Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) and Symantec Privileged Access Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Forescout and others in Network Access Control (NAC).
To learn more, read our detailed Network Access Control (NAC) Report (Updated: February 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Cisco ISE now competes with any other product in the space because of its centralized and unified highly secure access control with ISE.""The endpoint profiling feature is among the most valuable because it keeps me from having to manually maintain a MAC address bypass list to track endpoints. I can have ISE profile them for me and then put them in the right bucket.""Cisco ISE's profiling and posturing features ensure that all devices are compliant with regulatory authorities.""Assisting a larger number of users in gaining access and guiding them through the process of getting on Cisco ISE has been seamless.""It integrates with the rest of our platform, like our firewall, and helps us a lot. It also does a good job establishing trust for every access request.""The policy sets give us more granular groups for end-user access.""For device administration, all devices have multifactor authentication in collaboration with IT, so it secures access to all of our devices. For guest and wireless access, it's a matter of a lowly manager who we give access to the portal and he can assign access to the guests, so it's a very simple process now. It keeps the IT focusing on their work, and gives the business people the right access.""The ability to allow or deny hosts onto the network is valuable. It provides great security to the network environment."

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"The product is very scalable in terms of concurrent sessions that it can handle at a time, number of device it can support, accounts that it can manage, or number of nodes that you can deploy in a cluster.""We can enforce complicated password policies and very important frequent password changes.""It is great for identity governance.""Whoever built it from the ground up, they understand how an organization is laid out.""The DB clustering is a really good benefit of using CA PAM.""One of the key things for us about the product is around its simplicity. Being able to put in the technology that allows the business to remove complexity and also allow the security improvements.""Password Management and Session Recording. The simplicity and ease that it is to be up and running out-of-the-box is very much appreciated.""The two factor authentication, and the single most important capability was it supported PIV and CAC as one of the two factors. That was pretty huge for us."

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Cons
"Cisco ISE could be simplified somewhat. I would also prefer certificate-based authentication over confirmation-based authentication for all the processes. It's possible for us to do a workaround, but the process needs to be simplified.""There are issues with respect to the posture assessment function. It's been observed that customers are not receiving total access to the network because the assessment agent is glitchy and malfunctions from time-to-time. I would like to see refining of the compliance assessment and adding more detailed compliance of endpoints on the user end.""A main issue is that the upgrade process, over time, is extraordinarily fragile. Repeatedly, over the past several years, when we've tried to upgrade our Cisco ISE implementation, the upgrade has broken it. Ultimately, we have then had to rebuild it because we need it.""If Cisco could grant more control, the features could be more focused on network and security administration, reducing the need for integration with other components.""I don't like the fact that we can see the logs only for 24 hours. Maybe that happens because of the way we set it up.""The solution is not so user-friendly.""There should be a single button that can be pressed to dismiss all of the alarms at once.""Its user interface could be better. It's not bad. They've just redesigned the whole user interface. It's not terribly difficult. The drop-down menus are easy to use. However, when you're looking for some things in the user interface, it takes a minute to find where you were prior."

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"They need to do a little bit more on the mainframe side.​""I’m no fan of Java as an application front-end, as it tends to have issues depending on what browser one’s using.""The response time for support could be faster. Some features should be added: cloud-based, VPN-less, more secure, and it should be adjusted in a hybrid environment.""What I hope happens with the new product CA PAM is to keep all the useful features that exist in PA, but what I’ve noticed with many new products is the UI gets polished but systems lags stability and performance or it adds additional complexity instead of simplifying the user experience.""The setup is complex.""The service account management functionality needs to be extended to application pools, SQL database, PowerShell scripts, service account discovery, etc.""Instead of just giving passwords to the user based on job function, from auditing perspective, turn that cycle around. That would really help from an auditing standpoint.""I would like this solution to be simpler. It should have a one-click access that works together with AWS."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "There are three levels of pricing: basic, plus, and apex. Basic satisfied our needs."
  • "If you go directly with Cisco for the implementation it's very, very expensive."
  • "The SMARTnet technical support is available at an additional cost."
  • "For the Avast virus scan, we pay around USD $95 per machine for five years which includes all updates and technical support."
  • "The price for Cisco ISE is high."
  • "The price can be lower, especially for subscriptions. It should be a lot cheaper to have a wide range of customers. The price should be comparable to competitive products like Forescout or Fortinet FortiNAC. Forescout is cheaper for customers looking for a cloud solution."
  • "There are other cheaper options available."
  • "The price is okay."
  • More Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Don’t go with an agent model. Don’t go with a model that has you buying a thousand different parts. Go with PAM that gives you everything, or you’ll just be paying costs of implementing another tool that PAM would have just given you up front."
  • "The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
  • "Appliances are relatively cheap, don’t skimp. Make sure you have redundancy, high availability, and enough appliances to manage the concurrent workload."
  • "Cost-wise, CA was better compared to others in the market. ​"
  • "Pricing is fair compared to other top vendors."
  • "The licensing is simple and scalable."
  • "I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
  • "It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
  • More Symantec Privileged Access Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely… more »
    Top Answer:OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers… more »
    Top Answer:Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user… more »
    Top Answer:We can check the activities in the server for fragile files and documents in case of any issues.
    Top Answer:The product's pricing depends on the agreement. They offer per-device, per-user, or monthly and yearly licensing models.
    Top Answer:There should be some training platform similar to Microsoft and IBM. We can't find useful documentation or YouTube videos to learn about the process. They should include some assignments in the test… more »
    Ranking
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    8.5
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    6.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Cisco ISE
    CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
    Learn More
    Overview

    Cisco ISE is an all-in-one solution that streamlines security policy management and reduces operating costs. Cisco ISE delivers visibility and access control over users and devices across wired, wireless, and VPN connections.

    Identity Services Engine enables enterprises to deliver secure network access to users and devices. It shares contextual data, such as threats and vulnerabilities, with integrated solutions from Cisco technology partners. You can see what is happening in your network, which applications are running, and more.

    Features of Cisco ISE

    • Centralized management helps administrators configure and manage user profile characteristics - a single pane of glass for integrated management services.
    • Contextual identity and business policy: The rule-based attribute is a driven policy model. The goal is to provide flexible access control policies.
    • Wide range of access control options, including Virtual LAN (VLAN) URL redirections, and access control lists.
    • Supplicant-less network access: You can roll out secure network access by deriving authentication from login information across application layers.
    • Guest lifecycle management streamlines the experience for implementing and customizing network access for guests.
    • Built-in AAA services: The platform uses standard RADIUS protocol for authentication, authorization, and accounting.
    • Device auditing, administration, and access control provide users with access on a need-to-know and need-to-act basis. It keeps audit trails for every change in the network.
    • Device profiling: ISE features predefined device templates for different types of endpoints.
    • Internal certificate authority: Qn easy-to-deploy single console to manage endpoints and certificates.

    Benefits of Cisco ISE

    Cisco’s holistic approach to network access security has several advantages:

    • Context-based access based on your company policies. ISE creates a complete contextual identity, including attributes such as user, time, location, threat, access type, and vulnerability. This contextual identity is used to enforce a secure access policy. Administrators can apply strict control over how and when endpoints are allowed in the network.
    • Better network visibility via an easy-to-use, simple console. In addition, visibility is improved by storing a detailed attribute history of all endpoints connected to the network.
    • Comprehensive policy enforcement. ISE sets easy and flexible access rules. These rules are controlled from a central console that enforces them across the network and security infrastructure. You can define policies that differentiate between registered users and guests. The system uses group tags that enable access control on business rules instead of IP addresses.
    • Self-service device onboarding enables the enterprise to implement a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy securely. Users can manage their devices according to the policies defined by IT administrators. (IT remains in charge of provisioning and posturing to comply with security policies.)
    • Consistent guest experiences: You can provide guests with different levels of access from different connections. You can customize guest portals via a cloud-delivered portal editor with dynamic visual tools.

    Support

    You can get ISE as a physical or virtual appliance. Both deployments can create ISE clusters that create scale, redundancy, and requirements.

    Licensing

    Cisco ISE has four primary licences. Evaluation for up to 100 endpoints with full platform functionality. The higher tiers are Partner, Advantage and Essential.

    Reviews from Real Users

    "The user experience of the solution is great. It's a very transparent system. according to a PeerSpot user in Cyber Security at a manufacturing company.

    Omar Z., Network & Security Engineer at an engineering company, feels that "The RADIUS Server holds the most value."

    “Whether I deploy in China, the US, South Africa, or wherever, I can get all the capabilities. It allows me to directly integrate with 365, and from a communications point of view, that is a good capability," says Rammohan M., Senior Consultant at a tech services company.

    Hassan A.,Technology Manager at Advanced Integrated Systems, says that "The most valuable feature is the integration with StealthWatch and DNA as one fabric."




    CA Privileged Access Manager is a simple-to-deploy, automated, proven solution for privileged access management in physical, virtual and cloud environments. It enhances security by protecting sensitive administrative credentials such as root and administrator passwords, controlling privileged user access, proactively enforcing policies and monitoring and recording privileged user activity across all IT resources.  It includes CA PAM Server Control (previously CA Privileged Identity Manager) for fine-grained protection of critical servers

    Sample Customers
    Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
    NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Government11%
    Computer Software Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization23%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer20%
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Logistics Company15%
    Government10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise52%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise63%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise5%
    Large Enterprise78%
    Buyer's Guide
    Network Access Control (NAC)
    February 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Forescout and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: February 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is ranked 1st in Network Access Control (NAC) with 76 reviews while Symantec Privileged Access Manager is ranked 18th in Privileged Access Management (PAM) with 3 reviews. Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is rated 8.2, while Symantec Privileged Access Manager is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) writes "Offers rich contact sharing, many self-service features, and the ability to categorically list all the endpoints in the infrastructure". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Privileged Access Manager writes "Allows IT and consultants to access the infrastructure environment but needs more security and better support". Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is most compared with Aruba ClearPass, Fortinet FortiNAC, Forescout Platform, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, whereas Symantec Privileged Access Manager is most compared with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management, ARCON Privileged Access Management, Delinea Secret Server and VMware Identity Manager.

    We monitor all Network Access Control (NAC) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.