A New Security-Focused Path Search View for Faster, Clearer Analysis

Why Security Teams Need a More Focused Path Search

Security teams frequently investigate whether traffic is allowed, denied, or translated along a path, but traditional visualization methods create unnecessary complexity. A standard Path Search view includes every L2 and L3 hop—switches, routers, and intermediary devices that participate in forwarding but apply no security policy. While this depth is helpful for network troubleshooting, it overwhelms analysts focused specifically on enforcement points. The community article notes that security practitioners often spend too much time filtering out irrelevant hops to isolate where decisions are truly made.

In highly segmented environments, multiple paths, redundant topologies, and distributed firewalls magnify this challenge. Analysts may need to evaluate dozens of hops before identifying the devices that actually determine traffic outcomes. This adds friction to workflows such as validating segmentation rules, investigating outages tied to policy misconfigurations, or confirming whether NAT behavior impacts application connectivity. The new Security-Focused Path Search View addresses this gap by refining the visual output so security teams can immediately focus on devices that enforce, transform, or filter traffic. By emphasizing relevance rather than raw topology, the feature delivers a far more intuitive and actionable starting point for investigations.

How the Security Mode Streamlines Enforcement Analysis

The Security-Focused Path Search View reshapes traditional path analysis by suppressing forwarding-only devices and highlighting the points where security decisions take place. When enabled, Security Mode removes switches, routers, and intermediary devices that do not apply policy, reducing the path to the minimal set of nodes responsible for filtering or NAT. This produces a clean, enforcement-focused view that helps teams quickly determine whether security controls are functioning as intended. 

This streamlined view helps analysts quickly answer key questions:

• Where is traffic being evaluated?
• Which devices are enforcing filtering or NAT?
• Are there multiple enforcement points that could influence the outcome?

By isolating enforcement points, analysts can understand where traffic is evaluated, which rules influence the result, and whether any translation occurs before reaching the destination. This targeted perspective enables faster, more accurate investigations and reduces the manual effort typically required to navigate full end-to-end paths. It also helps ensure that policy logic remains consistent across multiple devices, an essential requirement for complex segmentation strategies.

Reducing Noise to Improve Troubleshooting and Zero Trust Validation

Noise is one of the most persistent obstacles in security investigations. In networks with redundant paths, dynamic routing, or distributed enforcement, analysts often face long, complex path outputs containing devices of no security relevance. This noise slows down segmentation validation, policy reviews, and root-cause investigations tied to denied traffic. The Security-Focused Path Search View removes this friction by providing a targeted, minimal representation of the path—one that surfaces only the decision points that matter.

This refined perspective offers major advantages for Zero Trust initiatives, where consistent enforcement and clear segmentation boundaries are essential. Analysts validating whether a workload is properly segmented no longer need to parse hops that merely forward traffic. Instead, they can see immediately whether the expected enforcement points appear in the path and whether those devices behave as intended.

The streamlined visualization also accelerates incident response. When an application fails due to a policy issue, responders can focus on the devices applying controls, reducing time spent scrolling through topology or interpreting irrelevant infrastructure. For environments with frequent policy changes or complex multi-path flows, this clarity leads to more predictable, repeatable troubleshooting.

What’s New in Forward Enterprise 25.10

The Security-Focused Path Search View is available to all customers running Forward Enterprise 25.10 or later. The feature complements the standard Path Search by allowing analysts to switch between full topology visibility and focused security-centric visibility as needed. According to the community post, this dual-mode flexibility enables mixed teams; security, networking, cloud, and platform operations to choose the level of detail appropriate for their workflow.

For security teams, this enhancement represents a significant usability upgrade. It offers a dedicated way to analyze enforcement behavior without manually filtering paths or reconstructing traffic logic across multiple devices. For network teams, it provides a complementary perspective when troubleshooting issues that may involve both routing and policy.

Forward Enterprise continues to evolve as a unified platform for visibility, verification, and security assurance. By refining how path information is presented to different roles, version 25.10 strengthens the product’s alignment with Zero Trust validation, policy troubleshooting, and high-velocity security operations. Customers are encouraged to explore the new view and provide feedback as they integrate it into their workflows.