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

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco 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

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AIBM 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
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    IBM
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    87%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    67 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    42 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    61 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    70 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    41 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    59 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Feature
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    8.9
    50 Ratings
    4% above category average
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies7.932 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools7.931 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.433 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.446 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP8.448 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console9.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging8.949 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN10.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability9.649 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection10.046 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server9.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Feature
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    8.5
    69 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings9.927 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.669 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings9.527 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings7.827 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.965 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings7.569 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings9.725 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings7.648 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings8.049 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.75 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings7.947 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.97 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareIBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Sumo Logic
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Score8.8 out of 10
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 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)
    8.6
    (89 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.1
    (4 ratings)
    8.8
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (8 ratings)
    8.1
    (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)
    8.1
    (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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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[.]
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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
    Incentivized
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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
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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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
    Incentivized
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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
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    IBM Security QRadar SIEM Screenshots

    Screenshot of QRadar SIEM Cloud native- Threat intelligence preview