Item: SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA)
Rating: 7
Author: Darshil Sanghvi

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using Sonicwall SMA for our management staff who wants to work from outside the office. They are able to connect to head office resources very effectively. For management staff, we have not enabled additional security features like Multi-factor auth or certificate-based auth, but SMA has proved to be very stable and cost-effective to serve the purpose.

Pros and Cons

Users can now work from home effectively
You can publish or share resources with clients and business related personals securely.
Has integrated multi factor auth options
User based licenses helped us get pay only for our requirement

SMA is limited to only SSL VPN , it should have support for hybrid VPN (SSL + IPSEC)
There are different specs and features for Enterprise and SMB. Features should be same for all devices.
It does not have URL filtering, content filtering, AV/IPS and Threat Prevention features. For achieving the same, we need to deploy another product like firewall or proxy.

Most Important Features

SSL VPN Connectivity
User based licenses
MFA

Return on Investment

After SMA, the management team can seamlessly access internal resources, from outside the office, and hence, positive
As users are working from home, now they cannot delay our give reasons on late arrival, improving the productivity and saving man hours in travelling

Alternatives Considered

FortiAuthenticator, SonicWall NSA Series, SonicWall TZ, SonicWall Web Content Filtering Client (CFC), Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect Mobile Security Manager, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series, Sophos Secure Web Gateway, Sophos UTM, Sophos XG Firewall, Sophos SG Firewall Appliances and Sophos Web Content Filtering

Key Insights

Do you think SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA)'s feature set?

Yes

Did SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Palo Alto Networks AutoFocus, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR (formerly Demisto), CrowdStrike Falcon Endpoint Protection, Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect Mobile Security Manager, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series, Palo Alto Networks Threat Protection, Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering PAN-DB, SonicWall Analytics, SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), SonicWall Cloud App Security, SonicWall TZ, Endpoint Protector by CoSoSys, Forcepoint Data Loss Prevention, Palo Alto Panorama

Likelihood to Recommend

Sonicwall SMA is a cost-effective solution, with pay as per your need service, ranging from 5 users to unlimited. SMA can be deployed on VM as well as it can be appliance-based that can be directly deployed in your environment on the go. Also, you can enable MFA for implementing a more secure way the users connect back to your network.

Sonicwall SMA for implementing work from home for users in difficult times

Overall Satisfaction with SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA)