AlgoSec Reviews

The solution is mainly used for auditing firewall rules and inter-zone connectivity within the client environment. 

Another use case we have at the moment is to audit all changes done on the firewalls across the environment. We are also using Fireflow which significantly reduces the administration effort and time required to analyze, plan, and implement firewall changes on a day to day basis. 

Compliance reports are a big help and ensure that the client environment is up to date in terms of their security standing.

AlgoSec has definitely helped to improve the process of auditing all firewall rules and access. 

From a security standpoint, it has significantly improved an organization's standing from identifying all risky items in a given firewall policy as well as change audits, among others. 

Using Fireflow has also significantly reduced the amount of effort and time required to analyze and plan firewall changes that normally happen on a near-daily basis. 

Change audit has also reduced the effort during audit season especially when clients are running multiple-vendor firewalls.

Risky rules and compliance profiles are very valuable. With these reports, we are able to identify gaps in the client's firewall policy and this allows us to effectively remediate such gaps. 

The time and effort saved by using these compliance reports or profiles are definitely welcome. Another feature that we would use on a near-daily basis is the Fireflow and simulation query functionality. With the simulation query, one would not need to log into a specific firewall vendor console to verify if access is allowed or not; we run it through the simulation which saves us a lot of effort.

Support could be improved. Support of the KB database is extensive but still does not cover all subjects, at least from my experience. 

Another area of concern that I think could be improved is the licensing system. With the version we are currently running, it is a bit confusing since, for some reason, AlgoSec license usage is handled differently between firewall vendors. It may be a bit challenging to properly size the purchase of a new license - especially if a client is running multiple vendor firewalls in the environment.

I've been personally been using AlgoSec for more than ten years now.

The solution is very reliable. No issues encountered during daily operations.

I haven't personally done a lot of scaling projects with this product.

The technical support is all right, however, it can be improved.

Neutral

We did not previously use a different solution. 

The setup is pretty straightforward and AlgoSec did provide support during the process.

We worked in-house, with AlgoSec, and with a vendor found that both are highly knowledgeable.

I'm not part of the business team and do not analyze this aspect.

I am not part of the team in charge of licensing. 

We also looked into FireMon and Tufin.

I am part of the team providing managed security solutions and we have a number of clients that have a lot of network and security devices in their environment.

We use AlgoSec primarily to provide solutions to our clients in terms of how we can help tighten their security and optimize network performance.

AlgoSec Firewall Analyser makes this easily possible and with the help of AlgoSec's readily available reports, we are able to provide to all our clients the security and compliance report.

Before AlgoSec, our firewall rules got pretty big over time and it came to the point where it was barely manageable. Duplicate rules and objects were everywhere and there was nothing we could do about it. Performing a manual clean-up was a nightmare and near to impossible.

AlgoSec Firewall Analyser improves the firewall rules dramatically by identifying rules and objects that are not needed and consolidates rules and rule re-ordering.

It also helped our team to optimize performance and further secure the network by identifying risky rules.

I always find the policy optimization by identifying duplicate objects, shadowed rules, and unused objects pretty useful. By eliminating all these duplicate objects, unused rules, and unused objects, firewalls and other security devices will use fewer resources to process certain tasks/requests.

This will benefit both the security engineer managing the security devices and the client as they will spend less time in dealing with optimization and therefore can focus more on other important matters.

AlgoSec firewall analyzer is already an awesome product but there are still some areas that definitely need improving.

For instance, the risky rules reporting should have more information available in the risky rules report - especially when you export the data into a .CSV format. .CSV format being a text-based visualization, some information and formatting cause the reports to lose meaning and only become just another character in the file since it cannot port over some properties (like severity represented by colors).

I've used the solution for more than ten years.

We did not use a different solution previously.

The setup is pretty easy and the cost is really worth it.

We did not evaluate other options. 

We primarily use AlgoSec to just have a check on what firewall rule sets have been configured over a period of time, and if there are any redundancies within those rules, that we can eliminate without any confusion within the ruleset. It allows us to have the optimum support and effectiveness of the firewalls.

Doing the analysis of rule sets is very useful for us.

Being able to make and implement changes within a timeline is a very valuable aspect of the solution.

The solution is easy to navigate.

The initial setup is straightforward.

AlgoSec can probably do better at introducing features for the cloud firewall scenarios. This is something that will probably help customers. It needs a hybrid scenario that includes private cloud, public cloud, and on-prem things. If a feature could cover all three different types of deployment, that could probably make it even more desirable for clients.

I've been dealing with the solution for two and a half years at this point.

We've not received any complaints so far when it comes to stability. So far, our capabilities mapped with AlgoSec has always achieved the best of results for our customers. There don't seem to be bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

We haven't heard anything from clients that would lead us to believe they couldn't scale the solution if they needed to.

The technical support is quite good. I would rate them eight or nine out of ten.

There are some points wherein when it comes to support, my engineer may not have gotten direct support immediately. In the past, my engineer might have to wait half an hour or one hour to get an answer, and then, of course, the customer is also waiting. That slightly impacts my customer experience. Due to that aspect, I am reducing one or two points for that. However, overall, we're pretty satisfied with the solution.

I use a few other solutions as well. More often, I would advise clients to go with AlgoSec. Of course, as a secondary option, if our customers personally had some other preference, my experience is that they tend to go for Tufin rather than Skybox.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's not complex. We don't face any challenges on that front.

We both deploy the solution and manage the solution for our customers.

In terms of pricing, it would be useful if they could be a bit more aggressive to their competition in the market. They need more aggressive pricing. That would be certainly more helpful to the market overall.

We have relationships with AlgoSec, Skybox, and Tufin. We are resellers as well as value-added service partners of all three solutions.

Our experience is across the board. What we advise depends on our customers' requirements and preferences. Based on that, we suggest select solutions.

We have a cloud model that we have worked out with AlgoSec. We are their managed security service partners. Along with that, we also do the on-prem deployment, especially in the Indian government sector.

Overall, I'd rate the solution a nine out of ten. I've had a fantastic experience with it so far.

We use AlgoSec to see where our firewalls stand, configuration-wise, and where we can make the policies safer for the environment. We are a large Government organization that provides critical services to the community.

We have a mix of ASA and Firepower that we use in the environment. The tempo is pretty high and there is a large amount of opportunity for error due to the size of the team and sometimes lacking in technical experience with configuring the firewall platforms.

This tool allows us to check the config really easily.

Our pen testers were constantly using AlgoSec for the firewall assessments, even when going with different vendors. We decided to buy the product in order to check the policy in real-time and ensure there were not miss-configurations that would linger until next year's pen test.

We also get an automated email of firewall changes in addition to being able to see if there are any rules that are poorly configured.

I am less stressed thinking there could be a glaring misconfiguration that could cause an incident.

We primarily use the firewall analyzer feature. It is really great for looking at stuff like PCI, HIPPA, etc. There are sometimes false positives but I don't know of a product out there that does not have false positives.

The firewall analyzer is great if you deploy a new firewall platform and need to see if it provides an adequate level of protection, where you don't have any dangerous rules.

I like the peace of mind that we get from seeing what our overall score is for the configs. I also like that I can check against PCI requirements.

This is a tough one because it has a lot of good features.

I think that the rate of false positives can be improved. I would like a FireFlow or packet-tracer-like capability at a lower licensing level.

I liked the additional capabilities for an analyst or lower-level network admin or service desk tech to be able to check the rules to see if there is something blocking the traffic. However, I was not able to get the licensing approved above just FA.

I like the training available as it is very informative, but, I wish it was just available from YouTube and I could easily play it from my cell phone without additional logins.

I have been using AlgoSec for a few years.

We just relied on tech skills and pen tests. This way led us to be reactionary instead of getting ahead of problems.

Setup was not too difficult.

The cost is kind of high but I really did not check any other vendors.

I did not evaluate other options. I do like NetBrain's Path tool. This gives us a similar capability to FireFlow and has some other really great tools. 

The AlgoSec solution is really helpful for us, as we need to review all of the rules that have been implemented or we intend to implement, everywhere in our organization, independent of the country or even region.

With AlgoSec, it is possible to check the risks for each rule in terms of security and it is possible to easily decide if the implementation is valid or risky. This allows us to keep only the rules that are following our internal security standards.

AlgoSec helps to keep order and improve efficiency for operations teams supporting the solution.

In short, this solution makes it possible to increase efficiency by simplifying the life of our engineers. They support the daily interactions with the Firewalls through the implementation of the requested rules. We can easily and quickly identify all of the rules on the firewall and avoid the individual review and analysis of each rule. This keeps the firewalls clean and under our security policy, following our internal standards.

I think that perhaps FireFlow could be the most valuable feature, according to the feedback from our technical teams. This allows them to easily add, modify, and remove rules from the firewalls.

Another good point is that we avoid the old procedure of end-users requesting rules, a security team in the middle validating, and then the final implementor doing the job. With this feature, you can directly permit the end-user to request what he or she needs, and if the security policy is respected then it can directly be approved and implemented.

What the technical teams report to me is that the network maps are a concern and should be improved. It would be easier if the network maps could be updated using the GUI portal instead of from the OS. This would benefit the operations teams working daily with this tool.

In the end, we are striving to improve efficiency, and taking into account that Operations are really under pressure from SLAs to keep support ticket queues clean, and with the least amount of backfill possible, it is key to get better tools that make it easier and faster to update the network maps.

I think we are roughly in the third year since the first time we started using the AlgoSec tool in our company.

In terms of stability, this tool is really good and more than you could expect.

We are still involved in debugging a lot of stuff because we have to accommodate the solution to our large IT network. As our company and network are really large, we have a lot of jobs to do. Even with this powerful tool, it is not immediate.

Scalability is really good with this tool as it is flexible, as long as we can move this solution to hybrid or fully cloud deployments. This is something we are really focusing on right now.

As I know, until today, all issues raised so far have had a good response time and solution. No bad reports or specific or important complaints were reported from the technical teams.

Overall, technical support is really pleasant and smooth.

Before knowing and using the AlgoSec tool, we were managing daily activities with Firewalls the standard way. It was done rule by rule, creating, modifying, removing, analyzing, and finally compiling once all it was decided that everything was under control and following internal security policies.

The initial setup was hard and made more difficult because of the network map configuration. There is no visibility on the provider because they cannot grant access to us. So, the configuration has to be manually done for the most part. This part was really hard and time-consuming.

My team was not involved in testing or pilots of any other solution prior to making a decision. Another global team was part of the negotiations, study, and comparison. My team and I were involved once the decision was made.

It is clear that it is difficult to have the perfect tool with all that you need. As we expect, it is not an ideal world. AlgoSec is, in general, doing fine.

Today, this tool is very stable and permits us to improve the efficiency of the day to day work by our technical teams. It also allows the end-user to be more directly involved in the requests, highly reducing the time between the request and the final implementation.

The only advice or remark I can add here is what concerns me with the network maps. This is the cause of what makes the initial setup harder than expected. The reason is because of the network map configuration. There is no visibility on the provider because they cannot grant us access, meaning the configuration has to mostly be performed manually.

The primary use case is for firewall rule optimization and rule tracking for changes in 80 Palo Alto firewalls. There are 30 clustered and 20 standalone in the environment. Formerly, it was Check Point with almost the same quantity.

This solution has helped the team to be updated with changes globally.

The most valuable feature is the unused rule optimization, where it clears the policy when appropriate.

The pricing structure is not good because there is no difference between a Data Center firewall for a small branch. The pricing for smaller installations should be lowered because sometimes there is just no ROI to add AlgoSec to the small branch offices with only 10 rules.

I have been using AlgoSec for seven years.

This solution looks very stable.

Our impression of the scalability is great.

I have no experience with technical support.

Other than Check Point, we did not use another solution prior to AlgoSec.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We had assistance from Bynet. They are very good professionals.

There is not so much ROI for us. We are using it basically for SOX purposes but find it useful on the way.

Pricing is great if you have a small number of large firewalls, otherwise, it does not bring ROI.

We did not evaluate other options before choosing this solution.

AlgoSec helps us by giving an overview of our Layer 3 network devices. With the solution, we can uncover bottlenecks, streamline, and clean up our firewall rules.

AlgoSec saves our IT department a lot of time and also creates transparency. A large number of reports can be generated quickly. The reports are based on all known catalogs and are important for management and department heads. The products interlock and share relevant information with each other.

The most valuable feature is the interaction between AlgoSec's different solutions. From Firewall Analyzer to FireFlow to BusinessFlow, the solutions add value for us and our customers. The basis with the Firewall Analyzer and the corresponding Network Map is one of the core features for transparency.

The ticket system informs all of the people involved with respect to the next steps.

The reporting and documentation components help us to comply with the ISO catalog.

It is always possible to improve the product.

We would like to have a kind of "Time Capsule" to be able to restore to a certain state from a backup.

We would like to have a BSI Compliance Report for Germany.

Interfaces are worked on continuously, and small firewall manufacturers such as Sophos should still be included as standard.

All manufacturers on the market are constantly improving. The beautiful and simple thing about AlgoSec is the short distances and that you are heard. If you want a feature implemented, or a report for a certain country adapted or created, then they will take your request seriously right up to the C-Level. The implementation takes place promptly and is customer-friendly.

The solution helps us to accurately determine rule use and where we can make improvements across our checkpoint firewall products. We had originally designed a few dozen clusters of firewalls that experience a heavy network flow with a multitude of rules, and it has been a doddle to harness the power of AFA to get the ball rolling.

AlgoSec has highlighted to us a huge number of unused rules and restored the confidence in us to remove them where appropriate. At the same time, it enables us to consolidate and enforce the point of reach prior to searching a rule base to check access for an application or user. Breaking down a rule to specify used objects within groups and protocols has proven invaluable for us because we are able to narrow exposure to potential threats, and more generally, areas in which we are exposed.

Reporting features are a godsend when it comes to executive review and monthly directorship calls.

Most of the features proved to be very useful within our massive setup, with some getting additional airtime during production changes. Our perimeter team uses the policy optimizer to search out unused objects in rules and determine when the rule was most recently hit accurately.

From my personal experience, the traffic simulator can be used to check if a request from a user or project is already a function enabled, or instead, we have an access change to implement. This saves an enormous amount of time during CAB calls.

The risk and compliance area is key to ensuring we conform to company regulation and our perimeter detection policy. Having a number of compliance options to baseline ensures that we get the basics right before looking at advanced risks and remediation.

Some UI experience is a little clunky (for e.g. MAPS module) and could be made more user-friendly.

We experienced some initial challenges with technical support, although this considerably improved once the teams got to know one another.

The API support isn't as versatile as we would like it to be. It needs more integration.

The product and appliances have been very stable.

This solution has no problem with scalability and is easily able to integrate with firewalls in their thousands.

We had some initial struggles due to communication, but once ironed out it was smooth sailing.

Straightforward initially, and versatile well into production.

We implemented this solution through our vendor.