What is our primary use case?
I am a service provider handling the portal for Nozomi Networks across 35 different sites. I use the dashboard, Vantage, Guardian, and CMC. I have configured everything and use the system as both a provider and a user because I need to share all alerts and notifications with my clients. I share asset inventory and vulnerability management details. We collaborate on what the architecture will be and what alerts or incidents are being reported, as well as how we resolve them. When it comes to vulnerabilities and patching, we mitigate all those risks from both a management and technical perspective.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are asset inventory management and vulnerability management.
I appreciate the level of detail provided when all the ingested traffic and asset details are displayed, including vendor information, firmware details, name, IP address, MAC address, and protocol type. There are maps showing what kind of communication is happening between devices. I get all the details about the overall traffic being received.
There is a live option where I can click and see real-time data. There are numerous dashboards that provide traffic analysis, vulnerability management, and asset details. Nozomi Networks also has an AI version with IQ where I can ask for all the details I need. There are query sections where I can query things and export all the required data. The vulnerability dashboards give me an overview of what assets have exploitable critical CVEs, open CVEs, high scores, likelihood, different scopes, how many sites have them, and graphs based on criticality and exploitability. I like the threat intelligence of Vantage that Nozomi Networks has. They also have site-wide distribution showing all the CVEs and their risk scores. Every section has details about sensors, alerts, and assets. This kind of detailed analysis is very comfortable for me with Nozomi Networks. I believe it is the best. I can recommend Nozomi Networks and Claroty to my clients. This is great.
What needs improvement?
On the negative side, I believe their AI, which is IQ, could be more improved. For example, when I export any data, there are only 50 columns available. What if there were more columns? Nozomi Networks does not provide that data, so I have to go to the query section. The AI is currently useful for writing queries in English that are converted into their coding language for queries. Sometimes it provides the correct data, and sometimes it does not understand the request. From my attempts, I would say 50 percent of the time it has given me the proper data, and 50 percent of the time it might need improvement. Every day or week, new threat intelligence and AI upgrades are being released for Vantage, and all those upgrades are being implemented. Things are getting better, but I believe there are areas of improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nozomi Networks for one to one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nozomi Networks is stable, but sometimes disruptions occur at sites. Sensors can be down, so I cannot see what is happening in the network. Network connectivity is always a critical consideration. In an OT environment, there are changes and maintenance windows. Sometimes the network is not stable, the firewall or DMZ is down, so the device is also down. I understand this is expected. Network connectivity is important, and Nozomi Networks should be placed where it is monitored. Nobody should be able to remove it. Sometimes vendors need to connect to the OT network, and if they know it is being monitored, they might remove the sensor to avoid detection of their activities. Nozomi Networks should be placed in a central location where it is monitored, and nobody should be allowed to access it without proper authorization.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Nozomi Networks depends on different sizing models. It depends on the assets, the facility size, how many assets there are, and how much traffic is ingested. The model varies depending on the assets and the sizing of the site. It is scalable. If there are more assets, I can purchase a bigger configuration of Nozomi Networks hardware. This is properly aligned. Nozomi Networks has different pricing models, so I can choose accordingly.
How are customer service and support?
Nozomi Networks does provide help. When I am stuck somewhere, I raise tickets and they are resolved. However, it does take some time. Customer service could be more efficient. Sometimes they hesitate to come on a call. They have knowledge transfer documents and process documents. However, sometimes I have to explain what issues I am facing on chat, which can be difficult. Coming on a call and those kinds of interactions may take a little more time. This is something I felt could be resolved more quickly.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have switched my company and I am not currently using Claroty. I am in the same domain, but I am using Armis in my current role and Nozomi Networks for my customers.
I have been using Armis for two years. I switched from Armis because of some demerits and moved to Nozomi Networks.
A year ago, I had been using Armis for one year, and because there were some demerits with Armis, I switched my customers to Nozomi Networks.
How was the initial setup?
The setup depends on site to site. I have deployed it remotely, but I had people at each site who would deploy it. The configuration is medium difficulty, not very easy but not very tough. I should have some experience or an understanding of how the system works, how networks work, all the connections, what the architecture is about, and how to connect with the switch. I am now a Nozomi Networks certified engineer, so I know things accordingly. I am also certified with Claroty and Armis. If someone is new to Nozomi Networks, they might need guidance to install it. It is somewhat technical but not that difficult to learn.
What about the implementation team?
I did use AWS cloud for remote management. I deployed Nozomi Networks on AWS cloud and also used it for CMC. I have used AWS as an integration of cloud to host the server of Nozomi Networks for both. It does require some integrations and alignment of the networks, but it can be done.
What was our ROI?
I was about to create the ROI for Nozomi Networks. I believe it provides strong value. We have detailed analysis of breach scenarios, the total number of breaches that happened, and the risk categories that Nozomi Networks is detecting. Nozomi Networks OT impact includes asset enumeration, lateral movement, PLC or HMI accesses, remote access misuse, and credential guessing. We have details about the business consequences, such as malware propagation, loss of process integrity, or any manipulation that might happen. The OT environment is vulnerable to process manipulations and insider or external compromises, depending on what external devices are connecting to the OT network or whether IT-OT segmentation exists. These details create budgetary considerations that are important. We also have vulnerabilities, both open and exploitable, with critical and high scores with CVSS scores of more than nine or more than seven, and which have known exploits. I get these kinds of details in Nozomi Networks portal.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Nozomi Networks and Claroty are on the expensive end of the market, so the client should have those budgets available.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have used all of them, but I would suggest Nozomi Networks if it is for a large client. For critical systems or critical sites such as oil and gas, nuclear facilities, or water treatment plants, I would recommend Nozomi Networks and Claroty. For smaller size organizations, Armis and Dragos can be used. For detailed analysis and when the systems and the site are more critical, I would suggest and prefer Nozomi Networks and Claroty.
What other advice do I have?
Asset details are convenient because I have lots of information with respect to assets. Whenever I receive any alert, I check what the asset is about. For example, with any incident such as network scanning or multiple successful logins, there are all the details regarding what happened. It tells me what the possible cause was and what the solution will be. The details show what source is involved, what site and zone, what label, IP or MAC address, what ports are involved, TCP/IP or any other protocols. I can see if there is any user assigned to it with respect to site spokes. I can see the destination and all those destination site details. I can determine if it is internal traffic, external traffic going out from IT to OT, or traffic from any other site or any external devices. I can see what communication protocol is being used, the transport protocol, the threat severity, the network exposure, and the attack tactics. All these details are available. I have additional details such as when the attack happened or when the incident was reported, how the device was captured, which port it was detected on, and whether it is an easy attack that is not relevant so I can acknowledge it or trigger it. I have timeline details and can also leave comments about whether something is recurring so I can ignore certain attacks or incidents. All these details provide a proper audit trail for companies. For customer support, I would rate it at eight point five out of ten. I would also rate the overall product experience at eight point five. I would rate Nozomi Networks at nine points overall. When looking at the OT monitoring tool market, Nozomi Networks wins. Nozomi Networks and Claroty are both excellent solutions, which is why I rate it as nine out of ten.