Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Prisma SaaS by Palo Alto Networks comparison

Cisco Umbrella offers flexible, cloud-delivered security according to users’ requirements Cisco Umbrella includes secure web gateway, firewall, and cloud access security broker (CASB) functionality all delivered from a single cloud security service. Cisco Umbrella’s protection is extended to devices, remote users, and distributed locations anywhere. As company employees work from many locations and devices, Cisco Umbrella is the easiest way to effectively protect users everywhere in minutes.

Cisco Umbrella uses machine learning to search for, identify, and even predict malicious domains. By learning from internet activity patterns, this DNS-layer security solution can automatically identify attacker infrastructure being staged for the next threat. These domains are then proactively blocked, protecting networks from potential compromise. Cisco Umbrella analyzes terabytes of data in real time across all markets, geographies, and protocols.

Cisco Umbrella works with leading IT companies to integrate its security enforcement and intelligence. Built with a bidirectional API, Cisco Umbrella makes it easy to extend protection from on-premises security appliances to cloud controlled devices and sites.

Cisco Umbrella is suitable for small businesses without dedicated security professionals, as well as for multinational enterprises with complex environments.

Why use Cisco Umbrella?

• Simplify security management: Cisco Umbrella is the fastest and easiest way to protect all users within minutes and reduces the number of infections and alerts sent from other security products by stopping threats at the earliest point. With no hardware to install and no software to manually update, ongoing management is simple
  
  
• Reliable reporting: Cisco Umbrella reports show activity for each device or network in the system. Users gain a more complete picture of the security risks facing their organization and can take action to remedy them.
  
  
• Manage and control cloud apps: Umbrella provides visibility into sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud services in use across the enterprise. Users can uncover new services being used, see who is using them, identify potential risk, and block specific applications easily.

Reviews from Real Users

Cisco Umbrella stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Some of the major ones are its DNS-based protection, ability to protect users no matter where they are located, stability, and high performance.

Daniel B., a network specialist at Syswind Kft, writes, “We primarily use the solution as cloud security for our branches. It protects us from direct internet outbreaks. It makes for good flexibility. The solution is very easy to manage. We found the initial setup, for example, to be quite simple. Efficient protection on the DNS level and even higher. The sandboxing feature analyses and handles the complicated security risks.”

Victor M., SOC & Security Services Director at BEST, notes, “It provides security for the remote workers and it helps to improve enterprise security in a very easy way. We mainly enjoy web software protection capabilities. It prevents the end-users from getting into bad sites or sites that potentially could have malware or could be phishing. It helps end-users avoid the wrong sites. The solution works very smoothly. The user interface is good.”

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a cloud access security broker (CASB) that provides multifunction visibility, control over data travel, and sophisticated analytics. With Microsoft Cloud App Security, you can: 

- Manage, control, and audit apps to streamline cloud access security

- Mange your access to resources to discover shadow IT and understand your digital information estate

- Use real-time controls to enable threat protection on all the access points that touch your environment

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Prisma SaaS by Palo Alto Networks is a powerful cloud access security brokerage (CASB) and SaaS solution that is designed to fully handle an organization’s SaaS security needs. It is a comprehensive package that offers both in-line as well as API-based protection. Users can use Prisma SaaS to complement whatever security tools they currently employ.

Prisma SaaS Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy Prisma SaaS include:

• Adaptability. Prisma SaaS can be adapted to satisfy any and all SaaS needs that an organization might have. When users choose Prisma SaaS, they gain access to a vast suite of integrations. These enable users to connect with the most widely used and common SaaS applications on the market. An organization is given the ability to take stock of features or functions that they might be missing and employ the integration to make up for whatever they feel they are missing.

• Security. Prisma SaaS comes with a wealth of security features that users can leverage to handle all of their security needs. Users can set specific security policies to classify data in a way that enables the solution’s artificial intelligence and machine learning software to track them to prevent losses from taking place. The solution’s AI and ML can also block known malware, identify new malware, and block these new threats before they can do harm.

• Automated updates. Organizations do not need to devote resources to ensure that Prisma SaaS’s software remains up to date. It automatically updates when an update is ready to launch. Users can focus on using the product and allow the solution to manage its updates on its own.

Prisma SaaS Features

• Centralized management and control. Prisma SaaS is controllable from a single centralized location. Users can manage every aspect of the solution in a simplified way. They do not need to master the controls on a variety of consoles to achieve the highest level of value from it. All of the controls are located in one place, which also makes it easy for users to learn how to use them. Additionally, it enables users to view all of their critical data in a single location without having to struggle to find the data that they need.

• Threat visualization and reporting. Users gain the ability to break down potential threats and incidents in ways that provide deep insights. Prisma SaaS can visually represent threats that have not yet been actualized as well as events that have occurred. Additionally, it can create detailed reports that can provide users with the information that they need to secure themselves from future harm.

• User behavior monitoring. Prisma SaaS’s AI and ML capabilities enable the solution to spot unusual user behavior that might signal that a user’s credentials have been stolen.

Reviews from Real Users

Prisma SaaS by Palo Alto Network is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are the ability to customize data search expressions and the ability to identify, analyze, and troubleshoot threats from a single solution.

Gabriel F., the senior service delivery engineer at the Netdata Innovation Center, writes, “You have the ability to create your own expressions for your data. Palo Alto understands that DLP is not the same for all consumers. You might have a particular need to fulfill, and they give you the opportunity to create a custom expression to match the specific format that you have. For a confidential file property that you have in your files, you can add a metadata field. It gives you the opportunity to create that.”

Angell D., a senior engineer at Cloudrise, says, "The most valuable feature of Prisma Cloud-native, in my opinion, is that it assists in identifying, analyzing, and remediating vulnerabilities."