What is a Firewall Risk Assessment?

Published on : 07 Jun 2019


firewall risk assessment

A firewall risk assessment is a detailed assessment approach of a firewall topology and configuration that has been implemented to protect your information, systems, applications, and overall business operations.

Is firewall risk assessment helpful for my organization?

The assessment will help your organization improve and maintain the various tiers of your network against the actions of hackers/viruses from disrupting business operations and stealing data.

Does my organization need a Firewall risk assessment?

With evolving business needs the firewalls that were initially set up, configured and patched undergo a constant change such as the addition of firewall rules and changes to configuration; many bought about by emergency changes or for temporary changes for troubleshooting/testing/ rollout of new infra purposes which never get rolled back. This introduces your organization the risk of permitting unintentional and potentially harmful access into or out of the organization’s network.                                                                                                                                                  The assessment helps your organization to verify that your firewalls adequately protect critical business information and data as required.                                                                                                                                                        International standards and regulations such as PCI and HIPAA also consider firewall risk assessment as a key requirement.

What is VISTA InfoSec’s approach towards firewall risk assessment?

Our security consultants at VISTA InfoSec use tools such as Nipper, RAT and other proprietary analytical tools and techniques, to help identify and remediate firewall security vulnerabilities and resolve miss-configurations. Since the efficacy of such tools is limited due to the very base architecture of a firewall, our tech experts moving beyond an automated assessment actually validate:

 

  • Settings of the firewall such as network segmentation, VLAN tagging, DOS settings, DDOS settings, anti-spoof settings, audit and trail parameters.
  • Security rule matrix. This is done by conducting comprehensive meetings with the various departments to understand the purpose of the rule, the source, the destination and the ports allowed.

This methodology is unique and provides an output which is technically not possible by automated tools such as Algosec.

What can you expect after from a Firewall Risk Assessment from VISTA InfoSec?

We not only share a detailed report with the vulnerabilities and configuration issues that were identified during the assessment but also provide assistance and recommendations for mitigation.

Our services are enabled using the MSS portal which provides you and fellow colleagues the ability to:

  • Closely monitor the engagement progress at every stage during the assessment.
  • Assign vulnerabilities to various personnel for closure with a due date.
  • Track closure of vulnerabilities.
  • Store evidence of closure. This in itself proves itself to be a goldmine during the time of the internal/external audit.

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Narendra Sahoo
Narendra Sahoo

Narendra Sahoo (PCI QPA, PCI QSA, PCI SSF ASSESSOR, CISSP, CISA, CRISC, 27001 LA) is the Founder and Director of VISTA InfoSec, a global Information Security Consulting firm, based in the US, Singapore & India. Mr. Sahoo holds more than 25 years of experience in the IT Industry, with expertise in Information Risk Consulting, Assessment, & Compliance services. VISTA InfoSec specializes in Information Security audit, consulting and certification services which include GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, NESA, MAS-TRM, PCI DSS Compliance & Audit, PCI PIN, SOC2 Compliance & Audit, PDPA, PDPB to name a few. The company has for years (since 2004) worked with organizations across the globe to address the Regulatory and Information Security challenges in their industry. VISTA InfoSec has been instrumental in helping top multinational companies achieve compliance and secure their IT infrastructure.