Cisco Umbrella Reviews

We primarily use the solution as cloud security for our branches. It protects us from direct internet outbreaks.

It makes for good flexibility. The solution is very easy to manage. We found the initial setup, for example, to be quite simple.

Easy to deploy.

Efficient protection on the DNS level and even higher. The sandboxing feature analyse and handle the complicated security risks.

The product can be pretty expensive.

I've been using the solution for two to three years at this point.

We haven't faced any issues. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. We find Cisco to be reliable.

We have a variety of customers. The number of users on each umbrella varies from one to a few thousand. Most companies may just have a few hundred users. It's basically suitable for companies of all sizes. It scales well, in that sense. 

The Cisco Umbrella IT operation resource needs are equal for a large and small company. (no need to hire more engineers or operators)

Overall, the scalability is excellent. It's quite flexible.

While I have been in touch with Cisco technical support in the past (and they've been quite good), for Umbrella, I find I don't need any support.

I've dealt with other products on a different scale. I'd say that Cisco Umbrella is far and away much better than the other cloud security products on the market.

The initial setup was not complex. It was pretty straightforward. We found it to be rather easy, from beginning to end.

The deployment times vary and depend on which Umbrella you use. However, we've found it should only take about a day to get up and running. An IT team can manage it. They don't necessarily need an integrator.

The solution doesn't really require too much maintenance. You probably wouldn't need a dedicated person to maintain it.

We are integrators ourselves, however, the initial setup is so straightforward, typically an in-house IT team can manage a setup.

The solution is costly. It doesn't come cheap. The licensing also comes with additional costs for extra services (such as sandboxing feature, L3/L4 firewall, etc...).

We are Cisco partners. We have a business relationship with them.

We use various types of Umbrella. 

I'd recommend the solution. It's one of the best on the market and it works well in different environments. It's also extremely easy to deploy.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I'd rate it at a nine.

Our primary use case is security at the DNS level. This solutions was suggested by our account manager at Insight. 

we didn't implement it in our environment because of the pricing concern. however, I am sure it would have done a great job considering my observations in the trail pack.

Threats never come close to your network with security at the DNS level. Like i said above, i used it for a very short time so I cannot comment on the what would've been valuable for us but I was pretty amazed by the wide variety of security features and reports on a single dashboard. Leveraging Custom API and reasons and visibility for each deep visibility for the network was something that caught my eye.

There should be a way to monitor traffic at the user level. I use Meraki Dashboard and Cisco Firepower to do this for different networks. I understand this tool monitors the network as a whole but adding that information will let us cut the cost for other tools. 

The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower.

It is a pretty good product for a small business.

The feature that most interested me was protection against DNS-based attacks. Umbrella offers protection against malicious websites by stopping users from visiting them. This is important because of its host / endpoint protection, an important concept as businesses decentralize their operations and employees find themselves working from unmanaged sites on untrusted networks.

Employees can do their jobs and know that they'll be protected from malicious websites.

The product itself is excellent. What I'd like to see improved is the purchasing process; specifically, I'd like to see OpenDNS offer its customers the ability to purchase any number of licenses instead of a bundle.

Cisco & Open DNS don't make it easy to add additional users/licenses to an existing account. Instead they want you to go to their store (can't get to it while you're logged into your Umbrella console) and do a purchase, like you're in some line at the grocery store.

I have been using it since April 2015.

Deployment is straightforward, the product and the back end systems that support it are stable and the product is scalable as long as the customer purchases the necessary number of licenses.

The purchasing process could be easier. What I'd like to see is the ability to contact a live person at OpenDNS and over the phone be able to purchase additional licenses.

Technical support is good.

Umbrella is the first product of its type that I've used. Otherwise, my company has relied upon anti-virus products to protect hosts.

Initial setup was straightforward. I simply downloaded the client, installed it on a host and that was it.

Implementation was straightforward and was done in-house.

Regarding ROI, that falls into the category of security and that is always a tough sell to management.

What I'd like to see improved is the purchasing process, specifically I'd like to see OpenDNS offer its customers the ability to any number of licenses instead of a bundle.

Plan, plan and plan some more.

My customers would like to protect users in company and outside their companies.

Improves security through DNS visibility, which can block malware, phishing, C&C, etc.

It is easy to implement.

If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud.

No stability issues.

No scalability issues.

I would rate technical support as an eight out of 10.

We did not switch solutions. We just added an extra layer of defense.

The initial setup is straightforward.

The pricing is fair.

You can request an evaluation license.

No.

The various powerful query options are the most valuable features of this product to me. Using the Investigate API, we can gather the detailed history of a domain, whois information, NS records, etc. All of this information helps us determine whether a domain is malicious or not.

It helps us identify malicious domains.

I would be happy if they could add the whois information of an IP. That would further help us determine whether an IP is malicious or not by identifying the domains associated with the IP, whether there are any known bad domains associated with the IP, and more.

I have been using this solution for two months.

I did not encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability.

We implemented it in-house.

The APIs are very powerful. You can use any programming language and integrate it with your products. It can be really handy for security analysts.

DNS security used to be the main value for us. Looking forward, SASE-style use cases (the ability to connect to any endpoint, be it a corporate-managed device, or a privately managed device, to any SaaS service) seems to be the most important feature for the future, on top of DNS security.

Looking at the full umbrella suite in the light of SASE, Secure Access Service Edge, they are clearly lacking in the inline CASB. Any line cloud access security broker has an API-based cloud access security broker, which is called CloudLock, but they're lacking the inline components, which are able to intercept traffic.

An on-premise DLP solution or integration with an on-premise DLP solution would be a nice addition. Also, more broad operating system support for endpoints would be an advantage.

I have been using Cisco Umbrella for the last three years. 

Cisco Umbrella is absolutely stable. They put a lot of weight on the availability and reliability of the global footprint. So yes, they kind of set the standards for availability. 

Cisco Umbrella Is very easy to scale. 

I haven't been involved in providing support for it; however, I am not aware of any significant issues.

The initial setup was quite straightforward. 

Deployment depends on the number of features and the degree of integration you're looking for. Deployment can take anywhere from 30 seconds, simply to redirect your recursive DNS service, up to several days for a full-blown enterprise setup. So it depends on the use case.

The pricing varies. If you're just after DNS security, it's rather expensive. If you are, however, after replacing parts of your enterprise security infrastructure (by moving from a legacy on-premise, security-based approach, to a more cloud-based approach), then you can replace a whole bunch of classic security devices and solutions. In short, you can basically consolidate your security functions. I think it's worth the money.

I would definitely recommend Cisco Umbrella. Proof of concept is always the second step. The first step is coming up with your use cases. If Umbrella is the answer, what's the question? You should roadmap your immediate and long-term goals in terms of IT security, or information security. You should take into account your operational fitness for tackling the cloud as well, then pick the right features to suit your needs. This is all basically applicable to similar solutions. If you run into this with no plan, you're just shifting your existing problems.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Cisco Umbrella a rating of eight.

The solution is similar to a web security appliance. However, it is like filtering on a cloud base, not on-premise. Basically, it is not fully mature, which means it's not yet ready to replace the WSA, however, over a period of time, it could to a certain extent. It's a cloud solution to protect against fake domain IDs. It can be your filtering solution and can also do a few other things with the other features on it.

I like that it's a cloud solution. 

The best part of Cisco is that Cisco has the second-largest security service cloud for security background checks. That is the big advantage of the Cisco security portfolio.

The solution is extremely stable. It has excellent performance.

The solution can scale if you need it to.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward.

The pricing is reasonable. You can negotiate contracts with Cisco.

Integration is very easy. It's not that complicated. Out of two clients, one had an easy integration, which was something new for me. That said, it did take time as it was the initial setup for me. 

There are always little items that can be fixed in any solution, however, I don't have any specific complaints.

The first time you set up the solution and have integrations, it may be a bit difficult, however, it gets easier.

The pricing could always be a little bit better.

I've been using the solution for about two to three years at this point.

I have been working with Cisco in general since 2013 or 2012. 

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's been very good so far.

We only have two clients on this solution. There's no more than that. There may be 200 users in total. One client had 150 users and the other had around 100 users. 

The product has three visions, it depends on what license you want, or the requirement, to be more precise. Whether you're from an adaptation center, or enterprise center, or utility center, it has different flavors for different kinds of customers.

Cisco's technical support has always been quite good. We're quite happy with the level of service they provide to clients.

One of our clients did use a different solution. We ended up replacing it with Cisco Umbrella.

The initial setup is not complex at all. It's a very straightforward installation. In terms of the deployment, it hardly will take more than an hour to two. At that point, it is up and running. A company shouldn't have any trouble with the initial setup. 

That said, security is always an ongoing process. It's a security product and therefore there's always work to do with it.

The solution has three types of licenses that cover a variety of different company types.

In terms of a commercial contract, it's about getting a discount, which you can arrange for the clients more often than not, so it's fine. It is not overly expensive.

That said, I have not pitched Cisco Umbrella for any clients for the last six to eight months. Due to COVID, I'm not getting a time or interest for doing any POC on this right now.

We are partners with Cisco.

I haven't done any POCs with this solution in the last 10 months or so, and I only have two clients on the product.

I would recommend the solution. I'd rate it at a seven out of ten overall. We've been mostly happy with the product.

We are a system integrator, and we implemented this solution for one of our clients in Morocco. It helps to protect the network against ransomware and phishing attacks. 

This solution integrated with eBay, and we use it to check statistics.

The most valuable features are the protection against ransomware and phishing.

This solution is easy to use.

This solution is difficult to configure.

I would like to see a graphical representation of the entire network. For example, the network topography that shows connections to the server, as well as the communication that is coming into and going out of Umbrella.

We have not seen any bugs, glitches, or crashes. It is a very nice solution.

Scaling this solution is easy once you have the licenses.

There are three people using this solution. They are network and system administrators, and the ECC.

This was the first solution that we implemented for our client.

The initial setup of this solution is not complex. It is easy to configure and use as a whole. The deployment took approximately one day, which involved configuring the access.

One person is enough for deployment and maintenance.

We had a consultant to assist with the deployment.

Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.

Depending on the needs of the client, we consider several solutions. I have worked with Symantec PGP, CyberArk, Cyberwatch, Skybox, and Fortinet.

This is a very important solution, especially if the client does not actually supervise the tool.

My advice for anybody implementing this solution is to make sure that it is configured properly for your network. Depending on your environment, you need to set up access for people who are both out of the office and out of the local network.

This is a very good solution and my clients are impressed with it.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.