Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs Skybox Security Suite comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center and Skybox Security Suite based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewall Security Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Skybox Security Suite Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable features are the Virtual Private Network and the Electronic Control Lists.""Scalability is not an issue as long as you are able to buy additional licenses. Ten percent of our customers use Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, and we have large accounts with 50% of their end users behind this firewall.""It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.""The solution has a great UI and a policy deployment mechanism, and all the configuration is easily manageable for the firewalls.""Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is scalable.""The product's user interface is very easy to use and convenient.""Cisco's support and services are far superior to any other security product in Pakistan.""My clients have never contacted me with any issues, so I believe the solution is stable."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Pros →

"The features that I have found most valuable with Skybox Security Suite, and this is because I work on the security side, are the firewall assurance, the change manager and the vulnerability control. These three features are the most impressive from Skybox Security.""I think that compliance checks and policy compliance are the product's good features.""It can be integrated with a vulnerability management solution. When a client comes, apart from pitching network and firewall change management, we are recommending having vulnerability management. So, rather than just having the audit of the firewall, they can integrate it with their vulnerability management solution, which could be Rapid7, Qualys, or any other solution. This provides them the most value out of the platform. That is the way we are approaching our customer base.""It has a good policy management feature and can provide customers with good quality outputs.""The solution's most valuable and unique assets are the vulnerability management and change management solutions because they identify mistakes in the network before implementation which reduces risks.""The ability to appropriately prioritize vulnerabilities inside the environment, and then to have visibility into the traffic and rule sets of an organization, are two of the top capabilities that I recommend. Skybox is the only one that does both of those in a single platform.""The solution's simplicity of use is its most valuable feature.""instead of asking for firewall rules which may or may not be relevant, or could already be there, or could be over-permissioned, Skybox can be used to map out the resources that that application is going to use and provide the exact rules that an application would require to function correctly. If the traffic isn't able to flow for the application, if it's erring out, Skybox can be used to troubleshoot that and say, "All right, where is the traffic being stopped and why, and how do I fix that.""

More Skybox Security Suite Pros →

Cons
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center's logging functionality could be improved.""The initial setup is a bit complex.""Cisco firewalls use old ESR or a Linux system, and there are problems with encryption. When we switch on encryption, the throughput goes down.""I had a challenging time trying to size the firewall on the cloud. Maybe the information is there, but I couldn't find it easily. Usually, it depends on the cloud provider itself, whether you use AWS or Azure. These guys give you the information, so this part is not as detailed.""Some duplicated values and security standards are not working in some high-application protocols with Cisco's next-generation firewalls.""Cisco Firepower has been effective in solving various problems, but it could be improved by making it simpler and more user-friendly like Fortinet.""The IOS and the deploy option could be improved.""Areas for improvement include pricing points and the range of products available at any given time."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Cons →

"The vendor's support is terrible.""The most recent update was not tested with all of the vendors before it was released, so some of the features are misbehaving.""Reporting. A lot of the reports, out of the box, are limited to a certain number of either configuration violations or access rule violations. So when you first set up a new firewall to be monitored by Skybox, you don't get a real full report. You have to really tweak it to get everything.""The price is costly, and I hope they can reduce the cost.""The initial setup with Skybox Security is hard. You need one or two strong security engineers on your team.""I've had issues with licensing where, when they were expiring and I asked for the updated licenses, I would the wrong ones. I think their process needs to be straightened out a little bit - I don't know if they fixed it already, it has been awhile. It wasn't as straightforward as it could have been.""Modifications and the deletion of existing policies are currently unavailable.""The solution does not support certain devices or vendors in some regions or countries due to regulations."

More Skybox Security Suite Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "When you are using a Cisco solution you know it will be expensive. Cisco makes you pay for everything individually. We pay for the licenses that we need."
  • "Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center has the best price on the market."
  • "I rate Secure Firewall Management Center eight out of 10 for pricing."
  • "Technical support is an additional annual cost and is not included with the license."
  • "The price of the solution is expensive. We do not have to pay more than the standard licensing fees."
  • "It could be considered relatively cheaper when compared to some other vendors in the market."
  • "The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
  • "The solution is expensive. We have a multi-license, and we pay extra for support."
  • More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I think for the cost, what we got definitely is worth it. The only caution I would give is that whenever you license for Firewall Assurance at the same time, for some weird reason, you have to get one Network Assurance license, just to manage one firewall. That's a little bit of overkill. But otherwise, in general, the pricing is fairly okay."
  • "The pricing is high, and the licensing model needs more flexibility."
  • "The product's pricing is excellent value. In terms of licensing, make sure you understand your network components, all your hops through your network, thoroughly, before you decide on the total cost. If you want to do point-to-point flow analysis and such, you need to have the configuration of all the devices in between point A and point B. A lot of people don't realize all their network components until they start using this product."
  • "I've seen the pricing of every solution on the market. When you compare apples to apples, where Skybox becomes exceedingly expensive is if you look at it compared to something like FireMon that only does a fraction of what Skybox does. But if you include everything that Skybox does, it becomes way more expensive than the competition, but you're also not comparing apples to apples. If you look at FireMon, and you look at like just the firewall assurance piece, they are fairly comparable and, actually, Skybox comes in a little bit cheaper in some cases, depending on which product you're looking at."
  • "The pricing has increased exorbitantly in the last few years, so now it is questionable. Now, it makes me want to review other products."
  • "With licensing, the number of network nodes becomes very expensive to the point where you have to rationalize if the tools are warranted anymore."
  • "Fully understand the total cost of ownership. They have gone to a new model where you have to replace the hardware every X amount of years at a very substantial cost and fully understand your intended number of nodes. To operate a firewall, you have to pay two licenses, a firewall node and a network node. If you are a reasonable-sized organization, this gets expensive very quickly."
  • "Pricing is on the higher side. In terms of licensing, you should buy the complete suite rather than buying only the Change Manager. I think Change Manager with Vulnerability Control is something that would be interesting to look at."
  • More Skybox Security Suite Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewall Security Management solutions are best for your needs.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:One of the most valuable features of Cisco Secure Firewalls is their seamless integration with other Cisco products.
    Top Answer:One of the advantages of Cisco is its range of flexible licensing options. Whether customers are seeking a lighter version or a comprehensive feature set, Cisco offers various licensing tiers to… more »
    Top Answer:Areas for improvement include pricing points and the range of products available at any given time. Cisco could potentially address these aspects more effectively to better accommodate the needs of… more »
    Top Answer:When you import all the assets that you have, like desktops, servers, networks, devices, routers, and then firewalls, and other products, then Skybox makes like, a model of the network, but with… more »
    Top Answer:You always negotiate a little bit when the price is in question. But, the price could be a little bit smaller. Maybe it could offer additional discounts when you buy all the modules. Because end users… more »
    Top Answer:There is room for improvement in pricing. It would be better, especially if a customer bought all four modules.
    Ranking
    Views
    547
    Comparisons
    216
    Reviews
    13
    Average Words per Review
    497
    Rating
    7.9
    Views
    4,696
    Comparisons
    3,359
    Reviews
    8
    Average Words per Review
    462
    Rating
    7.5
    Comparisons
    Learn More
    Overview

    The Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the administrative nerve center for select Cisco security products running on multiple platforms. It provides unified management of Cisco Secure Firewalls with Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) software for port and protocol control, application control, IPS, URL filtering, and malware protection functions. Firewall Management Center is the centralized event and policy manager for:

    ● Cisco Secure Firewall with the Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) OS

    ● Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services

    ● Cisco Secure IPS (Firepower Next-Gen IPS / NGIPS)

    ● Cisco FirePOWER Threat Defense for ISR

    ● Cisco Malware Defense (AMP)

    The Skybox Security Suite platform combines firewall and network device data with vulnerability and threat intelligence, prioritizing security issues in the context of your unique environment. Powerful attack vector analytics reduce response times and risks, bringing firewall, vulnerability and threat management processes for complex networks under control.

    Firewall Assurance brings all firewalls into one normalized view, continuously monitoring policy compliance, optimizing firewall rulesets and finding attack vectors that others miss. Skybox covers the most comprehensive list of firewall vendors, complex rulesets, even virtual and cloud-based firewalls. With proven scalability in 1,500+ firewall deployments, Firewall Assurance keeps rules optimized and ensures changes don’t introduce new risk. 

    Gain total visibility of the vulnerabilities in your attack surface without waiting for a scan. Leverage Skybox Research Lab's vulnerability and threat intelligence, and automatically correlate it to your unique environment. With network modeling and advanced simulations, pinpoint exposed vulnerabilities and other attack vectors. And use context to prioritize vulnerabilities in terms of actual risk and respond to threats with accuracy and efficiency.

    For more information or to view a demo, visit www.skyboxsecurity.com.

    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    ADP, Blue Cross Blue Shield, BT, USAID, Delta Dental, EDF Energy, EMC, HSBC, Johnson & Johnson
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company33%
    Comms Service Provider17%
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Government17%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Engineering Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Outsourcing Company17%
    Insurance Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise33%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise70%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business51%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise69%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Skybox Security Suite
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Skybox Security Suite and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is ranked 7th in Firewall Security Management with 18 reviews while Skybox Security Suite is ranked 6th in Firewall Security Management with 33 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is rated 8.0, while Skybox Security Suite is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center writes "A stable and reasonably priced product that protects organizations from malware". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Skybox Security Suite writes "Efficient in vulnerability management, stable and easy to use ". Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is most compared with AWS Firewall Manager, FireMon Security Manager and Palo Alto Networks Panorama, whereas Skybox Security Suite is most compared with AlgoSec, Tufin Orchestration Suite, FireMon Security Manager, Palo Alto Networks Panorama and RedSeal. See our Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Skybox Security Suite report.

    See our list of best Firewall Security Management vendors.

    We monitor all Firewall Security Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.