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mervemetin - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Türkiye İş Bankası
Real User
Offers valuable instantaneous AFA reports and the support team has good response time
Pros and Cons
  • "There are some important and really nice features that I want to mention about AlgoSec. The most useful feature is instantaneous AFA reports, that you do not have to wait (at least one week or even more for a more accurate one) to get optimization recommendations about policy as many other vendors."
  • "To be more specific, when we tried to add some devices on AlgoSec it seemed to be done but when you checked the monitor section, some device was always red. Finally, we could handle this part by installing a new software fix but AlgoSec support was weak when we tried to handle this process."

Hi all,

As many users do , we are using algosec for policy optimization and violation detection, too.

There are some important and really nice to use features that I want to mention about Algosec.

Firstly, one of the most useful feature is instantaneous afa report, that you do not have to wait some time to analyze the firewall traffic. When working with some other vendors, someone has to wait at least one week or even more for an accurate analyze and optimization recommendations. You do not have to wait for it when using Algosec.

Secondly, web user interface is really user-friendly and easy to use. I can find all the items I look for easily. Soon, we will also use network simulator feature. That will be useful to see the end-to-end traffic, and will increase the visibility in a high rate. We can easily track the changes in policies with Algosec. AlgoSec automatically sends an email to the selected teams when a policy change occurs.

Our environment is large comparing to any company that are working onsimilar sector with us. So optimization and external monitoring is inevitable necessity for our environment, and especially for firewall rule optimization algosec or a similar product provides a very helpful assistance.

In my opinion, we are using algosec for a long time (nearly 6 years).Until two years ago, most of things were working perfectly with algosec. When next generation firewalls came as a hot topic and used oftenly, we faced some minor problems on algosec. We always wrote about the problems to algosec support.

To be more specific, when we tried to add some devices on algosec it seemed to be done but when you check monitor section, some of the devices were red lighted. Finally, we could handled this part after we installed a new software fix. After that, we started to use inline layer feature of a next generation firewall vendor as many customer did, at first algosec failed to recognize inline layers and rules in the inline layers. We failed to analyze, improve andoptimize our inline layer rules for some time. Support was a little desperate in this case. After installing some new hotfix updates , this problem was also fixed successfully.

As one other example, algosec did not support one of the firewall vendor product (firepower) completely . After new software updates on both sides (both the firewall vendor and algosec), that vendor is supported for some features partially.

As a customer, the role of the support team of a product becomes very very important and vital when a customer faces such different problems about software bugs or different vendor compatibilities. To be more clear, response time should be short enough and support interest about the subject should also be high enough. Because firewall is the most important and critical member of a network. Algosec response time is improved day by day in all these years.

Support team is much more supportive this year. We had a fresh install and we added all the devices again on algosec. Everything works perfectly. Of course we are having problems too, but problems are inevitable and oftenly when you working on a software environment. The most important factor is support team. And support team is giving fast response and support in all cases.

In addition to that, last version of algosec software seems to handle all the previous  minor problems, and this plays an important role about that we are working with algosec happily. As a conclusion, we are using security optimization in a very detailed way and Algosec is the best when comparing to other vendors in all perspectives.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1112223 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Improves security, manageability, and compliance for our large installation
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the FW report, traffic simulation, and the FireFlow system to help manage requests."
  • "We have a complaint about the compliance check, in that sometimes we want to keep rules rather than merge them."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this solution is FW analysis and compliance.

We have hundreds of FWs to manage and check. It is normal that similar rules, and perhaps not so good ones, can be set up. AlgoSec helps to make our network security better and improves our internal customer relationships by using FireFlow.

How has it helped my organization?

AlgoSec helps us to manage hundreds of FWs and take care of policy compliance.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the FW report, traffic simulation, and the FireFlow system to help manage requests.

What needs improvement?

We have a complaint about the compliance check, in that sometimes we want to keep rules rather than merge them.

For how long have I used the solution?

Six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe that it could be better, and make sure different scenarios are possible.

How are customer service and technical support?

The customer support is very good. They really show that they want to make the product better, and take care of the customer's needs.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a previous solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The complexity sometimes comes from the fact that the company scenario is not so easy.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution internally with support from AlgoSec.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate other options, but I am not sure of the reasons for choosing this one because it was a management decision.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1112223 - PeerSpot reviewer
reviewer1112223Works at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Sonia Pinho

Buyer's Guide
AlgoSec
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about AlgoSec. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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reviewer946827 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
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.

What is our primary use case?

We have a big environment consisting of around 100 firewalls with a combination of different vendors. We use AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer to analyze our firewall rules from different vendors and importantly for our firewall optimization project.  

How has it helped my organization?

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. 

What is most valuable?

Firewall Optimization is all time favorite which saves a lot of manual work and increases device performance. Compliance is also equally important as our organization is very concerned about it and AlgoSec does it for us in minutes. 

What needs improvement?

I always wanted AlgoSec to support cloud base security firewalls such as Amazon security groups-AWS or Microsoft Azure network security groups. Hoping they will have it ready by end of 2018. 

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

AlgoSec releases hotfixes every now and then which keeps the product stable and with better performance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AlgoSec is a much-needed tool for any organization as it helps in reducing manual effort when it comes to managing firewalls. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted customer service that much but whenever I do, I receive a great support and they reach beyond your expectations.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used Tufin beforemuch-much we faced lots of challenges and saw bugs all the time so we wanted something better. 

How was the initial setup?

I have AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and FireFlow certifications which helped me a lot during initial set up. It was straightforward and easy. 

What about the implementation team?

It was in-house.

What was our ROI?

It's a lot, as it saves time and money.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am a security engineer and from my point, I would say setup is without complications. Pricing and licensing is taken care of by my senior management so I cannot comment on it. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Just Tufin, as this was a competitor to AlgoSec.

What other advice do I have?

It's simply great, keep going. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1571316 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Analyst at a maritime company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Gives us a high level of confidence that our ACLs and our risk components are in line with our expectations
Pros and Cons
  • "AlgoSec gives us a high level of confidence that our ACLs and our risk components are actually in line with our expectations. Because we run a lot of our firewalls as an internal change control boundary, we rely on them heavily to segregate vendor networks. It gives us a high level of confidence that those third-party networks that ride on the backbone are segregated and appropriately defined."
  • "We have a fairly complex routing environment that AlgoSec struggled with having dual routers and first hop routing protocols. The initial period when we were doing an installation with their support desk was fairly challenging."

What is our primary use case?

We use AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer and FireFlow. 

Our primary infrastructure is all on-premise. We tend to leverage only SaaS components of the public cloud. We have over ninety sites including branch offices and Data Centers.

We have over on hundred firewalls and we are a PCI compliant organization. So, we use it for all of our change control around all of our firewall ACL deployments, as well as our risk profiling. We use Fireflow for the change management and audit control. The IT security department uses it for ACL reviews and ACL change requests.

How has it helped my organization?

Specifically, with FireFlow, we've managed to integrate that into our overall change advisory and request for change control process: requests flow through a ticket, through AlgoSec Fireflow, through our IT security department for approvals. We've taken advantage of all that. We generally do not have any out-of-band changes and those that happen are logged, tracked and reported on.

The Active Change component has helped reduce human error and given people more confidence the ACL changes have been applied as they requested.

AlgoSec has helped to simplify the job of our security auditors. Primarily, from an audit perspective, it's much faster than it ever was because they can review the ACLs all in one tool now, as opposed to asking for plain text CSV dumps of firewall rules. They can also respond a lot faster now to requests for ACLs as to whether or not they're valid or required because they can review the traffic simulator.

AlgoSec enables us to manage our dispersed environments in a single pane of glass for the firewalls. Seeing all of those firewalls in one view, we no longer need to use things like the Cisco ASDM for day-to-day ACL management. 

What is most valuable?

AlgoSec gives us a high level of confidence that our ACLs and our risk components are actually in line with our expectations. Because we run a lot of our firewalls as an internal change control boundary, we rely on them heavily to segregate security zones. It gives us a high level of confidence that things like third-party networks that ride on the backbone are segregated and appropriately defined.

The features I find the most valuable are the:

  • Duplicate objects
  • Unused rules
  • Duplicate rules.

The traffic simulation has been really valuable, especially with other business units that aren't familiar with the firewalls but are looking to see whether or not traffic they're using or going to be putting on the network through projects is going to be impacted.

The overall visibility that AlgoSec gives into our network security policies is high. Our firewalls are our primary control boundary on the LAN. They give us the most amount of visibility we can get at that layer without microsegmentation.

AlgoSec provides us with full visibility into the risk involved in firewall change requests. That feature is important to us because we're a heavily risk-averse organization when it comes to IT control and changes, It allows us to verify, for the most part, that the controls that IT security is putting in place are being maintained and tracked at the security boundaries.

It has reduced the time it takes to implement firewall rules. We can sometimes do 20 to 30 ACL either adds, removes, or changes in a week. In some cases those changes are now down to minutes. Prior to AlgoSec, we would have to do all the manual verification which meant potentially logging into every related firewall, checking every ACL, and making sure that we got the placement correct.

What needs improvement?

We have a fairly complex routing environment that AlgoSec struggled with. The initial period when we were doing an installation with their support desk was fairly challenging.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using AlgoSec for about a year and a half to two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not had any issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

So far, we haven't had any issues with scalability. We're at 100+ firewalls, all of them logging directly to the product without issue, and we're using it daily.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've had a mixed experience with their support. It's swung the gamut from someone who will just reference their own publicly available knowledge base right up to someone going directly to the developers. That process has felt inconsistent. I never know which one I'm getting.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were not previously using another solution. We chose AlgoSec because we knew that we were going to be managing ACLs globally at a rapid rate going forward and we needed a solution for that.

How was the initial setup?

For our implementation strategy, we used their JumpStart process where they actually had an AlgoSec representative come to us and get us through the implementation. That resource was here for about a week. By the end of the week, it was up and running enough for us to complete the more organization specific components of the implementation.

We had three staff involved in the deployment and there's typically a team of about five of us involved in the daily maintenance and operations. We were all part of the JumpStart. 

About a dozen people now use the tool regularly and that number continues to increase.

What was our ROI?

For us, on the network team specifically, we're a small team relative to the number of devices that we manage. Having so many firewall rule changes come in on a regular basis, we were likely going to lose a body if not two, just to managing ACL adds and changes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Initially, the licensing was a little bit unclear. We run a of our firewalls with high availability solutions and how licenses got presented and accounted for was unclear. Overall though, the licensing is pretty straightforward.

The licensing and support cost is fairly significant, likely out of reach for any small and most medium sized businesses without a significant security requirement.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Tufin and FireMon. At the time, FireMon was cloud-based and we had a policy that didn't allow us to use it.

We had met with AlgoSec a couple of times over the years at Cisco Live. We were familiar with their platform.

What other advice do I have?

My advice would be to be ready to find out the things you probably didn't know. For us, there were a lot of rules that were implemented that weren't being used, a lot of objects that were duplicates.  We were unknowingly hoarding all kinds of configuration data that was no longer relevant.

Overall, I would rate AlgoSec a solid eight out of 10.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Cyber Security Specialist at Richemont
Real User
Improves visibility, automatically creates and optimized firewall rules
Pros and Cons
  • "We met our goal by gaining visibility and automating rule creation."
  • "This solution would be improved if it were able to compare configurations and provide recommendations."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary uses for AlgoSec are to gain visibility and automate rule creation.

How has it helped my organization?

We met our goal by gaining visibility and automating rule creation. We are on a very good track.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the help of cleaning the firewall rules and object databases.

What needs improvement?

This solution would be improved if it were able to compare configurations and provide recommendations. For example, suggest cluster members.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using AlgoSec for four years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Real User
The ability to see rules with a few clicks isd valuable

What is our primary use case?

  • Firewall management, configuration, and risk management functions to ensure the highest security posture
  • Automated change notification is a must and is critical in maintaining a safe environment and compliance. 
  • Need the ability to review the policy and NAT rule bases
  • Lastly, logs from a firewall can be overwhelming and difficult to maintain, so every security department needs the ability to review logs with accuracy.  

How has it helped my organization?

AlgoSec provides visibility of policy and NAT firewall rules for rule review and cleanup. It provides risk management status of our firewalls at a glance, and notifies when any change is made to the firewalls. This solution has improved our security posture, lowered our risk and exposure, saved time with cleanup and maintaining the firewalls, and allowed for log review with ease. Finally, AlgoSec has changed how firewall management and changes are conducted, so it has improved our overall process and procedures.

What is most valuable?

I value all the rich features of AlgoSec equally since it solves many problems with one solution. From the ability to see rules with a few clicks to maintaining or lowering the firewall's security risk score is priceless. And, the support team behind the solution is equally as strong and helpful, making this one of my best implementation decisions and tools in the toolset.

What needs improvement?

AlgoSec is my favorite tool because it does what it is designed to do and it does it well. The service I've received from their support teams is second to none. They have always successfully answered my questions and solved my problems. So, it is difficult to improve a solid solution but, not everything is perfect. Having executive type reporting capabilities which explain the security posture and scoring to provide to executive management would be a nice feature to add. Reports can be printed, but an executive summary report would be an improvement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Defensive Security Leader at Stone Pagamentos
Real User
Providing reports and security improvements added value to the services provided to our customers

What is our primary use case?

Implemented in a Managed Security Service Provider and had every managed customer firewalls integrated as part of the service. The tops were used to generate baseline reports and compliance views suiting all kinds of businesses.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution greatly improved the value delivered to the customer, generating reports and providing suggestions for improvements.

What is most valuable?

AlgoSec Firewall Analyser (AFA): Providing reports and security improvements actually added value to the services provided to our customers. This was a key feature provided as a service allowing us to be proactive anticipating possible flaws and vulnerabilities.

What needs improvement?

  • Support more and more vendors, like minor ones: WatchGuard and others. 
  • Also, it would be interesting if it could analyse iptables and IPFW rules and support migration.
  • Windows Firewall and Forefront would also be nice since we often need to migrate from those platforms and prove the value of the newly installed solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Very stable, I've had minimal problems using it, and the solution feels really mature.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Not that great, they are improving though.

How are customer service and technical support?

Great support. Always available.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No.

How was the initial setup?

Completely straightforward except with the configuration of Check Point devices which requires additional steps.

What about the implementation team?

In-house.

What was our ROI?

Great return since the firewall analysis was sold as a service to our customer.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Setup is really straightforward, and their professional services are available for your every need. About costs, I don't see much difference from its competitors.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes. Tufin and FireMon.

What other advice do I have?

It's not a solution to install and forget. To bring out the best of its value you must always keep generating reports and applying corrections. It's a great tool to have especially if you have too many juniors operators.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Security Architect at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
We like the ability to review and understand your firewall topology, run reports and have the ability for practitioners and auditors to review our security posture.

Valuable Features

The firewall analyzer allows for a quick and consistent method of reviewing your firewalls ruleset for security, compliance, and peace of mind. The ability to review and understand your firewall topology, run reports and have the ability for practitioners and auditors to review our security posture, gives us a sense of calm within this area of security.

Improvements to My Organization

Adding AlgoSec as a process into our network, compliance, security, and audit teams allowed for quick turnaround on any issues that arise regarding security rulesets. We often find these issues before they are pointed out to us, which leads to a quicker turnaround from compliance, but more importantly from a security mindset. This tool is used as part of the M&A process to analyze any new companies looking to incorporate our network. It's become one of the indispensable products we can't live without.

Room for Improvement

I would say cloud is an area for improvement, but AlgoSec in is that market now, too. I do want to see, however, the ability to set up an instance within the cloud instead of having to use physical appliances.

Deployment Issues

I've had no issues with deployment.

Stability Issues

It's been stable for me.

Scalability Issues

It's able to hit all the devices that I've put it up against and it was able to find rules that put our organization at risk.

Customer Service and Technical Support

The technical support is standard. They do a good job and understand the product.

Other Advice

It's head and shoulders above all the competitors in the field. They're the ones pushing the boundaries of the market.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free AlgoSec Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free AlgoSec Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.