In our company, we primarily use AlgoSec to analyze and optimize firewall policies. This solution is invaluable for cleaning up rules and objects. It allows us to identify which rules are redundantly covered by others, detect unused objects in rules or groups, and pinpoint duplicated objects. Additionally, AlgoSec aids us in reducing overly permissive rules that have accumulated due to legacy changes.

Our environment consists of several systems with different policies, all managed under a single management console. This unified approach helps us maintain a clean and efficient object rule base across the board. 

By using AlgoSec, we can ensure our firewall settings are both streamlined and effective, significantly enhancing our security posture. Furthermore, the insights provided by AlgoSec empower us to make informed decisions about which rules are necessary and which can be consolidated or removed, ultimately optimizing our network performance and security management process.

AlgoSec has significantly improved our organization by streamlining our firewall management process. With the use of AlgoSec FireFlow and AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer (AFA), we have been able to maintain clean and efficient firewall policies. AFA has been instrumental in helping us clean up existing firewall rules, ensuring that our policies are optimized and free of redundancies. By identifying and removing obsolete or duplicate rules, we have improved our network's security and performance.

FireFlow has been particularly beneficial in automating policy change processes, allowing us to keep our firewall policies clean and up-to-date. This automation not only reduces the potential for human error but also speeds up the implementation of necessary changes.

AlgoSec has saved us considerable time and energy when it comes to various tasks, such as risk analysis and assessing the impact of potential changes. By providing clear insights into which rules are already implemented and effective, we can focus our efforts on areas that truly need attention, ensuring our resources are used efficiently. Overall, AlgoSec's solutions have optimized our security management, enhancing both our operational efficiency and our ability to protect critical assets.

One of the most valuable features we've found in AlgoSec is its ability to analyze network flows to help define new, less permissive rules. This functionality is crucial for enhancing our network's security posture by ensuring that only necessary traffic is allowed. By examining the actual traffic flows within our network, AlgoSec provides insights into where existing rules may be too permissive, allowing us to tighten them without disrupting legitimate business operations.

This feature not only assists in making our security policies more precise but also helps in minimizing the attack surface by restricting unnecessary access. As a result, we can confidently implement rules that align more closely with the principle of least privilege while still accommodating essential connectivity and services. The ability to refine our firewall rules in this informed manner enhances both our security and compliance efforts, making this feature particularly valuable to our organization.

While AlgoSec offers robust capabilities, there are areas where the product could be further enhanced. One specific area that could benefit from improvement is the rule analysis feature, particularly in terms of defining objects within a new rule. Currently, the process seems to be more focused on network-level analysis rather than on objects, which sometimes requires us to perform multiple iterations to achieve optimal results.

Enhancing the tool to provide more object-oriented analysis could streamline the process of rule creation and modification, allowing for more precise and efficient policy management. Additionally, incorporating advanced capabilities for identifying and recommending the most appropriate objects for new rules would minimize manual effort and potential errors, thereby increasing accuracy and saving time.

For future releases, we would like to see more seamless integration between AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer (AFA) and FireFlow. Enhancing the connectivity between these tools would simplify transitioning from AFA to FireFlow, making it easier to create change tickets directly. This improvement would streamline our change management processes, enabling us to implement and monitor policy changes more efficiently and with greater accuracy.

I've used the solution for six months.

I use AlgoSec as a firewall analyzer. It helps review the changes made on the firewalls and determine who executed those changes. The tool automates predefined reports about non-used network objects, which is technically challenging for manual review.

By implementing AlgoSec, we've reduced the time and effort it takes to review firewall changes and audit logs. Before AlgoSec, we used to review each firewall manually, but now, the tool automates this process which saves us time.

The most valuable feature of AlgoSec is its ability to generate comprehensive reports. As a firewall analyzer, it's very useful for reviewing and collecting information at a single point. The tool also helps generate reports automatically, which is beneficial for us.

The graphical user interface in AlgoSec needs improvement. Sometimes it gets stuck, requiring multiple refreshes. Additionally, system integration with more products can be enhanced, like integrating the Blue Coat web filtering products.

I have been using AlgoSec since 2020.

The product is stable and reliable for our needs.

While we haven't tested it extensively, it has the capability to scale. We currently use it to manage eleven firewalls and nine routers. It has the ability to expand by adding more CPUs and memory.

Technical support is decent, although it can take time for them to handle more complex cases. The first level of support may lack the knowledge to solve advanced issues swiftly.

Positive

Before using AlgoSec, we manually reviewed and audited changes and reports.

The initial setup was easy for adding firewalls, despite some challenges when deploying the second module of AlgoSec.

The implementation was conducted by working with the vendor through remote sessions.

The return on investment is evident in the reduced time and effort for reviewing and auditing firewall changes.

I am not involved with pricing details since I mainly handle the technical aspects. However, the value from reduced time and effort justifies its cost.

I would recommend AlgoSec for enterprise environments that make frequent changes. Smaller environments with infrequent changes may not benefit as much.

Our primary use case is identifying unused tools and junk rules, including objects that are created but whose exact user and traffic cannot be tracked. I've deployed AlgoSec to address this use case, as it performs its job well by allowing me to block multiple unused rules and objects while permitting only the required traffic.

AlgoSec has helped streamline our environment by interacting with risky users and managing risky traffic. It has minimized manual involvement while providing clear, readable reports based on compliance standards.

One of the most valuable features of AlgoSec is its capability for identifying unused and risky rules, which cannot be done through manual analysis. AlgoSec analyzes logs and provides insights on risky rules and wide-open access scenarios, like when access was granted to too many users. It helps in minimizing security risks by allowing reporting and adjustments accordingly.

There should be improvements in the analysis between internal zones, such as internal to DMZ or guest to DMZ. These scenarios should be considered critical and enhancements should be made, even if the risk score is set high. Improvements are also needed in the area of PCI, specifically the PCI controller.

I have been using AlgoSec for about two years.

The solution is stable, and even if there are issues or it goes down, it does not impact the environment significantly.

Scalability is favorable since the solution is actively being developed. Specifically, for firewall perspectives, scalability is satisfactory.

Customer service is good as we have a dedicated person from the technical team who supports us whenever required.

Positive

Before AlgoSec, we were using Tufin, which required significant manual effort.

The initial setup was straightforward, taking only one or two hours. Once necessary components like VMs and CPUs are ready, implementation is seamless.

Initially, we had assistance from AlgoSec's technical team to set things up, but moving forward, no additional help is required.

I have not directly observed a reduction in costs or resources, but AlgoSec provides training when required, and they visit us for new feature introductions and solutions.

The pricing is manageable. While there are less expensive options available, AlgoSec provides a middle variance solution and is cost-effective in comparison to others.

AlgoSec minimizes manual efforts in creating compliance standards reports that are clear and readable.

Overall, I would rate AlgoSec nine out of ten.

We resell AlgoSec, and I provide professional service for AlgoSec. Our customers get good value from it. Our clients are usually large businesses, between 25,000 to 40,000 employees.

The primary use cases are for:

• the optimization of firewalls,
• getting reports, 
• compliance for ISO 27001 and PCI DSS.

It helps us to see what changes users make on a firewall by the users. AlgoSec identifies in real-time any changes on the firewalls. It also optimizes the firewall policies, rules, and objects. 

There is a compliance that is required where we need to provide a report for the optimization of firewalls that is part of PCI DSS and ISO 27001. So now many organizations use AlgoSec to monitor and optimize their firewalls. 

In addition to compliance, they also use AlgoSec to ensure that their environment is well-secured. They can see what changes are being made to the firewalls and by who, which is part of the compliance. They use AlgoSec to achieve that and also to track real-time changes. 

One of the problems that I've used AlgoSec to solve is to identify what's blocking a particular rule, object, or network traffic with the AlgoSec network simulator. It has a traffic simulator and a query simulator, where you can input the destination, the source, and the service, and then you can do a simulation of that traffic and see what firewall, object, or rule is blocking that traffic from going through. 

AlgoSec is easy to use and very easy to implement. Within three hours after downloading AlgoSec, you can start to see value immediately. Within that same time, you can generate reports almost immediately. 

Another valuable feature is the way it produces reports. It checks to see if you pass a particular policy. It also shows you recommendations to fix it. That's a very good feature. 

I like the traffic simulation too and queries. I'm not sure other solutions provide that. You can also use it to get a network topology and network map of your environment and see what's happening. 

These are some of the good features that make AlgoSec stand out.

AlgoSec support is exceptionally good. They have very good support. I use several solutions because I'm a security engineer. I implement security solutions for my customers and AlgoSec stands out in support. You can always rely on their support.

The customization and fine-tuning of the policies could use improvement. There's a place where you can modify the network maps and network. It is not so straightforward unless you have experience with it. It would make it more flexible and everyone can use it effectively if they improve that.

I have been using AlgoSec since 2018.

They have updates at least twice a year, so, it is very stable. I'd rate the stability a nine out of ten.

I have a new client that is using it on the cloud, and it's as effective as the on-prem version. The scalability is very good. I would rate it eight out of ten.

The support is very responsive and knowledgeable. You can rely on support for speed and to have the ability to resolve a problem. 

Positive

The initial setup is very straightforward.

After downloading the software it takes around one hour or so. It is fast.

There are usually updates and fixes. Support is always available to assist whenever there's a need for it.

I think the pricing is fair because when I speak to our partner manager, we can always get reasonable discounts but it can be better. Many people do not want to spend a lot of money on security. If the price was a little lower it would make it more affordable for smaller businesses.

I would always recommend AlgoSec to other users. 

I would rate AlgoSec overall an eight out of ten. 

AlgoSec is an exceptionally good solution. I didn't give it a perfect ten because the UI of the platform could be improved and the pricing could be lower. That would make it more interesting. Also, the modification or fine-tuning of policies could be easier. 

My client is from a finance background and has more than 100 firewall clusters deployed, that too from different OEMs, for added security. Thanks to historical reasons, some of the firewall policies are poorly managed with tons of rules, and nobody knows what policies are in use and what are not, what policies are redundant, and what are vulnerable.

On top of this, the client Info-sec policy enforces strict one-to-one rules, which, considering the size of the business, leads to the implementation of hundreds of new policies every week.

Firewall Rule analysis & New rule implementations were a challenge, and there comes the AlgoSec.

We started using AlgoSec to review existing firewall rules. To our surprise, thousands of policies were redundant, and many risky rules were also present.

Due to their large rule bases, firewalls used to have high CPU usage during peak business hours. The client was able to remove redundant rules and strengthen risky rules to save the network from compromises.

Implementing firewall rules was another challenge. The same rule had to be implemented on multiple firewalls from different OEMs. AlgoSec made our life easy.

Both analysis and Implementation engines/features are found to be very much valuable since they helped the client to manage the show better.

Implementations used to take a long time, both in terms of approvals and manual implementations. Errors during implementation were another challenge. Delays in policy implementations impacted new feature rollouts or application developments. AlgoSec auto implementation came into the picture, which helped the right departments to approve policies and implementations.

AlgoSec is slow when it is loaded with too many firewalls and policies. A plan to take care of heavy usage is to be considered. Support of all firewalls and policy features to be enabled.

AlgoSec should support in identifying most hit rules and re-ordering existing firewall rules - this is a very key to manage firewall CPU.

A clustering of AlgoSec can also be considered. A group of AlgoSec servers managing large client bases geographically or datacenter-wise or function-wise. A head reporting unit and child processing units.

I've used the solution for seven years.

The stability is good.

The solution needs to improve scalability.

The customer service is good.

Positive

No other solution used before.

The initial setup was straightforward.

The implementation was handled in-house.

I am into operations and not aware of cost or pricing. 

AlgoSec was the only option considered.