Protect Infrastructure Through Management Plane Isolation
When an attacker reaches the management plane, they control everything. Physical separation between management interfaces and production networks ensures that compromise of one does not mean compromise of all.
Threat Response
If your management plane is reachable from your production network, your security controls are only as strong as the weakest credential on that network. Physical separation makes the management plane unreachable regardless of what credentials an attacker holds.
78%
Of network breaches involve management plane access
Zero
Management interfaces reachable from production networks
Physical
Separation between management and data planes
100%
Administrative sessions on tamper-proof audit trail
The management plane is the keys to the kingdom.
Shared Network Paths
Management interfaces for switches, firewalls, and servers share the same physical network as production traffic. An attacker on the production network can reach management interfaces through lateral movement.
Credential Harvesting
Administrative credentials captured through phishing or credential stuffing provide direct access to management interfaces, allowing attackers to reconfigure security controls and disable monitoring.
Configuration Tampering
Once on the management plane, attackers modify firewall rules, disable logging, create backdoor accounts, and reconfigure routing to maintain persistent access and exfiltrate data.
The Scenario
Scenario: Management Plane Takeover
An attacker compromises a web application server in a financial services firm and discovers that the management interface for the core firewall is reachable from the same network segment. Using a known vulnerability in the firewall management portal, they gain administrative access and disable the IDS, modify ACLs to allow data exfiltration, and create a persistent backdoor. The security team's monitoring tools show nothing because the attacker disabled the alerts from the management plane. With Firevault Control, the firewall management interface exists on a physically separate network. The attacker on the compromised web server has no path to the management plane, regardless of what vulnerabilities they discover or what credentials they harvest.
"They owned our firewall for three weeks. Every log, every alert, every rule was under their control. We did not know because the first thing they did was disable the monitoring from the management plane."
Management plane security through physical isolation.
Firevault Control places management interfaces on physically separate infrastructure that cannot be reached from production networks. Administrative access is time-bound, multi-party authorised, and produces tamper-proof evidence. When the management plane is physically isolated, compromise of the production network does not give an attacker the keys to the kingdom.
- Physical separation between management and production planes
- Multi-party authorisation for all administrative sessions
- Credential isolation that prevents misuse from production paths
- Emergency management plane lockdown in seconds
- Tamper-proof configuration change history
- Direct compliance mapping to ISO 27001 and NIS2 requirements
Isolate — Management Plane Separation
Module 1 of 4Places all management interfaces on a physically separate network with no connectivity to production infrastructure. Administrative access requires physical presence on the management network or activation of a controlled path.
Key Capabilities
Physical Plane Separation
Management and production traffic exist on physically separate networks. No VLAN, no firewall rule, no ACL. Separate physical infrastructure.
Controlled Management Access
Administrative sessions require multi-party authorisation and are confined to time-bound windows with full session recording.
Credential Isolation
Administrative credentials are bound to the management plane network. They cannot be used from production network paths even if compromised.
Emergency Lockdown
A single authorised command physically severs all management plane access, preserving production operations with the current configuration.
Immutable Configuration History
Every configuration change is recorded on physically disconnected storage, providing a tamper-proof audit trail and rollback capability.
Compliance Evidence
Physical management plane separation maps directly to ISO 27001, NIS2, and NIST CSF requirements for administrative access control.
Demo to Live
Adoption Guide
Management Plane Audit
Map every management interface, administrative path, and credential that can reach network infrastructure management from the production network.
Plane Separation Design
Design physically separate management and production networks with controlled access points, multi-party authorisation requirements, and session recording policies.
Core Infrastructure Pilot
Deploy management plane isolation for core network infrastructure (firewalls, core switches), testing administrative workflows and emergency lockdown procedures.
Full Infrastructure Deployment
Extend to all managed infrastructure with automated session governance, tamper-proof logging, and continuous compliance evidence generation.
Management Plane Audit
Map every management interface, administrative path, and credential that can reach network infrastructure management from the production network.
Plane Separation Design
Design physically separate management and production networks with controlled access points, multi-party authorisation requirements, and session recording policies.
Core Infrastructure Pilot
Deploy management plane isolation for core network infrastructure (firewalls, core switches), testing administrative workflows and emergency lockdown procedures.
Full Infrastructure Deployment
Extend to all managed infrastructure with automated session governance, tamper-proof logging, and continuous compliance evidence generation.
Questions
Frequently Asked
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