AlgoSec Reviews

We use Firewall Analyzer from AlgoSec. We are mainly using AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer for auditing and analyzing firewall configurations. We have added different vendors inside AlgoSec for analysis. We have added Palo Alto firewalls, Fortinet firewalls, and Cisco firewalls. We are using all of these in our network.

There's an option to collect logs and send them to AlgoSec, but we are not using this option. We have other solutions for this purpose. We have Darktrace, IBM QRadar, etc.

In terms of our network environment, for the on-prem network, we have different security zones. For the data center, we have different DMZs for internal applications. We have different networks in different locations connected to our corporate network. About 90% of our applications are on-prem, and we only have the websites on the cloud.

It's helpful for auditing firewall configuration. If there is any mistake on the configuration side, it helps us to fix it. If there is a complication or there are unused security policies, it suggests removing or double-checking them. It's a good product. It's stable and gives us accurate results.

We have a network with more than 10,000 users. We have a lot of security devices for finance, remote sites, and corporate. AlgoSec is helping us to review and do auditing of the security device configuration. It's helping us to audit and review the configuration for any mistakes for firewalls, web application firewalls, proxies, etc.

When we add a security device, such as a firewall, it analyzes the configuration files for the firewall and gives us a brief of everything, such as security policies, routings, and objects. It lets us know if there is any mistake in the configuration, which is helpful for us. It gives us good visibility of what we have inside our security devices. For example, one of the firewalls that we have has more than 500 security policies. With manual auditing, we cannot analyze or review such a huge configuration. So, we are using AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer for this purpose, and it has saved more than 70% of our time.

It reduces human errors and misconfigurations. It lets us know if there haven't been any traffic hits for a policy for a long time. We can then review the configuration to see why there are no new hits for this. We are reviewing all of this every six months. It makes our work easier. It simplifies the job of security engineers.

Being able to analyze the environment and audit firewall configuration is most valuable. We are working here in the oil sector, and it's a critical environment. Every six months we have auditors coming from the main office and doing auditing for security. We are using AlgoSec Analyzer to help us to do the audit before the auditors come to our office and do the auditing of our security devices. So, it's helping us to do good work and analyze all security devices, including firewalls.

My only concern is related to how they count the number of licenses. We have active and standby devices. If someone adds the standby device by mistake and does an analysis, it consumes two licenses. They need to improve the way they are counting the number of licenses because someone can do analysis on a standby device by mistake. We need a way to fix or solve this issue.

I noticed that some of the oil companies in Kuwait have started to use AlgoSec Analyzer. I see AlgoSec solutions in Kuwait. AlgoSec needs to have sales engineers here. They should have presales or sales consultants so that they can offer solutions to companies in Kuwait.

We have been using AlgoSec for more than four years.

It's a stable solution.

It's scalable. We have 10,000 users accessing services and the internet. We only have two users who are accessing and working with AlgoSec. They are security engineers.

They are cooperative. If we face any issues, we just send an email or open a case through the portal. We can contact them directly. We don't face any issues with their support. I would rate them a 10 out of 10.

Positive

I have not used other tools. We know AlgoSec is a leader in this industry. We haven't faced any issues in the last four years while using the AlgoSec solution. We haven't done any research on other solutions because we haven't faced any issues with AlgoSec.

It's very easy to do the initial setup. It's not a big issue. In about two days, you can configure your device, activate the license, and add security devices. If you have an admin account, you can allow AlgoSec Analyzer to access security devices. 

Its management is not a big issue. Only one person can maintain it.

We have seen an ROI. That's why we got this solution. We knew how we would use it and what would be its benefits. We have seen about 60% or 70% ROI.

We purchase licenses based on the number of security devices in our network.

When I have active and standby firewalls, if I do an analysis of the active firewall and by mistake, I also do an analysis of the secondary or standby firewall, it'll consume two licenses from the total number of licenses I have. So, I need to change the license and make the active firewall secondary. They need to improve how they are counting the number of licenses. We have discussed this with the consultation team of AlgoSec.

I would rate it a 9 out of 10. It's a good product. It's working fine without any issues. We don't face any issues. Our only concern is how they are counting the total number of licenses.

We use AlgoSec AFA (AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer). We use the solution to configure the firewall rules automatically. 

We have two data centers where we use Check Point and Palo Alto and about 30 percent of our operation is on AWS and about another 30 percent is on Azure.

Before AlgoSec, an analyst had to configure the rules one by one but now, when rules are needed, they are configured automatically.

Another benefit is that it has reduced the time it takes to implement firewall rules. That's why we bought it. We used to have two or three people just configuring rules and now we only have one. It has saved us two FTEs. I'm also completing requests faster. Before, I used to take three, four, or even five days to do one request, but now it's half a day or less.

It helps us maintain compliance very well because everything is automated, meaning that everything should be right. When there are humans doing things, there can be mistakes.

Another reason we chose AlgoSec was that it integrates well with multiple solutions. We have Check Point and Palo Alto, and it's better using AlgoSec to automate things.

Rule configuration is the most valuable feature.

It also provides very good visibility into the risk involved in firewall change requests and that is very important to us.

I've been using AlsoSec for about a year or a little bit more.

The stability of the solution is good. I never have problems with it.

Their tech support is okay.

Positive

This is our first automation solution. We went with AlgoSec after asking partners and other companies and everybody said, "Use AlgoSec."

Deploying it is easy. We spent some time on it because, in the beginning, we didn't have a lot of guys to work on AlgoSec. But when we designated one guy to do it, it took him about two weeks or three weeks.

It's worth the cost. But it's not just the cost. I'm faster than I was and that's what matters to me.

The pricing could be better.

We work on the support side, and our customers use AlgoSec, primarily via on-prem deployments. They use the solution to analyze and engage firewall policies, increase their security, and receive advice for firewall optimization. 

The solution component we use is AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer. We have a customer who uses FireFlow, and we carried out a POC of AppViz, which some of our customers may want to implement in the next year.  

AlgoSec reduced the time it takes to implement firewall rules for our organization. 

The product helps us prepare for audits and ensure firewalls are in compliance; we can check the security and firewall rating points and advise our customers on optimizing their firewall and security rules. 

AlgoSec helped simplify the job of our security engineers, primarily through the advice it provides to admins managing the firewalls, which is essential. It also made them more efficient at their jobs.   

The Firewall Analyzer component has excellent compatibility with the solution, and it's highly useful and easy to manage.

Our customers find the Intelligent Policy Tuner very helpful, and it was useful for us during the POC because it was a significant selling point for our clients; they liked it and wanted to use it.

The solution provides excellent visibility into our network security policies, especially when we set the log options to ''extensive''; this gives us a lot of visibility for reports and change notifications. 

AlgoSec provides complete visibility into the risk involved in firewall change requests, which is especially important when presenting security reports to upper management.  

The solution's automation helped to reduce human error and misconfigurations; if the tool detects a drop in security and firewall policy points, it notifies admins via email of a potential misconfiguration, allowing us to fix the issue and raise the points again.  

More scope for editing alerts would be a welcome change. 

The solution has visibility and compatibility issues with Palo Alto firewalls, which makes it challenging to provide reports. The reports rely on logging, and the product has problems with Palo Alto's logging. Better compatibility with Palo Alto firewall reports is a must.

Some of our customers want to see AlgoSec with a user-based policy that can advise on user policy rules and be compatible with identity awareness.

I've been using the solution for over eight years across two companies.

The stability is good; there's no problem with it. 

The customer service is responsive and reliable enough, and most of our cases are solved within a day or two.

Positive

The setup is very straightforward; we use VMs, so our customers don't need appliances. We can set up a VM and install AlgoSec in 15-30 minutes, then further configuration such as DNS, names, IP addresses, and adding the firewalls takes two to three hours.

The upgrade process is also straightforward; when the upgrade package is released, we download it, import it to a machine, and implement it with one SSH command. The solution doesn't require any further maintenance. 

I'm not involved in the financial aspect, but I understand the platform to be expensive, though I need to find out how it compares to competitors like Tufin, for example.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

Some of our customers work with different security vendors, including FortiGate, Palo Alto, and Check Point, and integration with their firewalls is straightforward when using AlgoSec.  

We are also a supporter of Tufin in Turkey, and there are some advantages to using AlgoSec, as it's more useful in specific ways. With the latter, it's quick and easy to get reports, and AlgoSec has lower spec requirements for new installs. It requires a maximum of 16-32 GB of memory and 500 GB to one TB of storage, but Tufin requires 60 GB of memory and one to two TB of storage. AlgoSec is more straightforward and user-friendly; the options are named clearly, so it's easy to add identities or active directories.

The product is suitable for small, medium, and large businesses; they could all find a use for it. 

I recommend the solution; I've been using it for eight years, and it's more user-friendly and useful than other products.

My primary use case to use this solution was to get visibility into my multi-vendor network environment into a single pane of glass making it easy to have compliance and audits done seamlessly. 

Also, it is letting me know if any changes are required over different network devices if I bring a certain new application in the environment (discovering its dependencies) and then push the changes from the single console. Also, it needed to verify if there are any unnecessary rules with the attribute "any" over all the firewalls that the solution was able to cover.

It helped me in managing the multi-vendor network devices with also mapping the required network level prerequisites for my application to be able to handle their network needs in an automated and seamless manner. It also removed the need for multiple approvals with Fireflow. 

It also made compliance and audits very easy for my organization. It was able to give visibility of the changes on the firewall with a who-when-what scenario. It helped me to document all the risks related to any change request that I made.

The way the solution helps in managing, reporting and seamless security policy change automation for the connectivity between the network devices and the applications is great. 

The visibility provided by the single pane of glass for managing multi-vendor firewalls is excellent and then pinpointing network connectivity issues is certainly on a very good level. 

The majority of the value comes with automating of the entire security - i.e., the policy change process from design and submission to proactive risk analysis, implementation and auditing.

They need to improve the web interface to be a little more interactive and friendly. It's still not bad, yet it could improve. 

They could improve AlgoSec academy, as there are some bugs when it comes to advancing resources. When trying to do the certification, I got stuck in one module, which prevented me from completing the certification. 

The only downside of AlgoSec is that it seems to need some updates as it relates to UX and potentially some more outlined integrations. Specifically with cloud platforms and tools.

I have been using the solution from the last six months and have been quite happy with it.

This was my first solution and I have been continuing with this solution only for future needs until it satisfies all of my use cases.

I evaluated other options as well, however, where their capability ended, i.e. firewall analyzing capability, AlgoSec provides much better capabilities.

The most common use cases include:

• Performing audits on an annual basis with the help of information security
• Remediating risky rules by trusting them or remediating them at the firewall level
• Unused rules and disabled rules are addressed on a regular basis
• All firewall changes are monitored through AlgoSec with the help of change notifications
• Improving compliance and risk management and connections revolving around the network Layer 3
• Locating objects and addressing any issues on a much quicker basis

We were able to improve the security ratings of our firewalls. It helped us with annual audits, change notifications, rule assessments, and visibility in general.

It improved compliance and risk management and connections revolving around the network Layer 3.

We can get all the firewall-related data with a single click and effectively work on synchronizing with all the firewall gateways including the management server.

It helps us with firewall audits on an annual basis with the help of information security.

We remediate risky rules by trusting them or remediating them at the firewall level.

We address the unused rules and disabled rules on a regular basis.

All firewall changes are monitored through AlgoSec with the help of change notifications.

It improved compliance and risk management and connections revolving around the network Layer 3.

It helps locate objects and address any issues on a much quicker basis.

RFEs are kept open for too long. We had requested a couple of features, including the ability to trust implicit rules, and IPT doesn't run on IPSEC-enabled firewalls (Cisco to be specific). We had reported these issues for over four years now and still we do not see any resolution.

There is no visibility for the changes made to the NAT rule policies.

Adding objects or object groups on the firewall also do not generate a change notification.

There is no visibility for changes made to the secondary standby firewall if the firewalls are added as a cluster.

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

We did not previously use a different solution.

We did not evaluate other options. 

We use the solution for rule optimization. We had almost 100+ firewalls in our network. AlgoSec helps us to manage the firewalls more effectively.

AlgoSec made our work simple in managing the multivendor firewall rule. Audit-ready reporting is an awesome feature.

The most valuable aspects of the solution include policy optimization, rule cleanup, and network discovery.

They need to do some improvements in multi-vendor firewall policy migration. They need improvements in network discovery. The solution could fix some bugs in the A32. Fireflow needs to be a little more user-friendly.

I've used the solution for the past four years.

The scalability is good.

We previously used Firemon. AlgoSec has more functionality and is user-friendly to manage our firewall more effectively.

The initial setup is good.

The ROI is good.

AlgoSec provided the best price and the team helped effectively with the support and A32 migration.

We did look into Tufin.

The solution is the best in the market.

We help deploy solutions to customers around Africa and Nigeria. We deploy it, then we also provide local support to our customers. We do PoCs, deploy solutions, and provide support whenever we have the opportunity to provide solutions which solve problems of one or two customers.

Most of our clients just want to stick with AFA. Most times, we just work around AFA and do a lot of things with it. We are quite conversant with AFA's portfolio.

AlgoSec provides our customers with full visibility into the risk involved in firewall change requests. Most of our customers are in the financial industry. AlgoSec can analyze existing policies that you have set up on your devices, gauging the risk. For example, with PCI requirements, there needs to be a description for each firewall rule change as to why it was made. Therefore, if a change was made by one of our clients, who was unable to put a description or comment against that rule, then automatically I would need to flag that.

ActiveChange integrates with your change workflow and ticketing system. For example, a change request is made to open port 8080. Then, if the guy who was supposed to implement that change mistakenly opened port 80, then ActiveChange will say, "What was approved was 8080, but what you actually opened was 80." That actually helps to fix human errors. It helps to check everything that is being done. You can go through the analysis and see changes that were made, and AlgoSec is able to alert you immediately. Whenever there is a change, notifications are sent to the administrators because it gives you that real-time alerting and change. 

The most valuable features are:

• Compliance reporting
• Their immediate support team
• Maps: You can trace the traffic and what firewall is blocking what connections, services, and websites.
  

You don't need to be tech-oriented to work with AlgoSec.

One of the beautiful things about AlgoSec is that it gives you templates. There are quite a number of compliance templates, depending on the industry that you are in. For example:

• The ISO number system
• The information security - ISMS management system
• PCI DSS
• FISMA Compliance. 

For our clients, they especially have to maintain ISMS and PCI DSS, as these are the two compliance regulations that they have to maintain. You can run analysis or reporting based on the templates. Within minutes, you get into the report, can see your compliance status, and what exactly you need to fix. You can clearly see what parts of the requirements you are not meeting and where you are falling short within standards. It is very clear and visible. We can customize all of this with the reporting, however the client wants it. This is one of the critical parts for most of our clients.

In late December or early January, we were trying to add another solution, but it wasn't working because there was no support for the version that we were running at that point. After they released the hotfix, that took care of this issue. That particular device was then supported. So, it has been very stable and working fine since then.

I have been using it for about three years now.

The stability is excellent.

There have been some recent updates and hotfixes that have been released. These have taken care of a number of things, which include support for some particular firewalls.

The scalability is good. We have had to scale for some of our clients who have about 10 firewalls or 10 network devices, and they wanted to have more. All we had to do was acquire more licenses, then we just scaled. It is quite seamless.

I have worked with AlgoSec for about three years. Before COVID-19 struck, the technical support used to be 10 of 10. You would make a support call, someone would join you on a session, and you would get help almost instantly. Since COVID-19, a number of the technical support team members have been working from home or remotely. So, we haven't gotten to support people right when we need them. Sometimes, it takes a couple of hours or even days for us to get that instant support that we used to get. I think they are working on it. The last time that I had a support session with them, which was about two months back, I saw some relative improvements.

We have been using the OVA file on a virtual box. Once we slam it on the VM, it is quite straightforward. Once you are done with that, then you define the IPs.

We have had quite a number of our prospective clients have come to us, and say, "Hey guys, we want AlgoSec," but one of their turn-offs has been the pricing. I would like it if AlgoSec would review their pricing and come down on it. The solution is quite amazing and versatile, so we would really appreciate it if the pricing could be reviewed for Nigeria because we definitely would get more sales if that happened. 

In Nigeria, quite a number of industries have been hit hard by COVID-19 and we are not a high income generating country, so a lot of people want to cut costs. When it comes to the security, companies would rather settle for less and take a step back because of the cost. They might even put infrastructures off. However, if the pricing is reasonable and affordable for people in this part of the world, then our company will definitely see more sales.

AlgoSec is 10 out of 10 compared to FireMon. Compared to any other solution that does firewall analysis and policy management, AlgoSec deserves 10 out 10 because of:

• Its simplicity: Virtually everything about AlgoSec is straightforward.
• Versatility, as far as the reporting and alerting.
• Support, which is quite amazing.

If you are looking for a tool that will provide you clear visibility into all the changes in your network and help people prepare well with compliance, then AlgoSec is the tool for you. Don't think twice - AlgoSec is the tool for any company that wants clear analysis into their network and policy management.

Anybody can use AlgoSec once they take all the training.

Compared with other tools on the market, the solution is 10 out of 10.

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.