What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Airlock Digital Application Control is to assist customers in deploying application control to their businesses.
I help customers deploy application control by asking them a bunch of scoping questions to determine exactly what they need and how to configure it. Once we understand their requirements, we get access to their environment to deploy the software and assist the customer by training them, running various calls, and looking at the applications running in their environment to show them how to permit or deny those applications.
There were a few projects we did that were quite large and were more advisory, where nothing was necessarily deployed, at least in the first phase, but we were assisting in determining if Airlock Digital Application Control was the right product and how they could use it.
What is most valuable?
The best features Airlock Digital Application Control offers include the ease of being able to add applications daily, along with good interfaces that certainly improved during my time using it, plus the constant feedback and updates. The ability to add an entire publisher to allow application by publisher instead of just by a folder is also a great advantage compared to some competitors.
Those features made my day-to-day work easier because, if a customer was happy to permit an entire publisher, that could wipe out a lot of executions in an environment at once and also prevent items from that publisher coming up again in the future, which is a huge improvement to their workflows, not having to constantly add those executions.
Airlock Digital Application Control positively impacts my organization and customers by helping them achieve Essential Eight compliance, giving them visibility into applications they don't know people are running, and providing insights about applications used in their environment, reducing the risk of phishing attacks by blocking unauthorized applications, which is the primary goal of the software.
What needs improvement?
Airlock Digital Application Control can be improved in terms of search functionality and how blocked apps are handled, as well as addressing limitations in the logic when configuring granular rules based on criteria combinations like file name, path, or publisher.
There were some challenges when a customer wanted to block or allow a certain app for a certain group; they couldn't use AD groups, which posed difficulties, but it was a specific customer issue and I can't remember the exact details.
I chose 8 out of 10 due to areas needing improvement, even though what's currently functioning is really good. The main challenges arose with very large organizations where I've discussed potential improvements with Airlock, yet there are valid reasons for specific approaches, making it not necessarily a bad thing.
I can't think of anything more specific needed for improvements to Airlock Digital Application Control.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working in my current field for nearly a year and in my previous role for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I believe Airlock Digital Application Control is stable, as I only saw one issue with a customer, and overall, I consider it to be very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Airlock Digital Application Control is great; by deploying a straightforward policy grouping layout, you can easily manage deployments, and it also integrates with Entra ID and Active Directory to automate adding people to Airlock groups.
How are customer service and support?
I don't have a lot of experience with the competition, but from what I've seen, Airlock Digital Application Control makes quite a compelling product. When we faced challenges or were trying to figure out the best way to solve something, Airlock support was really good, providing us with responses within a day at longest that were detailed and technical where we requested it.
The customer support I experienced from Airlock is brilliant, as I received excellent assistance while deploying, and customers I've spoken to also report great experiences engaging with Airlock support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Some customers have previously used different solutions like AppLocker, which is included in Microsoft products, or ThreatLocker, but they often switch due to Airlock Digital Application Control being easier to manage and providing better visibility.
How was the initial setup?
Airlock Digital Application Control's single SKU licensing model is pretty straightforward, easy to understand, and works well, scaling fairly well.
What about the implementation team?
I have utilized Airlock Digital Application Control's bi-directional REST API for a couple of customers, and it definitely helped them.
What was our ROI?
I believe there is a return on investment with Airlock Digital Application Control compared to some other basic solutions, as it certainly saves time and allows for fewer employees to manage it, though I don't have specific metrics to share.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Airlock Digital Application Control is good. Although I wasn't the primary decision-maker regarding costs, customers considered it fair and were willing to invest a bit more for the product and support provided by Airlock.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Airlock Digital Application Control, my customers evaluated other options, including ThreatLocker and AppLocker, which they typically want to move on from quickly due to management difficulties. I can't recall all other alternatives.
What other advice do I have?
It's very difficult with something like application control to put specific outcomes or metrics on it.
My impression of the granular policy control offered by Airlock Digital Application Control is quite good. While it excels for most deployments, larger customers sometimes face challenges when they want to split into more categories, which we generally advise against, as it complicates scaling when dealing with very high numbers.
The use of Airlock Digital Application Control's policy creation wizard never impacted my daily management tasks, though I assisted others with it as a consultant. For most organizations, it might require about 10 to 30 minutes a day, depending on the organization's size, applications in use, and how many administrators are involved.
I'm not aware of any AI capabilities implemented in Airlock Digital Application Control when I was there, so I don't have insights on its governance and security, but it does make me consider improvements in categorizing applications and finding patterns, which AI could help with to streamline sorting through numerous executions.
I'm not aware of any AI capabilities in the Airlock admin panel, and since I haven't used Airlock Digital Application Control in a while, they could have implemented updates since my last use.
I can't recall if I used the policy change history feature in Airlock Digital Application Control, and I'm uncertain if it has been added since.
I assume this refers to the user interface that came out around a year ago, which I found quite similar to the previous version and didn't see a significant improvement.
I haven't seen enough post-deployment to confirm if Airlock Digital Application Control helped prevent malware in customer systems. While I've observed some unwanted software, I can't recall catching malware, as I typically look at these environments for one to two months before handing over to the customer.
My advice for those considering using Airlock Digital Application Control is to maintain a simple policy structure and understand that having some level of application control is better than having none. Overly complicated policies can create instability and prevent effective management, so simplicity is key. I gave this review a rating of 8 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner