Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software vs. IBM Security QRadar SIEM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the core OS for the ASA suite. It provides firewall functionality, as well as integration with context-specific Cisco security modules. It is scaled for enterprise-level traffic and connections.N/A
IBM Security QRadar SIEM
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
IBM Security QRadar is security information and event management (SIEM) Software.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Features
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
8.0
50 Ratings
7% below category average
IBM Security QRadar SIEM
-
Ratings
Identification Technologies6.632 Ratings00 Ratings
Visualization Tools6.630 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Inspection8.433 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based Controls9.046 Ratings00 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Firewall Management Console8.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting and Logging5.948 Ratings00 Ratings
VPN9.449 Ratings00 Ratings
High Availability9.048 Ratings00 Ratings
Stateful Inspection9.046 Ratings00 Ratings
Proxy Server8.031 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
-
Ratings
IBM Security QRadar SIEM
8.6
69 Ratings
9% above category average
Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings9.927 Ratings
Correlation00 Ratings8.869 Ratings
Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings9.527 Ratings
Deployment flexibility00 Ratings7.827 Ratings
Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.765 Ratings
Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings7.469 Ratings
Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings9.725 Ratings
Data integration/API management00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings7.848 Ratings
Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings8.349 Ratings
Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.75 Ratings
Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings8.147 Ratings
Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.97 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
AlienVault USM
AlienVault USM
Score 6.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.3 out of 10
Sumo Logic
Sumo Logic
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.4 out of 10
Sumo Logic
Sumo Logic
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(88 ratings)
8.5
(89 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.1
(4 ratings)
8.3
(5 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(2 ratings)
Availability
7.5
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.7
(8 ratings)
8.2
(62 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.5
(2 ratings)
8.0
(58 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Cisco ASA's are great for internal network connected access between a firewall and the central management server. And, for complex networks where high security requirements with overly strict compliance are necessary. For networks with limited connectivity to the core or for poor network connectivity these are not the best solution. There are other more stand-alone firewall's that do this better. These firewall's are a little more complex to set up to start with so significant knowledge of these devices is required to set them up and ensure they are best practice installed.
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IBM
I would only recommend IBM Security QRadar SIEM in a few situations. For one, it's very easy to setup and use if all your log sources are generic from known vendors. It's also significantly cheaper than Splunk, which is nice if you're trying to save money or be more efficient. I would not recommend IBM Security QRadar SIEM for environments with a lot of custom logs and complicated detection requirements.
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Pros
Cisco
  • ASA is our VPN concentrator. The client and server are very stable and very easy to use
  • ASA also offers Intrusion Prevention, to an extent. This is also very useful for an improved security posture for a small company
  • ASA allowed us to scale very quickly. We could onboard clients, partners, and consultants and give them a great onboarding experience as well
  • Administrative costs with ASA are low. It's very easy to administer.
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IBM
  • Enables identification and prioritization of vulnerabilities in IT infrastructure for corrective action.
  • Facilitates security incident investigation and forensic analysis.
  • Provides a real-time view of security events, enabling immediate incident response.
  • Can integrate with external threat intelligence sources to enrich data and improve threat detection.
  • Enables the generation of detailed and customized reports.
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Cons
Cisco
  • The ASDM software is at times a nightmare to install because of different java versions[.]
  • [The firewall] could do with a power button, just to be able to do a hard reboot when needed[.]
  • It would be nice to manage the firewall via the web on port 443[.]
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IBM
  • Need to spend more time configuring the system to properly interpret and normalize different type of data collected from multiple resources.
  • While Rule creation QRadar uses that rules to detect security threats and generate alerts, but to creating and managing rules is bit complex & tedious work to complete.
  • IBM Security QRadar SIEM is excellent in handling large & complex systems that requires in-depth knowledge and extensive training to configure and maintain the system which includes upgrading, optimization of performance & issue troubleshooting.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
To be honest there has been now great products out in the market compared to Cisco ASA. I beleieve Cisco has to do a lot of improvement in this area. The other defeiniete factors is the cost when it comes to renewals which is always a premium on Cisco products
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IBM
QRadar is an established and stable product, we have been using it for many years and want to continue to focus on it. Anyone who has used the product and knows it knows how reliable it is and how it facilitates continuous monitoring of threats from outside and inside. it is an exceptional product that is very useful for us.
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Usability
Cisco
No answers on this topic
IBM
As a grade I give 8 as QRadar is not easy to learn. It requires some time to master it. It also needs a team of people actively working on the product. Once you learn to use it the software works very well and it is easy to correlate and understand detected threats. It only takes time to learn how to use it well and configure it properly.
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Reliability and Availability
Cisco
I generally have not noticed the outages, however since it's a machine it can malfunction, we need to implement the firewall infrastructure in such a way that it is highly available with device failure, region failure etc. Else any solution will be having the issues if they are not build with resiliency.
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IBM
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
The support is usually very good and gets back to you very quickly. However I had some instances of when two engineers will give me wildly different answers to what I thought was a simple question. Overall however I do rate the support highly and they are generally always very good.
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IBM
Customer support is Good of IBM, While Using IBM QRadar its deployment is to slow and suddenly stop working and crashed we have contacted IBM Support and Rised a Ticket within a few minute we get call back from customer support and Query Resolved by them Fast And Rapid Support of Ibm
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In-Person Training
Cisco
No answers on this topic
IBM
The training was very useful and the people who taught us were very knowledgeable. Although the software may initially seem difficult to learn they made things much easier for us.
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Online Training
Cisco
No answers on this topic
IBM
The training was very useful and the people who taught us were very knowledgeable. Although the software may initially seem difficult to learn they made things much easier for us.
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
It was quite a good one, how ever requires an expertise to deploy hence the SMB segment would be finding it difficult to implement this product. The one good reason is that there are lot of ASA certified engineers in compared to the other certified engineers. Hence this resembles positively on the deployment as you have quite a lot of experienced engineer on your deployment
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IBM
Initial patience is required to learn how to use the product, and it takes a dedicated team to use it. One person is not enough, and it's not enough to just set it up and check it once in a while. It has to be used daily and kept under control to be used effectively
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
We were using [pfSense] before in our environment but we regularly facing difficulties over it due to software bugs & downtime. After implementing Cisco ASA, it resolved our availability issue & provides us a reliable solution with the best security features & easy to understand GUI.
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IBM
IBM Qradar takes the best from its competitors. Reliable and stable but sometimes very expensive, the SIEM from IBM offers a wide range of scenarios in which the customers can suite and size their own infrastructures. IBM Qradar doesn't really needs to stack up againt its competitors because it already sets an example in the SIEM world.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Most network engineers have worked with ASA, so there is no need for re-training when adding or turning over staff
  • Current configs from older devices plug in easily, and are operational on larger devices if an upgrade is required
  • Many support options available
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IBM
  • Offense investigation was really helped in tackling the incidents. It was accurate and brief
  • The automation with IBM resilient (SOAR) was a milestone in elimination of user mistakes
  • The X-Force threat intelligence supported us in getting the work done without any 3rd party enterprise OSINT database
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ScreenShots

IBM Security QRadar SIEM Screenshots

Screenshot of QRadar SIEM Cloud native- Threat intelligence preview