NAT — the silent killer of firewall policies
NAT is the silent killer of firewall policies.
Network Security & Engineering Notes
Practical writing on Palo Alto firewall automation, NSX-T / AVI load balancers, Cisco Meraki, and cloud networking — from a senior engineer in Calgary, AB. 12 posts so far.
2026
-
-
Encrypted traffic — what your firewall is not seeing
Over 90% of internet traffic is encrypted.
-
App-ID — the feature you are underusing
App-ID is the feature most engineers underuse.
-
The hidden cost of bad firewall hygiene
The hidden cost of bad firewall hygiene.
-
Zones — the concept that breaks every junior engineer
The single concept that breaks every junior Palo Alto engineer.
-
Your rule base is your biggest hidden risk
Your firewall rule base is your biggest hidden risk.
-
Palo Alto 101 — 5 things that unlock everything
You opened Panorama for the first time. It looks overwhelming.
-
5 questions every CSO should be asking
You don't need to be technical to hold your team accountable on firewall security.
-
App-ID, Application Default, or port-based — when to use what
Today my security manager asked me a question.
-
What your job posting is getting wrong
If you're hiring a firewall engineer right now — read this first.
-
The foundation nobody talks about
Before you open Palo Alto. Before you touch a single policy.
-
Welcome — notes from a network security engineer
An intro to what I'll be writing about: firewalls, automation, cloud networking, and the war stories from a decade in the field.