Make the Headlines for Good News — Not a Security Mishap Due to Config Drift

The risk of config drift is ever present. And when you consider that modern enterprises have incredibly complex and ever-changing networks with thousands of devices, from routers to firewalls to switches, running billions of lines of config, it’s easy to understand why. Networks are constantly being changed by people - who though well intentioned - […]

The risk of config drift is ever present. And when you consider that modern enterprises have incredibly complex and ever-changing networks with thousands of devices, from routers to firewalls to switches, running billions of lines of config, it’s easy to understand why. Networks are constantly being changed by people - who though well intentioned - make mistakes. A configuration change that accomplishes the immediate goal may take the network out of compliance, but how would anyone know?

Security teams try to stay on top of config drift by manually conducting regular compliance and security audits. But these audits can take weeks or longer — time that the enterprise can’t afford. These audits require a lot of manual work that can lead to the introduction of costly errors and new risks in your network. As a result, non-compliance is often detected when there is a security incident. This is one of many reasons CISOs don’t sleep well.

It’s our core belief that the network should be predictable, agile and secure — and that it should be relatively easy for engineers to ensure this. Knowledge is power; a current, vendor agnostic and easy to interpret single source of network truth is a super power. And this “super power” can be used to continuously ensure that the network is “correct” or in policy.

Forward Networks makes security and operations engineers super heroes through automatic non-compliance detection and alerts. Using our Network Query Engine (NQE) and intent-based checks, engineers can receive immediate alerts when a device’s configuration is out of compliance. They’ll also get the details they need to fix the issue — fast and with accuracy. There is a library of prebuilt verifications in our platform. And, of course, your engineers can also create custom searches to suit your organization’s specific needs.

So now you no longer have to hope that your enterprise network is in compliance — with Forward Networks, you’ll know if it is. See how automatic non-compliance detection and alerts can help your security teams control the risk of config drift and keep your business from making the headlines for the wrong reasons. Read our use case to learn more.

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Fabrizio Maccioni

Fabrizio Maccioni is the Director of Technical Marketing at Forward Networks. Fabrizio focuses on Network Device Programmability, Automation, and Application Hosting.