5, 2022 Stephen Owen Esure Group Omer Ganot Product Manager Relevant resources Cloud atlas: how to accelerate application migrations to the cloud Keep Reading A Pragmatic Approach to Network Security Across Your Hybrid Cloud Environment Keep Reading 6 best practices to stay secure in the hybrid cloud Read Document 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

Nick Ellsmore is an Australian cybersecurity professional whose thoughts on the future of cybersecurity are always insightful. Having a... Cloud Security Errare humanum est Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich 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 11/25/21 Published Nick Ellsmore is an Australian cybersecurity professional whose thoughts on the future of cybersecurity are always insightful. Having a deep respect for Nick, I really enjoyed listening to his latest podcast “Episode 79 Making the cyber sector redundant with Nick Ellsmore” . As Nick opened the door to debate on “all the mildly controversial views” he has put forward in the podcast, I decided to take a stab at a couple of points made by Nick. For some mysterious reason, these points have touched my nerve. So, here we go. Nick: The cybersecurity industry, we spent so long trying to get people to listen to us and take the issue seriously, you know, we’re now getting that, you know. Are the businesses really responding because we were trying to get people to listen to us? Let me rephrase this question. Are the businesses really spending more on cybersecurity because we were trying to get people to listen to us? The “cynical me” tells me No. Businesses are spending more on cybersecurity because they are losing more due to cyber incidents. It’s not the number of incidents; it’s their impact that is increasingly becoming devastating. Over the last ten years, there were plenty of front-page headliners that shattered even seemingly unshakable businesses and government bodies. Think of Target attack in 2013, the Bank of Bangladesh heist in 2016, Equifax breach in 2017, SolarWinds hack in 2020 .. the list goes on. We all know how Uber tried to bribe attackers to sweep the stolen customer data under the rug. But how many companies have succeeded in doing so without being caught? How many cyber incidents have never been disclosed? These headliners don’t stop. Each of them is another reputational blow, impacted stock options, rolled heads, stressed-out PR teams trying to play down the issue, knee-jerk reaction to acquire snake-oil-selling startups, etc. We’re not even talking about skewed election results (a topic for another discussion). Each one of them comes at a considerable cost. So no wonder many geniuses now realise that spending on cybersecurity can actually mitigate those risks. It’s not our perseverance that finally started paying off. It’s their pockets that started hurting. Nick: I think it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that this is actually a bad thing to have to spend money on. Like, the reason that we’re doing this is not healthy. .. no one gets up in the morning and says, wow, I can’t wait to, you know, put better locks on my doors. It’s not the locks we sell. We sell gym membership. We want people to do something now to stop bad things from happening in the future. It’s a concept of hygiene, insurance, prevention, health checks. People are free not to pursue these steps, and run their business the way they used to .. until they get hacked, get into the front page, wondering first “Why me?” and then appointing a scapegoat. Nick: And so I think we need to remember that, in a sense, our job is to create the entire redundancy of this sector. Like, if we actually do our job, well, then we all have to go and do something else, because security is no longer an issue. It won’t happen due to 2 main reasons. Émile Durkheim believed in a “society of saints”. Unfortunately, it is a utopia. Greed, hunger, jealousy, poverty are the never-ending satellites of the human race that will constantly fuel crime. Some of them are induced by wars, some — by corrupt regimes, some — by sanctions, some — by imperfect laws. But in the end — there will always be Haves and Have Nots, and therefore, fundamental inequality. And that will feed crime. “Errare humanum est” , Seneca. To err is human. Because of human errors, there will always be vulnerabilities in code. Because of human nature (and as its derivative, geopolitical or religious tension, domination, competition, nationalism, fight for resources), there will always be people willing to and capable of exploiting those vulnerabilities. Mix those two ingredients — and you get a perfect recipe for cybercrime. Multiply that with never-ending computerisation, automation, digital transformation, and you get a constantly growing attack surface. No matter how well we do our job, we can only control cybercrime and keep the lid on it, but we can’t eradicate it. Thinking we could would be utopic. Another important consideration here is budget constraints. Building proper security is never fun — it’s a tedious process that burns cash but produces no tangible outcome. Imagine a project with an allocated budget B to build a product P with a feature set F, in a timeframe T. Quite often, such a project will be underfinanced, potentially leading to a poor choice of coders, overcommitted promises, unrealistic expectations. Eventually leading to this (oldie, but goldie): Add cybersecurity to this picture, and you’ll get an extra step that seemingly complicates everything even further: The project investors will undoubtedly question why that extra step was needed. Is there a new feature that no one else has? Is there a unique solution to an old problem? None of that? Then what’s the justification for such over-complication? Planning for proper cybersecurity built-in is often perceived as FUD. If it’s not tangible, why do we need it? Customers won’t see it. No one will see it. Scary stories in the press? Nah, that’ll never happen to us. In some way, extra budgeting for cybersecurity is anti-capitalistic in nature. It increases the product cost and, therefore, its price, making it less competitive. It defeats the purpose of outsourcing product development, often making outsourcing impossible. From the business point of view, putting “Sec” into “DevOps” does not make sense. That’s Ok. No need. .. until it all gloriously hits the fan, and then we go back to STEP 1. Then, maybe, just maybe, the customer will say, “If we have budgeted for that extra step, then maybe we would have been better off”. Schedule a demo Related Articles 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? 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