Armis vs. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

We started an entirely new network segregation implementation for security policies. Armis was unparalleled at helping us find rogue static IP-assigned devices in our old network and helped us identify what they were so we could tackle the challenge of moving everything to the new network VLANs. Another use case is finding a specific device or a specific user account to track their activity. The layout is phenomenal, and the data is easy to understand and drill down into for further information. The new AVM (Asset Vulnerability Management) section is awesome to help us find the out-of-date devices or other risks on the network to figure out where we are most vulnerable and at risk. If you're looking for a way to have Armis auto patch vulnerabilities - that's only on the radar from what I've heard - but currently, it is an amazing tool for finding and detailing the CVEs and other risks. You can create policies to block specific risky behaviors, but currently, at the time of writing, there isn't any automated patching or remediation to known CVEs found on a device.

Incentivized

I would say a small business with a basic firewall and security needs would be a perfect fit for the Barracuda CloudGen firewall. I know that they soon end up leaving the NG models and are moving forward with the F series firewall. I think the F series is a much more difficult to manage device and doesn’t offer simplistic configuration or use and lacks cloud control so I don’t understand the move on Barracuda’s part to nix a great easy to manage the firewall. I do think that the NG line is maybe too simple for bigger businesses and would lack some main features that they would require.

Incentivized

• Analyzing Traffic
• Detecting Device Types
• Finding vulnerabilities by pure magic!
• Searching through all the data - intuitive and no programming required!
• Alerts and policies for anything you can imagine
• Reports and dashboards customizable to any extent you can imagine
• Integrates with so many systems and ties all your data together in one screen
• Create automated processes to handle events automatically by event/data/device etc.

Incentivized

• The management software is excellent. It make it much easier to manage the firewalls than some of the other vendors.
• Watching real-time traffic is easy to do when trying to troubleshoot a users issues getting to a particular service.
• Support from Barracuda has been excellent. We rate their phone and online remote support as being the best in the business.
• We like the QoS and Traffic shaping of the NG Firewalls. They help is manage our limited bandwidth, so that business critical resources are available over lesser critical resources.
• Integration with Active Directory makes it easy to identify users activities in logs.

Incentivized

• I've requested integration with Mosyle Manager for our Apple MDM products - it is on the radar but slow going - Mosyle has an API and a free 30-day trial, so implementation shouldn't be difficult - but honestly, other than that - Armis support has been astonishing, and there are so many integrations already - it's small potatoes.
• Considering Armis has all the data collected and parsed - it would be nice to see a back-end system for those of us who are true nerds and want to really dig into the Syslog data and analyze packets directly - however, building some quick queries is probably easier if you know what you are looking for anyway - which is probably why this is a backward way of my own thinking and no fault of Armis at all. They make the interface so easy to use it's not necessary, but it hurts my inner geek.

Incentivized

• Very complex and steep learning curve to get up to speed.
• Multiple ways to configure for the same service or feature. Takes time to determine "your" customized build.
• Interface can sometimes be clunky when trying to determine how it's organized or arranged. Again, steep learning curve.

Easy enough to use and configure using the management UI. Reporting from the web filter is a little clunky, and not very user friendly. To be perfectly honest, once it's set up and running, there isn't a lot to do from the day-to-day side of things, which is not a bad thing.

I could go on and on about how good Barracuda's support really is. I have yet to have a problem they didn't help me fix and I always learn something when talking with them. The story that best describes my overall experience with Barracuda's support is this: When I first put in the xSeries they had a problem with a policy route. There was a bug in the code and in the one situation I was it, it just would not work. I went up the levels of support and they couldn't fix it. Well, next thing I know I am on the phone with 2 of the guys that programmed the thing and they work out the solution in no time and get me going. That is support. That is what I have come to expect from Barracuda. If the tech on the phone doesn't know the answer, they do not stop until they find it. Grant it, I also have to admit I do not call support with every problem, I try to work it out on my own first as that is how I learn best, so when I do call support it is going to be complicated.

Incentivized

Armis is kind of a total conglomeration of a ton of different tools/systems, and depending on how you want to set it up can do almost anything a lot of these other tools can do - and in some cases, even better. It doesn't do software deployment or other things like SCCM I have listed, but the reporting side is so much better than SCCM's interface. As far as data breaches, user/device activity tracking, vulnerability outlook, network scanning, device identification, and agentless miracles of magic - Armis is the king.

Incentivized

Our Cisco firewall was always difficult to make any changes against. It had no user-friendly GUI interface. We were calling technical support most of the time whenever we needed to make any changes. The Barracuda CloudGen Firewall has a GUI interface which we are looking forward to getting better acquainted with as we move off of our old Cisco. Of course, Barracuda's technical support is always there and is top notch!

• Armis helped with multiple projects saving incalculable time since we've gotten it
• Network analysis is a breeze
• Device traffic reports and alerts is one click easy peasy
• Blocking devices or specific traffic is super easy and helpful - if you have the right integrations for those options

Incentivized

• We saved multiple thousands of dollars the first year out with the firewall in maintenance fees. We paid for the firewall and 3 years of service and still saved money.
• The ease of management allows me to do my job more efficiently. I save a lot of time when doing my day to day job because I can get to my firewall virtually anywhere.
• I feel a lot safer and my business more secure knowing that I have configured things the way they need to be and it was simple and not overly complicated.

Incentivized