Fantastic All in One security solution at an incredible price point
November 23, 2015
Fantastic All in One security solution at an incredible price point
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with AlienVault Unified Security Management
AlienVault Unified Security Management is being used for information technology security management for the entire organization. The solution provides us with network and host intrusion detection services, intelligent security event correlation, asset availability monitoring, scheduled vulnerability assessments, security log management and archive, net flow monitoring and security reporting.
- Value far exceeds the price.
- Excellent customer service and support.
- The product walks you through addressing placing values on assets and implementing the proper controls.
- The product does what it claims it can do.
- Product documentation could be more streamlined and easy to use, however, in the short time I have used AlienVault Unified Security Management there seem to be constant improvements.
- To take full advantage of the solution, it helps to have some experience on the Linux platform, however, the product as delivered provides a solid security management platform with an intuitive GUI interface and AlienVault support coupled with their initial setup support services does a nice job of filling in the gap if you do not have that skill set in your organization.
We compared AlienVault Unified Security Management to two other enterprise level security management solutions and AlienVault came in at a fraction of the cost so we decided to do some evaluation and it proved to exceed our expectations and performed better than the competing products.
Using AlienVault Unified Security Management
3000 - Faculty/Staff/Students
2 - Staff need to have experience and training in network security concepts in order to make knowledgeable decisions about the information delivered by AlienVault and to deploy it properly. AlienVault's setup services are very helpful in making sure the system is installed properly.
- Security Event Management
- Log Management
- Reporting
- Incidence Response through the builtin ticketing system
- We never dreamed we could us it to consolidate syslogs for so many different systems.
- We were able to retire another system that was used for availability monitoring.
- Help desk staff are now empowered to investigate account lockout issues in much more detail.
- As the user community and AlienVault's staff develop additional plugins, we will surely be able to integrate new systems with the product.
Evaluating AlienVault Unified Security Management and Competitors
Yes - Cisco IPS
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
- Third-party Reviews
Google Search on affordable IPS brought up Secure Computing Review and then I emailed for a quote. Quote coupled with evaluation and cost of competing products were most important factors.
Think outside of the box and consider smaller more specialized companies that are innovative and customer service focused.
AlienVault Unified Security Management Implementation
- Vendor implemented
- Implemented in-house
- Professional services company
Allied Security were contracted by AlienVault. I had no idea the support services bundled with the product were an actual engineer working with you over a period of months. In addition, the price included a great course.
Yes - Just logical starting and finishing points as the engineer worked with me as our schedules permitted.
Change management was minimal - Change management issues were very minimal
- AlienVault gave us more than enough consulting hours so that we were able to use the system in production and accumulate any problems/question to be worked through during the next scheduled consulting session
AlienVault Unified Security Management Training
- Online training
- Self-taught
Personally, coupling my own hands-on experience with training offers the best ROI with AlienVault. AlienVault included some good training with our purchase of the USM product and then we decided to the next level of training which was excellent as well. Getting some experience prior to the training worked best for me.
Configuring AlienVault Unified Security Management
AlienVault Unified Security Management Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Problems left unsolved |
Yes - Great price for great service
Yes - It was taken seriously and fixed in the next release
I had a problem with major code upgrade where the system stopped responding in the middle. A time was scheduled where the technician spent a lot of time getting the system functional again. He then escalated the case to a developer who them when through the system again just to make sure everything was perfect. I was impressed with how much they cared about a small campus like us having their product functioning absolutely perfect.
Using AlienVault Unified Security Management
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using | None |
- Alert Management Interface
- It is easy to see the security posture of your organization at a glance
- Reporting
- Sending system backups to another system for DR purposes
- Querying the Events can be a bit clunky but you get used to it
AlienVault Unified Security Management Reliability
Relationship with AlienVault
In our case there was really no negotiation.
None at this time