Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

Palo Alto Networks WildFire is highly effective in enterprise environments where detecting zero-day threats and unknown malware is critical. Small businesses may find the cost of advanced subscriptions prohibitive, especially if they only need basic protection. Much of our infrastructure is OT and Palo Alto Networks WildFire is cloud dependent so cannot be used where we have air-gapped systems.

Incentivized

If you need a network security forensic tool, this is a great fit. Scrutinizer collects everything you have configured as a target without losing data. If you need an in-depth analysis of your network flows, as in who is doing what with what this is a good fit. Scrutinizer translates a massive about of data into readable tables and reports.

Incentivized

• This is could base and easily manageable for our collocation. While working within the could can review in live time potential treats that it has reported from other devices.
• Worked very well with existing Palo Alto devices.
• Another huge plus is the simplicity of managing and ease of scalability.
• Its cost is competitive with similar/like products available.

Incentivized

• Once configured, Scrutinizer gives an accurate overview of network activity.
• Scrutinizer is able to collect flows from a variety of devices, you are not limited to Cisco.
• DSCP based reporting, which is helpful when attempting to determine how good your wireless network is from a QoS perspective.

Incentivized

• Cost
• I would personally like to see more JSON support in the API rather than XML, but that's being very nitpicky

Incentivized

• The free version has some limitations that make an accurate evaluation difficult, every day at midnight the data is flushed and you start over.
• If you are purchasing the appliance, you won't have admin access to it.
• Reporting could use some polished graphics and advance filtering features.

Incentivized

It works very well and takes care of protecting us from threats new and well-known. It's been a game changer in terms of threat detection & prevention.

Incentivized

It is a great product that has definitely improved our security posture, however it does require quite a bit of training and time spent customizing for the environment. We had several difficulties in deployment but Palo Alto support was able to help us work through the problems that we were not able to figure out on our own.

Incentivized

PAN support is very good. You can get the reasonable and timely support on any conditions. When the product is already integrated with the PAN firewalls, you can choose the severity levels based on the effect. The customer service/TAC is very helpful, they even have additional recommendations of advises for product usability. Local partners are also assisting the cases and give their expertise.

Incentivized

Support is support, they are either there or they are not. Scrutinizer support has been there every time I've needed them. They rely a bit too much on email correspondence, sometimes I want a voice to tell me what to do, and fast

Incentivized

WildFire from Palo Alto Networks provides security with very little overhead. With AutoFocus, they’ve got threat intelligence built right in. That way, it can prepare us to react swiftly when a significant danger is identified and dealt with as soon as possible. They introduced firewalls that are aware of applications and can make use of Wildfire. It sped our ability to respond to emerging threats up because of this game-changing development.

Incentivized

Scrutinizer is a faster and simpler deployment while still delivering the tools and reports needed to gain accurate view traffic and network usage. Its cheaper than most alternatives and daily use is focused on understanding data, not making config changes so you can understand data. Risk reduction and elimination is the primary focus, Scrutinizer helps you do that.

Incentivized

• We've had one or two malware files that were blocked by Wildfire. We use it occasionally to check unusual or unexpected files. Hard to monetize ROI, because we don't know what the impact would have been if the file made it through.
• We pay significantly for the Wildfire licenses, but given the potential impact to our business, we feel it is worthwhile. Figure costs are somewhere around $1,500 per year per firewall for a mid-range model. Can be higher or lower for different sized firewalls. Onsite appliance was somewhere between $50-100K, which was too much for us, so we use the cloud model.

Incentivized

• Scrutinizer is a great tool, extremely easy to implement, it lets you see your NetFlow without a large outlay.
• WAN traffic monitoring gives you the ability to accurately predict the necessary bandwidth volume, you can now stop over buying.

Incentivized