The articles below are sample content prepared to demonstrate this section. They will be reviewed and approved before being presented as official publications.
Firewall rule bases grow over time. Regular reviews help remove unnecessary access and keep policies understandable.
Firewalls are only as effective as their rules. Over months and years, temporary exceptions become permanent, old services are decommissioned but their rules remain, and broad “any” rules creep in to solve urgent problems.
What to look for
- Rules allowing “any” source, destination or service
- Rules with no recent hits that may no longer be needed
- Undocumented rules with no clear owner or purpose
- Management interfaces reachable from untrusted networks
Make it routine
A scheduled review — with documented owners and reasons for each rule — keeps the policy readable and reduces the chance that an attacker finds an overlooked path. Changes should be tested and recorded so they can be rolled back if needed.