Firewall audits assist you in identifying flaws in your network’s security posture and determining areas where your security policies must be customised. They assure stakeholders that you have maintained your company up to date by assessing policy controls and security controls on a regular basis, and they put you in a position to respond to a breach or security issue.
Firewall Auditing Is Crucial
Installing a firewall is critical for removing harmful traffic from your company’s network. Firewalls identify harmful payloads using signature patterns and unlawful traffic using rule patterns. Signatures, on the other hand, must be updated as malicious payloads get more complex and change at a rapid pace.
It is vital to correctly administer and set firewall rules. A single mistake in rule administration might jeopardise the entire network. Hackers and fraudsters are always looking for these flaws. That is why you must adopt a crucial philosophy: security is a continuous process, not a product. You must upgrade your systems, resolve issues, and audit your security measures, which is why a firewall audit is required.
How to Conduct a Firewall Audit
To conduct a firewall audit, follow these steps.
- Gather Crucial Information
You won’t be able to conduct a successful audit unless you have complete insight into your network’s hardware, software, policies, and hazards.
2. Examine the Process of Change Management
A consistent change management mechanism allows for appropriate execution and tracing of firewall updates. Inadequate change documentation and untrustworthy validation of how the changes affect the network cause a slew of problems.
3. Examine the operating system and physical security
Check that you can neutralise typical cyber threats from both the physical and software security of your firewall.
> Controlled access to secure firewall and administration servers should be implemented.
> Examine the device administration procedures that have been implemented.
> Check to see if the operating system passes typical hardening checklists.
> Check that vendor patches and updates have been applied.
> Keep a list of authorised people who have access to the firewall server rooms.
4. Reduce Clutter and Strengthen the Rule Base
Clean up your firewall and optimise the rule base to take your firewall performance and IT efficiency to the next level.
> Remove any covered rules that are no longer needed.
> Unused and expired objects and rules should be disabled.
> Firewall rules should be prioritised in terms of performance and efficacy.
> Remove any unwanted connections, including routes that are no longer in use.
> Make use of object-naming standards.
> Examine VPN settings to identify expired and unattached groups, expired and unattached users, expired and unattached users, and unused users.
> Determine permissive rules by comparing policy usage to firewall logs.
> Find comparable rules and combine them into a single rule.
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