Our primary use case for Cisco Secure Email is placing it at the edge and then passing it off to another service, like, for example, Postfix. We have security policies that allow certain clients to email.
Network Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Easy to read logs, but the pricing structure needs to be improved
Pros and Cons
- "What I find the most valuable about Cisco Secure Email is that the logs are not that difficult to see even if you're not used to them. The logs are reasonably readable and diagnosing the problem is not too hard with them."
- "My opinion on the licensing of this solution is that it is a mess that needs sorting out. I am not particularly bothered by pricing as I administer it and make recommendations for people to buy or not to buy."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The user interface massively improved our organization. The device itself works perfectly fine and it's not too complicated to write policies.
What is most valuable?
What I find the most valuable about Cisco Secure Email is that the logs are not that difficult to see even if you're not used to them. The logs are reasonably readable and diagnosing the problem is not too hard with them.
What needs improvement?
Cisco Secure Email could rename features in the menus. They could also show a flow of how things go and where the policies sit in conjunction with the actual application.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Secure Email for about seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would say that we hardly had any issues with the stability of this solution.
How are customer service and support?
Tech support can be a bit of a hit-and-miss. Depends on what type of engineer you get when you contact them. Whenever we had an issue, we would either go to the account manager or another engineer.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My opinion on the licensing of this solution is that it is a mess that needs sorting out. I am not particularly bothered by pricing as I administer it and make recommendations for people to buy or not to buy.
What other advice do I have?
We would use multiple vendors to secure our infrastructure from end to end so that we can detect and remediate threats. We would take everything through email. Email Security Appliance has antivirus and IDS and IPS on anyway. We've got policies in place that only we can receive from certain domains and certain emails within those domains from the customers that they were a part of. We would then pass that on to another service like Postfix. They would then sort out anything that needs to do attachment-wise or anything similar. Eventually, it would go through the Palo Alto firewall as well for the traffic, so anything malicious is picked up across all sets of vendors in that solution.
This solution did not save time for our IT staff, not particularly. It was something we had to deal with and as a network engineer, I had to deal with that aspect of it.
This solution did not save our organization's time because it was a new product that we were selling, so we had more work.
This tool did not help us consolidate our tools because it was a new solution.
We chose Cisco Secure Email because, as the phrase goes, you can't get fired for buying Cisco. We are used to the Cisco product stack as we used the Cisco suite in previous companies.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Owner at Jolly Security Inc
A threat detection solution for email security gateway, including internal email distribution
Pros and Cons
- "We rely heavily on antivirus protection, email content filtering, and authentication mechanisms to ensure compliance with email security. Regarding phishing attempts, while phishing protection features are crucial, we also emphasize user education as a critical defence. The intelligence services Cisco provides, such as the Cisco Intelligence Center, play a significant role in analyzing and validating threats, including phishing attempts, in our email security practices."
- "The discontinuation of physical hardware solutions is a significant area for improvement in Cisco Email Security Appliance. This decision has posed challenges as virtual appliances are now the only option, which may not be suitable for all industries. The uncertainty regarding the future of the hardware aspect of the solution is a notable concern."
What is our primary use case?
I use Cisco Secure Email mainly as a email security gateway, including internal email distribution.
What is most valuable?
We rely heavily on antivirus protection, email content filtering, and authentication mechanisms to ensure compliance with email security. Regarding phishing attempts, while phishing protection features are crucial, we also emphasize user education as a critical defence. The intelligence services Cisco provides, such as the Cisco Intelligence Center, play a significant role in analyzing and validating threats, including phishing attempts, in our email security practices.
What needs improvement?
The discontinuation of physical hardware solutions is a significant area for improvement in the Cisco Email Security Appliance. This decision has posed challenges as virtual appliances are now the only option, which may not be suitable for all industries. The uncertainty regarding the future of the hardware aspect of the solution is a notable concern.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Secure Email for the past twenty years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, there have been minimal issues, mainly typical hardware-related ones like hard disk failures. However, overall, it's a competent solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My experience with the scalability of Cisco Email Security Appliance has been positive, as it can handle our processes efficiently. We do have plans to increase usage based on business needs.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is satisfactory.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The setup process for Cisco Email Security Appliance is straightforward in my experience. Integration with our existing ecosystem of Cisco tools was seamless for networking features.Maintenance primarily involves tuning and understanding SMTP and email infrastructure and general email operations.We deployed it on our private cloud, and the physical enablement on the network was relatively fast, usually within a day.
What was our ROI?
Regarding return on investment, I find it highly valuable and worth its cost in the email security market. I recommend this solution to others, as it stands out as one of the best options .
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for Cisco Email Security Appliance involves recurring costs for licenses based on the contracted time frame, such as one year, three years, or five years. Renewals are required after the license expires.
What other advice do I have?
Cisco Secure Email may incorporate AI capabilities, but I'm not directly familiar with its implementation in threat detection. I would rate it as a nine out of ten due to its effectiveness, reliability, and value for investment.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 25, 2024
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Cisco Secure Email
November 2024
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Regional Manager at Digitaltrack
An easy-to-use product with good security features
Pros and Cons
- "It is a user-friendly product."
- "There could be additional DLP functionality for it."
What is our primary use case?
We use Cisco Secure Email for email security.
What is most valuable?
The product stands out compared to other vendors in simplicity and ease of use. It is competitive and should be considered a user-friendly option. Its integration capability is good as well.
What needs improvement?
It would be beneficial to have additional DLP functionality, particularly in the email DLP aspect. It could be included in the next release of the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Cisco Secure Email for ten years. Currently, I'm using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the product is a ten on ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I've had a good experience with Cisco's customer service and support team. They respond immediately.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have worked with Barracuda Email Security and Trend Micro Email Security.
How was the initial setup?
We have deployed Cisco Secure Email both on-premises and in the cloud. One can use it as a private cloud solution or a virtual appliance in a cloud environment. The implementation and configuration process, including the dashboard, was user-friendly and straightforward. Along with it, the on-premises deployment was easy. It took less than an hour to complete.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is a reasonably priced solution. I rate its pricing as a seven out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
Cisco Secure Email is easy-to-use. I highly recommend it and rate it an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Security Technician at Mercadona
Very configurable technology that combines AMP, Threat Grid, and Sandboxing
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very configurable. It has enabled us to configure some specific filters to stop emails that general configurations didn't stop. It's a powerful solution. It can analyze a lot of emails simultaneously, with no problems of capacity or system load."
- "They can do it better with web links, with the URLs. They have a technology called Outbreak but it doesn't work as well as we would like."
What is our primary use case?
We are using it as our email firewall. It's our first line of email defense.
How has it helped my organization?
Overall, the ease of migration to Cisco's cloud email security from the on-prem solution was a positive experience. We are very happy with the change. It makes security easy. The cloud solution is doing a great job. We are stopping more emails, and in a better way, than we did in the past. It's also not stopping as many good emails, but I think this is because Talos has gotten better, rather than something to do with the cloud technology. But the numbers over the past year are significantly better compared to the past.
What is most valuable?
We like
- AMP
- Threat Grid
- Sandboxing
The spam protection is also very good and the solution is very configurable. It has enabled us to configure some specific filters to stop emails that general configurations didn't stop.
It's a powerful solution. It can analyze a lot of emails simultaneously, with no problems in terms of capacity or system load. It seems that machines on the cloud are more powerful than the ones that we had, in the legacy solution, on-premises.
What needs improvement?
They can do it better with web links, with the URLs. They have a technology called Outbreak but it doesn't work as well as we would like. It does have a new feature called Cloud URL Analysis, but we can see enough information about detection, information that helps us to properly configure the technology.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the cloud solution for one year, but before that we were using it on-premises for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable. We haven't had any issues with the stability. It hasn't gone down, and it has managed the flow of our email volume really well.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is excellent. They are proactive. They are monitoring things and helping us every step of the way. The technical support is at an excellent level.
How was the initial setup?
The migration to the cloud email security was complex because we have a lot of customization. We needed to reevaluate some of the policies that we were applying via the email security. But technically we had more difficulty previously because we didn't have the premium support. We had to read a lot of documentation and experiment. Now, with the premier support, it's easier.
We re-created everything in the cloud solution. We re-evaluated everything when we migrated. There were some things we didn't migrate, while some new things were created.
It took us nearly one year for all the integrations and the migration to be complete, from the initial evaluation of the new product to the end of the migration to CSE, when it assumed all the email traffic for our organization. We didn't have any particular problems with downtime during the migration. That time includes analyzing, configuring, and improving things in production.
Our team that works directly with Secure Email consists of five people who are configuring the tool.
What about the implementation team?
We used consulting from Cisco the whole time during our migration. With the premium support we now have one person who knows our configuration, our needs, and who can help us more than in the past when we didn't have that level of support.
What was our ROI?
ROI is difficult to determine. We think we have seen ROI, but we need to have an incident to evaluate whether the investment has really paid off. But no incidents means it's a good investment.
We haven't saved money by moving from on-prem to the cloud email security because we acquired the premium support. But we are happy with it, as they help us not only with issues that have happened, but also with configuration and with learning the technology. This is a very important factor, which we value.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cisco Secure Email and the support are priced well. It's not cheap, but there are other solutions that offer less and cost so much. For example, Microsoft is more expensive than Cisco.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We know there are some solutions that have a higher level of protection for email, but we're very happy with the price of this one and with the way it is working.
We have Microsoft email security too, but not as the first line of defense. Microsoft's email security has its advantages but it is less secure, less configurable, and less powerful than Cisco's solution.
What other advice do I have?
It's a great solution for big enterprises that need a higher level of security than is offered by Microsoft solutions. Other solutions are targeted at smaller enterprises, that are without a security administrator and without people monitoring and supervising the technology. But for a big enterprise, Cisco Secure Email is a great option.
We have integrated the solution with SecureX and Threat Grid, and we already had Talos, of course. The Sandboxing is needed, it's a basic functionality for us. As for the rest of the integrations, they are less important. We integrate with some external feeds, but Talos is good enough for the technology not to need additional feeds.
When migrating from on-prem to the cloud email security, the interfaces are basically the same. The new interface was developed only for the cloud solution, but the classic interface, when it comes to the configuration of the machine, is basically the same for both the on-premises and cloud solutions.
Overall, it's a very configurable technology. We think it has all the weapons we need to fight against threats.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Network security manager at Cyber Vision
Stable solution but not user-friendly
Pros and Cons
- "It provides good IT assistance."
- "It is not user-friendly, and it is quite complicated. So, it should be more user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
It provides good IT assistance.
What needs improvement?
It is not user-friendly, and it is quite complicated. So, it should be more user-friendly. The GUI is difficult to understand.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for four years. We don't use the latest version of the hardware.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, it is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is not scalable. For scalability, Cisco products are not good. That is the problem. And for deployment, it's a three-tier architecture system.
We have around 200+ users.
How are customer service and support?
Cisco's tech support is good. But they respond very late. The support in itself is good, so there is room for improvement.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is quite complicated. It took us one week to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment was done by the consultant company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
As per market availability, this solution is more expensive than other vendors.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
My company is looking for a new email filtering server or system. So, I was just making the comparison with Cisco and FortiMail, and that's what we're actually looking for a new or updated system. So this is the reason I was doing this R&D.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Pre Sales Manager at Logix
A hybrid solution for email security that filters spam emails that needs to improve its UI
Pros and Cons
- "The strong point of the solution is that we hardly get any spam emails because of Cisco Secure Email."
- "Scalability has certain shortcomings and needs to be improved because there are service providers who provide better scalability.v"
What is our primary use case?
The product is used for email security. We have around forty boxes of Cisco and cater to around four million users.
What is most valuable?
The strong point of the solution is that we hardly get any spam emails because of Cisco Secure Email. It has been a long time since I saw a spam email in my inbox.
What needs improvement?
Scalability has certain shortcomings and needs to be improved because there are service providers who provide better scalability.
Our company constantly checks out what the solution needs to improve. We need to be updated with what is available in the market and which application performs better.
The solution's UI needs little tweaking because most customers find it to be a very detailed and technically designed UI. If a person does not know email security or how Cisco devices work, he cannot manage it.
Other solutions are user-friendly. Even if the admin has a basic knowledge of managing the services, he can use them.
Cisco Secure Email needs to work on the security part, but it also needs to work on UI since it makes part of the entire solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Secure Email since 2010. My company is an email security service provider. I am using the solution's latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have four million users using the solution. In India, we are a premium service provider of Cisco Secure Email catering to many institutions.
I rate the solution's scalability a six out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Cisco's technical support is good. I rate the technical support an eight and a half out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used Sophos and Mimecast before in our company.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward, but a new person needs to be trained to use this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution has very good pricing.
I rate the pricing a ten out of ten on a scale where one means it is less cost-effective, and ten means it is the most cost-effective solution.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend Cisco Secure Email to those planning to use it.
Around 40 administrators are required for maintenance.
Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
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?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Cyber Security Presales Engineer at Orixcom
Provides good stability and an efficient email certification feature
Pros and Cons
- "Cisco Secure Email's most valuable is email certification."
- "The product's GUI for the dashboard needs improvement."
What is most valuable?
Cisco Secure Email's most valuable is email certification.
What needs improvement?
The product's GUI for the dashboard needs improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Cisco Secure Email for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the product's stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
One administration executive in our organization uses Cisco Secure Email. I rate its scalability a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup has medium complexity. I rate the process a five out of ten. We follow the Cisco guidelines for deployment. It requires two executives to conduct the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is an expensive product. I rate its pricing an eight or nine.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend Cisco Secure Email and rate it a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Network Team Lead at ASYAD
Flexible, saves a lot of time, and drastically reduces spam and phishing emails
Pros and Cons
- "It's flexible. There are a lot of rules and policies that can be easily applied for certain employees or certain mailboxes."
- "If you are not a technical guy, it is hard to maneuver, but as soon as you work on it, it gets better and better. If there was a better way to know how to do things or how to find things, it would be good."
What is our primary use case?
We started using Cisco Secure Email because we had a lot of junk emails, phishing, and things like that. We wanted to secure the email sites for the end users.
How has it helped my organization?
It has had an impact on the awareness of the employees. Previously, a lot of employees were complaining about junk emails, phishing, etc. After using Cisco Secure Email, spam, and other things have been reduced drastically. I'm not sure how it filters them out, but it just learns based on the email subject and other factors. It just filters them and sends them to the junk box. There is an add-on, and if you think that an email is suspicious, you just add it to the add-on or move it to the junk box.
It saves time. Previously, we had to filter the emails and see which ones are junk and if it has been reported or not. There was a daily checking of the mailboxes to see what was going on and what had been blocked, but with Cisco Secure Email, all of that is just in one tab. You see all the emails that have been blocked and the reason they have been blocked. It saves a lot of time for us. It does the job that we need it to do.
What is most valuable?
It's flexible. There are a lot of rules and policies that can be easily applied for certain employees or certain mailboxes.
What needs improvement?
If you are not a technical guy, it is hard to maneuver, but as soon as you work on it, it gets better and better. If there was a better way to know how to do things or how to find things, it would be good.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Cisco Secure Email for two and a half to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable. We haven't had any issues with it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
After moving from Exchange to Office 365, we thought that we needed to upgrade the license or do a couple of changes, but it was already a part of the plan from the product itself. So, it was easily scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We didn't have to contact them. Our partner did all the jobs that were needed. It was part of the AMC, and since they set it up, it needed just a couple of tweaks when we shifted from Exchange to Office 365. All the support has always been through the partner. Our experience with them has been good.
How was the initial setup?
Based on my knowledge, its implementation was fast, and there were no issues when it was implemented.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did a couple of PoC, and it was leading at that time in the market. We compared it to Barracuda and a couple of others. Its ability had set it apart from others. The partner was good, and the PoC was on point. It did what needed to be done.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Cisco Secure Email an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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