Video

How ACT Commodities Segments Its Azure Servers with Zero Networks

René Ouwehand, CISO of ACT Commodities, discusses the challenges his organization faced with cybersecurity before implementing Zero Networks. He highlights the ease of installation and maintenance of Zero Networks, emphasizing its effectiveness in preventing attackers from accessing their Azure Cloud environment. He praises the seamless integration and the insights provided for auditing purposes, noting that Zero Networks significantly enhances their security posture by preventing unauthorized access.

Overall, ACT Commodities is well-satisfied with Zero Networks as a solution for securing their digital assets and recommends it as a valuable addition to any organization's security toolkit.

Summary

ACT Commodities uses Zero Networks to protect the servers in its Azure cloud environment, after finding that server-side measures such as reimplementing firewalls and adjusting configurations were too difficult to do on its own. CISO René Ouwehand says that before Zero Networks, pen testers got in within five minutes; with Zero Networks, attackers can’t move from one side of the environment to the other. Deployment started in learning mode, enforcement was switched on after about a month, and the platform now largely runs itself while giving auditors just-in-time access and activity records on demand.

Key takeaways

Before Zero Networks, pen testers could get in within five minutes and steal or ransom data. Now attackers can’t move laterally across the environment.
Segmenting servers in Azure by reconfiguring firewalls by hand was too difficult, so ACT hadn’t done it before Zero Networks.
Zero Networks starts in learning mode and surfaces unexpected data flows. ACT switched on enforcement after about a month.
Built-in automation means the system largely runs itself, freeing the team to focus on securing the rest of the environment.
The portal answers auditor questions about just-in-time access and who has been in the environment, and the RPC Firewall and LDAP Firewall add further protection.

This video was published in February 2024.

[00:00] René Ouwehand, CISO, ACT Commodities: Before Zero Networks, attackers had a kind of free space to get in. When we did a pen test, they would get in within five minutes and steal our data, and even worse, ransom our data. With Zero Networks, they’re not able to move from one side to the other, and that is definitely a big advantage when it comes to security.

Why did ACT Commodities need to segment its Azure servers?

[00:25] My name is René Ouwehand, and I’m the CISO at ACT Commodities. ACT Commodities is an organization that helps other organizations achieve their environmental goals. We want to secure our Azure cloud environment, where we have a lot of servers, and those servers need to be protected against attacks from the outside.

[00:47] We have implemented a lot of different measures, but we didn’t implement them on the server side, because that is way too difficult. Reimplementing firewalls and adjusting configurations is usually a very difficult task. Zero Networks is a solution that helps companies secure their environment, especially environments that are very difficult to segment.

How does Zero Networks help with security and audits?

[01:15] Zero Networks is seamless to install and very easy to maintain. It is a superb tool, and one of the best tools I’ve seen so far, especially for preventing attackers from getting into our systems. It also provides great insights for auditors. If they have any questions about just-in-time access or who has been in your environment, the portal provides it to me without any issue.

What was the Zero Networks deployment like?

[01:42] The installation is very smooth. It starts in learning mode, and you suddenly see all sorts of data flows you did not expect. Then, after a month, we could see that it looked ready. It looked okay, so we said, “Let’s switch it on.”

What happened in a pen test after deployment?

[01:55] We saw the added value the moment we did a pen test, because we saw that the attacker couldn’t get into the system at all, but at the same time, we detected him as of minute two, when he got into the system. That was really nice. It was a good feeling.

How much maintenance does Zero Networks need?

[02:13] When you look at Zero Networks and maintenance, you will see that the system actually runs itself. The automation built into the system really helps in maintaining the environment. It saves time, and it lets us focus on other things that matter, like securing the rest of the environment.

How do the RPC Firewall and LDAP Firewall add protection?

[02:32] On top of that, they have the RPC Firewall and the LDAP Firewall. Those two tools actually make an attacker blind, and the combination of Zero Networks with the RPC Firewall is a killer in the market. That is definitely something I have never seen before, so the tools you get with Zero Networks really are a big addition to your security posture.