60% of Enterprise Firewalls Fail Critical Compliance Checks, According to FireMon Insights

FireMon Insights reveals where firewall configurations fall short—providing benchmarks and context that business, IT, and app teams can use to guide operational decisions and minimize risks to business disruption.

FireMon, the leading network security and firewall policy management company, today released powerful new findings from its AI-powered analytics platform, FireMon Insights: 60% of enterprise firewalls fail high-severity compliance checks immediately upon evaluation, with another 34% falling short at critical levels. These aren’t just technical oversights; they’re signs of deeper governance issues that can lead to audit failures, operational downtime, and increased exposure to threats.

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FireMon’s latest data reveals that 60% of enterprise firewalls fail high-severity compliance checks, with 95% of application objects unused, 30% of firewall rules inactive, and 10% redundant or shadowed—highlighting major security and governance risks across modern networks.

Across on-prem, cloud and hybrid environments, FireMon found misconfigurations, outdated rules, and bloated policies that bog down performance and leave security teams struggling to keep up. FireMon Insights was built to change that. It gives organizations a clear picture of their firewall risk, compares them to industry peers, and shows exactly where and how to fix what’s broken. It’s about helping teams see the problem, understand the impact, and move faster with fewer surprises.

These findings were collected anonymously from FireMon Insights deployments across new customers in large enterprises and regulated industries. And the data is striking:

• 60% of firewalls fail high-severity compliance checks; 34% fail at critical severity
• 95% of application objects and 82% of service objects show zero usage, creating unnecessary overhead and expanding the attack surface
• 30% of firewall rules are completely unused; 62.6% lack any owner or documentation, introducing audit gaps and operational blind spots
• More than 10% of rules are redundant or shadowed, reducing performance and masking dangerous misconfigurations

“Organizations 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.

“Firewall complexity isn’t just a configuration issue, it’s a threat to resilience and trust,” said Jody Brazil, CEO and founder at FireMon. “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.”

These findings were surfaced through FireMon Insights, a next-generation AI-powered analytics platform that continuously benchmarks firewall environments, tracks compliance KPIs, and identifies misconfigurations in real time. Unlike legacy approaches that rely on static scans and siloed views, FireMon provides always-on visibility across hybrid, multi-vendor infrastructures, enabling security and IT teams to move from reactive cleanup to proactive governance.

FireMon Insights stands apart from traditional tools by delivering always-on visibility across multi-vendor, hybrid environments, no waiting on scans or outdated dashboards.

With new enhancements to FireMon Insights, users get:

• Device-Level Metrics grouped by Complexity, Risk, and Environment for deeper context
• Tighter integration with FireMon Policy Manager for seamless analysis and remediation
• AI-powered natural language search and chatbot, so teams can surface insights fast—no training required
• Expanded peer benchmarking to help leaders understand where they stand in the industry

And unlike other vendors, FireMon provides these capabilities at no additional cost to existing customers.

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

Network security teams are expected to move fast—but speed without direction leads to missed priorities and unmanaged risk. FireMon Insights helps teams shift from reactive ticket-crunching to strategic execution by providing clear visibility into policy health, peer benchmarks, and baseline controls. It enables network security operations to measure progress against business-aligned goals, course correct where needed and build a sustainable plan that reduces risk while supporting the pace of the organization.

“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,” said Dan Rheault, Director of Product Management at Firemon. “Teams are turning to FireMon for a smarter, more sustainable path forward.”

“Most tools only tell you what happened,” said Rich Mogull, SVP of Cloud Security at FireMon. “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.”

The Insights enhancement follows strong momentum for FireMon this year. The company was recently named a CRN Tech Innovator finalist for FireMon Insights, recognized for redefining how teams approach policy risk. FireMon also appointed Alex Bender as Chief Marketing Officer to drive global expansion and brought on four veteran sales leaders from the former Skybox Security, doubling down on execution as demand grows.

About FireMon

FireMon is the global leader in firewall policy management, empowering enterprises to control risk, streamline operations, and scale securely across hybrid, cloud, and on-premises environments. Trusted by over 1,700 organizations in 70+ countries, FireMon automates enterprise network security policy management for the world’s most complex firewall infrastructures.

As a founder-led company, FireMon is redefining infrastructure protection through intelligent policy governance, enabling asset-centric control, zero trust readiness, and operational clarity at scale. Backed by industry-leading net promoter scores and relentless customer focus, FireMon ensures security becomes a strategic enabler, not an obstacle. Learn more at FireMon.com and on the FireMon Blog.

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60% of Enterprise Firewalls Fail Critical Compliance Checks, New FireMon Insights Data Reveals