Guardicore - Detailed Review
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Guardicore - Product Overview
Overview
Guardicore, now integrated as Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, is a network security solution that focuses on providing comprehensive security for modern data centers and cloud environments. Here’s a brief overview of its primary function, target audience, and key features:
Primary Function
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is designed to simplify and accelerate network segmentation. It helps organizations protect their critical assets and applications by mapping, securing, and complying with regulatory requirements during cloud migrations. The solution is aimed at reducing the attack surface and improving overall security posture.
Target Audience
The target audience for Akamai Guardicore Segmentation includes large and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those with significant cloud and data center operations. These organizations often have complex IT infrastructures and a need for advanced security measures to protect their digital assets. The solution is particularly beneficial for companies undergoing cloud migrations or those requiring strict regulatory compliance.
Key Features
Overlay Segmentation
This solution does not require heavy infrastructure changes, allowing application owners to implement segmentation without scheduling downtime or altering application code. This reduces friction and speeds up project convergence.
Micro-Segmentation and Flow Visualization
It enables the visualization of all applications and workloads, allowing for the quick definition, monitoring, and enforcement of process-level, application-aware micro-segmentation policies.
Breach Detection and Automated Analysis
The platform detects lateral movement and provides automated analysis and response capabilities to identify and mitigate breaches.
Cloud Migrations
It supports quick and secure migration of workloads to the cloud with full visibility and security.
Integration with DevOps and CI/CD
The solution uses REST APIs and automation recipes, enabling seamless integration into DevOps and CI/CD frameworks to ensure continuous policy enforcement.
24/7 Support
Akamai provides comprehensive support through phone, email, and a dedicated support portal.
This solution is particularly valuable for organizations seeking to enhance their network security, reduce the risk of breaches, and comply with regulatory requirements without disrupting their existing infrastructure.
Guardicore - User Interface and Experience
User Interface
The AGS user interface, formerly known as Sentra, serves as a central hub for visualizing, configuring, and managing your network security. Here are some key features:
- Dashboard: The dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of the environment, displaying information on applications, traffic flows, malicious domains, agent information, and system health.
- Navigation Panel: Located on the left, this panel allows quick and easy access to all features from a single location. It includes navigation buttons and a row of quick links at the top for direct access to common functions.
- Buttons and Functions: The interface includes several buttons that facilitate different actions:
- Reveal: Allows users to view network maps and network logs containing detailed connection information.
- Enforce: Enables the creation of wizard-based policies, manual rules, tracking policy revisions, and configuring Active Directory users for identity-based rules.
- Inventory: Allows users to view assets, configure labels, and deploy or upgrade agents.
- Protect: Facilitates incident investigation, threat prevention, deception, and running queries on agents using the Insight system.
- System: Provides access for system configuration, including aggregators, collectors, deception servers, local users, role-based access control, and technology integrations such as Azure and AWS.
Ease of Use
The interface is structured to simplify network security management:
- Out-of-the-Box Templates: AGS allows for quick deployment using pre-configured templates, which can be customized over time. This feature is particularly appreciated for its ease of implementation and flexibility.
- Intuitive Layout: The layout is organized to ensure that users can quickly access and manage various aspects of their network security without needing extensive training.
- Real-Time Policies: Policies can be created and enforced in real-time based on user identities pulled from Active Directory, making the system highly responsive and efficient.
Overall User Experience
Users have reported positive experiences with AGS:
- Enhanced Visibility: The system provides excellent visibility into network communications, which is crucial for creating effective segmentation policies. This visibility helps in understanding how systems interact with each other.
- Productivity and Job Satisfaction: Cybersecurity professionals have noted increased job satisfaction due to enhanced productivity within IT teams. The system’s ability to automate discovery and visualization has been highlighted as a significant benefit.
- Legacy System Support and Scalability: Users appreciate the support for legacy operating systems and the scalability of the solution, which are key factors in choosing AGS over other products.
Overall, the Akamai Guardicore Segmentation user interface is designed to be user-friendly, providing clear and easy access to various security management functions, which enhances the overall user experience and productivity.
Guardicore - Key Features and Functionality
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation (AGS)
AGS is a comprehensive security solution that integrates several key features to enhance network security, particularly through the principles of Zero Trust and microsegmentation. Here are the main features and how they work, including the integration of AI:
Deployment and Network Mapping
AGS starts by deploying a lightweight agent on servers and endpoints, whether on-prem or in the cloud. These agents help build a detailed map of the network, allowing administrators to visualize the entire environment.
Core Functions
- Visibility: This is the primary function, enabling administrators to see how systems communicate with each other. This visibility is crucial for creating effective segmentation policies.
- Enforcement: The agent acts as a process-level host-based firewall, making decisions to allow or block connections based on applied policies. This ensures that only authorized communications occur within the network.
- Insight: Administrators can query the agent for various pieces of information, such as the current patch level, critical vulnerabilities, and whether Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is installed. This helps in maintaining the security posture of the network.
- Deception: If the agent detects anomalous behavior, it can redirect the attacker to a Guardicore-hosted honeypot, thereby protecting the actual network assets.
Microsegmentation
Microsegmentation is a key feature that splits the network environment into multiple zones. This minimizes the damage a cybercriminal can do by limiting lateral movement within the network. AGS allows administrators to define, monitor, and enforce process-level, application-aware micro-segmentation policies.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
The platform integrates ZTNA, which includes multi-factor authentication and other security measures to ensure that only authorized users and devices can access network resources. This is part of the broader Zero Trust approach, where trust is never assumed and must be continually verified.
AI Integration
- Guardicore AI Chatbot: This is a generative AI-powered chatbot that serves as a built-in segmentation and Zero Trust expert. It allows administrators to query the network using natural language, speeding up manual tasks and providing advice based on best practices. The chatbot can answer questions like “What are the most blocked ports?” and provide detailed analyses of network traffic, assets, and labels.
- AI Labeling: The AI assistant can label network assets based on their behavior, suggesting labels and explaining why they were chosen. This simplifies network labeling tasks and helps in maintaining accurate segmentation policies.
- AI-Powered Analytics: The AI chatbot provides insights into network traffic, allowing administrators to ask specific questions and receive comprehensive answers. This feature accelerates operations and supports security teams in their daily tasks.
Additional Features
- Flow Visualization: AGS provides detailed visualization of all applications and workloads, helping administrators to quickly define and enforce segmentation policies.
- Breach Detection and Automated Analysis: The platform detects lateral movement and automates analysis and response to potential breaches, enhancing the overall security posture.
- Quarantine and Segmentation Rules: Administrators can create segmentation rules to quarantine assets quickly, block outgoing traffic, and integrate external threat feeds to expand the threat list.
Compliance and Security
The platform is designed to help security teams meet compliance standards and secure hybrid cloud infrastructure. It includes features like multi-factor segmentation and essential policies that let teams quickly implement best-practice-based policies, ensuring compliance and security.
Conclusion
In summary, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a powerful tool that leverages AI, microsegmentation, and Zero Trust principles to provide a robust security solution for modern IT environments. Its various features work together to enhance visibility, enforcement, and insight into network activities, making it easier for administrators to secure their networks effectively.
Guardicore - Performance and Accuracy
Performance
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation demonstrates strong performance in several areas:Return on Investment (ROI)
A study by Forrester found that Akamai Guardicore Segmentation delivered a 152% ROI and paid for itself in less than six months. This indicates significant financial benefits and efficient resource utilization.Incident Management
The product reduces incident management efforts by 70% over three years, allowing for faster and more effective detection and response to potential threats.Resource Efficiency
It streamlines operations, requiring 33% fewer cybersecurity professionals, which translates to substantial cost savings.Network Visibility
Guardicore Segmentation provides granular visibility into network traffic and interactions, enabling better detection and response to threats.Accuracy
The accuracy of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is supported by its advanced features:Micro-Segmentation
The platform allows for precise, application-aware micro-segmentation policies, which help in preventing lateral movement of threats and reducing the attack surface.Real-Time and Historical Visibility
It offers real-time and historical visibility into application dependencies and flows down to the user and process levels, enhancing the accuracy of threat detection.AI-Powered Segmentation
The use of AI recommendations and templates for policy implementation ensures accurate and efficient segmentation.Limitations and Areas for Improvement
While Akamai Guardicore Segmentation performs well, there are some areas that could be improved:Policy Flexibility
Users have requested the ability to assign policies to both individual users and groups, as well as the inclusion of time-based rules in policies, which are currently lacking.Integration with Other Tools
There is a need for better integration with other security tools such as firewalls, anti-malware, and intrusion prevention systems to enhance overall security posture.Payload-Level Inspection
Users suggest that the product should include payload-level inspection to provide deeper threat analysis, beyond just metadata inspection.Scalability and Support
For large organizations, the support can be challenging, and there is a desire for agentless deployment and better support for various Kubernetes and service mesh environments.Dashboard and Reporting
Improvements are needed in the dashboard to make it more flexible and user-friendly, as well as to enhance reporting capabilities to easily check agent activities. In summary, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation performs well in terms of ROI, resource efficiency, and network visibility, but there are areas for improvement, particularly in policy flexibility, integration with other tools, and scalability for large organizations. Guardicore - Pricing and Plans
The Pricing Structure of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
The pricing structure of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is based on several key factors, including the number of agents and the level of support required.
Agent Pricing
The base pricing for Guardicore is calculated per agent, with costs decreasing as the number of agents increases.
- 1 Agent: £280 per year
- 10 Agents: £2,800 per year
- 100 Agents: £28,000 per year
- 500 Agents: £140,000 per year.
Support Plans
Guardicore offers different support plans to cater to various needs:
Standard Support
- Available from 8AM to 5PM
- Includes unlimited cases, upgrades and fixes, phone, email, Slack, and online portal support
- Root cause analysis and regular support and business review meetings.
Premium Support
- 24x7x365 availability
- All features from the Standard plan plus priority case handling by a designated engineer.
Elite Support
- 24x7x365 availability
- Includes all features from the Premium plan plus proactive support and personalized alerts.
Additional Services
In addition to the base agent pricing and support plans, Guardicore offers several services that can be included based on project assessment:
Integration Plans
- Joint: Includes architecture planning, installation (SaaS or On-Prem), implementation of labelling schema, guidance on policy creation, and end-user training.
- Turnkey: Similar to Joint but includes a set number of days to accomplish policy goals. Pricing for these plans is discussed upon project assessment.
Free Evaluation
Guardicore provides a free evaluation of your security infrastructure to help customize the package that best fits your needs.
Licensing and Deployment
Licensing is based on the number of protected assets (such as VMs, bare metal servers, VDI, desktops, containers, etc.). For SaaS installations, management licensing is free, while on-prem/non-SaaS installations require a separate management license.
In summary, the pricing for Guardicore Segmentation is flexible and scalable, with costs adjusted according to the number of agents and the level of support and services required. There are no free versions of the product, but a free evaluation is available to help determine the best fit for your organization.
Guardicore - Integration and Compatibility
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
A software-based microsegmentation solution, integrates seamlessly with a wide range of tools, platforms, and devices to enhance security and simplify IT operations.
Cloud Integrations
Guardicore Segmentation integrates with major cloud platforms, including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Kubernetes. These integrations allow organizations to enforce Zero Trust policies and segment their cloud environments effectively.
Container and Virtualization
It also integrates with Docker, enabling secure containerized environments. Additionally, it works with Red Hat and other virtualization platforms, providing comprehensive coverage across different infrastructure layers.
Security and Monitoring Tools
Guardicore Segmentation can be integrated with various security solutions such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) tools, and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) products. For example, it integrates with Secureworks® Taegis™ XDR using Akamai’s Unified Log Streamer (ULS) to send and correlate security events in real-time.
IoT and OT Devices
The solution is particularly effective for securing IoT and OT devices, which often cannot run host-based security software. It provides continuous device discovery, integrated device fingerprinting, deep visibility, and agentless Zero Trust segmentation, ensuring these devices are protected at scale.
CMDB and Other IT Tools
Guardicore Segmentation can be integrated with Configuration Management Databases (CMDB) and other IT management tools to expand its coverage and add context to security operations. This helps in simplifying security and IT operations by providing a unified view of the network and its components.
Nutanix Cloud Platform
It is also fully validated as Nutanix Ready, allowing organizations to deploy the Guardicore Centra Security Platform on the Nutanix Cloud Platform. This deployment provides granular visibility into network and application flows, combined with real-time breach detection and response across all traffic and applications in the data center.
Conclusion
In summary, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers a versatile and comprehensive integration ecosystem that spans cloud services, containerization, security tools, IoT/OT devices, and IT management systems, making it a powerful tool for enforcing Zero Trust policies across diverse environments.
Guardicore - Customer Support and Resources
Guardicore Support Overview
Guardicore, now part of Akamai, offers several comprehensive customer support options and additional resources to ensure users can effectively utilize their segmentation and security solutions.Support Tiers
Guardicore provides multiple support tiers to cater to different customer needs:Service Tier
Offers 24x7x365 support availability through phone, email, Slack, and the support portal.
Premium Tier
Includes all the features of the Service tier, plus a designated Customer Success Engineer, regular support and business review meetings, and priority case handling.
Elite Tier
Adds proactive support, personalized alerts, and onsite consultation days to the Premium tier features.
Contacting Support
For technical questions or issues, customers can contact the Guardicore Support Team via:guardicore_support@akamai.com
Phone
US: 1 415-200-1993, UK: 44 118 310 0896
Support Portal
Accessible after requesting an account via the support email.
Additional Resources
Support Portal
Allows users to create and manage support cases, chat live with a support agent, and access the Knowledge Base and other technical information.
Knowledge Base
Provides important technical information and answers to common questions.
Regular Meetings
For Premium and Elite tiers, regular support and business review meetings are conducted to ensure ongoing support and alignment with customer needs.
Product Information and Documentation
Product Briefs and Documentation
Available through Akamai’s resources section, these provide detailed information on the features and capabilities of the Guardicore Segmentation tool, such as flow visualization, micro-segmentation, breach detection, and automated analysis and response.
By leveraging these support options and resources, customers can ensure they are well-equipped to implement and manage the Akamai Guardicore Segmentation solution effectively.
Guardicore - Pros and Cons
Advantages of Guardicore Segmentation
Comprehensive Coverage and Flexibility
Guardicore Segmentation stands out for its ability to provide consistent coverage across a wide range of environments, including data centers, multicloud settings, and endpoints. It supports various operating systems, even legacy systems that are no longer supported by their vendors, which helps in preventing gaps in security coverage.Scalability
The solution is highly scalable, using an agent-based approach that scales with workloads without the need for additional components or third-party services. This makes it particularly effective in dynamic and growing environments.Ease of Implementation and Management
Guardicore Segmentation is known for its simplicity in implementation and management. It offers a single, intuitive user interface that provides real-time and historical views into workloads and flows, making it easier for teams to manage and enforce security policies.Enhanced Visibility and Control
The platform provides extensive visibility into network activities, allowing for precise segmentation policies and network security alerts. This enhances the ability to prevent malicious lateral movement within the network.Improved Security Operations Productivity
Guardicore Centra significantly increases security operations productivity by streamlining posture and policy management capabilities. It reduces the time and effort spent on incident management, with a reported 65% reduction in incident management efforts.Cost Savings
Organizations using Guardicore Segmentation have seen substantial cost savings, including reduced costs for maintaining existing network hardware appliances and avoided downtime costs due to security breaches. A study reported a 152% ROI over three years, with total benefits of $9.66 million.Disadvantages of Guardicore Segmentation
Integration with Third-Party Tools
One area for improvement is the integration with third-party tools. Users have noted that better integration could enhance the overall functionality and usability of the solution.User Interface and Documentation
While the user interface is generally intuitive, there is room for improvement. Users have suggested enhancements to the user interface for heightened usability and more detailed documentation to aid in deployment and troubleshooting.Rule Limitations
Guardicore Segmentation has limitations on the number of rules it can handle, allowing only up to 60,000 rules. This can be restrictive for some users who require more granular policy management.Manual Policy Management
Some users have noted that there are too many manual clicks required for policy management and have suggested more automation in this area to streamline processes.Incident Tagging and Customization
There is also a need for better incident tagging and customization options, particularly for honeypots, to further enhance the active defense capabilities of the solution. By considering these points, you can get a clear picture of the strengths and areas for improvement in Guardicore Segmentation. Guardicore - Comparison with Competitors
Guardicore’s Focus and Features
Guardicore specializes in providing network security solutions, particularly in software-defined data centers and microsegmentation. Here are some key features:- Microsegmentation: Guardicore offers advanced microsegmentation capabilities to enhance security within data centers and cloud environments.
- Network Security: It provides solutions to protect against cyber threats and segment networks to reduce the attack surface.
- Integration: Guardicore integrates with various environments, including cloud and on-premises infrastructure.
Competitors and Alternatives
Here are some of Guardicore’s top competitors and their unique features:Zero Networks
- Zero Trust Segmentation: Zero Networks focuses on zero trust segmentation, providing a unified platform for network security.
- Unified Platform: It offers a comprehensive solution for network security, emphasizing zero trust principles.
Illumio
- Microsegmentation: Illumio is a data center and cloud security platform that specializes in microsegmentation and defense against cyber threats.
- Cloud and Data Center Security: Illumio’s solutions are tailored for both cloud and data center environments.
StackRox
- Kubernetes-Native Security: StackRox provides a Kubernetes-native security platform, focusing on security for cloud-native applications.
- Container Security: It is particularly strong in securing containerized environments.
Market Share and Customer Base
Guardicore’s market share is relatively small compared to some of its competitors. For example, Cloudflare dominates the network security market with a 97.19% market share, while Guardicore is used by a smaller set of companies, including Akamai Technologies, Accenture, and Mizuho.Unique Features of Guardicore
- Advanced Microsegmentation: Guardicore’s microsegmentation capabilities are highly advanced, allowing for granular control over network traffic and enhanced security.
- Integration with Various Environments: It can integrate seamlessly with both cloud and on-premises infrastructure, making it versatile for different organizational needs.
Potential Alternatives
If you are considering alternatives to Guardicore, here are some points to keep in mind:- Illumio: For organizations needing strong microsegmentation in both cloud and data center environments.
- Zero Networks: For those adopting a zero trust security model.
- StackRox: For organizations heavily invested in Kubernetes and cloud-native applications.
Guardicore - Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
Q: What is Akamai Guardicore Segmentation?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a software-based segmentation solution that helps enforce Zero Trust principles within an organization’s network. It uses a mix of agent-based sensors, network-based data collectors, and virtual private cloud flow logs to collect detailed information about the IT infrastructure. This solution is designed to stop lateral movement, visualize activity within IT environments, and implement precise microsegmentation policies.
Q: How does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation work?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation works by collecting data through agent-based sensors, network-based data collectors, and virtual private cloud flow logs. This data is then used to create a dynamic map of the entire IT infrastructure, allowing security teams to view activity with user- and process-level granularity on a real-time or historical basis. The solution also uses AI-powered policy workflows to make policy creation fast and intuitive.
Q: What are the key capabilities of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation?
Key capabilities include granular, AI-powered segmentation, real-time and historical visibility, broad platform support across modern and legacy operating systems, flexible asset labeling, and multiple protection methods such as threat intelligence, defense, and breach detection. It also offers templates for common use cases like ransomware remediation and integrates with orchestration tools and configuration management databases.
Q: How does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation help with ransomware protection?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation helps prevent ransomware by implementing granular segmentation controls that prevent lateral movement within the network. It uses AI labeling and policy suggestions to identify and block unnecessary traffic patterns, and it provides agentless visibility and control for environments where host-based agents are not viable, such as OT, IoT, and legacy systems.
Q: What types of environments does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation support?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation supports a wide range of environments, including bare-metal servers, virtual machines, containers, IoT devices, and cloud instances across both public and private clouds. It also covers modern and legacy operating systems, ensuring comprehensive protection across diverse IT infrastructures.
Q: How does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation enhance compliance and security?
The solution helps accelerate compliance by providing clear visibility and control over the network, allowing organizations to ring-fence critical applications and secure cloud migrations. It also safeguards remote workforces and protects endpoints, all while moving beyond traditional internal firewalls. Additionally, it integrates threat intelligence and breach detection capabilities to reduce incident response time.
Q: Can Akamai Guardicore Segmentation be managed on-premise or via SaaS?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers both SaaS management and on-premise management options, providing flexibility based on the organization’s needs and preferences.
Q: How does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation handle multi-factor authentication?
The Akamai Guardicore Platform integrates multi-factor authentication (MFA) with its segmentation rules, ensuring that only authenticated users can access specific services and ports. This adds an additional layer of network and data security.
Q: What kind of visibility does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provide?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides real-time and historical visibility into the network, mapping application dependencies and flows down to the user and process levels. This detailed visibility helps in detecting and responding to potential breaches quickly.
Q: How does Akamai Guardicore Segmentation simplify policy creation and enforcement?
The solution simplifies policy creation through AI-powered segmentation, which includes AI recommendations and prebuilt templates for common use cases. Policies can be implemented in a few clicks, and policy enforcement is decoupled from the underlying infrastructure, eliminating the need for complex network changes or downtime.
Guardicore - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a powerful network security solution that focuses on microsegmentation, a technique that divides a network into smaller, more manageable segments to enhance security. Here’s a comprehensive assessment of who would benefit from this product and why it is highly recommended.
Key Benefits
- Enhanced Security: Guardicore Segmentation significantly reduces the attack surface by creating microsegments within the network. This approach prevents lateral movement of threats and protects legacy systems that are critical but vulnerable to modern cyberthreats.
- Improved Visibility and Control: The solution provides granular visibility and control over network traffic, allowing organizations to track and monitor all network activity. This enhances the ability to detect and respond to potential threats more effectively.
- Cost-Effective: A study by Forrester found that Akamai Guardicore Segmentation delivered a 152% return on investment (ROI) over three years, with a payback period of less than six months. It also saved organizations more than $2.9 million by reducing or eliminating legacy systems like traditional firewalls.
- Streamlined Operations: The solution streamlines security operations, reducing incident management efforts by 70% by year three. It also requires fewer cybersecurity resources, resulting in savings of nearly $1.4 million over three years.
- Compliance and Flexibility: Guardicore Microsegmentation helps organizations meet compliance requirements by providing detailed visibility and control over network traffic. It is highly flexible and can be customized to meet specific organizational needs, integrating with other security tools like SIEM and EDR.
Who Would Benefit Most
- Large and Regulated Industries: Organizations in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and financial services, would greatly benefit from the enhanced security and compliance features offered by Guardicore Segmentation.
- Enterprises with Legacy Systems: Companies with critical legacy systems that are vulnerable to modern cyberthreats can protect these systems effectively using Guardicore Segmentation.
- Organizations Seeking Zero Trust Security: Guardicore is part of the Akamai Guardicore Platform, which offers a comprehensive Zero Trust security model. This makes it ideal for organizations aiming to implement a robust Zero Trust security posture.
Overall Recommendation
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a highly recommended solution for any organization looking to enhance its network security, reduce the attack surface, and streamline security operations. The significant ROI, quick payback period, and the ability to integrate with existing security tools make it a valuable investment. Additionally, its flexibility and ability to support various environments, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, make it a versatile solution for diverse organizational needs.
In summary, if you are looking to improve your network’s security resilience, reduce incident management efforts, and protect your critical systems from cyberthreats, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is an excellent choice.