Item: Cisco Umbrella
Rating: 10
Author: kevin mcgillicuddy

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have deployed it to the entire company, in addition to their mobile devices (laptops) when they are offsite. For us, this solves the web filtering that in the past was cumbersome to manage. We did not want a heavy proxy web filter, but a general best effort one based on DNS. This product does that for us as well as generates great security alerts on malware using DNS.

Pros and Cons

Security.
Webfiltering.
Easy setup.
Reporting.

MacOS web filtering IP layer.
Mobile device - iOS and Android.
Webhooks.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Umbrella delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Umbrella's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Umbrella live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Umbrella go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Umbrella again?

Yes

Return on Investment

Helped with security.
Prevents basic, bad website categories without overloading helpdesk with proxy issues.
Good mix of security and end-user experience.

Security Coverage

With the small application, it provides IP layer filtering. On MacOS it is iffy, but on Windows it works great. This helps the system understand what user is on a laptop at that time. If some devices don't support this you can set public DNS to their system and it will provide a very basic level of coverage. With us being more remote the coverage expanded easily to our workforces at home and everyone has been very happy.

Integrations

We have not integrated with any third parties yet. Although, we have looked into the integration with Cisco Meraki access points for filtering at the AP level before the traffic goes any further. However, COVID has caused us to shift some priorities. We do not have a SEIM to log into, but we are evaluating a few solutions right now that Umbrella supports.

Support Rating

They provide a very quick response if I need to email or call in. They also have chat bots, which are decent in providing some help, but the documentation answers most of our questions because it is well written.

Alternatives Considered

Barracuda Web Security Gateway and EdgeWave Web Content Filtering

We used a product before this called iPrism by EdgeWave and also briefly tried Barracuda Web Security in the cloud. We were having such a large influx of service desk calls about proxy-based layer 7 web filters that we wanted to step back and pick something more at the DNS level, to protect our employees but not hover over their social media use, etc. Cisco will also employ a layer 7 proxy if a site is suspicious, which does require us to push a certificate out should we want that feature. For most policies we have it enabled.

Other Software Used

Veeam Backup & Replication, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), AWS Lambda

Likelihood to Recommend

This product works with hybrid cloud or companies fully in the cloud, but identity management could get harder. We have 500 users. Sometimes, due to the nature of DNS requests, it can be hard to see the forest through the trees or get false positive hits because some ads on a legitimate website loaded something bad. Overall the security it provides is very good and the insight into web browsing is very helpful. Being a SaaS product makes it easy to set up and maintain.

Products Replaced

Yes - EdgeWave iPrism - we were having a lot of issues with the layer 7 proxy and end-users getting frustrated with security impeding work but not much pay off from a protection standpoint.

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation

We love the cloud model and how it's structured as DNS Security. This helps users get "invisible" protection and allows us to feel good about trapping malware and keeping an eye on certain bad site categories.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

We would not change anything. We are very happy.

A happy Cisco Umbrella user with happy end users

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Umbrella