Firewall Policy Assessment

By Author: Secureapplication
Total Articles: 4
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Enterprise networks contain thousands of firewalls, routers, switches and other devices, each with complex device configurations. These configurations contain complex security policies, thousands of objects and hundreds of rules that are in a constant state of change which introduces unnecessary complexity and creates a nearly impossible task for IT to continuously administer, monitor, analyze, optimize, and control. Without periodic reviews potential policy gaps and errors remain undetected. Furthermore, out-of-control policies result in the misconfiguration of network and security systems, downtime, poor device performance, reduced security, regulatory compliance issues, and increased exposure to security threats. The results can be catastrophic and damages can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Solution
Secure Application's Firewall Policy Review will audit and analyze router and firewall configurations to ensure the highest levels of protection and performance are achieved and to identify system vulnerabilities. This service provides a detailed report of the threats to your security including prioritization ...
... of the dangers to your business critical assets based on system vulnerabilities. The risk assessment also exposes complex firewall configurations that lead to security risks being hidden within firewall rules and highlights duplicated, disabled, unused or expired rules in order to increase the performance and speed of firewall security.

Benefits
Helps organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements
Mitigates risk by identifying vulnerabilities before they become a threat
Maximizes performance of network devices
Proven methodology ensures quality, accuracy and thoroughness of your assessment

The Firewall Policy Review examines all firewalls for accountability, accuracy, effectiveness, efficiency, weaknesses, and management. Furthermore, firewall rule bases will be verified manually to insure proper functionality.
Services include:
Compare firewall and general perimeter security considerations against corporate policy
Review security policy to verify that it conforms to industry recognized "best practices" and that it is configured to ensure maximum self-protection against attack
Interview staff to determine if firewall changes adhere to a change management process
Assess administrative access to the firewall management station
Review firewall logs for accuracy and thoroughness
Inspect firewall rule base(s) for compliance to baseline standards
Review firewall configuration for weaknesses
Determine if firewall versions are up to date
Verify access control (internal to external)
Review firewall management controls (authentication, communications, accounts, etc)
Review efficiency of firewall rule order
Identify methods for storing and alerting on events
Verify firewall disaster recovery, backup, and redundancy
Report on findings, prioritized impact and recommendations