60% of firewalls fail initial compliance checks, says study

New research from FireMon has revealed that 60% of enterprise firewalls fail high-severity compliance checks immediately upon evaluation, highlighting ongoing concerns around firewall complexity and governance in corporate networks.

Data collected from FireMon Insights, the company's AI-powered analytics platform, shows additional challenges facing enterprise security teams, including the proliferation of unused objects, lack of documentation, and performance-reducing redundant rules.

The platform found that 95% of application objects and 82% of service objects within enterprise firewalls show zero usage, adding to what FireMon described as "attack surface sprawl." Approximately 30% of firewall rules are never used at all, while over 62% have no identified owner or supporting documentation, introducing possible audit gaps and operational blind spots. More than 10% of firewall rules were found to be redundant or shadowed, which not only reduces firewall performance but can also hide dangerous misconfigurations from security teams.

These findings are based on real-time telemetry from hybrid, cloud, and on-premises environments, and according to FireMon suggest a deeper issue with network security governance rather than simple technical oversights or configuration drift.

Governance questions

"Organisations have been trying to untangle firewall complexity for years, but too often the tools fall short, either offering static snapshots or failing to provide the operational context that teams actually need. That's why platforms like FireMon Insights matter. They offer a level of clarity and benchmarking that helps teams move from reactive fixes to informed, proactive decisions. FireMon has long been a trusted name in policy management, and it's good to see them pushing the industry forward in this space," said Mark Miller, CRO at EncoreCyber.

Jody Brazil, CEO and founder at FireMon, commented on the broader implications of these findings, stating: "Firewall complexity isn't just a configuration issue, it's a threat to resilience and trust. Security teams are buried under policies they can't explain, map to business objectives, or manage at scale. FireMon Insights cuts through the noise. It benchmarks your performance, exposing what's been missed, and helping you take action before it turns into disruption."

FireMon Insights is designed to continuously benchmark firewall environments, presenting a real-time view on compliance and configuration health. Unlike some traditional approaches which rely on periodic, manual scans, the platform provides always-on visibility across hybrid and multi-vendor infrastructures.

New features and customer feedback

Recent updates to FireMon Insights include device-level metrics grouped by complexity, risk, and environment, tighter integration with the FireMon Policy Manager, an AI-powered natural language search and chatbot, and expanded peer benchmarking. According to FireMon, these enhancements are available to existing FireMon Insights customers at no additional cost.

Brandy Peterson, CTO of Cloud Security Operations, noted: "Since its initial launch in January 2025, FireMon Insights has quickly become the go-to analytics platform for our customers' security teams. What's been most exciting is the engagement - early adopters across roles are having real 'aha' moments, and their feedback directly shaped this release."

Dan Rheault, Director of Product Management at FireMon, also commented on industry trends, stating: "Collectively, the cybersecurity industry has been driving organizations to a point of sophistication that actually distracts their cyber strategy from implementing required capabilities and measuring operational outcomes. Teams are turning to FireMon for a smarter, more sustainable path forward."

Rich Mogull, SVP of Cloud Security at FireMon, summarised the platform's approach: "Most tools only tell you what happened. Insights tells you what's happening now and more importantly, what to do next. It's not about more alerts. It's about clarity and action, at scale."

Industry context

The data highlights an ongoing challenge in maintaining security and performance within complex enterprise environments. Cloud adoption, hybrid working models, and the continued diversification of IT infrastructure have contributed to expanding firewall rule sets and policies that are increasingly difficult to govern.

FireMon stated that its platform aims to help network security operations measure progress, course correct based on benchmarking data, and align controls with business goals.

The company also announced enhancements to the FireMon Insights product, and recent appointments in its leadership team, with the aim of supporting growth and customer demand for policy management solutions.