Why Network Security Policy Management Is Important for Your Business

Last updated August 28th, 2024 by Erez Tadmor

• Cloud
• Cybersecurity
• Network Security Automation
• Regulations and Compliance

Most organizations still lack a global, comprehensive network security policy governing how people can access resources and data across their hybrid network. And recent research has suggested that moving to the cloud does not offer significantly better security protection than on-premises networks.

A 2023 study by Vanson Bournefound that, of the organizations it surveyed, 47% of all the data breaches suffered over the past year originated in the cloud. The study also found 46% don't have full visibility into the connectivity of their organization's cloud services, and that only 24% are highly confident they can stop attackers from lateral movement through their networks.

To gain that visibility, many organizations are using network security policy management, or NSPM, which gives network administrators visibility across their entire hybrid network and allows them to organize and update their network security policies and security controls.

Tufin's approach to network security policy managementembraces automation and orchestration, as well as end-to-end network visibility and hybrid-cloud policy management. Tufin allows you to automate network access changes for data center and cloud environments, eliminate manual firewall management, and automate continuous compliance.

What Is Network Security Policy Management and Why Is It Necessary?

NSPM is not just a nice-to-have but is a necessary component for guarding against security threats. Network security policy management is crucial for your organization because it increases the efficiency of network security management, improves risk management, lets you streamline security policies, and increases your ability to meet compliance reporting requirements.

Most businesses have complex, fragmented networks with a wide range of security solutions that create large attack surfaces for malware and cyberattacks.

Network security management tools can help admins gain the visibility they need to effectively manage the connectivity, endpoints, firewalls, and firewall rules that make up their networks. NSPM helps reduce policy management complexity, which drives revenue and resource loss.

Without NSPM, organizations suffer from a range of deficiencies in network security management and cybersecurity in general:

• Lack of a documented, justifiable, and comprehensive network security policy

• Noncompliance with industry regulations

• Higher probability of audit failures and breaches  

• Difficulty in vulnerability management across your network with limited resources

• A lack of visibility into your network topology

• Slower and more time-consuming configuration management

• No verification of network changes

NSPM allows your network management team to avoid a wide range of negative outcomes, including:

• Use of manual processes that are risky and non-compliant with corporate policy or industry regulations, and which can bring down mission critical business applications, and result in audit fines and rework.

• Inability to discover and assess the security posture of the network due to complexity or process ownership 

• Lack of network access visibility, as well as troubleshooting capabilities and policy compliance in cloud-based environments

• Network and security teams are challenged to improve agility and reduce risks without increasing costs 

• A wide range of poorly documented policy change requests need to go through risk assessments on a daily basis 

• Cloud is managed in a silo without visibility and defined security policies 

The Benefits of Network Security Policy Management

Tufin reduces the complexity of managing network enforcement points for on-premises and cloud networks, and lets you automate access control and firewall rule changesand firewall security. Using NSPM enables this automation and means you can avoid policy violations and remain in compliance with industry regulations. This provide continuous complianceand audit readiness.

With NSPM, you can optimize your security posture through automated, real-time risk analysis and rule lifecycle management. NSPM supports the automated cleanup of risky and unused rules, which reduces attack vectors.

With NSPM, network vulnerabilities are prioritized and mitigated based on their exposure and impact. Similarly, automation of network changes and application connectivity monitoring leads to fewer outages and lower mean-to-resolution. These changes can also be implemented in minutes instead of days.

These efficiencies mean that you will spend less time redoing work related to network changes, and your highly skilled teams can work on higher value activities. There are other positive business outcomes NSPM enables:

• Fewer failed audits, saving time and resources needed for repeat audits and avoiding costly penalties 

• Increased business uptime and reduced time for troubleshooting and remediation of outages 

• Security is no longer the bottleneck in application deployment, accelerating digital transformation 

The Risks of Not Having Network Security Policy Management

A lack of NSPM, can increase your attack surface and lead to the exposure of sensitive data and resulting in loss of reputation and fines. Non-compliance with industry regulations could potentially lead to audit failures and increased regulatory oversight or penalties. 

Poor network security management can lead to an inability to scale your organization and adopt new technologies in a secure manner, and can lead to delays in needed changes of revenue-generating apps.

Misconfigurations can increase downtime of critical apps, leading to revenue loss and a worse reputation with your customers. Breaches can cost millions (the Vanson Bourne report says the average organization lost almost $4.1 million to cloud breaches in the past year alone).

All of these consequences can lead to lower productivity and morale among your workforce.

To learn more about how Tufin can help automate and orchestrate your security, sign up for a live demo. And learn how Tufin customers can see a 94% reduction in the effort needed to analyze and implement network changes, according to a Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact study.

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