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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