Client Overview:
Loan Centric is an Australian based brokerage and financial services provider. They faced concerns over its network security posture. Despite having a firewall in place, the company noticed an increase in security incidents and challenges in effectively managing their network policies as they expanded.
Challenges:
- Inefficient Firewall Policies: The company’s firewall policies had become overly complex and were difficult to maintain. This led to gaps in coverage and unnecessary exposure to cyber threats.
- Security Incidents: Despite having a firewall solution, there was an increase in security incidents, including unauthorized access attempts and vulnerabilities in unmonitored areas of the network.
- Compliance Gaps: The company needed to ensure that their firewall policies complied with industry regulations such as PCI DSS, but the lack of visibility into their policy structure made compliance difficult.
- Lack of Network Visibility: The organization lacked a comprehensive view of the effectiveness of their firewall rules, which hindered troubleshooting and proactive security measures.
Solution:
To address these challenges, the company engaged a network security firm to perform a comprehensive Firewall Policy Audit and Uplift. The solution involved the following steps:
- Firewall Policy Review and Audit: A thorough audit was conducted of all existing firewall rules and configurations to identify redundancies, unnecessary permissions, misconfigurations, and compliance gaps.
- Policy Simplification and Optimization: Unnecessary or outdated rules were removed, and existing rules were restructured to improve clarity and efficiency. Policies were aligned with the principle of least privilege to ensure tighter security.
- Compliance Alignment: The firewall policies were updated to ensure compliance with GDPR, PCI DSS, and other relevant regulations. Detailed logs, secure traffic monitoring, and proper segmentation were implemented.
- Enhanced Visibility and Reporting: The firewall system was configured to provide detailed visibility into network traffic and policy effectiveness. Real-time reporting was set up for ongoing monitoring and compliance verification.
Results:
- Improved Security Posture: The updated firewall policies reduced exposure by eliminating unnecessary access and ensuring that only authorized users and systems could communicate across critical parts of the network. This minimized the risk of attacks.
- Incident Reduction: With more granular and effective rules, the number of security incidents significantly decreased, as the firewall now provided stronger protection against unauthorized access and threats.
- Regulatory Compliance: The updated policies ensured that the company met the necessary data protection regulations, including GDPR and PCI DSS, safeguarding customer information and reducing the risk of non-compliance.
- Increased Operational Efficiency: The simplified policy structure allowed the security team to manage and maintain firewall rules more efficiently, improving the response time to potential security events and reducing administrative overhead.
- Enhanced Visibility: The new reporting and monitoring capabilities provided ongoing insight into the firewall’s performance and policy effectiveness, ensuring that security could be proactively managed.
Conclusion:
The firewall policy audit and uplift project greatly improved the Loan Centric ‘s security posture by streamlining firewall rules, enhancing compliance, and reducing security risks. With more effective policies and better visibility, the company is now better equipped to handle emerging threats and ensure the protection of customer data, all while maintaining operational efficiency.
