FireMon - Worth it.
Updated January 08, 2018
FireMon - Worth it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Security Manager
Overall Satisfaction with FireMon
FireMon is used by firewall administrators and security analysts on a regular basis. Administrators analyze proposed changes and existing rules base. Security analysts use it to audit.
- Fast analysis of flaws in the rules set
- Dynamic mapping
- Normalize varied platforms into a standard appearance
- Quickly find unused rules and objects
- Useful canned reports
- While you can evaluate potential changes to firewall rules, you can not implement the rules from FireMon.
- The GUI is easy to navigate, but learning where to go for the useful features takes a little practice.
- While the base product has reports for analyzing vulnerabilities, a separate license is required to get the full benefit.
- The primary benefit has been reducing the labor of analysis of rules in both audit and administration. Tasks that took hours now take minutes.
Using FireMon
10 - Firewall administrators and cyber security analysts are the primary users.
2 - Firewall administrators on our networking team maintain FireMon. The ability to configure firewalls and routers/switches to send data is most important. The application does not require much skill to configure. FireMon technical support is also available for assistance.
- Business control: mapping requests for change, authorization for change, and the change that was made.
- Best Practice review: overly permissive rules, shadowed rules, use of "any", etc...
- Change/impact analysis: changes can be review in FireMon prior to production implementation
- The ability to add reports monitoring for specific rules that are no longer approved was unexpected, but useful.
- We may add the module to allow pivot analysis of vulnerability data.
Evaluating FireMon and Competitors
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Analyst Reports
- Third-party Reviews
Third-party reviews breaking down the features really helped pick a product. We were more interested in analysis than management.
No changes.
FireMon Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
- Had to work with FireMon support and another vendor to figure out the configuration on one tool to send data.
FireMon Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Not Sure
The local FireMon Sales Engineer who supports a different industry is always quick to help and back up support. He's the closest to us. He has just as much ownership for our problems as our assigned staff. Great team work.
Using FireMon
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | Requires technical support |
- Once configured, the pre-made reports provide immediate value.
- The data from the reports are informative and offer insight into remediation of problems.
- Configuring systems to send data to FireMon may take some effort and troubleshooting. At least one system required co-ordination between support from both vendors.