Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs Cisco Secure Workload comparison

Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Cisco Secure Workload

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud

Featured Reviews

Robert Orłowski

IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.

Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities

Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.

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Samir Paul

Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Secures cloud workloads from build to runtime and has needed simpler setup and alert tuning

Regarding how Aqua Cloud Security Platform can be improved, the first area is the complex initial setup. Deployment and configuration can be complex, especially in large environments that require skilled resources. For Kubernetes environments, initial onboarding and policy setup takes time. Compared to Wiz onboarding, it is not very straightforward, as I have also worked with Wiz. The UI is powerful but not very simple for new users, as navigation and dashboard can be overwhelming. Alert noise and tuning are required because Aqua generates a large number of initial alerts that need tuning to reduce false positives. Additionally, pricing can be high depending on workload scale, especially for large Kubernetes and multi-cloud environments. For improvements to Aqua Cloud Security Platform, I think better integration with SOAR and XDR platforms, more AI-driven prioritization, and providing simpler out-of-the-box policies would be beneficial.

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Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"In my opinion, this is the best tool."

"CSPM is currently the most used feature, and we are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs."

"TruRisk Insights is the most important innovation they've released this year."

"Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution."

"I like the web API security and IoT scanning features the most. The user-friendly design of TotalCloud's interface enables customers to navigate it and use its full potential easily"

"Qualys TotalCloud provides a single, prioritized view of risk, reducing the workload associated with consolidating multiple sources for risk prioritization."

"TotalCloud provides the easiest and the best approach for cloud infrastructure management."

"I would definitely recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users."

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

"We mainly used Aqua Security for container-related Kubernetes security in the CI/CD pipelines to secure the runtime of the Kubernetes clusters."

"The image security and image scanning were quite easy compared to Prisma, the solution was very user-friendly, easy to set up, stable, and the documentation was robust."

"The solution was very user-friendly."

"The container scanning is very helpful."

"The ROI is clear; we could not live without it because now we are getting back a picture of the vulnerability and we are able to fix severe security and vulnerability bugs."

"Their sandboxing service is also really good."

"Aqua Cloud Security Platform positively impacted my organization by allowing deployment from code to cloud in the entire CI/CD pipeline, with excellent capabilities and recent AI application security that is useful in the DevSecOps platform."

"From what I understand, the initial setup is simple."

More Aqua Cloud Security Platform pros

"Overall, this is a really good product and I am happy with it."

"The scalability of Cisco Tetration is very good."

"Generally speaking, Cisco support is considered one of the best in the networking products and stack."

"By using Tetration insight, we are able to get the latency on our level accounts and we can determine whatever the issue is with the application latency itself."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that we don't have to do packet captures on the network."

"The only use case I can see that makes sense is micro-segmentation. I think there are other use cases for it. The main purpose of the product is to do micro-segmentation by collecting IP. That could be done by installing an agent, and then you have all the communication coming in and out. You could also use some flow sensors installed in the network that receive a copy of the traffic and then report that back to the system."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is security."

"The product provides multiple-device integration."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

Cons

"Their customer support needs improvement."

"In terms of improvement, remediation still belongs to the cloud team, which is one of the issues we faced with Qualys TotalCloud."

"The vulnerability part is good, but the policy compliance module needs improvement because it involves a lot of manual work. Specifically, the remediation part of the controls requires enhancements."

"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."

"Regarding technical support from Qualys, they respond, but the response time can be too long. Sometimes we need to wait weeks for solutions to simple questions."

"Qualys TotalCloud needs to improve its accuracy for non-Windows operating systems."

"Although TotalCloud is a helpful tool, some of its advanced features are still under development."

"I would appreciate additional integration options to connect Qualys TotalCloud with our other vulnerability management tools."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"Regarding how Aqua Cloud Security Platform can be improved, the first area is the complex initial setup. Deployment and configuration can be complex, especially in large environments that require skilled resources."

"The UI needs some improvement as it is somewhat overwhelming, and the licensing can be expensive at scale."

"The user interface could be improved, especially in terms of organization and clarity."

"Aqua Security lacks a lot in reporting."

"When I used it on the client that I had a few years ago, we ran into some issues where it would not load properly."

"Customer support is acceptable. Sometimes we receive a complaint from our L3 or L2 engineers that they are not getting proper on-time support, but overall, it is acceptable."

"Sometimes I got stressed with the UI."

"In the next release, Aqua Security should add the ability to automatically send reports to customers."

More Aqua Cloud Security Platform cons

"There's room for improvement when it comes to Cisco Secure Workload. A couple of internal areas could be refined a little bit. They are trying to solve it, depending on where you suppose the agent is. Suppose you have the agent on both the server and the client, which could be the front-end server or web server connecting to the. In that case, if those two are communicating on RPC, the server can look into its configuration. It could go down and find the configuration file on the FTP server and then set the policies to it. But there are a lot of different FTP servers out there. It's also a complex case for the tool to support all FTP servers."

"The interface is really helpful for technical people, but it is not user-friendly."

"It is not so easy to use and configure. It needs a bunch of further resources to work, which is mainly the biggest downside of it. The deployment is huge."

"There is some overlap between Cisco Tetration and AppDynamics and there are few DC tools, it would be great to have a single pane of glass, rather than have to jump between different tools."

"The integration could be better, especially with different types of solutions."

"The product should be easy to use, but it is not. Comparing it to other products, it was very complex."

"The emailed notifications are either hard to find or they are not available. Search capabilities can be improved."

"They should scale down the hardware a bit. The initial hardware investment is two million dollars so it's a price point problem. The issue with the price comes from the fact that you have to have it with enormous storage and enormous computes."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."

"Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches."

"I am not sure about the pricing. From what I understand, it is a bit on the higher side, but I do not have the exact numbers."

"TotalCloud's price is about right where I would expect it to be."

"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."

"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"They were reasonable with their pricing. They were pretty down-to-earth about the way they pitched their product and the way they tried to close the deal. They were one of the rare companies that approached the whole valuation in a way that made sense for our company, for our needs, and for their own requirements as well... They will accommodate your needs if they are able to understand them and they're stated clearly."

"Aqua Security is not cheap, and it's not very expensive, such as Splunk, they are in the middle."

"Dealing with licensing costs isn't my responsibility, but I know that the licenses don't depend on the number of users, but instead are priced according to your workload."

"It comes at a reasonable cost."

"The pricing of this solution could be improved."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?

The price is very expensive, actually.

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?

To be totally honest, I do not have any best features because I have had a bad experience using this tool, especially...

What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?

My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is vulnerability management and exposure management. I use this tool to evalua...

What do you think of Aqua Security vs Prisma Cloud?

Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valu...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aqua Security?

Compared to other vendors, Aqua Cloud Security Platform's pricing is good or lesser. The pricing part is acceptable, ...

What needs improvement with Aqua Security?

I think Aqua Cloud Security Platform has a good, strong platform, but there are still other areas. For example, if we...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Workload?

CloudStrike offers antivirus capabilities and firewall features for servers and VDI but lacks automatic policy discov...

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Workload?

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration a...

What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Workload?

When we onboarded Cisco Secure Workload, the usual use case was to discover internal application dependencies and cre...

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Qualys TotalCloud

Comparisons

Wiz vs Qualys TotalCloud

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JupiterOne vs Qualys TotalCloud

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Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 6% of the time

Rapid7 Metasploit vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 2% of the time

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Sysdig Secure vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 8% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Snyk vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Wiz vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 4% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 4% of the time

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Illumio Segmentation vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 14% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 13% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 8% of the time

Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 5% of the time

BMC Helix Cloud Security vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Qualys TotalCloud

Download Qualys TotalCloud product report

Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Download Aqua Cloud Security Platform product report

Cisco Secure Workload

Download Cisco Secure Workload product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

Aqua Security Platform, CloudSploit, Argon

Cisco Tetration

Overview

Qualys TotalCloud enhances security posture across cloud environments with continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, and risk visualization, ensuring efficient threat assessment and automated remediation for improved cyber risk reduction.

Qualys TotalCloud offers a robust suite of security tools essential for organizations managing multi-cloud infrastructures. By integrating cloud accounts and automating workflows, it supports AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering comprehensive vulnerability management and zero-day detection. The platform's user-friendly design, combined with its extensive risk management and unified threat assessment capabilities, enables organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities effectively. TruRisk Insights provides clear insights on cyber risks, while the automation options streamline patch management and scanning processes. API integration across IaaS and SaaS environments further enhances resource allocation efficiency and saves time, addressing misconfigurations across cloud environments.

What are the most important features of Qualys TotalCloud?

Accurate Vulnerability Reports: Delivers precise and actionable insights for risk mitigation.
Zero-Day Detection: Identifies and addresses zero-day vulnerabilities proactively.
Unified Threat Assessment: Offers comprehensive evaluation of threats across the environment.
Extensive Risk Management: Manages risks effectively with advanced insights and prioritization.
Continuous Monitoring: Provides non-stop surveillance for vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud-Native Automation: Streamlines processes and reduces manual efforts using automation.
FlexScan for Internet-Facing VMs: Scans external VMs efficiently to detect vulnerabilities.
Dashboard Risk Visualization: Clear visualization helps prioritize vulnerabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances threat detection and response across clouds.
Time Savings: Automation reduces time spent on manual vulnerability management.
Resource Efficiency: Better allocation of resources through streamlined workflows.
Enhanced Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities for effective mitigation.
Integrated Cloud Accounts: Facilitates seamless cloud management and security.

Qualys TotalCloud is deployed in sectors needing rigorous vulnerability management, such as finance and healthcare. Companies utilize it to secure multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, focus on compliance, and integrate security into CI/CD pipelines to detect and remedy threats pre-deployment.

Qualys

Aqua Cloud Security Platform supports container environments with strong features such as Docker and Kubernetes integration, efficient vulnerability management, and seamless runtime protection, making it a key choice for cloud and container security.

Aqua Cloud Security Platform focuses on comprehensive container and cloud security enhancements. It offers robust tools for Docker and Kubernetes, efficient vulnerability management, and on-demand patching. The platform is praised for its Runtime Protection, Drift Prevention, and robust documentation, promoting seamless integration with existing platforms. Image scanning, Digital Threat Analysis, and sandboxing services accentuate security measures while integration with Docker Hub ensures ease of use. Scalable runtime policies, image assurance, and dynamic threat analysis simplify security tasks. Challenges remain in developing web security portals and greater standard server integration. Enhancing reporting, simplifying training, and improving log forwarding are key goals. Resource consumption, clearer roles, automation, and code analysis are vital future considerations.

What are the most important features of Aqua Cloud Security Platform?

Docker and Kubernetes Support: Ensures container security and streamlined operations.
Vulnerability Management: Efficient scanning and on-demand patching.
Strong Runtime Protection: Implements Drift Prevention and scalable policies.
Seamless Integration: Works with existing platforms for optimal performance.
Image Assurance and Threat Analysis: Provides thorough security checks and dynamic analysis.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Simplified Container Security: Streamlines container and cloud tasks for enhanced protection.
Enhanced Image Assessment: Detects configurations and risks efficiently.
Greater Data Protection: Ensures application visibility and security in deployments.
Flexible Licensing Models: Offers potential for reconsideration and optimization.

Aqua Cloud Security Platform is leveraged in industries focusing on container security, vulnerability scanning, and securing Kubernetes configurations within CI/CD pipelines. It is employed for image assessments and network security, demonstrating its efficacy in cloud applications and workload protection. Efficiently identifying misconfigurations and risks in cloud environments, it provides scanning for public clouds and docker environments, emphasizing data protection and application visibility tailored to customer-specific deployments.

Aqua Security

Cisco Secure Workload offers advanced auditing, micro-segmentation, and network visibility, automating policy presentation for improved security. It enhances application dependency mapping and provides comprehensive telemetry with strategic policy enforcement.

Cisco Secure Workload specializes in automating micro-segmentation, data center management, and traffic analysis. Its capabilities facilitate application dependency mapping and enhance internal micro-segmentation, providing invaluable network visibility. Users find its automation in policy presentation and strategic enforcement beneficial, along with granular control and scalability, despite needing improvements in scalability and integration capabilities. Enhanced notification features, troubleshooting options, and an efficient interface are desired for seamless deployment, along with stronger multi-tenancy, redundancy, and monitoring functions. Broader platform support and integrated cloud connectivity are desired for unified management across tools.

What are the most important features?

Auditing: Provides in-depth network analysis and security auditing capabilities.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances network security by automating segmentation at a granular level.
Application Dependency Mapping: Visualizes connections and interactions between applications.
Network Visibility: Delivers comprehensive insight into network activities and dynamics.
Policy Discovery: Streamlines policy creation through automation and reduces manual intervention.
Comprehensive Telemetry: Offers complete coverage and insights for better security assessment.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Security Measures: Offers robust features for network security improvement.
Automated Processes: Reduces manual efforts through automation, increasing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with flexible scalability options.
Granular Control: Allows detailed control over network policies and enforcement.

Entities in finance, gas, and oil sectors utilize Cisco Secure Workload for networking site management and compliance maintenance. It integrates into extensive Cisco infrastructure, aiding routers, switches, and endpoints, thus supporting auditors in network synchronization and auditing needs.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

HPE Salesforce Telstra Ellie Mae Cathay Pacific HomeAway

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Cisco Secure Workload