AlgoSec Reviews

One of the standout features is its ability to provide visibility and control over security policies. The product offers a centralized dashboard that gives an overview view of the entire network infrastructure, including firewalls, routers, and switches, regardless of their vendor or location. This unified view enables administrators to easily manage and modify security policies from a single platform, eliminating the need for manual, error-prone processes. 

AlgoSec also provides a powerful rule analyzer that detects and highlights any redundant, overlapping, or conflicting rules, helping organizations optimize their security policies for maximum efficiency. AlgoSec also allows administrators to define and enforce a standardized change management process, reducing the risk of unauthorized or misconfigured changes.

AlgoSec's compliance management capabilities have helped a lot in my organization. It offers predefined compliance frameworks, such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, and assists organizations in mapping their security policies to these standards. AlgoSec can generate comprehensive reports that demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements, simplifying the audit process. 

It also provides continuous compliance monitoring, alerting administrators of any of policy violations or any changes that may impact compliance.

The visibility of security policies and automation is the most valuable feature of AlgoSec. It offers a range of automated workflows and processes that accelerate security policy management. For example, it can automate the process of rule recertification, ensuring that rules are regularly reviewed and validated. 

AlgoSec also facilitates policy optimization by automatically suggesting rule modifications based on industry best practices or specific compliance requirements. By automating these repetitive tasks, AlgoSec frees up valuable time for security teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.

AlgoSec offers almost everything that clients want and has a robust set of features. That said, there are a few areas where it could improve. The user interface, although functional, could benefit from a more modern and intuitive design. Additionally, the initial setup and configuration process may require some technical expertise, which could pose a challenge for organizations with limited security resources. A simple tutorial about the initial configuration on Youtube could provide a lot of help. Even a self-guide link inside the GUI would be helpful.

I've used the solution for two years.

The initial setup was complex.

The implementation was handled in-house.

We use FireFlow, AppViz, and AppChange. We use them mainly to visualize our firewalls.

We have three data centers, but we are also providing the public cloud as well.

We implemented it to get a better, clearer view. It has supported us very well.

The solution provides us with full visibility into the risk involved in firewall change requests. This is very important for us because we are regulated according to the FDA. It shows us which changes have been made and why. So, it has worked very well for our compliance needs.

AlgoSec is a tool that really supports our work in compliance and our customers' requirements, fulfilling their FDA requirements.

Our security has been stronger due to AlgoSec. We don't have human errors.

The most valuable feature is its ease of use.

It provides a very good, clear view. I really love the product. 

Overall, it gives a better overview of our firewalls. This is a tool that we cannot live without because it is easy to view and maintain.

I have been using this solution for four years.

Overall, the stability is good. It supports our work. We are happy and our customers are happy.

It has very good scalability.

The technical support is fast and very good. I would rate the support as six or seven out of 10.

Neutral

We have seen ROI on time. AlgoSec has reduced the time it takes to implement firewall rules in our organization. It used to take around an hour, and we can now implement them in 20 minutes.

It is a good investment due to the losses that a customer will have if they are not aligning with the FDA. That would be in the millions, so it is a good investment from our side and the customer's side.

Quality has a price. 

We have tried other vendors. This is the best solution that we came up with due to our requirements and demands.

It is good for integrating with leading security vendors.

I would rate the solution as eight out of 10. If you have requirements with very strict alignment for firewall rule processes, then I would really recommend this product.

We primarily use AlgoSec to just have a check on what firewall rule sets have been configured over a period of time, and if there are any redundancies within those rules, that we can eliminate without any confusion within the ruleset. It allows us to have the optimum support and effectiveness of the firewalls.

Doing the analysis of rule sets is very useful for us.

Being able to make and implement changes within a timeline is a very valuable aspect of the solution.

The solution is easy to navigate.

The initial setup is straightforward.

AlgoSec can probably do better at introducing features for the cloud firewall scenarios. This is something that will probably help customers. It needs a hybrid scenario that includes private cloud, public cloud, and on-prem things. If a feature could cover all three different types of deployment, that could probably make it even more desirable for clients.

I've been dealing with the solution for two and a half years at this point.

We've not received any complaints so far when it comes to stability. So far, our capabilities mapped with AlgoSec has always achieved the best of results for our customers. There don't seem to be bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

We haven't heard anything from clients that would lead us to believe they couldn't scale the solution if they needed to.

The technical support is quite good. I would rate them eight or nine out of ten.

There are some points wherein when it comes to support, my engineer may not have gotten direct support immediately. In the past, my engineer might have to wait half an hour or one hour to get an answer, and then, of course, the customer is also waiting. That slightly impacts my customer experience. Due to that aspect, I am reducing one or two points for that. However, overall, we're pretty satisfied with the solution.

I use a few other solutions as well. More often, I would advise clients to go with AlgoSec. Of course, as a secondary option, if our customers personally had some other preference, my experience is that they tend to go for Tufin rather than Skybox.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's not complex. We don't face any challenges on that front.

We both deploy the solution and manage the solution for our customers.

In terms of pricing, it would be useful if they could be a bit more aggressive to their competition in the market. They need more aggressive pricing. That would be certainly more helpful to the market overall.

We have relationships with AlgoSec, Skybox, and Tufin. We are resellers as well as value-added service partners of all three solutions.

Our experience is across the board. What we advise depends on our customers' requirements and preferences. Based on that, we suggest select solutions.

We have a cloud model that we have worked out with AlgoSec. We are their managed security service partners. Along with that, we also do the on-prem deployment, especially in the Indian government sector.

Overall, I'd rate the solution a nine out of ten. I've had a fantastic experience with it so far.

We need less time to identify any risks in our firewalls, as we can detect changes in real-time.

We have obtained in easy way to do compliance reports for audit purposes. With this optimization reports, we can clean up unused rules, consolidate covered or redundant rules. We can also define trusted rules that apply.

Risky rules reports help to reduce manual work and identify the main risky configurations to remove. This give us some recommendations on how remediate and their importance.

• Identifying and removing risky rules
• Firewall rules cleanup (unused rules)
• Security compliance reports
• Security baseline settings

A vulnerability management module might be interesting, though not integrated with a third-party vendor. It should be an AlgoSec VM module.

I would like some server integration for vulnerability management.  

Some PDF reports are not so good. E.g., the graphics and reports are not so good. Sometimes, we need to create graphics and reports to compare security ratings across months and groups. 

I have been using AlgoSec for two years. 

Awesome.

Great.

Excellent and very kind technical support.

No.

Licensing is very easy to set up. The pricing is relative to how you want to expand and harden your network security. 

I did not evaluate another solution.

It is a great tool that makes work easier each day. I can't imagine working without AlgoSec and using it for my daily activities. 

AlgoSec's Firewall Analyzer tool for rule usage and recertification. Our firewall governance group uses the AFA tool to gather object and rule usage on a recurring basis for recertification as well as research and design of new firewall rule changes.

Object and rule usage statistics enable object-level recertification of all rules. AFA usage statistics have enabled our company to establish regularly scheduled recertifications of all firewall rules across all policies.

Traffic simulation queries, policy tuner analysis and rule usage. Traffic simulation queries assist with new firewall change design and reduce manual work effort. Policy tuner analysis and rule usage enable recertification and provide additional validation for new changes.

Support/upgrade processes and documentation. The platform would benefit from additional support articles and guides on the Algopedia knowledge base.

This solution scales well from tens of devices to thousands.

Support interactions have been hit or miss. It is my understanding the AlgoSec is putting a renewed focus on support and documentation to improve this aspect going forward.

No.

Tufin

I would recommend investing the time in a full project to implement the AlgoSec suite if you will be using more than just the Analyzer piece. Fireflow and Business flow would benefit from dedicated standup time and effort to achieve the best results.

We use AlgoSec to see where our firewalls stand, configuration-wise, and where we can make the policies safer for the environment. We are a large Government organization that provides critical services to the community.

We have a mix of ASA and Firepower that we use in the environment. The tempo is pretty high and there is a large amount of opportunity for error due to the size of the team and sometimes lacking in technical experience with configuring the firewall platforms.

This tool allows us to check the config really easily.

Our pen testers were constantly using AlgoSec for the firewall assessments, even when going with different vendors. We decided to buy the product in order to check the policy in real-time and ensure there were not miss-configurations that would linger until next year's pen test.

We also get an automated email of firewall changes in addition to being able to see if there are any rules that are poorly configured.

I am less stressed thinking there could be a glaring misconfiguration that could cause an incident.

We primarily use the firewall analyzer feature. It is really great for looking at stuff like PCI, HIPPA, etc. There are sometimes false positives but I don't know of a product out there that does not have false positives.

The firewall analyzer is great if you deploy a new firewall platform and need to see if it provides an adequate level of protection, where you don't have any dangerous rules.

I like the peace of mind that we get from seeing what our overall score is for the configs. I also like that I can check against PCI requirements.

This is a tough one because it has a lot of good features.

I think that the rate of false positives can be improved. I would like a FireFlow or packet-tracer-like capability at a lower licensing level.

I liked the additional capabilities for an analyst or lower-level network admin or service desk tech to be able to check the rules to see if there is something blocking the traffic. However, I was not able to get the licensing approved above just FA.

I like the training available as it is very informative, but, I wish it was just available from YouTube and I could easily play it from my cell phone without additional logins.

I have been using AlgoSec for a few years.

We just relied on tech skills and pen tests. This way led us to be reactionary instead of getting ahead of problems.

Setup was not too difficult.

The cost is kind of high but I really did not check any other vendors.

I did not evaluate other options. I do like NetBrain's Path tool. This gives us a similar capability to FireFlow and has some other really great tools. 

The primary use of this appliance is for Firewall maintenance and monitoring. Firewalls are a critical component in all organizations. As engineers, we are tasked with more responsibilities. You want to efficiently manage your time and devices, AlgoSec helps tremendously with that.

AlgoSec has improved our organization by providing us with an appliance to assist with our daily Firewall duties. AFA & AFF assist with change detection and logging of user modifications. Also, it's a great tool when preparing for audits and ensuring your firewalls are in compliance.  

The feature I find most valuable is Change Detection email notifications. We are able to track real-time changes made.

Currently, the product is doing everything we have asked for. Its a huge component for our Firewall maintenance. One key component is the integration with ServiceNow for Firewall rule requests. This helps expedite the process and track every step from user to configuration. 

Some area's where the product can improve is with the knowledgebase. Sometimes you have to do additional reading for your particular error.

Some additional features I'd like to see are for the reports. As opposed to showing me the entire objects/rules on the change detection email for that particular firewall, I'd like to see just the changes. I think this would be beneficial to none technical personal that may get overwhelmed with all of the data.

Also, having a Linux or programming background makes troubleshooting easier. That is one challenge I'm working on now to improve fixing our issues quicker.  

So far for what the solution does, it's stable. 

The solution is very scalable so far. 

Support thus far is sufficient for our needs. Their system is very timely and engineers engage you via email first, then migrate to phone and screen share if needed. 

No previous solution.

I wasn't part of the implementation. 

I wasn't part of the implementation. 

I think we have a great ROI due to the improved visibility and management that the solution now provides us. 

I wasn't part of the setup cost. Pricing and licensing seem fair. Licensing depends on how big your organization is. We haven't had any issues with purchasing more licenses for our growth. 

This solution was in place prior to me transitioning to this role. 

No additional comments. 

Provides visibility to firewall policies. 

Single tool to engineer changes and track approvals for audit compliance.

A Central tool to track firewall requests. 

Using AlgoSec API calls to integrate with other apps (ex: central IT request portal)

Standard view of firewall policies, regardless of vendor (ex: Checkpoint and Cisco). 

Built-in reports to aid in policy cleanup (ex: unused rules or objects, covered rules).

Faster HA/DR failover - with very large databases, it takes a long time to failover / failback.

Provide even more REST API calls (ex: rule removal API)

Product and appliances have been very stable.

It easily scaled up to support our hundreds of firewalls.

Both are excellent. 

Customer service is clearly important to AlgoSec. I never get the feeling they're just trying to sell me something, they sincerely try to assist with the best solution for us.

Tech support is extremely knowledgeable and responsive. If I could score them 11, I would. 

Did not use another solution previously.

Initial deployment was straightforward. The FireFlow workflow can be configured to match the existing flow - customizing this to match any workflow permutations takes the most time. 

Through a vendor team. They were top-notch - extremely knowledgeable and great to work with.

Unknown.

Explore the possibility of running on a VM instead of dedicated hardware.

I was not part of the evaluation.

The tool is very flexible. Be sure to allocate sufficient resources to deploy & customize it.