Cisco Security Cloud Control vs. FireMon vs. FortiManager

Cisco Defense Orchestrator is an ideal software to easily manage firewalls at the enterprise level, as well as to implement security policies that allow the corporate infrastructure to remain free of threats that can put at risk all the devices that are handled on a daily basis. For example, it is ideal for preventing network intrusions, since it has the ability to block malware and any suspicious activity. In addition, the fact that it is based on a single console provides the benefit of keeping all devices under view and thus preventing any threat in the simplest way.

FireMon is best used in a large environment (for example, I have >100
firewalls in my environment). It's best used when trying to improve
security posture and showing changes in firewall security over time. It
might not be the best choice for smaller environments or those that aren't concerned about security management.

Incentivized

FortiManager is well suited for larger organizations which require unified configurations and IT departments that need quick turn around on firewall related tickets. I believe MSPs can also benefit with the use of the VDOM feature, if strict separation between clients is needed. FortiManager wouldn't be ideal for 1-3 site operations, unless their configurations are extremely complex or have a high number of active users.

Incentivized

• Upgrade OS
• Manage changes at scale
• Group like configurations
• Clone configs for other firewalls
• Migrate from on prem to cloud

Incentivized

• Give good real time reporting for anyone making a change to any of our firewalls
• Provides good reporting tools that are out of box
• Provide good customization tools that is specific to our needs
• Upgrades are a simple process and support does relatively well with assisting us.

Incentivized

• Centralized FortiGate FW Management in a single console
• Available physical, virtual, or cloud deployment
• Single console for next-generation FW features
• Multiple Administrative Domains

Incentivized

• Better templates like pushing config. when a particular firewall checks in with CDO.
• Compliance checking for configurations would be great. For example: make sure http is shut and https is open.

Incentivized

• Some features could be added to the existing functionality which include NAT rules usage
• Rule expiration normalization from firewalls rather than entering them in rule documentation
• .csv exports of the files from the firewall pane only gives usage for 30 days by default and that should be increased

Incentivized

• Various bugs: The software is buggy, and if you don't have a good understanding of it's underlaying operation, you can get confused or stuck when pushing a configuration. There are lots of little quirks you will have to learn, which are not described in any documentation.
• Conflict resolution: Occasionally, during larger changes, bringing new devices in, pushing a config will fail due to dependencies, conflicts, or other software bugs. This is somewhat time consuming because the error messages provided aren't descriptive
• CLI Options: Some configuration changes require creating scripts that execute on each device, and can't be done via the GUI

Incentivized

I give this score because I believe that Cisco Defense Orchestrator helps our company to be resilient, this is because this software is also focused on offering security resilience at the enterprise level, that is, through its features such as high visibility, acceleration of threat detection and response, simple management, and end-to-end protection. By having it, it is more feasible to avoid disasters or risks in the devices that are handled daily and of course avoid data loss and, given this, be able to recover quickly if something happens.

The shell is locked out and we can't run any general centos commands. The implementation and maintainence of the arch is very complex. Even with the right identifiers on log messages the log collection keeps failing. The warning messages on the device are ambiguous. The log messages on firemon are a bit confusing and don't show the exact issue.

Incentivized

It save me time and I'm able to have the review - review the rule independently with using my time.

Incentivized

I believe that Cisco Defense Orchestrator is available when needed, this solution has allowed the security team to have better productivity thanks to the fact that their workflow is less intense because they can carry out their tasks with the help of this software, in addition to the presence If there is an error, they can be overcome quickly because their support team is efficient.

FireMon has been relatively stable overall. However, there have been a handful of times where we had issues with the console. For example, we couldn't update which devices to include in a security assessment. The initial suggestion from support was to just reboot it. It seems like there weren't many other options available such as to restart services before going to the extreme of a complete reboot.

Incentivized

I'm not sure we have the largest implementation of FireMon out there but we do have a few 1000 devices being probed by FireMon. Overall, the system's performance has been rock solid. The console refreshes quickly and reports are generated within an expected timeframe.

Incentivized

FireMon technical support is awesome! They respond quickly to our requests and they are well trained and very knowledgeable about the tool. Some issues have to be referred to the development team, but technical support largely provides solutions for any issues that we may have.

Incentivized

Cisco Defense Orchestrator is a software that is easy to implement, although knowledge is required for it, but if you do not have it, going to its valuable support team is very helpful. If done knowingly, this process can take less than two hours. Having a simple implementation is a valuable feature because it saves time and expense.

Implementation is fairly simple. Most issues can be resolved by referencing manuals.

Incentivized

We used the on box management platform. This required API usage for automating things. It was not scalable and a lot of features are not there. There are platforms like manage engine, but they are not Cisco FP native and had limitations as well.

Incentivized

I has worked with AlgoSec and while they are very similar product, I find the FireMon is easier to understand and get rolling with. While both require some learning, FireMon is by far the easier one. Once you have an understanding of how things are arranged and labeled you can easily import firewalls and begin to work on them to improve them

Incentivized

FortiManager is the best choice for managing numerous FortiGate firewalls. It allows for easy integration into ServiceNow and automates simple repetitive tasks that are very straightforward. Role-based access control is easy to enable and you can get quite granular with user permissions. Administrative Domains help segregate firewall management and compliance within the FortiManager console, by almost any classification method that makes sense to your organization.

Incentivized

Firemon Is easily scalable and maintainable with any size team. Although it requires some tech debt, it is well worth the time to invest to ensure compliance is visible and reports are accurate. Although our environment is very large we do not fully utilize the scalability of the Firemon product.

Incentivized

• Much faster management.
• Can access firewall without having to go on site if the VPN tunnel is down.

Incentivized

• FireMon's Compliance Reporting provided an immediate and tangible benefit
• FireMon helps identify egregious or erroneous rules quickly across multiple platforms
• FireMon took our audit process from an Excel spreadsheet into a far more advanced process with readily available context for reviewers

Incentivized

• Significant reduction in new firewall deployment turn around time, 50% reduction
• Reduction in time spent on website access related IT support tickets. Avg 5 minutes from response to close
• Reduction in time spent by IT team for setting up WFH employees to allow working over SSL VPN.

Incentivized