Cisco IOS Security vs. Trend Micro TippingPoint Threat Protection System (TPS)

When it comes to security on the edge of your network (downstream) Cisco's IOS security features provide pretty much everything you need when it comes to securing your network, network devices, and access. I would absolutely recommend Cisco switches due to many reasons, but a big reason is security.

Incentivized

Great for large enterprises 10k users or more and as part of defense in depth. Medium and small business you are better off looking for a cheaper UTM solution that does it all in one. It comes down to cost, are you willing to fund the cost of breaking out IPS functionality or moving towards a unified solution?

Incentivized

• Authentication.
• Access lists.
• Port security.

Incentivized

• Tipping point had a very nice GUI interface that sat on top of snort rules. It was easy to access, had nice customization of dashboards and output to syslog for SIEM solutions.
• It was easy to configure rule sets, allow groups or singular allow/blocks or white-listing.
• Security rule sets could be tweaked up or down and allow/drops signatures could be configured to help increase performance.

Incentivized

• Cisco could provide an initial set up script for those are not used to the CLI (Command Line Interface). With that initial script, people could easily deploy the security features instead of having to learn how to use the commands.
• The web interface that Cisco provides with the routers, although it’s useful to set up the security features, it could also have some sort of tutorials to help people understand the main concepts of iOS security.
• You have to license iOS security separately from the main OS. For that reason, sometimes it tends to be a little expensive if you have a small business.

Incentivized

• Biggest qualms I had with TippingPoint was that it was just a tad on the expensive side for what you get. Nowadays everything has gone UTM in firewalls and they do it all including IPS as part of the basic functionality so really, TP is losing a massive market share.
• Don't see a future in the roadmap with so many other vendors getting onto the "unified" wagon and adding IPS as part of their service and at a cheaper price.

Incentivized

Cisco has the best Support team that gives us 24/7 support as we need. Cisco has huge detailed documentation for design, implementation, and troubleshooting all areas of the IOS security. There are many communities discussing all Cisco devices and solutions for studying groups and for customers to share their stories, technical problem and solutions.

Incentivized

I also like HP Procurve. It is my choice when the customer cannot afford Cisco. Cisco is better all round but HP is the only other [product] I will use if I have a choice.

Incentivized

Most other firewall UTM solutions, Cisco, Palo Alto, Fidelis, etc.

Incentivized

• Cisco iOS security helped our business deploy a relatively safe solution for a small amount of money.
• If you don’t have enough budget to invest in a robust and expensive firewall solution, you can safely use Cisco iOS security to protect your branch or remote office without compromise your network.
• Because Cisco iOS security uses a simple command-line based interface, you can deploy standardized scripts and keep the operational costs low.

Incentivized

• Negative cash flow, positive addition to our defense in depth strategy at one of the largest healthcare organizations in Georgia (at that time).

Incentivized