A Guide to Enforcing Physical Segmentation with a Control Blueprint

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About this guide

This guide is written for security, infrastructure and risk leaders who need to make segmentation physically enforceable rather than only logical. It explains one Control Blueprint, CP-04, in plain terms: the failure it addresses, the Control Modules it uses, how those modules work together, and how a deployment is scoped.

Control by Firevault is a suite of nine purpose-built modules: a set of tools and techniques that give you physical control over the paths into and across your estate. A Control Blueprint is a proven combination of those modules assembled for a specific outcome. This guide covers one blueprint. The Control overview covers the nine modules and the full set of blueprints.

The problem this blueprint addresses

Segmentation is usually described in a diagram and implemented in configuration. Configuration drifts, exceptions accumulate, and always-on dependencies tunnel quietly between zones that the diagram shows as separate.

CP-04 at a glance

• Lead layer FIRE
• Primary modules Firebreak, Isolate, Unlink
• Supporting modules Lock, Relay
• Typical sectors Defence, critical infrastructure, public sector and manufacturing

The primary modules

These modules do the work the blueprint is named for.

• Firebreak physically breaks the connection path, so a route only exists when it is deliberately opened.
• Isolate separates an environment at hardware level, so a compromised zone cannot reach a clean one.
• Unlink removes the always-on dependencies that quietly tunnel between zones.

The supporting modules

These modules round out the pattern and are usually added as the deployment matures.

• Lock holds access to the systems that matter behind identity and condition controls.
• Relay opens a controlled, time-bound crossing and closes it again on schedule.

What good looks like

• Zone boundaries are held at the physical layer, not in a rule set.
• Configuration drift cannot reopen a closed boundary.
• Standing dependencies between zones are removed, not tolerated.
• Any crossing is temporary, authorised and evidenced.

How the blueprint is deployed

Control Modules are a suite of tools and techniques deployed within your own estate and applied to the paths they govern: at a boundary, inside a zone, or at a third-party edge. Authorisation and evidence remain local, so losing connectivity to Firevault never opens a path.

Most deployments start with a single boundary or zone, prove the control behaviour, then extend the same blueprint across the estate. Modules can be customer-operated or co-managed.

How to scope it

Scoping starts with the paths, not the product. A short discovery exercise identifies the boundaries that matter, who needs to cross them, how often, and what evidence is required. That produces the module count and placement, which in turn produces the price. Blueprints are combined where an estate has more than one problem to solve.

Next steps

• Read the full blueprint detail: CP-04 blueprint
• See all nine modules and the other blueprints: Control by Firevault
• Talk it through with our team: contact Firevault

How Firevault would handle this

Access decided by you, not assumed by the network

Control by Firevault removes standing pathways and replaces them with connection windows you approve, so stolen credentials and compromised suppliers have nothing standing to abuse.