FireMon, a provider of security management and risk analysis solutions, this week announced the latest version of its security policy and posture management solution, Security Manager Version 7.0.
New features in the latest version are designed to help organizations quickly and efficiently manage changes, assess configurations and measure associated risks in real-time.
The new capabilities apply best practice models gained from its knowledgebase and library of hundreds of assessment controls to evaluate device configurations and network access policies. As a result, the company says, customers can more rapidly and effectively identify, assess and prioritize configuration and compliance with a higher level of automation.
“Organizations live in a constant state of change — from infrastructure evolution and device sprawl, to business and personnel upheaval,” FireMon said. “While point-in-time security and vulnerability assessments can provide a current snapshot of exposure, one employee addition/departure, a new VM or a change to a firewall rule can immediately render an assessment moot.”
With the goal of providing a continuous and real-time posture ‘reality check’ that prevents errors in oversight, core enhancements to Security Manager 7.0 include:
• Continuous Assessment – Active and continuous assessment of compliance and security posture to analyze and trend the effects of administrative and environmental changes in the enterprise.
• Best Practice Modeling – Moves from primarily device-centric to control-centric monitoring via prepackaged assessments from the FireMon knowledgebase, or custom assessment definition. Provides a higher-level view of data for quicker, more comprehensive assessments and a better understanding of the implications of change over time.
• Business Process Standardization – In addition to announcing Security Manager 7.0, the company launched Policy Planner Version 3.0, a policy and risk management solution that now supports the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 standard, which has been adopted by other technology vendors including Accenture, Capgemini, France Telecom, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat Software, SAP AG and Unisys. Building on the BPMN 2.0 standard enables integration to existing business processes and solutions of FireMon’s firewall tools such as rule recommendation and analysis.
“While the old adage of ‘learn from your mistakes’ holds true in every job, the implications of even minor mistakes in security can have far reaching consequences — and more so the longer they go undetected,” said Jody Brazil, president and CTO of FireMon. “And dangerous mistakes aren’t limited to misconfiguration. Small, even valid, changes can have unexpected and unpredictable cascading effects farther along a network path.”
“If you have a good understanding of what the security technology that you’ve already paid for is doing, you can get a good idea of where your gaps exist,” Brazil previously told SecurityWeek. “By integrating real-time information and risk analysis into the platform, you have continuously up-to-date information about your network.”
Both Security Manager V7.0 and Policy Planner V3.0 are scheduled to be available in early Q2 2013, with pricing starting at $20,000.
Related: Configuration Mistakes Make for Costly Security Gaps
