FireMon Security Manager vs Skybox Security Suite comparison

FireMon and Skybox Security are both solutions in the Firewall Security Management category. FireMon is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0, while Skybox Security is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.5. FireMon holds a 16.4% mindshare in Firewall Security Management, compared to Skybox Security’s 10.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of FireMon users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of Skybox Security users who would recommend it.

FireMon Security Manager

Read 54 FireMon Security Manager reviews

4,866 Views
3,798 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Skybox Security Suite

Read 35 Skybox Security Suite reviews

3,358 Views
2,484 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

FireMon Security Manager

Skybox Security Suite

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

FireMon Security Manager and Skybox Security Suite compete in the network security management category. FireMon appears to have the upper hand with its strong rule comparison and policy validation features.

Features: FireMon Security Manager provides valuable features like redundant ACL reports, policy review, and ticket integration. It also offers alerts for firewall changes, making it well-suited for compliance and security policy validation. Skybox Security Suite excels in firewall management and vulnerability control, integrating with multiple vendors, and offering change management and network path analysis to understand network changes.

Room for Improvement: FireMon requires enhanced network maps, better SMB firewall support, and improved migration processes. Reporting needs consistency, and update processes should be more user-friendly. Skybox's web interface and firewall change management need development. Reporting should be expanded, and customer support could be more responsive, requiring improved third-party tool integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FireMon supports on-premises deployment with excellent customer service and technical support. Users appreciate its various support channels. Skybox supports on-premises and hybrid cloud deployments, offering superior technical support and highlighting its flexibility in deployment environments.

Pricing and ROI: FireMon's pricing is seen as balanced but expensive, delivering significant ROI through time savings in audits. High renewal costs are a concern. Skybox is costly, with a pricing model that could be more flexible, but it offers value in network assurance and vulnerability management, providing potential for cost reduction and ROI in larger implementations.

To learn more, read our detailed FireMon Security Manager vs. Skybox Security Suite Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

FireMon Security Manager vs. Skybox Security Suite

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

FireMon Security Manager

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Skybox Security Suite

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

7th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (37th)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of FireMon Security Manager is 16.4%, up from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skybox Security Suite is 10.7%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewall Security Management

Featured Reviews

JeffReese

Senior Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Makes compliance much easier compared to doing it manually, and automates policy changes across environments

People have a tendency to just add rules to firewalls, but they don't go back and take rules away. Some of our customers have thousands of unused rules that have been sitting out there for over a year. In one report, FireMon tells us there are, say, 1,000 rules that can be taken out and it gives us the ability to disable those for a year and to track when we made our changes. After a year, we can go back and eliminate the rules, to bring the configuration down to an almost human-readable level. It also identifies risks in your environment and helps to prioritize fixes. It actually rates the risk level, meaning you look for the red and try to bring everything to green.

Read full review

NenadMijatovic

Director of Sales at S4E Serbia

Efficient in vulnerability management, stable and easy to use

Vulnerability management is the most valuable feature because it lets you focus on the most critical vulnerabilities. That's the important thing. Here in Serbia, there are not so many companies that have too many firewalls inside one company. So, they usually don't buy this model for Firewall Assurance unless there is some compliance. So you can prove that your firewalls are compliant. So, that model is not so important here in Serbia. It's for bigger companies. So, they usually buy network assurance to build the model of the network and vulnerability management to focus on the most important vulnerabilities. Moreover, Skybox can collect data for many vendors. From the endpoint protection vendors to the network equipment vendors to other security vendors. So, it supports more than one hundred vendors to collect data from them.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The automation that the platform provides to create tickets reduces human error and more generally, reduces the operational overhead."

"The Security Manager part of FireMon... gives me an eye on everything that's out there, everything that I cannot see. Because I'm not a network admin, I cannot go to a firewall itself, but at least I have FireMon so that I can go in and view everything that I want to view. And I can eliminate whatever I see that is wrong,"

"The SQL language is convenient to use. It allows us to process a bunch of criteria very quickly and narrows things down if there is an issue with the firewall. It's easy to do that with SQL queries."

"The firewall assessment feature is great."

"FireMon decreases errors and misconfigurations by 10% that increase risk in our environment. That has to do a lot with the change reporting that is in place, but also with the built-in controls and custom controls that we have made. Those all decrease the errors that people naturally make on a day-to-day basis for firewall administration."

"We also use the solution’s SASE integration capabilities to extend security policy management for cloud firewall management. It helps in creating one consistent rule across multiple platforms and it improves accuracy."

"The ease of use is the most valuable feature. There are a lot of products out there, but the ability to navigate through and use Firemon is very good."

"Firewall auditing is very important. We also use the solution for rule traffic analysis, traffic flow discovery and hidden/shadow rules within over 100 firewalls spanning five different brands."

More FireMon Security Manager pros

"Change Manager is most important because of the impact on each other of a network change or a firewall change. We want to understand this and to know, beforehand, what the impact of a change will be. We are a large network so that is a very important tool."

"The revalidation and policy recertifications are most valuable."

"Correlates logs and threats and prioritizes; provides network maps;p provides change result context and resulting vulnerability."

"The most valuable feature is the compliance, whether it's access compliance or the configuration compliance, to make sure that all of our devices are configured as they're supposed to be, to limit access as much possible, to follow least-access guidelines."

"The solution's simplicity of use is its most valuable feature."

"Skybox deployment is simple, and it's very useful."

"It's very supportive and very user-friendly."

"Overall, the tool has helped us reduce risks. If any step is missing, it's easier for my team or engineers to identify it. The tool provides accurate recommendations based on the data. Its integration is easy, and I have integrated it with Fortinet firewalls."

More Skybox Security Suite pros

Cons

"The training for configuring new users or operators is confusing because the UI is not user-friendly and has room for improvement."

"We've had recurring issues managing FireMon's internal backups. Sometimes, the space allocated for the backup is full, and there is no process where it deletes files that are older than I certain date. It's just waiting for the storage to get full and then it's cleaned up. It isn't something that creates serious issues for us."

"We have not used the Policy Planner but even so, we have identified areas of improvement with it during our testing. For example, it could be better when it comes to ease of integration or ease of policy automation. Another problem is that there is a console where it has too many options and is not very straightforward. Essentially, controlling it could be made more seamless."

"FireMon could be easier to use and flexibility regarding reporting could be improved."

"The support response time has room for improvement."

"The stability has been fairly decent, but there have been a few issues. My coworker has had some issues in the past where he has had to work with support."

"The AWS integration is still not mature for us to use. It is just not ready for our use case for AWS connectivity. Therefore, it does not provide us with a single pane of glass for our cloud environments, because we can't manage our cloud environment with the tool."

More FireMon Security Manager cons

"The tool does not offer options for customization."

"The vendor's support is terrible."

"Skybox Security Suite can improve the change management module. It is the one part of the tool that is used with the firewall devices and you have a change management module that is used to record changes of all firewalls in the company. It's not compatible with all brands, this is where they can improve the solution."

"The primary room for improvement would be to enable a web interface, which is not something which is there in the product. This is supposed to have come a year, a year and a half ago, but still has failed to come out. It still needs a client application to be installed on a workstation to be able to access that server and then run these reports. So I cannot extend that access to anybody. It has to be one administrator all the time. So unlike a web interface, where you can give multiple users simultaneous access and generate the various reports, that isn't a possibility at the moment."

"The solution needs improvement in firewall configuration checks. I would also like to see more configuration checks for Forcepoint and for other non-supported firewalls."

"The solution was quite technical. It would be easier to manage if the solution was more specific about aspects of the solution and provided more advisory around how to use it effectively. It would help users a lot if they were more clear about everything."

"If anything could be improved it would be staying on top of the collector scripts, but I understand that's a very tough challenge."

"They are not satisfied with the complexity of the solution and the price."

More Skybox Security Suite cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Regarding additional costs, if you want things like Policy Optimizer, extra features, that's extra."

"Relative to what it offers, the price is fair."

"The pricing is very good, very straightforward. It also came in cheaper than AlgoSec and Tufin."

"We pay for it yearly."

"This is an expensive solution. The cost of three modules for three years was approximately one million."

"FireMon is very expensive. I think that they charge a premium. In general, they are very pricey. Compared to their competitors, they cost a little more than the other solutions that we evaluated."

"We don't license all of the devices in our network, so it does not provide us with a comprehensive visibility of all devices in a hybrid network at this time."

"It's a good value. From a licensing standpoint... it's very simple to understand, and gives us a good bang for the buck."

More FireMon Security Manager pricing and cost advice

"It's expensive."

"The pricing has increased exorbitantly in the last few years, so now it is questionable. Now, it makes me want to review other products."

"The price of the Skybox Security Suite can be expensive."

"The solution is based on a subscription model for annual licenses."

"The pricing is high, and the licensing model needs more flexibility."

"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."

"The price is not expensive."

"Skybox comes with extra licenses and has a change management license. The licenses are expensive, but they come with extra value."

More Skybox Security Suite pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FireMon?

I like the Security Manager console where we can see any changes that have been made or pull the results of an assessment and control the policies that we implement.

See all answers

What needs improvement with FireMon?

Although configuration is not the most difficult aspect of FireMon, a basic understanding of cloud computing and firewall principles is necessary for successful implementation. Therefore, simplifyi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for FireMon?

FireMon Security Manager is a highly intelligent and useful device that consolidates all our security policies, including those for Zscaler proxies, into a single console. This centralized view eli...

See all answers

What do you like most about Skybox Security Suite?

Overall, the tool has helped us reduce risks. If any step is missing, it's easier for my team or engineers to identify it. The tool provides accurate recommendations based on the data. Its integrat...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skybox Security Suite?

Skybox Security Suite has indeed helped us reduce costs. The prices of AlgoSec and Skybox Security Suite are approximately 50 percent different. The tool may require special vendor support from abr...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Skybox Security Suite?

There is room for improvement in the product's user interface. It could be more user-friendly.

See all answers

Comparisons

Tufin Orchestration Suite vs FireMon Security Manager

Compared 41% of the time

AlgoSec vs FireMon Security Manager

Compared 36% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs FireMon Security Manager

Compared 5% of the time

RedSeal vs FireMon Security Manager

Compared 3% of the time

ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer vs FireMon Security Manager

Compared 3% of the time

More FireMon Security Manager Competitors

AlgoSec vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 33% of the time

Tufin Orchestration Suite vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 30% of the time

RedSeal vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 4% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 3% of the time

More Skybox Security Suite Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FireMon Security Manager

December 2024

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Buyer's Guide

Skybox Security Suite

November 2024

Download Skybox Security Suite product report

Learn More

FireMon

Skybox Security

Overview

The increasing complexity of networks, driven by the constant influx of new devices, applications, and cloud services, presents a daunting challenge for managing firewall policies and rules. A typical enterprise environment has millions of rules, and just one simple misconfiguration can lead to devastating consequences like compliance violations, outages, and data breaches.

FireMon’s Security Manager is a purpose-built network security policy management (NSPM) platform that automates the management of firewall and cloud security policies to eliminate policy-related risk, accurately and quickly change rules, and meet internal and external compliance requirements.

Reduce Risk Manage risk with real-time visibility and control
Manage Change Avoid misconfigurations, accelerate business, and improve security
Enforce and Maintain Compliance Avoid violations, avoid risk, and avoid fines

The Skybox Security Suite platform combines firewall and network device data with vulnerability and threat intelligence, prioritizing security issues in the context of your unique environment. Powerful attack vector analytics reduce response times and risks, bringing firewall, vulnerability and threat management processes for complex networks under control.

Firewall Assurance brings all firewalls into one normalized view, continuously monitoring policy compliance, optimizing firewall rulesets and finding attack vectors that others miss. Skybox covers the most comprehensive list of firewall vendors, complex rulesets, even virtual and cloud-based firewalls. With proven scalability in 1,500+ firewall deployments, Firewall Assurance keeps rules optimized and ensures changes don’t introduce new risk.

Gain total visibility of the vulnerabilities in your attack surface without waiting for a scan. Leverage Skybox Research Lab's vulnerability and threat intelligence, and automatically correlate it to your unique environment. With network modeling and advanced simulations, pinpoint exposed vulnerabilities and other attack vectors. And use context to prioritize vulnerabilities in terms of actual risk and respond to threats with accuracy and efficiency.

For more information or to view a demo, visit www.skyboxsecurity.com.

Sample Customers

Convey, MGM Resorts International, Southwest Airlines, Alkami, Costco, Aetna, IBM, Verizon, Wells Fargo

ADP, Blue Cross Blue Shield, BT, USAID, Delta Dental, EDF Energy, EMC, HSBC, Johnson & Johnson

Buyer's Guide

FireMon Security Manager vs. Skybox Security Suite

December 2024

Free Report: FireMon Security Manager vs. Skybox Security Suite

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