We performed a comparison between Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Cisco SecureX based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Cortex XDR presents an intuitive interface, advanced identification of risks, expandability, and compatibility with various other solutions. Cisco SecureX earns high marks for its automated utilities, comprehensive visibility, and seamless integration with external resources. Meanwhile, Cortex XDR could use enhancements in hard disk encryption, security integration, and customer education. Users say Cisco SecureX needs better documentation and integration with on-premises systems. It would also benefit by expanding its compatibility with third-party solutions.
Service and Support: Some customers were impressed with Palo Alto’s support, while others reported mixed experiences. Some users describe Cisco support as dependable and efficient, while others noted a decline in quality due to personnel changes.
Ease of Deployment: Some users thought Cortex XDR’s deployment was fast and straightforward, while others consider it to be a complex and time-consuming task that requires thorough planning. Setting up Cisco SecureX is generally considered to be straightforward in cloud environments, but it requires more effort to integrate the solution with on-premise products.
Pricing: Some reviewers said Cortex XDR is expensive, but others said it was reasonable for the robust feature set Cortex offers. A few users said Cisco SecureX’s price could be lower, given that it is included for free with certain Cisco products.
ROI: Cortex XDR creates value by ensuring system and data security rather than a financial return on investment. Cisco SecureX provides a positive ROI by speeding up detection and resolution. It also decreases workloads through automation and proactive information gathering.
Comparison Results: Our users prefer Cortex XDR over Cisco SecureX. Cortex XDR stands out for its comprehensive platform and valuable features. Users praised its ease of use, threat identification capabilities, and minimal hardware resource consumption.
"It has great stability."
"Another noteworthy feature that I find appealing in Microsoft Defender is the credit-backed simulation. This feature enables organizations to train their users on effectively responding to phishing emails through a simulated training environment."
"We are connected to Microsoft and have every laptop enrolled. This acts as an endpoint. The tool helps me check security and compliance. I can also check what a device is doing."
"We can use Defender to block and monitor for security purposes without needing multiple other products to do different tasks."
"Scanning, vulnerability reporting, and the dashboard are the most valuable features."
"My clients like Defender's file integrity monitoring. They're monitoring Windows and Linux system files."
"We are able to consolidate licences and make use of many Microsoft products using this solution. If we have any Microsoft customers, we encourage them to use this solution for enterprise defence."
"Microsoft 365 Defender is a good solution and easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to manage all the applications and visibility. For example, if there is malware, spam, or another component that wants to attack the company in my servers, network, or applications, then SecureX will react to the problem."
"Our customers find the product's third-party integrations valuable. Our customers are also impressed with the tool's capability to pick up third-party threat feeds and use that as part of the decision-making process."
"The ability to create firewalls online has been most valuable including the ability to create rules."
"SecureX takes all the separate pieces of security within your company, adds in intelligence from different sites and services on the internet, and makes them work together."
"I like that I don't have to jump around to five different products and log into five different places to view the data that it returns."
"The most beneficial feature of Cisco SecureX for cybersecurity efforts is its integration with other Cisco solutions and the environment. This sets it apart, as its APIs and overall integration capabilities are very strong. Additionally, its detection capabilities are commendable."
"Using SecureX, a tool provided by Cisco, we can easily integrate it with many of our other Cisco products such as Cisco ISE and many networking devices."
"Integrates well with our existing security infrastructure."
"The anti-exploit is impenetrable. We chose Traps because it is the only product that we were not able to get anything past."
"It is easy to use."
"Being a cloud solution it is very flexible in serving internal and external connections and a broad range of devices."
"The tool's use cases are relevant to security."
"Stability is one of the features we like the most."
"The interface is easy to use and it is more up to date than our previous solution."
"WildFire AI is the best option for this product."
"When the pandemic started, Palo Alto came up with many solutions, which helped with the quick shift from on-premises to the cloud."
"Support is hit or miss. Microsoft wants you to buy premium support contracts. Though they call themselves professional support, it's almost like throwing questions into a black hole. You get an answer, but it's never helpful."
"Improving scalability, especially for very large tenants, could be beneficial for Microsoft Defender XDR."
"Intrusion detection and prevention would be great to have with 365 Defender."
"What could be improved in Microsoft 365 Defender is its licensing, e.g. it should be more consolidated and would be good if it has some optimizations. Improving the alerts and notifications, in terms of adding more details, would also be good for this solution."
"The price could be better. It'll also help if they can continuously update and upgrade the solution. Every day there's a new virus uploaded into the network, and we have to keep updating it to identify all these things."
"At times, when we have an incident email and we click on the link for that incident, it opens a pop-up, but there is nothing. It has happened a couple of times."
"Because of the training model, Defender XDR's automatic response sometimes blocks legitimate users and activities. Also, the UI sometimes responds slowly."
"When we do investigations, it would be better if Microsoft could populate the host dashboard more. When we open any host for investigation, we want the entire timeline of what is happening on the host, including all the users logging in, their hardware, Windows version, etc."
"The playbooks provided with the product are great, although I would appreciate having more playbooks available. Threats are constantly evolving, so having access to updated playbooks is crucial."
"what's missing right now is the multi-tenant capability."
"They could expand into more areas. The more third-parties that we have tied into it, the better. The capabilities are there. As they just continue to involve the product, the more things that you can look into, then the more analytics that you can get. Also, the more data that we can get, then the better off we will be."
"The documentation can be improved and the on-prem integration. The set of applications that it was integrated with wasn't comprehensive."
"For us, the biggest sticking point is that the product is not being designed for multi-tenancy use at present, from an MSP perspective."
"The automation and orchestration could be simpler. It could be that all the other parts are that easy to use so that these stick out as a negative, but that's the trickiest part for us. The workflows within the orchestration are just a bit more difficult."
"Enhancing automation capabilities could further improve the product."
"They could put in more third-party [integrations]... also more playbooks, out-of-the-box, for automation [would be helpful]."
"It would be good if they could make an exception for applications. Sometimes, it can be a bit of a challenge to make exceptions for certain applications that have been used as rogue."
"The solution could improve by providing better integration with their own products and others."
"The licensing model is complex to understand. It requires expertise to explain how the licensing works. You need expertise to guide you through the subscription plan."
"It would be good to have a better way to search for a file within the UI."
"I don't like that they have different types of licenses. For example, if users select a license, they think they will have all the platforms they need to improve their network or security. But after some time, Palo Alto Networks changed their licensing, and some of the features that, for example, were free at the beginning now have a cost. I think the integration can be improved. For example, a lot of tools are just integrated through APIs."
"There is a severe gap in functionality between Windows, Linux, and Mac versions. For example all folder restriction settings are Windows only. Traps 5.0+ does not have SAML / LDAP integration."
"Technology evolves every day, so it would be nice if it gets more secure. It can also have more integration with other platforms."
"We would also like to have advanced tech protection and email scanning."
More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco SecureX is ranked 14th in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) with 13 reviews while Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 4th in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) with 80 reviews. Cisco SecureX is rated 9.0, while Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco SecureX writes "Gives our customers visibility and they don't have to go multiple management consoles anymore". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks writes "Perfect correlation and XDR capabilities for network traffic plus endpoint security". Cisco SecureX is most compared with Trend Vision One, Splunk SOAR, Cisco Secure Network Analytics, Fortinet FortiSOAR and Wazuh, whereas Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, Darktrace, Symantec Endpoint Security and Trellix Endpoint Security. See our Cisco SecureX vs. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks report.
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