Cisco Web Security Appliance Other Advice

IgnitiusMolepo - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IP Network Defense at MTN

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.

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Rainier S. - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Integration Engineering / Enterprise Technology & Innovation at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

To be honest, nobody should consider on-premises anymore. It's a different world. There is now a cloud presence, and if Cisco WSA cloud presence matches what I know of Zscaler, you can basically go anywhere in the world and your laptop is forced to use it. Then you have coverage and monitoring.

If it meets your requirements, the person who is interested should use it. If it does not meet your personal criteria, they should look for a different solution; today is a different world, and I believe everyone works from home.

We are no longer working on-premises. If you work from home, you have two options: force people to connect to the network via VPN.

If you force people to use the VPN, you can force them to use a WSA in Cisco on-premises. I'm not familiar with the WSA cloud, but if you could force them to go directly to the cloud from your home, it's well worth considering. That's fantastic, in my opinion. Cloud definitely alters the dynamic here. It's borderless nowadays, with thoughts on everyone flowing through the inside. They need to be more open about borderless, and it appears that they are.

I would rate Cisco Web Security Appliance an eight out of ten, because, for one thing, we had issues with the reporting and didn't like the stripped-down version of the reporter. The other is that they were not in the cloud at the time, but I believe they are now.

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DA
Business Architect at Letris

It is important to be confident in the solution even though it is new because any challenges are minor. 

The solution is one of the best enterprise-based products in the market and is not expensive compared to others. 

The solution is not perfect because it has transparent proxy issues so I rate it a nine out of ten. 

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Cisco Web Security Appliance
April 2024
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BhanuSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager Infra & Security at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

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Atdhe Zyhranaj - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Consultant at NSCON Network Services & Consulting GmbH

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.

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Muhammad Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Unit Head System Administration & Automation at MCB Islamic Bank Ltd

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.

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Zaid Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
L2 - Network Engineer at Sitel Group (previously Sykes)

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.

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Stanislav Priscak - PeerSpot reviewer
IT specialist at Východoslovenský ústav srdcových a cievnych chorôb, a.s.

I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.

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ChrisWanyoike - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Infrastructure Specialist at Central-Bank-Kenya

I rate the product a ten out of ten. 

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Md Manirul Islam - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant general manager at Beximcocomputers

I rate Cisco Web Security Appliance a nine out of ten.

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Surendar Ganesan - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

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.

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MF
Network Security Engineer & Systems Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

I use this product and implement it.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

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Usman Rasool - PeerSpot reviewer
VP - Head Enterprise Technology Infrastructure at MCB Islamic Bank Ltd.

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.

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PK
UI Developer at ANB SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED

I would rate the product a seven out of ten. 

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Vusa Ndlovu - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Solution Architect at Nexio South Africa

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.

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KM
Production of pharmaceutical products at khaled.miles@labosalem.com

I rate Cisco Web Security Appliance 10 out of 10. It's a complete security solution.

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ED
Owner at Jolly Security Inc

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.

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DA
Business Architect at Letris

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. 

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JO
Network Support Engineer at Nigeria LNG Limited

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. 

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MM
Network Administrator at GAEB

I would rate the product an eight out of ten. 

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YT
Information Security Manager at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

I would recommend this solution to others. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of six. 

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DD
Solution Architect- Network Infrastructure at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give Cisco Web Security Appliance an 8.

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CE
IT Network Engineer at a maritime company with 201-500 employees

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. 

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RS
Sr. Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

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.

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AT
Deputy General Manager at BTS Group

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. 

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GF
Network Security Team Leader

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

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it_user1272714 - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrating engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

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.

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Buyer's Guide
Cisco Web Security Appliance
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Web Security Appliance. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.