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Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Trellix Intrusion Prevention System comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Network Analytics0.9%
Zabbix3.9%
SolarWinds NPM3.6%
Other91.6%
Network Monitoring Software
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT3.0%
Darktrace10.3%
Fortinet FortiGate9.6%
Other77.1%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Trellix Intrusion Prevention System3.0%
Darktrace10.3%
Fortinet FortiGate9.6%
Other77.1%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Akash Das Barman - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Trainee at DataSpace Academy
Network analytics has reduced investigation time and provides deeper visibility into lateral movement
Several features often look very promising during evaluation or implementation but end up being used only lightly in day-to-day operations. Advanced reporting and scheduled compliance reports look very attractive for audit and compliance teams at implementation time and can generate structured reports for visibility, risk posture, and traffic summaries. In practice, many teams do not rely on it heavily because SIEM tools or GRC platforms already handle reporting better. Built-in threat intelligence feeds represent another area where expectations do not always match usage. The platform includes threat intelligence-based detection and classifications. Initially, teams expect to depend on this heavily, but later SOC teams often prefer their own threat intelligence feeds or correlate intelligence inside SIEM instead. The built-in feeds are used but not as a primary detection source. Automated incident summaries and guided investigation views are designed to simplify triage by automatically grouping related activity into incidents. However, teams often move away from them due to various factors affecting adoption.
reviewer2772102 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Architect at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Logging and customizable rules have helped improve threat monitoring and detection
The logging is mainly what I consider one of the best features with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT. Being able to log and store it in a file allows you to push it to a centralized repository. The logging and reporting help improve incident response. You should always be logging threats, any sort of misconfiguration, and anything that could be an issue. It's important to at least log and monitor it. The basic rules provide a good baseline in assessing Cisco Sourcefire SNORT's ability in providing real-time analytics for threat detection, but as a professional, you should look to constantly modify that baseline. They provide extensive customizability so you can define your own rules. The customizability allows it to be adaptable in protecting against diverse network threats to the constant change.
BS
Large account Manager at Softcell Technologies Limited
Has offered reliable threat protection and detailed network insights but could expand features beyond existing capabilities
The best features of Trellix Intrusion Prevention System include advanced ATP (Advanced Threat Protection), which uses signatures, behavior analysis, and machine learning to stop zero-day exploits and malware advanced persistent threats (APTs). They track and collect data from APTs, which allows them to track malicious files entering the environment. The system offers inline prevention and real-time automatic blocking of malicious packets before they reach the network. It integrates with the Trellix ecosystem and provides application visibility and control. The solution provides deep insight into network traffic, applications, and protocols for better information. All packets coming through the application are analyzed and reported. They share intelligence updates regularly to protect from different malicious files and sector-specific threats. It supports both on-premise and cloud environments.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has been pretty stable since we deployed it, and everything seems to be working fine."
"Cisco Stealthwatch provides the solutions analytics and threat detection capabilities that I am looking for, and it has also improved the network visibility of our organization."
"We find that Stealthwatch can detect the unseen."
"This solution enables us to find them and shut them down, and it has reduced our incident response time because we can now narrow down where incidents are happening, so it is very helpful for our organization."
"Using this solution has helped us to detect and identify viruses or malicious activity in the network early on."
"This solution has improved network visibility a lot."
"Time to value is very good for Stealthwatch."
"The solution has increased our threat detection rate. Cisco Stealthwatch has not reduced our incident response times. It has not reduced the amount of time it takes us to detect immediate threats. It has reduced false positives."
"Scalability is something that Cisco has always cared about."
"The whole solution is very good, and stable."
"The URL filtering is very good and you can create a group for customized URLs."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."
"The tool's most valuable feature is threat detection, which is important because we have multiple layers not only in Cisco."
"This solution makes life a lot easier as there are fewer man-hours required and we no longer need too many resources to manage it."
"The logging is mainly what I consider one of the best features with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT; being able to log and store it in a file allows you to push it to a centralized repository."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the filtering."
"The solution is very stable, reliable, and free of bugs or glitches, and it does not crash or freeze."
"The ability to centrally manage all the IPS sensors, track the different security events generated by it, and customize the different policies, depending on their location."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is a good product for dealing with DDoS attacks and for the inspection of network traffic."
"It has a lot of functions, such as firewall. We are administrators, and we create some rules to protect our network. We also monitor the traffic in and out and have disk encryption on-premises. When we detect malware, we scan for the virus on the PC. We can then delete or block the malware."
"The best feature of the Trellix Intrusion Prevention System is the rules that Trellix provides, I think that's the best value from IPS."
"McAfee NSP is much more stable than Cisco."
"The feature I found most valuable is the network threat analyzer in the security platform. It also integrates with GTI, or Global Threat Intelligence. Otherwise, I just use the basic features."
"The solution can scale."
 

Cons

"The solution should have the ability to analyze security events not only at the network layer but also at the application and OS layers."
"The initial setup was complex."
"We had some trouble with the installation as we migrated from our previous solution."
"Stealthwatch is still maturing in AI. It uses artificial intelligence for predictions, but AI still needs to mature."
"I don't really think we really save time while using this solution."
"The initial setup was straightforward but required a lot of data entry, to begin with building out the server types and network types."
"One thing I would like to see improved is if it could automatically be tied through ISE, instead of you having to manually get notifications and disable it yourself."
"The initial setup is complex, as there is a lot to configure."
"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"This is a good solution, but some others may have some advantages."
"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."
"The cloud can be improved."
"I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it."
"The solution's approach to managing traffic blocking is confusing and impractical."
"The pricing needs to be improved."
"With the next release, I would like to see some PBR, so that you can do the configuration with the features."
"The deployment was a little difficult, I did it myself."
"Some of the documentation is not as straightforward as it could be. It's much too general - especially in areas related to updates."
"In terms of high-security attacks, not all of them are developed. You cannot do a rule that includes all high severities."
"The platform’s GUI could be the latest."
"The management console needs to be less complex and easier to navigate."
"Integration with Global Thereat Intelligence could be better. Also, I think management solutions are end of life now at McAfee. Network threat analyzer may be used for endpoint quarantines. Integration between these sides, as well as endpoint APO, will help you quarantine the risky endpoints."
"There are limited resources for configuration guidance."
"Currently, the settings and confirmations on the McAfee console are complex and complicated for our branches."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are additional licenses needed for the number of so-called network flows. It's hard to plan the number of flows you need in the network, this is a problem. The price of the Cisco Stealthwatch is relatively inexpensive"
"One of the things which bugs me about Lancope is the licensing. We understand how licensing works. Our problem is when we bought and purchased most of these Lancope devices, we did so with our sister company. Somewhere within the purchase and distribution, licensing got mixed up. That is all on Cisco, and it is their responsibility. They allotted some of our sister company's equipment to us, and some of our equipment to them. To date, they have never been able to fix it."
"It is worth the cost."
"Licensing is done by flows per second, not including outside>in traffic."
"The solution is expensive. It costs several hundred thousand dollars per year (depending on how many flows you are collecting)."
"Today, we are part of the big Cisco ELA, and it is a la carte. We can get orders for whatever we want. At the end of the day, we have to pay for it in one big expense, but that is fine. We are okay with that."
"We pay for support costs on a yearly basis."
"The tool is not cheaply priced."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"We have a three-year license for this solution."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"I don't know the exact amount, but most of the time when I go to a company with a proposition, they will say, "This thing that you are selling is good, but it's expensive. Why don't you propose something like FortiGate, Check Point, or Palo Alto?" Cisco device are expensive compared to other devices."
"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
"The tool is competitively priced."
"I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Stealthwatch?
Regarding cost, for the Bangladesh context, Cisco Secure Network Analytics is a little bit high-priced because we are...
What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch?
Several features often look very promising during evaluation or implementation but end up being used only lightly in ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Stealthwatch?
My main use case for Cisco Secure Network Analytics has been network visibility and anomaly-based threat detection wi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five. There are some other t...
What needs improvement with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
I have not had much experience with the community-driven rule set while utilizing Cisco Sourcefire SNORT. I don't hav...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
Endpoint protection is the main use case. The main aspect involves specifying different rules, and when network traff...
What needs improvement with McAfee Network Security Platform?
Trellix Intrusion Prevention System does not provide virtual patching. Patching involves updates on the OS side to ad...
What is your primary use case for McAfee Network Security Platform?
We do not use Trellix Intrusion Prevention System; rather, we sell the Trellix Intrusion Prevention System solution. ...
What advice do you have for others considering McAfee Network Security Platform?
I have experience working with other tools, specifically Trellix solutions such as DLP, EDR, and MDR, as well as with...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco Stealthwatch Enterprise, Lancope StealthWatch
Sourcefire SNORT
McAfee Network Security Platform, McAfee NSP, IntruShield Network Intrusion Prevention System, IntruShield Network IPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edge Web Hosting, Telenor Norway, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Webster Financial Corporation, Westinghouse Electric, VMware, TIAA-CREF
CareCore, City of Biel, Dimension Data, LightEdge, Lone Star College System, National Rugby League, Port Aventura, Smart City Networks, Telecom Italia, The Department of Education in Western Australia
Desjardins Group, HollyFrontier, Nubia, Agbar, WNS Global Services, INAIL, Universidad de Las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Cook County, China Pacific Insurance, Bank Central Asia, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, City of Chicago, Macquarie Telecom, Sutherland Global Services, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, United Automotive Electronic Systems
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