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reviewer1552971 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Provides full visibility into multi-vendor firewalls with a centralized solution
Pros and Cons
  • "If you go through that compliance report, it will give you whether your firewall is in compliance or not. It will also give you a recommendation whether you need to change it. The compliance has helped us with customers, e.g., internal audit from the quality team and external auditors."
  • "I would like more documents and support for the cloud firewall."

What is our primary use case?

We are not personally using AlgoSec in our organization. We consult with the customer, as to why they have to buy such a solution like Firewall Analyzer. We are a distributor for the Indian market. We guide the customer to why they have to buy this kind of solution, what are the business requirements, etc. 

I have done PoCs and demos on the product.

The solution allows multi-vendor firewalls to have a centralized solution where they can analyze all the rules, duplicates rules, etc. Also, it helps them understand if a change can be automated.

How has it helped my organization?

We consult with big customers who have multiple locations. In every location, they have various firewalls available. With AlgoSec as our product, it has really helped with our operational tasks and activities.

If you go through that compliance report, it will give you whether your firewall is in compliance or not. It will also give you a recommendation whether you need to change it. The compliance has helped us with customers, e.g., internal audit from the quality team and external auditors.

AlgoSec integrates with multiple security vendors. It captures the rules, policies and authentication required.

What is most valuable?

It is pretty simple to use. Resources are readily available.

Firewall Analyzer and FireFlow are very helpful for IT guys, especially for multi-vendor firewalls.

We get a lot of visibility from Firewall Analyzer. It is definitely helpful to see the details of duplicate rules on the firewall. It can define the connectivity and routing.

The solution provides us with full visibility into the risk involved in firewall change requests. This is always required. For example, if you are implementing one rule for network A to network B, but you don't have that visibility in terms of network when you have multiple firewalls, then you have to deploy the rule on every firewall. However, if you have FireFlow, then FireFlow will automatically deploy this rule where it is needed.

What needs improvement?

I would like more documents and support for the cloud firewall.

Buyer's Guide
AlgoSec
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about AlgoSec. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,737 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for one year. I am level 2 certified. I am familiar with AFA (Algosec Firewall Analyzer), FireFlow, and CloudFlow. I have done the online training for AppViz and AppChange.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been good. I have not seen any issues.

One to two people are enough for deployment and maintenance. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good because it is already available in India as well as the R&D. Whenever I need help, they take my call. I don't have complaints in respect to the AlgoSec support.

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

I also have experience with Tufin.

How was the initial setup?

It is straightforward and easy to deploy. Two to three days was enough time to complete the configuration along with the device integrations.

For implementation, I always follow these steps:

  1. Understand the customer's infrastructure, e.g., what are the customer expectations and primary pain points?
  2. Deployment architecture
  3. Hardware requirements and prerequisites
  4. Port prerequisites
  5. initial configuration and setup
  6. Onboard devices with default configuration
  7. Monitor devices for seven days, then apply the recommendation based on the AFA solution.

For the migration, it is really helpful because we all capture all their policies. We can clean up things with Firewall Analyzer. When doing a migration, we take a backup and that is really helpful for the migration process.

What was our ROI?

It has reduced the time it takes to implement firewall rules in hundreds of our customers' organizations. Without FireFlow and Firewall Analyzer, you would need one to two hours to deploy the firewall change request rule because you need to identify where to position that rule. It definitely reduces the time by half.

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

The pricing is good. Though, I would like if pricing could better support small businesses.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use Cisco ACI with Check Point , FortiGate, and Palo Alto.

What other advice do I have?

This technology gives us total control of our stuff, validation, and clean up of everything that we need.

If you are doing migration from on-prem to cloud, then there is definitely a very quick process and helpful process for that migration.

I would rate this product as an eight and a half 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. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Paulo Ataides - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Information Technology Security Analyst at a integrator with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
Speeds time required for compliance audits and provides a safer environment
Pros and Cons
  • "Optimizing the operation making it possible to focus on other improvements."
  • "In an environment that is very large, with many firewalls and routers, it is sometimes impossible to buy all of the licenses."

What is our primary use case?

Increase the visibility of CyberSec and the area of compliance (audit) of the environment, with the AFA increasing the visibility of vulnerabilities in the environment caused by extensive configurations, and with the AFF optimizing the operation, allowing to focus on improvements.

We implemented in an environment with more than 280 Firewalls from different manufacturers and the AlgoSec solution enabled a more detailed analysis of the environment, ensuring greater security.

It made it possible to reduce the performance of the operating team in the reactive combat of threats, making the operation more active and focused on quality.

How has it helped my organization?

Reducing operational costs and decreasing the cat's time with rework and unproductive audits.

We find that the traffic simulation query, active change, policy optimization, FireFlow, and map features are especially useful. All other features of the app are also valuable.

The time spent on auditing before AlgoSec was very heavy, at least one analyst dedicated for a week for small audits, and for most, we lost an analyst for weeks.

After implementing AlgoSec, we reduced the audit time to three days.

The environment is much safer with more active configurations.

What is most valuable?

Analysis of the environment to optimize the use of the solution (firewall) and obtain a greater view of compliance.

Optimizing the operation making it possible to focus on other improvements.

The possibility for the end-user to request their rule and ensure that policies are complied with using AlgoSec adds greater security, and it also speeds up the request process. It also makes it possible to automate the implementation of rules.

The user receives the information if his request is within the policies and can continue the request, or if it is denied, the applicant must adjust their request to stay within the policies. The time spent for this without AlgoSec is up to one week, whereas with AlgoSec, in a maximum of 15 minutes we have the request analyzed.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see support more technologies, but I know that AlgoSec is always in the process of evolution.

Perhaps a better financial option would allow customers to choose the complete solution. In an environment that is very large, with many firewalls and routers, it is sometimes impossible to buy all of the licenses. This makes the AFF solution impossible.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This product is stable. There have been a few problems, but when there is some instability the support is always available.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, this product is good. You can increase capacity simply by buying more licenses.

How are customer service and technical support?

We had a few cases where we needed support, but whenever we did, it was available, and with the information needed to solve the problems.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy and simple.

What about the implementation team?

Always by supplier, highly qualified work with positive results.

What was our ROI?

The solution has a high cost, but the reduction in operation pays the investment.

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

For the AFF solution, it is necessary to purchase a license for each network asset so that the solution is complete, depending on the size of the environment. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this product, we evaluated SolarWinds and FireMon.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, this is a good product and it meets the needs of customers.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
AlgoSec
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about AlgoSec. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,737 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1340760 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network & Collaboration Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
More visibility into our firewall and security environment using a single pane of glass
Pros and Cons
  • "The product gave us more agility on the process to analyze and resolve tickets by requesting permissions to access services not enabled by default."
  • "The product should support more vendors with the same in-depth analysis that it already is providing. This would give more reasons to for other companies to adopt it."

What is our primary use case?

We use it daily to check existing rules created on all our firewalls and existing flows that are allowed, and if we can improve the performance of our firewalls by just doing the rearrangement of rules, etc.

We got more productive and agile using the product since the most time consuming job of our team is the creation of firewall rules, analyzing what is already created based on the requests of our users and internal costumers. The solution provides us an in-depth detail of what we have already in production and what we can do to resolve tickets/requests in the most effective way.

How has it helped my organization?

We now have more visibility into our firewall and security environment using a single pane of glass. We have a better audit of what our network and security engineers are doing on each device and are now able to see how much we are complaint with our baseline.

The product gave us more agility in the process to analyze and resolve tickets by requesting permissions to access services not enabled by default. At the same time, providing visibility of what we can improve on the scenario that we are already running on it.

What is most valuable?

The quick wins that the product can help us to achieve. With a few rule arrangements, we can improve the rule processing of the firewalls, increasing their performance and reducing possible bottlenecks, but keep us under the defined baseline of the company.

Also, the gain on the agility of checking what we already have created. The rules that can accommodate new requests instead of creating new rules have definitely helped us to resolve tickets in a faster way, achieving the expected SLA from users and internal customers of the company.

What needs improvement?

The product should support more vendors with the same in-depth analysis that it already is providing. This would give more reasons to for other companies to adopt it and make us preserve the investment in case we change the running environment.

For how long have I used the solution?

Five months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable without any major issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't see scalability on this product as a showstopper. We are confident that we can grow without any impact.

How are customer service and technical support?

Very good. They helped us on everything that we needed.

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

We stopped using FireMon due to the price and lack of features.

How was the initial setup?

No.

What about the implementation team?

Through a vendor who fulfilled all our expectations.

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

It is fair. 

For cloud environments, it can be expensive. The model adopted to use as licensing for the cloud environment should be reviewed since it sometimes can increase the value of the service/product in an unexpected way. For example, they should instead use the amount of instances, which should just take into consideration the number of Security Groups and ACLs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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
PeerSpot user
Global Network Solution Architech at AXA Tech
Real User
Ensures global policies are applied to all regional firewalls. Needs support for its cloud-based solution.
Pros and Cons
  • "We use it for global firewall rules management to ensure global policies are applied to all regional firewalls, provide auditing and compliance."
  • "It needs better API integration with its third-party firewall management."
  • "It needs support for its cloud-based solution."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for global firewall rules management to ensure global policies are applied to all regional firewalls, provide auditing and compliance.

How has it helped my organization?

  • Central firewall management
  • Security policy change management
  • Firewall auditing
  • Compliance
  • Firewall policy optimization

What is most valuable?

AlgoSec FireFlow:

  • Eliminates mistakes and optimizes firewall rules.
  • Firewall rule compliance with global security policies.
  • Eliminates redundant and unused firewall rules.
  • Reporting.

    What needs improvement?

    • It needs better API integration with its third-party firewall management.
    • It needs support for its cloud-based solution.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    No stability issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No scalability issues.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We have had no complaints about their support.

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

    We did not previously use a different solution.

    How was the initial setup?

    It is somewhat complex to initially setup.

    What about the implementation team?

    We implemented it in-house.

    What was our ROI?

    Not applicable.

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

    Not applicable.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Not applicable.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user818688 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Works at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    We have reduced the attack surface of risky rules, improved our compliance scores, and streamlined our firewall change flow
    Pros and Cons
    • "We have reduced the attack surface of risky rules, improved our compliance scores, and streamlined our firewall change flow all thanks to AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer."
    • "​R&D patches to address issues that I have encountered have been timely and effective.​"
    • "The Flash to HTML5 rewrite has been bumpy."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case started as policy optimization in a multi-vendor firewall environment. Now, our primary use case is giving access to firewall policies for development teams and infrastructure specialists. We are receiving better change requests based on actual requirements and less requests for access which already exists.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Over time, firewall vendors have added features, such as rule counters, that AlgoSec traditionally has offered. However, AlgoSec continues to add capabilities that firewall vendors simply cannot provide. We have reduced the attack surface of risky rules, improved our compliance scores, and streamlined our firewall change flow all thanks to AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer.

    What is most valuable?

    The ease of use and "one click" reports are very manager friendly. The policy browser is a fast, efficient way to find existing access, especially when granted via membership of a group or subnet. The ability to painlessly click through and navigate group objects ("what's in this object?") to filter.

    What needs improvement?

    The Flash to HTML5 rewrite has been bumpy. However, as a security professional, I appreciate the improvement in the product.

    I am optimistic about possibly moving beyond AFA to other products.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    R&D patches to address issues that I have encountered have been timely and effective.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Consultant at Deloitte Portugal
    Real User
    Simplifies configuration and rule management
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature is that the tool is capable of simplifying firewall management and configuration in an automated fashion."
    • "In a complex landscape, with several nodes/equipment, it can be somewhat more difficult to properly visualize the network map."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution for the management of firewalls on a client with a multi-vendor landscape and a low maturity level in terms of security operations and mechanisms. The AlgoSec tool supported the necessary transformation we were helping the client with, centralizing and simplifying the management of all firewalls in several sites across the globe.

    How has it helped my organization?

    AlgoSec is a powerful firewall management tool. I have supported a client implementing the firewall analyzer in an environment with several firewall vendors and poor management. The implementation went smoothly, with good support from the AlgoSec team. However, the configuration was tricky due to the maturity of the client and the ‘messy’ situation, and the internal know-how available regarding what was implemented on the multiple sites.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is that the tool is capable of simplifying firewall management and configuration in an automated fashion. Additionally, the fact that it is also possible to implement a FW management workflow clearly supports the improvement of the 'way of working' and operation of the FW environment.

    What needs improvement?

    The network mapping interface could be improved in the next version. In a complex landscape, with several nodes/equipment, it can be somewhat more difficult to properly visualize the network map. It requires several zoom-in and zoom-out operations, and it is not so visually appealing. Nevertheless, it is still a valuable feature and was highly used by my team.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using this solution for four months.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We evaluated other options before choosing this solution including Skybox and Palo Alto Panorama.

    What other advice do I have?

    Do not underestimate the configuration effort, especially on a more complex landscape.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1113381 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Works at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Helped optimize our environment during transition to newer Firewall technology
    Pros and Cons
    • "It helps in regulatory compliance metrics and overall firewall security optimization."
    • "The user interface could be a little more user-friendly."

    What is our primary use case?

    It is currently used by the network security, audit, and internal control departments of organizations where I have deployed the application. It gives overall insight/visibility and enhances security across the enterprise.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Our company environment used old fashioned firewall devices for a long time and we hardly touched on old firewall rules. With this product, we were able to clean up our firewall rules and organize them neatly. It actually gave us a very straightforward report of what is being used, and not used, for firewall rules. 

    AlgSec is used for in-depth firewall analysis and intelligent policy tuning and optimization. It helps in regulatory compliance metrics and overall firewall security optimization.

    What is most valuable?

    I like the auto-mapping features and configuration overview. We use this for many things, but primarily for quick reactions to security events, audit, project management, and quick operational efficiencies.

    • Firewall rule optimization
    • Regulatory and baseline compliance analysis/mapping
    • Policy tuning
    • Application discovery
    • Automated Change management

    What needs improvement?

    The reporting portion is weaker than other competitors, although this is good enough to utilize in our environments.

    Enhanced integration via API (typically, this is only known by few AlgoSec users).

    The user interface could be a little more user-friendly. Other competitors have more of a dashboard look and feel. With AlgoSec, you have to launch new windows to see rule usage reports. It can be a little bit difficult when trying to find more information.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Two years.

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

    Our company was using old fashioned firewall devices.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We did POC on FireMon and AlgoSec. We chose AlgoSec for our company environment.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
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    Updated: February 2025
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