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Perimeter Security and Access Management: Why a “Secure by Design” Architecture makes the difference

Publication date

23.06.2026

This is a picture of a AXS Guard Firewall appliance.
In the cybersecurity sector, we regularly see incidents where the very devices meant to protect networks become the targets themselves. A recent example involves concerns around publicly accessible firewalls where configuration flaws or exposed credentials (such as default admin accounts) were leaked onto the internet via external portals.

At AXS Guard by Approach Cyber, we believe that effective perimeter security begins with the core architecture of the product itself. An incident like this serves as a critical reminder of the importance of a Zero Trust approach and strict management of administrative environments.

 

How AXS Guard inherently prevents these risks:

  • No public access to management functions by default: The AXS Guard management platform is not accessible directly from the public internet via simple IP addresses using default credentials. Administrative access requires strict authentication paths.
  • Mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Access to critical management environments within the AXS Guard ecosystem (such as Central Management via axsguard.cloud) can and should always be secured with strong MFA (like DIGIPASS or OATH authenticators). Even if an IP address or password were to be exposed, the front door remains locked.
  • Centralised and secure management: Through our centralized cloud platform, configurations and updates are securely pushed without requiring individual, unprotected ports to remain open to the public internet.
  • Local development and agile response: Because our software and hardware are fully developed and managed locally, we can intervene immediately at the code level and push real-time configuration recommendations to our entire community.

 

Our customers are safe

We want to reassure our customers that the AXS Guard infrastructure is completely unaffected by this type of exposure. However, it does remind us that cybersecurity is a continuous process of staying sharp and maintaining the right configurations.

If you have any doubts about the configuration of other (hybrid) network elements within your organization, please feel free to contact our support desk.

 

As your trusted advisor, we are happy to assist you.

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