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Cisco Web Security Appliance S370 - security appliance

Mfg # WSA-S370-K9 CDW # 2884221

Quick tech specs

  • Security appliance
  • 2U
  • GigE
  • rack-mountable
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Know your gear

The Cisco Web Security Appliance, powered by Cisco Security Intelligence Operations (SIO), provides exceptional web security and control for organizations of all sizes - in one appliance. And the appliance easily extends web security to mobile users, smart phones, and devices with the AnyConnect secure mobility client.

With its application visibility and control engine, the Cisco Web Security Appliance gives administrators granular control of hundreds of thousands of micro-applications on Facebook and Twitter, as well as many other popular platforms and streaming media. Without blocking entire websites, administrators can allow or block specific features such as chat, messaging, video, and audio.

This item was discontinued on October 06, 2022

Enhance your purchase

Cisco Web Security Appliance S370 - security appliance is rated 4.30 out of 5 by 26.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Ensures security for remote workers What is our primary use case? We use the solution for web security. We have Netskope for DLP. We opted for the Cisco solution for its cost-effectiveness. We use all its features effectively to prevent unnecessary expenses. We implemented Cisco Web Security Appliance to address the challenge of ensuring security for remote workers. Employees working from home operate outside the company's network, potentially exposing the organization to various risks as they access the internet directly. Without enforcing company policies, there's a heightened vulnerability to data breaches. We can extend protection to remote users by deploying Cisco Web Security Appliance, even when not connected to the company's network. This ensures that corporate data remains secure regardless of the user's location. How has it helped my organization? Cisco Web Security Appliance restricts access to illegitimate websites, including those containing pornography and categories like social media platforms like Facebook. Policies must be installed on endpoints to enforce these restrictions and assist users in accessing appropriate content. What is most valuable? The solution offers a range of security features, including Cloud-based policies and Key Security Bundles. It includes DNS certificate functionality. These features streamline security processes and provide comprehensive solutions within a single platform. The DNS security feature is the most effective when users transition to remote work, as we are currently in a hybrid mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This hybrid mode involves working from home and occasionally reporting to the office. What needs improvement? The solution could provide seamless integration with other technologies. Cisco's strength lies in its reliable managed services, which address any issues promptly. It is not able to integrate with existing technologies. The ISB component of KSB is weak, but its firewall capabilities and DNS are strong. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco Web Security Appliance for one year. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is scalable and is a very effective solution in that regard. You can size it differently according to your needs, as there are various models available. When it comes to scalability, we address five key factors. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The Cisco Web Security Appliance is indeed stable. While there have been occasional instances of instability, particularly during the August period, overall, its stability is commendable. The solution itself is robust and reliable. How are customer service and support? Customer support is very effective. They follow up to resolve any issues. They continuously inquire if there are any outstanding concerns. Their comprehensive approach, covering many solutions, including a 360-degree block-wise strategy, is excellent. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We tried using Cisco but faced issues, especially with DDoS attacks. There were delays, and our website started to crash because of the overload on their servers. How was the initial setup? Cisco manages the solution's setup. We purchased their managed services, so they continue to handle its management. The complexity arises when deploying various web security solutions, such as Kaspersky, with Cisco Web Security Appliance. Sometimes, transitioning from one solution to another, like Kaspersky to Cisco, can bring certificate installation complexities. If we opt for the Cloud version, implementation takes two months. On the other hand, deploying the on-premises solution usually takes three to four months. What was our ROI? The general investment in Cisco Web Security Appliance is relatively minimal. When considering its utility, the primary purpose is to enhance the layers of protection. If our endpoints are already secured, the justification for investment may seem less apparent. However, the significance of Web Security Appliance becomes evident in scenarios where breaches occur or security threats escalate. In such instances, the importance of investing in additional security measures becomes clear. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? What other advice do I have? The Cisco Web Security Appliance provides DLP to organizations. It helps prevent the unauthorized transmission of sensitive information by blocking such attempts. Additionally, it safeguards against malware attacks, particularly on websites not authorized by our company. Its role in protecting us from malware is pivotal. The organization itself handles the configuration and management of Cisco Web Security Appliance. Cisco assists in deploying and configuring the appliance and managing all associated services. Integrating the Cisco Web Security Appliance with other solutions is quite challenging. For instance, when we tried to integrate Netscape KSP, we encountered difficulties retrieving logs. Additionally, our solution failed to interact with the Web Security Appliance. Overall, the integration process remains problematic, hindering the effectiveness of our security infrastructure. We have both the cloud version and the on-premises version. For clients who require data sovereignty, we offer the on-premises version, which includes a data sovereignty tool. This allows them to enforce policies that prevent the transfer of logs to third-party data centres, ensuring compliance with their country's regulations. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Hybrid Cloud Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2024-04-01T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from It's most valuable feature is its convenience. What is our primary use case? We use it for security. What is most valuable? It's most valuable feature is its convenience. What needs improvement? I would like to see management automation in the next release. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? It's so expensive. It's $10,000 per year. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2019-09-25T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Stable solution with good technical support but the graphical interface needs improvement What is our primary use case? We are using this solution as a proxy. What is most valuable? The most valuable feature is that we can use it as a proxy. What needs improvement? They need a better graphical interface, and they need a better ISE mechanism. In the next release, I would like to see the reporting features enhanced. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using the Cisco Web Security Appliance for three to four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? This solution is stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? If you want to go to the next level, you will have to change the hardware. The general requirement is that when you reach the hardware limitations, you have to change it. Depending on the customer, there are anywhere from 100 to 500 uses. How are customer service and technical support? I have contacted technical support and I was satisfied with their help. How was the initial setup? The initial setup wasn't easy but not complex either. What about the implementation team? I implemented this solution. What other advice do I have? You need a fair comparison with other solutions to judge and compare others fairly. I have only used Cisco and would not be able to provide a fair assessment. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2020-03-22T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from A stable part of our overall security solution What is our primary use case? We are system integrators and deploy solutions in our client's environment. The primary use case is to allow or deny access to sites or special networks. What is most valuable? The most valuable feature is security. What needs improvement? The GUI is not user-friendly, so it needs to improve or be simplified. The initial setup is complex, it could be easier. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with the Cisco Web Security Appliance for five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution itself is stable, but it all depends on the infrastructure of the end-user, and how to integrate the product to the end-user. It really depends on the complexity of the infrastructure and the design. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It's a scalable product. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We were using the Fortinet FortiGate Cloud a year ago. Fortinet is easier to use than Cisco. We also use Cisco Firepower, ASA, the WSA, and ESA for email. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is a bit complex. It can take two to three days to deploy. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We are evaluating the Fortinet FortiGate Cloud. What other advice do I have? In the future, we plan to use it in the cloud when there is a Cisco solution available, depending on the market and the purchasing power of the customers. I would rate this solution an eight out ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2020-08-23T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from A stable solution that provides valuable insight into user activities and bandwidth usage What is our primary use case? We are using the Cisco Web Security Appliance as part of the security in our data center. Our data center includes equipment and software from a variety of vendors including Cisco, Dell EMC, Microsoft, and Veritas. What is most valuable? This appliance gives me good visibility in the userbase and their activities. I can see what they are using, which websites they are browsing, a history for each user, and how much bandwidth they have utilized. It integrates well into the Cisco environment. What needs improvement? The licensing model needs to be more flexible. How it works is that you can have from zero to 499 users at the first stage, then from 500 to 999 users at stage two, and so on. They need to be more flexible because when you exceed 1,000 users then you are supposed to deploy a separate appliance to cater to them. The technical support could use some improvement. For how long have I used the solution? We have been using the Cisco Web Security Appliance for three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability of this product is very good. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is a scalable appliance that can integrate with my endpoint security appliances, as well as my core networking appliances. We acquired 200 additional licenses this year and we plan to continue increasing our usage. How are customer service and technical support? We have been in contact with Cisco technical support and they are good. I would not say that they are the best, or highly recommended, but they are good. The problem we experienced had to do with the ownership of the ticket. When we engage one engineer and explain everything, they continue to work on it until their shift ends. At that point, we have to explain everything to the next engineer, from scratch, and they continue to work on it. I think that one engineer should take ownership of the problem until it is complete. How was the initial setup? We found the initial setup to be slightly complex because it was a new product for me and my team. We installed it in the Unity environment and tested it for quite some time. Then we deployed it slowly, starting with the back office and then rolling it out to the branches. The deployment took about four months to bring it from purchase, through a PoC, and into production. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Licensing fees are based on the number of users. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We evaluated several products but because we were already using Cisco, it was easy for us to get discounts on this appliance. It also integrated well with our existing environment. What other advice do I have? My advice for anybody who is researching this appliance is to first determine exactly what it is that they require. There are a lot of applications and features but many of the features are useless for the organization. For example, if they do not need the DDoS features then they shouldn't get them and pay the additional fee. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2020-04-28T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Has high availability and is easy to scale horizontally What is most valuable? Web Security Appliance is a proxy and I have gotten active with the open-source proxy. If I want a feature that is not present, most of the database updates and filters are good. Our clients use Cisco Palace which is a very big database that is very quickly updated. It also has high availability. These kinds of solutions impact the user experience. If you have an issue with the proxy not responding, you have to install or activate new does in order to reestablish the connections for the customer. What needs improvement? There are some problems with this solution but it's not related to this product. If a user wants to use it for other devices like mobile or smartphones, this product isn't so reliable. If you want to implement it in a track point mode, it is difficult to implement and is not so reliable. There should be more implementation. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco Web Security Appliance for five to six years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It's very stable. We have thousands of users and they don't have any issues with it. It's very stable. If you want this product to be stable you have to put it through the EPS and you have to manage the connection to the power. If you shut down the product, there will be a problem because they encrypt the discs and you'll have hardware loss. The solution won't work. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It's very scalable. If you buy one bundle with 100 users, you can install unlimited appliances to scale horizontally. You can have ten appliances that can log share communications. It's very scalable. How are customer service and technical support? We have contacted Cisco support for other products. I am satisfied with their support. It depends on the level of the technician you get. If you are an end-user you start with level one help which isn't so easy. If you request escalation to the next level you get a good level of support. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I only used an open-source solution. Cisco's advantage is the support and they have good scalability which is not so easy to implement in other solutions. How was the initial setup? The level of complexity of the initial setup will depend on the level of customization. If you want to start the product with the best practices presented by Cisco, it's very easy. You have to manage your own IP addresses and check that the service is okay. It's integrated with other services and then apply it to your users. It's very easy to implement. You need a high level of skills to manage it. If you want special customization or a high level of security activation, it may be a bit more complex. For a single appliance without any high-appliance activated and if you have all the data, DNS servers, and IP addresses, it can around an hour to implement. What other advice do I have? Try it. See how it works, it's not difficult to implement and it's not so expensive. I would recommend it. I would rate it a ten out of ten. In the next release, I would like to see reporting to implement more features. The license should also be more flexible. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Hybrid Cloud Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2020-05-19T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from We always hear from our customers that this is one of the products that they are very satisfied with How has it helped my organization? We have implemented Cisco Web Security Appliance in quite a few places and the results are quite satisfactory. We haven't faced any kind of challenge from it. Neither has the customer reported anything. I am a solution architect. So I'm able to discuss in terms of configuration management. All I can say is that from a solution perspective, whatever the customer is basically looking for from our web security appliance, Cisco Web Security Appliance has met it all. And more importantly, wherever we have deployed this kind of Web Security Appliance, Cisco hasn't faced any kind of escalation from our customers. And whenever we go for review with them for their satisfaction level, we have always heard that this is one of the products that they are very satisfied with. What needs improvement? Obviously there is always room for improvement for almost all the appliances available in the market. But there are scopes for improvement. I'm pretty sure that Cisco will keep on integrating different feature sets as the market demands and I have seen Cisco as an organization that puts in proactive efforts providing different features before they come into the market. So I'm pretty sure that Cisco will give due diligence in terms of providing all the features in their WSA. But one thing I don't like with Cisco is that they're very fragmented in terms of feature sets. What I mean is that the one thing I don't like about Cisco is that they are very much fragmented in terms of providing the complete solution. They keep on breaking their different feature sets into different boxes. The days are coming when almost all the customers are looking for a consolidated box or a box wherein you can have multiple feature sets based on infrastructure, which will decrease the carbon footprint in the data center. Then, obviously, the number of devices they will have in the data center will go down. So cooling requirements and power requirements will also go down. So that's what the customer is looking at. But Cisco is too segmented. They gave ESA, they gave WSA, they give their next-generation Firewall Firepower. Then they gave a management center. And for network AMP they made a separate box set. So there are too many devices. Though I understand technically that, yes, fragmented technology is best because we should let the dedicated device do dedicated jobs. But again, in terms of customer acceptability and the customer's point of view, consolidated devices make much more sense for them. I would obviously prefer the WSA to be integrated with ESA because there is no point putting so many hardware devices and infrastructures in. So if WSA had the functionality of ESA, at least the basic functionality of ESA, it could be merged into a single box, and that would be good. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco Web Security Appliance is stable. Very recently we deployed corporate-wide security practices with all the Cisco devices like Cisco Firepower, Cisco AMP, Cisco Cloud Email Security, Umbrella, and so on and so forth. That infrastructure is running quite okay for the last two to two and a half years. So I must say that all the security products are quite stable in nature. How are customer service and technical support? Cisco is the best in giving technical support. There is no doubt about that. I am working with Cisco on a range of products since 2004. I have dealt with all their technical related support. I used to be in deployment. Then I used a lot of their super technical support. But once I migrated from the implementation team to the solution designing team, I did not require that kind of technical support from them in terms of their technical assistance. But yes, I still have discussions with my implementation team and they keep telling me that one of the best features is the technical support we get from Cisco. So as far as technical support is concerned, I don't think that there is a match for Cisco. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Regarding Cisco price-wise, it is always a bit on the higher side. Apart from a few products, if you look at the majority of Cisco products, they are a bit on the higher side as far as the market is concerned. Obviously it would be good if Cisco could cut down on their prices, but they would have to do a lot of negotiation or compromise in terms of their product quality and support quality and a lot of customers may not like that. Price is something very dynamic. In India, actually, we don't find that much of a challenge with prices in enterprises and in government. What other advice do I have? On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give Cisco Web Security Appliance an 8. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2020-06-16T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Efficient solution used as a web security gateway that is simple to setup. What is our primary use case? We use this solution as our web security gateway and as an additional proxy. What needs improvement? The support for the solution could be improved as there are issues with SMARTnet support. For how long have I used the solution? I have used this solution for three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We have 500 users using this solution. How are customer service and support? The support for this solution could be improved. We have experienced issues with their SMARTnet support system. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is straightforward. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? This is an expensive solution. What other advice do I have? We have compared other solutions for security such as Forcepoint, Barracuda Networks, Symantec as we are considering moving away from using this solution. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-24T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from An user-friendly solution that offers environment protection What is most valuable? Cisco Web Security Appliance is user-friendly and easy to manage. It protects your environment while accessing the internet. What needs improvement? The tool needs to improve cloud-based decryption. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco Web Security Appliance's stability is good. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The product is scalable. We have 1500 to 2000 users. How was the initial setup? The tool's deployment is very straightforward. The only process that can take time is aligning the policies as per your use case. What about the implementation team? Getting a partner from Cisco to help with the deployment is good. What was our ROI? You can get a good ROI in the long run. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The tool's licensing is yearly. What other advice do I have? I rate the product a ten out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-09T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Reasonably priced and great for enterprise organizations What is our primary use case? Our company works solely on government projects. Hyperconverged infrastructure is one portion of our use case for Web Security Appliance because it's a bundled solution that includes cyber security, network, the passive component, storage, and HCI. We are based in India and we have over 10,000 employees. We are a Cisco gold partner and I am deputy general manager of presales. What is most valuable? This solution helps our customers with the challenges their clients face attempting to connect to their network or app. It's very good for large enterprise organizations. What needs improvement? There are occasional delays in customer support but it's a minor thing. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using this solution for three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution is stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The solution is scalable which is important in our situation because we have a five-year plan to increase users. How are customer service and support? The support is great, almost perfect. We directly communicate with the Cisco India team. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive How was the initial setup? The initial setup is easy and our customers are satisfied with the deployment and the support we provide in that respect. We work with two or three engineers per site and deployment usually takes somewhere between 10 to 15 days. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Licensing is calculated by the number of users and paid on an annual basis. The license includes technical support. The solution is not expensive. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Hybrid Cloud If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use? Amazon Web Services (AWS) Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Golden Partners
Date published: 2022-07-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Handles traffic well, with a simple UI that's easy to access, but it could be more interactive and it needs a few more integrations added to it What is our primary use case? We use Cisco Web Security Appliance for proxy purposes, for enterprises. What is most valuable? The best feature of Cisco Web Security Appliance is its policy framing. It also has a good UI and it can handle traffic well. Cisco Web Security Appliance is a good product. What needs improvement? As Cisco Web Security Appliance is eight years old, though it's simple to access its UI, the UI needs a little bit of updating. If it could be more interactive similar to the latest gen solutions, that would improve the product. Adding a few more integrations would also make Cisco Web Security Appliance better. Cisco Web Security Appliance is a web appliance, so I don't see much scope for adding other features to it. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using Cisco Web Security Appliance for one year. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco Web Security Appliance is a stable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? As Cisco Web Security Appliance is an appliance, it doesn't scale. You need to size it based on your requirements, so if you're a small-scale customer, you'll size based on that. A large-scale customer gets a larger appliance and would need to size in advance, so you cannot scale that. Instead, you'll have to add boxes to add more load, so you can add to the cluster. How was the initial setup? The initial setup for Cisco Web Security Appliance was pretty easy. It usually takes just a day or two to complete the deployment if you have all the information, but it's mostly the customers performing the initial setup because it's all done remotely. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I have no information on the licensing costs for Cisco Web Security Appliance. What other advice do I have? I have customers that have thousands of users of Cisco Web Security Appliance, for example, five thousand users. I manage the migration for multiple customers. My advice to anyone who wants to use Cisco Web Security Appliance is that it's a product that's easy to grasp if you know about proxy or any other firewall solution because it's pretty similar to other network security products in the market. If you have zero knowledge of network and security, it'll be difficult for you to understand Cisco Web Security Appliance. My rating for Cisco Web Security Appliance is seven out of ten. It's a stable solution. It's not the best product, but it's a good product, and because it's on-premise and its visibility or availability on the cloud is minimal, many customers or companies prefer using it. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-09-01T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great filtering, excellent features, and helpful technical support What is our primary use case? We primarily use the solution for security and controlled internet access. We just finished deploying one for one of our clients that actually bought both devices. That was just before COVID that we implemented it, so we just finished it now. What is most valuable? There are different types of groups with different types of access depending on the policies for those departments or users. We've got the administrator, the normal users, and then the management. We allow certain users to have access to all of the sites as they do research as well as marketing. We also use those features to actually define the policies so that they can have access to those sites for advertising as well. Most of the features are great. They've got great filtering. That's what the client was looking at in terms of users when they go out to the internet, to make sure that when they access, they access the sites that actually have been filtered by Cisco to make sure that those sites are secure and they don't have malware that they can download from those sites. The stability is good. It's a scalable product. Technical support has been helpful. The pricing is reasonable. What needs improvement? We just deployed it. I would just like to have more filters. However, I need more time to give a report to see what limitations may exist. During the setup, we had issues with updating the rules. I would like more automation. When it's on a failover, everyone will think that they'll filter nicely. For how long have I used the solution? We've been using the solution for almost four years now. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We've been running the latest solution for eight months now and it is totally stable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is scalable. The clients that we have sold a few of those boxes to, did find integrating with AV software a bit expensive. However, it is possible to expand it. How are customer service and support? Technical support is great. They're always on par. They're fine. So far, from what we've seen, they've always managed to respond. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? It's a bit on the expensive side, I must say, however, when you look at the trends of the market, if you look where other services are going, the pricing is very close. While the first assumption from clients is "Oh, Cisco devices are expensive," when you compare it with other devices, it's almost a tie. In general, the pricing of Cisco devices is not that bad. What other advice do I have? We are a Cisco partner and a reseller. We're integrating with the Cisco ISE as well. We bought the licenses for malware as well and then integrated them with the AD. That's been the new authentication for the users when they go into the internet with a specified group. I’d recommend the solution. The support from Cisco is excellent. Through my years working with Cisco, I would always recommend Cisco, any product that they provide, thanks to my years of experience. I have, for the past six or seven years, deployed different types of deployments and I would say Cisco support is excellent. I have met a lot of good, skilled people in terms of support along the way. Especially on ISE as that's one of the more difficult products. It works very well for what the client actually wants to achieve. You have put the policies in place according to the client’s needs. ISE helps ensure the policies are in place and working. We have logs, we have evidence. As long as you put ISE in, it's going to tell you all the issues that you're having with your AD. If it's not configured properly, even if you’ve been running it for 15 years, you'll know. We can show how things may not be configured properly and how to fix them. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-05-25T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Easy to set up with scalable virtual machines and good reliability What is our primary use case? We were configuring the computers, using it as a proxy. What I did was I configured the different URL categories and custom categories, and assigned them to a specific group of people through their Active Directory group. It was working in conjunction with Active Directory. How has it helped my organization? We didn't use WSA, it was used only in our customers premises What is most valuable? It works really well. It operates beautifully once everything is configured. It also allows you to decrypt SSL traffic, and that's a really important feature as well, which is something I also configured. The solution is easy to set up. The virtual machine is quite scalable. It's stable. What needs improvement? I didn't use the full potential of WSA, so I cannot really say what features may be lacking or missing. The WSA should have a Firewall like feature built in, that would allow for more control with different ports other than 80, 443 or HTTP and HTTPS. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution for three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The customer prior to where I configured the physical appliance, never complained about it not working. It's been three years or so and it's still operating as smoothly as it operated on the first day. There weren't any breakdowns or lags or anything like that. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? I'm not really sure about the scalability. If I could compare, cloud solutions like Umbrella and Zscaler are far better than WSA. Maybe the virtual machine of WSA is more scalable than the physical appliance as the physical appliance is bound to the specification that it has. Whereas you can scale the virtual machine as much as you can and allows you your underlying hypervisor. We have about 1,500 people using the solution. How are customer service and support? I've never had to use technical support. How was the initial setup? The implementation was very straightforward. The interface is really intuitive. I don't know about the new one, however. They released an interface, however, it wasn't fully released. It was a demo. Those interfaces were really good. Getting up and running from start to finish takes about eight hours. The setup was pretty fast as the features that I used were pretty straightforward and all I had to do was handle custom URLs. It wasn't too complex a configuration. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The solution's cost depends on how many users you purchase. It was maybe $3 or $5 per user, which is a bit expensive. Other solutions are expensive, especially the cloud ones. It's still on par with the others, however, lowering the expenses would be also a great thing. It's absolutely worth the cost. What other advice do I have? The last version of the solution we used was on a virtual machine. Prior to that, I worked on a physical appliance. It was WSA S190. The company decided to go with WSA mainly due to the fact that, in one case, financial institutions usually prefer on-prem deployments over the cloud. I also had a good experience with WSA and the customer was okay to have it on on-prem. If you're a customer with a lot of sites, then an on-prem solution like WSA is not a good option. For a big customer, you have to purchase one for each site and that's expensive. Going for a cloud solution where you have centralized management of all your policies is the better option. It's also less expensive than an on-prem Solution As for a small customer with two or three sites in a small region, it would be okay to have one WSA centralized. This was the case with my last customer, which has 1,500 users. Their sites are all close to each other so that wouldn't be a problem. There wouldn't be a problem using one centralized WSA in one site as it wouldn't cause latency or stuff like that. If the sites are scattered all around, I wouldn't recommend WSA as it becomes too expensive. A cloud solution like Umbrella or Zscaler is preferred in this case. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It operates well, however, the on-remises version is limited in terms of scaling. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2022-05-31T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Easy to use with good pre-defined categories and good reliability What is our primary use case? We are just using the solution for internal purposes. When we need to browse the internet, our staff will either be allowed or refused access to the internet. All of the internet is accessed via the server. What is most valuable? The bandwidth limit is useful. The categories are pre-defined by Cisco. It's a very user-friendly product and is easy to set up. The product is stable. It's a scalable product. What needs improvement? It should have a user-based quota, per-user quota, that can be defined on the appliance. That way, if a user reaches their quota individually, they should be blocked for the next day. One major feature that is still not in this product and that should be implemented by Cisco is that it should have a live graph. We'd like to see, for example: What is the user consumption at the right now? What is the bandwidth, when bandwidth is used by the user? There is no current graph of it and I would recommend it should be in the product. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution for five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The product is stable. I have not seen any issues in five years. We have not had any unintentional reboots or downtime. It is very reliable and is a stable product. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We haven't had any issues with scalability. In my first company, there were 2,000 people on the solution. In my latest organization, we have 15,000 people on it. How are customer service and support? We've reached out to support for day-to-day challenges. They've been very helpful and responsive and we have been happy with their level of service. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive How was the initial setup? The solution is very easy to set up. It's user-friendly. The process isn't difficult. It took us about a day to set up. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? You do need to pay for a license. It's not cheap or expensive. It's mid-level in terms of price. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We did look at other solutions. We conducted a comparison of options and did a POC. In the end, we found this product very helpful. We looked at, for example, Fortigate, among others. What other advice do I have? We're a customer and end-user. I'd advise users to give the solution a try. It's a very easy-to-use product and everything is working without any issue with the appliance. I would recommend others to use it. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-06-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Scales well, effective threat protection, and high availability What is our primary use case? Cisco Web Security Appliance can be used as a proxy for sending all traffic to the internet. In that case, I can apply security policies and provide anti-malware, protection, and attack prevention with this security appliance. Additionally, there is some advanced functionality, such as security orchestration and security incident management appliance integration. You are able to have full protection and incident management. This solution can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise. I am using a virtual infrastructure which is the easiest infrastructure. What is most valuable? The most valuable feature of Cisco Web Security Appliance is the provided anti-malware functionality and URL categorization. I can block access to malicious websites. 99 percent of the cases are related to a malicious website. If I cannot browse those malicious websites, then we are 99 percent protected. We have SSL decryption and we receive full visibility of what is happening on the network. With SSL decryption, most of the traffic is encrypted and if I had the traffic recorded, I could see what is happening inside that traffic. What needs improvement? The solution could improve the graphical user interface. It is not up to the regular standard of what we would expect from Cisco. Additionally, they need to improve the categorization when blocking in the settings. The CLI could have a better view than the graphical user interface but I did not investigate further. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco Web Security Appliance for approximately seven years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution is stable and has high availability. I rate the stability of Cisco Web Security Appliance a nine out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability of Cisco Web Security Appliance is high. I rate the scalability of Cisco Web Security Appliance a ten out of ten. How are customer service and support? Cisco is the best support team available on this planet. I am happy with the support I have received. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have worked with Cisco Firepower and the Cisco DNA Center Platform. It is a stable solution, but they are working on improving it. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is complex. The is not much flexibility when creating policies. As per the design guide, they have provided a lot of limitations for creating policies. For example, if I create 30 access policies, 30 customization decryption policies, and 30 custom complex policies, there is a complexity in the qualification. If the policy is complex then CP gets high, which is a problem. Following the best practice guide, I have to follow that constraint. However, customers, are not happy with the restriction and policies. They want to create as much policy as possible. The implementation took approximately two weeks or ten working days. What about the implementation team? I do the implementation of this solution. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? There is a subscription-based license needed to use this solution. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco Web Security Appliance a nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-01-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from An all-in-one highly secure web gateway What is our primary use case? We use Cisco Web Security Appliance as a security proxy when using the web. What is most valuable? It integrates well with Cisco Email Security Appliance. This way, even if a customer clicks on a link that is malicious, thanks to Cisco Web Security Appliance, you have a second chance to protect your website. Integration-wise, browser-security-wise (for users browsing the internet), it's one of the greatest tools. This appliance is quite accurate when it comes to categorial filtering. However, It's not as sophisticated as Blue Coat, which features malware blue, malware red, and malware yellow filters. Sometimes I feel that Blue Coat actually has too many categories, which can be confusing — the granularity is good, but the quantity is too much. What needs improvement? Sometimes reporting is a little bit short. Cisco has always put more emphasis on developing big products that are very robust security-wise, rather than focusing on developing solutions with a lot of bells and whistles. In other words, it's not beautiful, but it gets the job done. Reporting is not so beautiful compared to other solutions, it's not so cute and colorful; however, it does a very good job in the areas that it supports — because it detects malware and malicious code. There is a ton of intelligence behind it. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using this solution since it was first released. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Cisco Web Security Appliance is not the cheapest solution on the market, but it's well worth it. What other advice do I have? Implementation has to be done right, it's very important. It's not enough just to connect it — that won't make the traffic go through. You have to really think about how you want to route the traffic. It's for HTTP and HTTPS. Speaking of HTTPS, you have to consider the well-done proxying, otherwise, you will be breaking internet security because you'll have issues with the certificates, et cetera. So you have to do a very well-planned integration. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight. Security-wise, it's a great product. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-01-27T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Technical support is good but the feature awareness needs to be better What is our primary use case? This is one of the solutions that we provide to our customers. What needs improvement? The price of this solution needs to be reduced. The FTD 21 model's Firepower Threat Defense does not have the multi-instance feature for the virtualization with the physical equipment. This makes it difficult to propose this solution to the customers. The issue that we are facing is, for example, if we have a project with a client, and we suggest the twenty-one series, we don't know until we have implemented it that we do not have the multi-instance feature. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using this solution for five years. How are customer service and technical support? The technical support is good. It is reactive and the documentation is very specific and very useful. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? When you compare the price of this solution to the price of FortiGate, it's high. What other advice do I have? I would rate this solution a six out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2019-11-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Good third-party integration for user authentication and authorization, but technical support needs improvement What is our primary use case? We use this solution for securing network traffic. What is most valuable? The Gateway is an advantage that I can see in Cisco. The WCCP is good at delivering HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Before this ping forwarding was a problem for us. This solution offers categorization for YouTube and other specific applications from Facebook to WhatsApp, which can be controlled whether it's on mobile or PC. You can partition your IPs based on scoring from Cisco Cloud. There is a variety of options for integration with other products for authentication and authorization of users. You can control everything through policy. What needs improvement? Technical support needs to be improved because they take a very long time and there is no communication or notification. Controlling engines at the network layer needs to handle more links or multiple links from the internet. Controlling with the applications, or more applications as part of the local applications so that it's bigger. The price should be moderated. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using this product in my daily operations for forty years. How are customer service and technical support? When it comes to this technical support, sometimes it is not good. If you open a case with the local region here in the Middle East, sometimes also from the outside, the tech support takes a long time getting you logged in and troubleshooting files and screenshots. They are not quick to respond or in the analysis, they don't even let you know what the current status is with my issue or a plan of resolving it. I have been impacted often with issues regarding our integration from Cisco with this solution. The technical support takes a lot of time without any feedback or any answers. They never even let you know if they are working on fixing it. After some time, I end up fixing it myself. And after a long time, I troubleshoot this issue and fix it myself. And notification would be cleared. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I know from the manager that the price is too high and that other solutions offer the same features for less. Which other solutions did I evaluate? There are some other powerful competitors such as ForcePoint and Symantec. What other advice do I have? I use this product and implement it. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner.
Date published: 2019-11-30T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from The web security is good and it is user-friendly What is our primary use case? We use this solution mainly for web security for content and products, or for URL filtering. What is most valuable? The most valuable features is of the solution is that it is user-friendly and we get good web security from it. What needs improvement? The pricing is too high, so that could be improved. Also, the solution is not very compatible with other products. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using this solution for two years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is a very stable solution. How was the initial setup? The setup was very easy and straightforward. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? It is a very expensive program and therefore many people choose other, cheaper programs. What other advice do I have? I will rate this solution a nine out of ten. I hope to see the next release being more affordable and better integration between platforms. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner.
Date published: 2019-10-16T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Easy to deploy with good scalability but the stability could be more reliable What is our primary use case? We primarily use the solution to verify the identity of users that are connecting to the network. It's used to check the compliance of their systems before they are able to connect. What is most valuable? There isn't that much to it. It's not overly complex. The scalability is good. The deployment process is very simple. Technical support is okay. What needs improvement? The stability could be better. The solution needs to be more user-friendly and easier to navigate. It's not so easy right now. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution for five years at this point. I've used it for a while. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is lacking and is something that should be looked at. We don't find it to be very stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The solution offers good scalability. If a company need sot expand it, it can do so. It's not a problem. We have about 50,000 users on the solution currently. How are customer service and technical support? We've contacted technical support in the past and they have been fine. Cisco has relatively good technical support. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We did not previously use a different solution. How was the initial setup? The solution is very easy to implement. It's not overly complex or too difficult. Our deployment took about six months. We have five team members that can handle setups and maintenance tasks. They are engineers. What about the implementation team? While we did do some of the initial setup ourselves, we did also have a consultant come in to assist in certain areas from time to time. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? There is a one-time licensing fee that needs to be paid. What other advice do I have? We are using the latest version of the solution, however, I cannot speak to the exact version number. I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten. It's an okay solution that needs better stability. I would recommend the solution to other companies and organizations. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-08-20T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from The solution is easy to integrate and has excellent customer support, but it lacks a GUI-based troubleshooting feature What is our primary use case? We use Cisco Web Security Appliance as a forward proxy, and all the web requests to the web servers are filtered through it. What is most valuable? Cisco Web Security Appliance has very good security benefits for any company and is easy to integrate. The primary use of having a proxy is to hide the actual user from the open internet. We opted for Cisco Web Security Appliance because Cisco's TAC support is outstanding. It's good to have products from Cisco. All the network equipment, like the routers and firewalls, are usually from Cisco. What needs improvement? Cisco lacks a GUI-based troubleshooting feature compared to products by other vendors. There might be some instances where the proxy is blocking some genuine traffic. It could take a lot of troubleshooting with Cisco Web Security Appliance proxy, which could otherwise be easily identified by a GUI-based troubleshooting tool. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco Web Security Appliance for the last three years. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Around 60 to 70 users are using Cisco Web Security Appliance in our organization. How was the initial setup? I haven't set it up, but I believe Cisco Web Security Appliance's initial setup is easy. What other advice do I have? I wouldn't recommend the solution to other users because Cisco has already announced the end of the light for the Cisco Web Security Appliance proxy. Cisco is no longer going to support it. Overall, I rate Cisco Web Security Appliance a six out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-10-05T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from It is an easy-to-scale solution with several valuable features What is our primary use case? We are using Cisco WSA as a proxy solution. We control Internet browsing so colleagues will access websites securely. What is most valuable? Cisco regularly upgrades features for the customer's security requirements. They've added new features to the product and upgraded the OS version so that users will get the latest security features. Cisco WSA's malware protection, AMP, and DNS security are valuable. What needs improvement? We are planning to migrate the solution from in-house to the cloud. We would like to see a security service head, where we can combine all the security into one solution. For how long have I used the solution? I have worked with the solution for approximately 14 years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten because it's used 24/7 in my organization. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? With the in-house solution, scalability depends on the fixed hardware you purchase. You would have to choose a particular-sized hardware based on the department. You must choose the right hardware box whether you want 2,000, 5,000, or 10,000 users. If you use the solution in a virtual environment, you can scale up by increasing the virtual box size. There is no limitation on the product's scalability. I rate the in-house version a seven out of ten. When you move the same solution to a cloud, it scales properly because it's based on Umbrella. I rate the cloud solution's scalability a nine out of ten. Thousands of users use the solution in my organization. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We used Trend Micro before Cisco WSA. We switched to Cisco based on our security requirements and Cisco's features. How was the initial setup? I rate the initial setup an eight out of ten because it is straightforward. When deploying the product, first of all, you need to understand the requirement for the security concerns before deploying it in an organization, which will take some time. After that, you install the software and create the policies to ensure your client is using a secure channel to access the Internet. You will need to refine policies based on the client's requirements. The process will take time to stabilize things for a new deployment. If the policies match the organization's, deploying the solution will take a couple of hours, not much more. We needed just one person for deployment and one person for maintenance and management. What about the implementation team? We deployed the product in-house on our server. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I rate Cisco WSA a seven out of ten since it is costly. The price might be a problem for smaller businesses. There are no additional costs. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We evaluated Barracuda and other solutions. What other advice do I have? Cisco is already launching a new product with the latest features. We will migrate to that solution once they upgrade it. We plan to migrate to a SaaS solution because everything is on the cloud. Price is a concern because everyone wants to make money for services and might change the licensing model. Cisco WSA is an ancient solution. Cisco is upgrading the solution on a cloud that will have old and new technology features. Cisco WSA's new name is Cisco Umbrella. I rate the product an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.customer
Date published: 2023-08-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Works as a filter and proxy preventing threats in the organization What is our primary use case? We use the tool as a filter and proxy. What is most valuable? Since working with the tool, we have not found any threats in our organization. What needs improvement? The solution is priced high. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with the product for three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We have not faced any issues with stability. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The solution is scalable and we have around 1200 users for the product. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have used Fortinet FortiGate before. We switched to Cisco because its sandbox is more effective and the solution is more scalable. However, FortiGate has a simple user interface. How was the initial setup? The solution's deployment phase lasted around three months. What about the implementation team? We did the product's deployment in-house. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The solution has a standard license. What other advice do I have? I would rate the product an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Private Cloud Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-07-07T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from A scalable tool with good Umbrella DNS security What is most valuable? The tool has good Umbrella DNS security. What needs improvement? The tool needs to provide logs. They need to improve firewall threat defense. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with Cisco products for more than two decades. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? I would rate the tool's scalability a seven out of ten. What other advice do I have? I would rate the product a seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.partner
Date published: 2023-04-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from It integrates well with Active Directory, enabling us to fine-tune our user rules What is our primary use case? We use Cisco Web Security Appliance for many things like firewalls, site-to-site VPN, routing, etc. We can use it for remote work. What is most valuable? Cisco Web Security Appliance can integrate with Active Directory, enabling us to manage all the end-users within AD. It's helpful for setting rules based on individual users and groups. For example, you can configure policies for inbound and outbound traffic. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco Web Appliance is highly stable if configured correctly. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? I rate Cisco Web Appliance eight out of 10 for scalability. How are customer service and support? I rate Cisco support nine out of 10. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive How was the initial setup? Setting up Cisco Web Security Appliance is highly complex and it takes about a week. We have to connect it to the Active Directory and configure all the policies for end users. It takes a long time to configure rules for our company data like port forwarding and separating the public and local components. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco Web Security Appliance 10 out of 10. It's a complete security solution. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-03-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Though the product ensures a high ROI, the management capabilities require improvement What is our primary use case? I use Cisco Web Security Appliance in my company for proxy-related purposes. What is most valuable? The most valuable features of the solution are the functions of proxy for the users who use the internet and the security it offers against the not-so-secure web pages. What needs improvement? There are certain shortcomings related to the product's management capabilities, where improvements are required. The solution needs to provide better management of the category of web pages. For how long have I used the solution? I have three years of experience with Cisco Web Security Appliance. My company is a customer of the solution. I use the solution's previous or the previous to previous version. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten. Around 300 people in my company use the solution. I use the solution every day in my company. How are customer service and support? At times, the product's technical support takes a long time to provide solutions. I rate the technical support a six out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have experience with GFI KerioControl. I also have experience with other devices from Cisco. I have done some integration of the Cisco Web Security Appliance with other systems. How was the initial setup? I rate the product's initial setup phase a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup phase, and ten is an easy setup phase. The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. It took quite a long time to implement the solution, maybe seven to eight months. The deployment phase took a few weeks. Two or three specialists who are network administrators in my company were involved in the deployment and maintenance phases of the product. What about the implementation team? The product's reseller helped my company with the product's implementation phase. What was our ROI? From an ROI perspective, I rate the product a nine out of ten. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I rate the product price a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. Which other solutions did I evaluate? During the evaluation phase, my company considered GFI KerioControl and Fortinet FortiProxy against Cisco Web Security Appliance. What other advice do I have? I rate the overall product a seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-12-05T00:00:00-05:00

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