Cisco Web Security Appliance Reviews

Name: Cisco Web Security Appliance
Brand: Cisco
Rating: 3.9 (30 reviews)

Vendor: Cisco

3.9 out of 5

30 reviews
89% willing to recommend

What is Cisco Web Security Appliance?

Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) is a web security solution provided by Cisco Systems. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats, enforce acceptable use policies, and provide secure access to the internet for users within the organization.

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Cisco Web Security Appliance is the #9 ranked solution in top Web Security Gateways. PeerSpot users give Cisco Web Security Appliance an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 30 most recent Cisco Web Security Appliance reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 6.5. (Among the lowest in the category). Cisco Web Security Appliance is most commonly compared to Cisco Umbrella: Cisco Web Security Appliance vs Cisco Umbrella. Cisco Web Security Appliance is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 64% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 22% of all views.

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Cisco Web Security Appliance

November 2024

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Featured reviews

IgnitiusMolepo

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.

Head of Integration Engineering / Enterprise Technology & Innovation at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

The reporting needs improvement. We were using a stripped-down version of Splunk at the time, and as far as I recall, there was no easy way for us to send those logs to our enterprise Splunk. It kept pushing us to use the smaller version. That was probably just a sales team thing, but other than that, the product was great, but the reporting was definitely an issue. I would like to see Risk API included, as well as the ability to automate adding things to the blacklist and whitelist without having to do it manually and having it report into the Cisco WSA cloud via risk API.

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Atdhe Zyhranaj

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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Cisco Web Security Appliance mindshare

As of November 2024, the mindshare of Cisco Web Security Appliance in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category stands at 3.3%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Nov 21, 2024

Valuable Features

Cisco Web Security Appliance has a variety of valuable features:

good Umbrella DNS security
integration with Active Directory for user management and rule setting
anti-malware functionality and URL categorization for website blocking
SSL decryption for network visibility
good web reputation and anti-malware protection
effective policy framing
user-friendly interface
bandwidth limit, and scalability

"The solution offers content filtering and micro-content controls, such as regulating the types of images and their resolution."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the functions of proxy for the users who use the internet and the security it offers against the not-so-secure web pages."
"Cisco Web Security Appliance is user-friendly and easy to manage. It protects your environment while accessing the internet."

Room for Improvement

Cisco Web Security Appliance could improve its firewall threat defense and provide better logs. The graphical user interface also needs improvement and better categorization when blocking in the settings. The transparent proxy is difficult to enforce on smartphones and tablets. The addition of inbound features like a reverse proxy and load balancers would be useful. The reporting could be better and there should be a user-based quota.

"The product is great, however, incorporating features offered by competitors would be beneficial."
"There are certain shortcomings related to the product's management capabilities, where improvements are required. The solution needs to provide better management of the category of web pages."
"The tool needs to improve cloud-based decryption."

ROI

The reviewers mentioned that ROI cannot be calculated for a security solution like Cisco Web Security Appliance, but it is possible to evaluate potential losses in case of an attack. One reviewer highlighted the challenge of determining the ROI as the product was included in a larger package with other services, making it difficult to break down the costs. However, they believe that it is worth the investment based on their experience with the product. Another reviewer also expressed satisfaction with the investment but was unsure about the cost breakdown as they only saw the overall cost of the package.

Pricing

Cisco Web Security Appliance requires a subscription-based license that is calculated by the number of users and paid annually, with technical support included. The licensing options begin at 100 users, which may be too high for smaller networks. Premium or bundle licenses may require additional third-party support. The cost of the solution varies depending on the number of users purchased, but it's mid-level in terms of price and comparable to other solutions on the market. It would be beneficial to offer one-year licenses in addition to multi-year packages.

"I rate the product price a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"The tool's licensing is yearly."
"I rate Cisco WSA a seven out of ten since it is costly."

Popular Use Cases

Cisco Web Security Appliance is used for a variety of purposes including firewalls, site-to-site VPN, routing, and remote work. It can be used as a proxy for sending all traffic to the internet with advanced security features such as anti-malware and attack prevention. The solution is used for enforcing security and controlling internet access for enterprises, government projects, and internal purposes. It can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise and is often used as a web security gateway and additional proxy. The solution is also used to verify the identity of users connecting to the network and check the compliance of their systems.

Service and Support

Customers have generally had positive experiences with Cisco Web Security Appliance's customer service and support. Some have rated it highly, with one even calling it the "best support team available on this planet." Others have noted that technical support is good compared to other solutions, and that they have been helpful and responsive when reached out to for assistance. However, a few have experienced issues with SMARTnet support and suggest that improvements could be made.

Deployment

The initial setup for Cisco Web Security Appliance varies greatly depending on the user's knowledge and needs. The level of flexibility in creating policies was a common concern, with some feeling limited by the provided constraints. However, those who found the setup easy and intuitive praised the user-friendly interface and straightforward configuration process.

Scalability

The Web Security Appliance has varying degrees of scalability according to different users. Some rate it high, while others have encountered issues when adding new devices related to clustering and load balance in the Active Directory. Overall, the solution offers good scalability and has been successfully used by organizations with up to 50,000 users.

Stability

The virtual appliance is easy to implement and has no crashes, although hardware appliances may be affected by power outages due to encrypted hard disks. The ability to block uncategorized traffic is a favored feature, although it can become an administrative headache if not managed properly. Some users have experienced no issues over a period of several years, while others find the stability lacking and in need of improvement.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

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Review data by company size

By reviewers

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Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Non Profit

Government

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Insurance Company

Media Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Construction Company

Retailer

University

Comms Service Provider

Hospitality Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Transportation Company

Legal Firm

Consumer Goods Company

Outsourcing Company

Pharma/Biotech Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Performing Arts

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Recruiting/Hr Firm

Compare Cisco Web Security Appliance with alternative products

Learn more about Cisco Web Security Appliance

Cisco Web Security Appliance Benefits:

Easy to use
Comprehensive security features
Blocks malicious websites and prevents data loss
Efficient reporting and analytics capabilities
Scalable and integrates with other Cisco security products

Cisco Web Security Appliance Features:

Web Filtering: WSA offers web filtering capabilities to control and enforce policies for web access.
Malware Protection: The solution incorporates advanced threat intelligence and security technologies to detect and block web-based malware, viruses, spyware, and other malicious content.
URL Filtering and Reputation: WSA leverages URL filtering and reputation services to categorize and assess the reputation of web domains and URLs in real-time.
SSL/TLS Inspection: The appliance supports SSL/TLS decryption and inspection, allowing organizations to examine encrypted web traffic for threats and enforce security policies.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): WSA includes DLP capabilities to prevent the exfiltration of sensitive data through web channels.
Application Control: The solution enables organizations to control and manage web applications and protocols.
User Authentication and Access Control: WSA integrates with existing identity providers and authentication mechanisms to enforce user-based policies and provide secure access to the internet.
Reporting and Analytics: The appliance provides comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing organizations to gain insights into web traffic, user activities, security events, and compliance violations.

Cisco Web Security Appliance is typically deployed as a physical or virtual appliance within an organization's network infrastructure. It can be integrated with other Cisco security products and solutions to provide a layered approach to web security and network protection.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Cisco Web Security Appliance users.

Md Manirul Islam, Deputy General Manager Pre-Sales at Beximcocomputers, states that "The most valuable feature of Cisco Web Security Appliance is the provided anti-malware functionality and URL categorization. I can block access to malicious websites. 99 percent of the cases are related to a malicious website. If I cannot browse those malicious websites, then we are 99 percent protected."

Surendar Ganesan, Technical Lead, writes that "The best feature of Cisco Web Security Appliance is its policy framing. It also has a good UI and it can handle traffic well. Cisco Web Security Appliance is a good product."

Atdhe Zyhranaj, Network Security Consultant at NSCON Network Services & Consulting GmbH, says that Cisco Web Security Appliance is "Easy to set up with scalable virtual machines and good reliability."

Cisco Web Security Appliance was previously known as Cisco WSA, Cisco Web Security.