Why Firewall Rules Fail 

Firewalls often fail not because of weak technology, but because of policy sprawl. Over years of change requests, temporary rules, and emergency exceptions, most enterprises end up with firewalls that are cluttered, inconsistent, and risky. For Indian businesses in regulated industries, this is an audit liability.

 

What Goes Wrong Without Hygiene 

When firewall rules multiply without oversight, you face: 

• Shadow rules that never trigger but increase the attack surface 
• Redundant or conflicting entries that slow troubleshooting 
• Orphaned policies left behind after staff or application changes 
• Audit delays when evidence packs don’t map cleanly to controls 

The result is higher risk, more incidents, and wasted time for IT teams. A cluttered firewall policy can slow every change window and leave blind spots for attackers to exploit. 

 

How Proactive Manages Hygiene 

Proactive Managed Firewall treats rule hygiene as an ongoing service, not a one-time clean-up. As a Cisco Powered managed service, we run Cisco Firepower and ASA devices with a lifecycle model that keeps policies lean, current, and defensible. We onboard with a baseline review, then maintain hygiene through monthly health reports, periodic clean-ups, and rule retirement based on usage data and threat intelligence. 

 

What You Get 

• Baseline audits: Normalise and document current rules before service go-live 
• Redundant rule clean-ups: Identify and retire duplicates, overlaps, and shadow rules 
• Consistent enforcement: Apply policies across branches, cloud edges, and data centres 
• Ongoing reviews: Monthly health checks and quarterly service reviews 
• Audit evidence: Rule sets mapped to CERT-In and ISO control requirements 

The Outcomes We Deliver 

• Fewer incidents from misconfigured or redundant rules 
• Faster approvals and change windows, cutting business disruption 
• Clean dashboards that map rules to owners, actions, and expiry 
• Reduced audit friction with pre-packaged evidence packs 
• Clear ownership and outcome dashboards that separate Proactive from other partners 

Stay Clean, Stay Secure 

Policy hygiene is not a project. It is a discipline. With Proactive Managed Firewall, you keep intent and control, while we ensure every rule is current, clean, and defensible.