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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs ThreatLocker Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
139
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
ThreatLocker Protect
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
5th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (14th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Application Control (3rd), ZTNA (8th), Ransomware Protection (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

Junaid Shaikh - PeerSpot reviewer
May 3, 2024
Used in-house for phone profiling and for users' computer authentication needs
The initial setup is straightforward. They are very easy to manage and not complicated at all. We have received all our files from the client and deployed them. Currently, we are using single active nodes. We have one Primary Admin Node, which is active, and one Policy Service Node. We don't have a secondary admin node for administrative purposes. We have an active operational node. The deployment is pretty simple. You download the file from Cisco, import it into your Cisco ISE, and follow the prompts to set it up based on your requirements, including IPs, basic security needs, DNS servers, etc. Once the initial setup is complete, you can begin creating policies.
Kenny LeHew - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 30, 2023
Serves as an additional layer of defense, provides good visibility, and effectively eliminates the risk of unauthorized applications
This is our first time using whitelisting software in a production environment, so I can't speak from experience with other solutions. However, one of the main challenges we've encountered is that whitelisted applications can sometimes result in blocked requests, which disrupts workflows. If there's a way to mitigate these disruptions, it would significantly improve the end-user experience. While I don't have a specific solution in mind, I think ThreatLocker's current implementation is elegant. It allows users to customize what they see, submit a request, or simply exit without creating a ticket. This flexibility avoids forcing users to create tickets unnecessarily. While I think ThreatLocker is doing a good job overall, I believe the biggest pain point is the potential disruption to user workflows. One area I see for improvement is in the visibility of support tickets within the ThreatLocker ticketing system. While my interactions with individual representatives and my solutions engineer have been excellent, communication through the ticketing system itself lacks transparency. Specifically, when an issue is escalated or marked as "being worked on," I'm not provided with any updates or information about the progress being made. This lack of visibility is frustrating, especially when dealing with complex issues that may take longer to resolve. While I understand that not every problem can be fixed in five seconds, I would like to see improved visibility in the ticketing system. This could be achieved by providing regular updates on the progress of tickets, particularly those that are older than three weeks. I appreciate the responsiveness and expertise of the individual support personnel I've interacted with, but enhanced visibility within the ticketing system would be a welcome improvement.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Cisco offers automation, visibility, and control as well as third party integration capabilities."
"The way we can trust this solution is the most valuable. We have no issue with this product. It is a competitive product. You need to have a very good and deep knowledge of the product to take the full benefits of all the features, but it is a good product."
"For guests we give them limited access to the internet when they come in so that access has been useful. Previously, we just used to give them the APN key which they would leave with. Now, we give them credentials to use that are for a limited period of time."
"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."
"Being able to authenticate wired users through 802.1X is valuable as it enhances our security."
"Using this solution gives us the ability to allow proper access to the network."
"Not having to trust devices and being able to set those levels of trust and more finely control our network is a benefit."
"For my use cases, the in-depth troubleshooting into why a client can't connect or why they failed, is very valuable. I can go back to someone and say, 'Hey, it's not my network. It's their certificates or user error,' or something else."
"ThreatLocker Allowlisting has all of these features integrated into one console, making it effective."
"While it can be frustrating at times, we appreciate the low-level security provided by the application whitelist."
"We use ThreatLocker's Allowlisting to whitelist specific applications and prevent unauthorized software from running."
"The great thing is that if you get a malicious email and you try to run something, ThreatLocker is not going to let it do anything. It is not going to let anything infect your network."
"Using ThreatLocker is effortless because I can access it from an app on my phone, so I can help clients after hours. My client had an issue while I was at dinner, and I didn't have a tech on the problem, but I could deal with it from my phone. I can see what the client is doing and approve or deny it. It helps me deliver better service to my clients when they need it."
"Application control, ring-fencing, and storage control are the most important features, followed closely by elevation."
"The interface is clean and well-organized, making it simple to navigate and find what we need."
"Feature-wise, the learning mode and the fact that it's blocking everything are the most valuable. I don't see why more companies don't use the type of product."
 

Cons

"Deploying to a machine, as opposed to a dedicated appliance, can be a bit difficult."
"The tracking mechanism in Cisco ISE is relatively costly, especially its vendor-specific protocol."
"The interface is a little bit complex."
"I'm frustrated by the resource consumption and how many resources it needs to run. It takes a lot of RAM. It takes a lot of space and a lot of IO power. It's frustrating to do upgrades because it takes a long time."
"There can be a little bit more integration between the controller management and ISE. There are two dashboards, you have the controller dashboards, and you have the ISE dashboard it would is a way to maybe integrate that into one. That would be great. It's not that bad. It would be easier if it could be combined into one dashboard."
"Some of the reporting could be improved."
"The solution can lag somewhat as we have a large database."
"Automation [is an area for improvement]. It seems like everywhere I look, automation is super important. Automation and integrations. That's the area it could be improved..."
"The portal can be a little overwhelming at times from an administration point of view. It displays a lot of information, and it's all useful. However, sometimes there is too much on the screen to sift through, especially if you're trying to diagnose a client's problem with a piece of software. Maybe something has stopped working since they updated it, and we need to see if ThreatLocker is blocking a component of that software."
"Adding applications to the allowlist can sometimes feel overwhelming."
"I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong; however, I find that I have to babysit it too much."
"One area I see for improvement is in the visibility of support tickets within the ThreatLocker ticketing system."
"If you have a thousand computers with ThreatLocker agents on them, when you approve or create a new policy saying that Adobe Reader that matches this hashtag and meets certain criteria is allowed to be installed, it applies at the top level or the organization level. It applies to every computer in the company. When you make that new policy and push it out and it goes out and updates all of the clients. Unfortunately, at this time, it does not look like they stagger the push-out."
"ThreatLocker could offer more flexible training, like online or offline classes after hours. The fact that they even provide weekly training makes it seem silly to suggest, but some people can't do it during the day, so they want to train after work. They could also start a podcast about issues they see frequently and what requires attention. A podcast would be helpful to keep us all apprised about what's going on and/or offline training for those people who can't train during the week."
"From a reporting perspective, enhancing the ability to customize reports would be beneficial."
"We identified several areas that we would like to see improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"According to my sales and account team, the prices we're getting are pretty good."
"Cisco ISE's licensing can get pricey."
"Cybersecurity resilience has been very important to our organization and has been a big factor. We've had issues in the past, but one of the things I like about ISE is its logging features. Security wise or information wise, it really has been a powerful tool."
"That's where things got a bit more complicated. Previously, it was a one-time purchase and we just had to renew support. These days, there's a subscription model, which is supposed to be easier and cheaper as well, but it's more pricey"
"The pricing is complicated."
"The price of the solution is price fair for the features you receive."
"Cisco is expensive, but it's the cost for all the functions and value it brings. Functions like internet solutions, integrations, security, and many more features are important, but it's expensive for some clients."
"I think the price is okay."
"The pricing is fair and there is no hard sell."
"I can't complain. Cheaper would always be nice, but I think it's reasonable compared to other software in the cybersecurity market."
"ThreatLocker's pricing seems justifiable."
"Others say ThreatLocker is too expensive, and I tell them they're dreaming. It's well-priced for what it does."
"The price is very reasonable, and we have been able to integrate ThreatLocker with all of our clients."
"I find ThreatLocker's pricing to be reasonable for the services it provides."
"Considering what this product does, ThreatLocker is very well-priced, if not too nicely priced for the customer."
"The pricing works fine for me. It's very reasonably priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
39%
Retailer
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
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 ...
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
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, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
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 exper...
What do you like most about ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
The interface is clean and well-organized, making it simple to navigate and find what we need.
What needs improvement with ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong; however, I find that I have to babysit it too much. I've found that if a user opens a file from another location, it might trigger an approval process. The same ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
ThreatLocker Allowlisting, ThreatLocker Network Control, ThreatLocker Ringfencing
 

Overview

 

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs. ThreatLocker Protect and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
801,634 professionals have used our research since 2012.