Item: Cisco Secure Network Analytics
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Secure Network Analytics is used as part of the security stack we have in our organization. With this tool we are able to analyze traffic patterns, identify potential issues, and address threats before they become more than just a warning sign. Through this product we were able to see some rogue actors on the network and get them shut down before they became more of a problem.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Ability to quickly see and address rogue actors
See what type of threats are on the network in a quick manner using the dashboard
Provide administrative reports to leadership to assist in their decision making process
See network communications flows between hosts

Cons

Some of the jobs can be difficult to setup until you know how they were designed
Unless coupled with other Cisco products, you may not get all of the information you would like to have
If you have a network that already has many issues it may take a lot of time to see the value in the product; it would take time to weed everything which this product will detect for you to use it to find that needle in the haystack

Return on Investment

Once tuned and baselines established, it is far easier to identify issues on a network
Management is able to look at the dashboard and fairly quickly get an update on the status of how the network is performing and what threats may be out there
Reports can be scheduled to send on a regular basis to all involved with management of the infrastructure and the security team

Alternatives Considered

Splunk Asset and Risk Intelligence, PRTG Network Monitor, SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server, SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (npm) and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

Cisco Secure Network Analytics is in a class of its own and some of these products come close but are not in the same class. The other products I tested take a lot more of them to get the same results you would from the Enterprise class of Cisco products. I have been very happy with the purchase and wouldn't change a thing.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Secure Network Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Secure Network Analytics's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Secure Network Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Secure Network Analytics go as expected?

Would you buy Cisco Secure Network Analytics again?

Yes

Other Software Used

PRTG Network Monitor, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (npm), Splunk Attack Analyzer

Likelihood to Recommend

We were experiencing an issue with a specific computer on our network. With the platform we were able to define what other hosts the particular computer was talking to so we could gain a better understanding of what the issue may have been. In this case it was an unpatched machine that needed to have some remediation done to remove the malware. Once this was done, we noticed a dramatic improvement in the performance of the computer and felt better about our investment in the product. Until you get into a situation where the tool is working for you, it may be something you start to second guess on.

Comments

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