Forward Networks, a provider of network digital twin technology that delivers network agility, predictability, and security for on-premises and multi-cloud environments, made an announcement this week around new capabilities added to the Forward Enterprise platform that will give security and network operations professionals a single, actionable and contextual view of the network.

To learn more, VMblog reached out to David Erickson, the co-founder and CEO of Forward Networks.

VMblog:  Can you describe what you announced this week?  And what does it mean for customers?

David Erickson:  This week we announced new capabilities for our award winning Forward Enterprise platform, that will help network and security professionals better understand and remediate vulnerabilities throughout the network, including endpoints. We've integrated with Rapid7 to combine end-device vulnerability data with robust and always-up-to-date connectivity analysis. Additionally, we've enhanced flexibility to define a security posture matrix. Now the security posture can be using the L2 through L4 segmentation methodology many enterprises have already employed in their network, e.g. VRFs, on-premises and cloud subnets, and cloud security groups. Forward Enterprise also now supports L7 path search capabilities  using attributes such as user IDs, user group IDs, and application IDs to provide more granular connectivity insight.

VMblog:  Why did you decide to integrate Forward Enterprise with Rapid7?

Erickson:  We decided to integrate Forward Enterprise with Rapid7 because it uniquely allows us to help organizations address the security talent shortage and flood of data that teams find themselves dealing with. The combined data between Rapid7 and Forward positions security teams to easily identify vulnerabilities and prioritize remediation efforts with mathematical accuracy.

VMblog:  What industry pain point(s) are these new capabilities addressing?

Erickson:  There are many tools available to security teams that evaluate device vulnerabilities, but without the knowledge of how that device is connected to the network, teams only have a limited view of potential exposure.  Oftentimes, security professionals choose to focus on keeping devices up to date no matter what vulnerabilities are detected, or they focus on vulnerabilities without considering the exposure of individual systems and devices. With this integration and our latest capabilities, Forward Networks is the only company that can show an organization's actual risk including on-premises, multi-cloud, and SD-WAN in an actionable single screen.

VMblog:  And how does this launch fit into your 2022 and future looking plans?

Erickson:  Visibility and complexity, problems that have plagued cybersecurity and IT practitioners for decades, are still huge issues. Forward Networks believes that what is needed are tools and techniques that reveal the full, enterprise-wide picture including on-premises, virtual and hybrid multi-cloud environments. Organizations cannot understand their security posture without understanding every piece of the infrastructure - the endpoints that run applications and services, the firewalls or cloud instances where policies are implemented. Our integration with Rapid7 and the new features we've announced further demonstrate our commitment to working with a diverse group of vendors, cloud providers and partners that can provide network, security and cloud operations teams with a single source of truth, and we'll continue to enhance data insights and collection in the future.

VMblog:  Finally, how will security teams benefit from these new capabilities and Rapid7 integration?

Erickson:  Security teams benefit from these new capabilities, along with our Rapid7 integration by now being more empowered to assess the vulnerability of their network and prioritize remediation and prevention efforts. They can now focus on exposures that present the greatest possible risk and see a single source of truth.

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