Symantec Secure Web Gateway Reviews

Our company is both a partner and a reseller of this solution. The primary use case is for endpoint security for our customers. We have lots of security devices, but for the host itself or PCs in general, this is the best solution. Especially since we have a sizeable customer base.

There have been several incidents in which our IPS system or sometimes our firewalls, haven't been able to stop endpoint device attacks. Thanks to Symantec Endpoint Security it has actually quarantined and stopped many of these threats and potential attacks on the local PCs. Especially because that's from the end user side.

The most valuable feature is the endpoint security.

There's a need for increased firewall functionality and capabilities. I'm not seeing a competitive Symantec cloud product. Specifically, functionalities with security as filtering from the cloud. I am aware that there is a product, a proxy in the cloud but I have compared it with other vendors and I don't find it that powerful.

I think the worst thing that we're experiencing is very poor and inadequate technical support. It seems to me that tech support engineers aren't qualified to fulfill their job duties.

The major requirement is a firewall. That's the only thing we're lacking now.

There are too many bugs.

The scalability is poor. Nowadays a cloud solution is considered scalable in most respects. Our finding is Symantec still has a long way to go to achieve a good cloud solution.

The technical support is not that apt and not that good.

We've tried other endpoint security solutions but this tool seems to be the best when specifically comparing the endpoint security features.

The initial setup depends on the complexity of the project.

The maintenance of the equipment requires about thirty techs.

Pricing and licensing is stunted and licensing is expensive. We have many customers who are now thinking about other solutions due to the cost.

On a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, I'd give this solution a six out of ten. Primarily because of the lack of flexibility with technical support and because of the out-of-date features resulting in missing functionalities.

It is a web-based proxy - it's a cloud proxy.

Its use case is mostly for customers who need URL filtering, who need a proxy for blocking access to different websites, and ICAP if the proxy supports it.

The functionality is exactly the as same as ProxySG, Symantec's Blue Coat on-prem proxy, but the benefit is that the infrastructure doesn't have to be managed. You don't have to patch it, you don't have to do anything.

In terms of the most valuable features, I like the ICAP capability and URL filtering the most - these are what most people look for when they look at a proxy, whether on the cloud or on-premise. The authentication is also valuable. 

They should have a tool to help with the deployment. It is needed to point all the clients to the proxy.

I don't think either vendor has a deployment tool as such.

Also, Zscaler has something called the Zscaler Internet Access which also acts as a signin box on the next-generation firewall. WSS doesn't do this.

For website security, I worked with it for only a year when I was in Symantec. We supported a few customers who had purchased this product.

In terms of stability, it's fine. We have never had downtime because availability is AWS' responsibility because it is hosted on their servers. So availability is not an issue.

I have never had any issues with scalability or availability because both are using a good back-end infrastructure.

I used to be a part of Symantec so I did work in tech support. Even as a partner, I've been contacting them.

Their technical support is okay. Depending on the severity of the issue, I think they can be a bit slow - a few days for the low severity cases, but for the severe cases normally they contact you back in a couple of hours.

The configuration is pretty straightforward for both vendors. It's plug and play. Because they give you access to the cloud console, as soon as you log in you can get started. If you have all the clients pointing to the cloud proxy then it's just plug and play.

Symantec Complete Website Security works similar to Zscaler, but I think Zscaler is better. For a web-based proxy, I think Zscaler would be my top choice, based on the feedback I have personally received from my customers. The problem with Complete Website Security is with the dot com transition and dealing with Symantec is becoming a problem right now. I think it will be okay in February but for now, I think Zscaler is the best cloud proxy.

On a scale of 1 - 10, I'd rate it a six or seven due to a lack of features compared to its competition.

From a user’s perspective, ease-of-use is what separates it from others like RSA SecurID. It is very easy to download to mobile phones, laptops, and desktops of any platform. From the admin’s perspective, its GUI is very user friendly and easy to manage.

When using Symantec VIP, not much configuration is needed in order for it to work. It works in any platform, including macOS. In our case, we just simply download and install the application online, install Citrix Receiver and that’s it. You are good to go.

The Credential ID part where you need to register it: Sometimes, it does not register a device, for some reason. As a workaround, we register it for our users from the Symantec VIP Manager portal.

I have used this product since 2014.

We have had no stability issues so far.

We have had no scalability issues so far.

Personally, I have never coordinated with Symantec VIP technical support in my two years of using it. So, I can’t rate it as of yet.

We used to use RSA SecurID. The solution is, in my personal terms, very “toxic” to use. It was not a choice made by myself to switch to Symantec VIP Manager, but I believe an accumulation of disappointment with the other solution made the team switch over to a better one.

The setup was done in collaboration by our Infrastructure and Desktop Management teams. I cannot really tell as to what happened during its initial setup.

The product will not disappoint. Go for it!