Forescout Platform Reviews

The network access control is a valuable feature for us. It provides endpoint visibility of our network and controls who can access network resources. That's really powerful.

The problem with vendors like Cisco is that their solutions are limited their to own ecosystem, and in general they don't work well with other vendors. With virtual machines, it can actually collect data from a variety of different network solutions, such as Cisco, Bloomberg, etc. Any routing platform out there, you can import it today. It can basically integrate these products and you can use it for enforcement. You can use them to collect the data. 

The other one is obviously that CounterACT can provide you with virtual ability to control who gets access to the network. It can act as a super-based machine and provide a level of security. It is integrated more easily than other vendors.

The integration with Sync can be improved. We would like to see better integration with some other popular vendors. 

Also, the reporting needs improvement, as well as integration with PAL services. It also needs more options for different sizes of customers. It does really work well in the big departments. For smaller organizations it might be a little overkill of a solution.

We've had no issues with deployment.

We've had no issues with stability.

We've had no issues with scalability.

It's a little bit too complex. A little bit of simplification when it comes to deployment might actually be better.

I think it is a good product and definitely fills the gap. I don't think we have many competitors at this stage. The major competitor is Cisco, but the biggest advantage of CounterACT is vendor agnostic. It means that it can work with a variety of different products. That is the biggest advantage.

CounterACT is a very flexible product in terms of deployment where the users will have a Layer 2 or Layer 3 deployment depending on their network infrastructure while maintaining the product's features regardless of which deployment. For larger scale projects which includes multiple sites, CounterACT can be easily deployed in a centralized or decentralized manner. Besides that, deploying CounterACT introduces almost little-to-no network infrastructure changes.

Integration with third-party products is also an important feature of CounterACT. While many of their competitors' products can only be integrated within their own portfolio, CounterACT manages to integrate with today's top security products to cover the security gaps that many solutions may introduce. CounterACT also provides a ControlFabric platform which may allow the users to integrate all of their security and network solutions into CounterACT.

As a distributor's engineer working on CounterACT, there are a few vast changes that I have seen after deploying CounterACT for our customers. A few of our customers reportedly had an easier time with their auditors on endpoint compliance, where they would only need to generate and turn in CounterACT's report. This saves both the customer's and the auditor's time.

Another improvement that we can see is automated security, where the customers would not need to manually turn on and off the switch ports for their guests. CounterACT automatically recognizes these guest and provides a self-registration feature to their guest while still maintaining the customer's network security posture.

There are few areas which will need vast improvements. The CounterACT graphical user interface could use a revamp as it may not look appealing enough to the end users.

Another area which the CounterACT should improve is their ability to deliver a more precise error messages to their users. At times, the error messages are not clear enough and are too technical to understand. Some of their error messages are not generic, as they are only understandable by the ForeScout engineers.

I've used it for three years.

There were no issues with deployment.

There are few issues with CounterACT that need more attention, mainly it's ability to process and perform discovery faster. At times, CounterACT takes too long to determine the endpoints, which may cause delays to the end users.

CounterACT could also use a more stable management console interface. This is because there will be times where CounterACT takes too long to login to its management console.

Another issue with CounterACT is that it does not provide very meaningful error messages when some error occurs. The error messages are hidden and it does not show unless the users click on a specific button or mouse over to the problematic elements.

There have been no issues scaling it.

The Customer Service is very responsive and helpful. They managed to resolve most of our issues with the products without much hassle.

The Technical Support is very responsive and helpful. They managed to resolve most of our issues with the products without much hassle.

Initial setup is very straightforward because there are only a few network configurations needed to be done. It does not require any downtime and could be deployed at any time during production hour. There are a few endpoint configurations that need to be done, which users can do so through their Microsoft ActiveDirectory or desktop management tools or software.

We implemented the solutions with our S.I. To ensure a smooth implementation, it is crucial to have all the endpoints and network requirements ready and configured before CounterACT is installed. It is recommended to start with the default policies and work on these policies to meet customers' requirements.

As we are an implementer, we do have an ROI for all our products.

For pricing and licensing, CounterACT is not an overly expensive product. They can fit most of our customers' budgets.

We managed to evaluate Cisco ISE. Cisco ISE is a complex solutions to deploy where it only supports users who use Cisco switches.

ForeScout CounterACT is a much more appealing product because of the market here in Malaysia, where the users uses multiple brands of switches with complex network infrastructure. CounterACT could easily adapt to these environments without any changes made to the customer's network infrastructure.

ForeScout CounterACT is like a Pandora's box, which contains a lot of functionalities that can be used to improve the customer's daily operation tasks and reduces manual workforce. It is recommended that the implementer understand what CounterACT can be used to do as different customers' business functions could use different functions of CounterACT.

• Guest management
• Antivirus compliance monitoring
• USB connection management

The bank has been able to manage host connection on the network, manage antivirus, and restrict the use of USB on the bank’s systems.

The patch management ability of the solution needs to be re-examined.

We've used it for five years.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues with scaling it.

Customer service is above average.

Technical support is above average.

It's straightforward to set up.

We used a vendor team alongside an in-house one.

The ROI is commensurate with the price.

The product is expensive.

To get the best out of the solution, the organization’s networks team must be willing to take ownership and provide assistance where required. Use tools like Gigamon during deployment and avoid spanning directly from Cisco switches.

The main feature, the NAC engine, is very flexible since ForeScout CounterACT doesn’t need the use of 802.1x and can work with almost all switch vendors.

Since my company is a systems integrator, we have ForeScout CounterACT in our lab just to test or troubleshoot customer configurations.

There isn’t a specific area to improve. It’s a good product from my point of view. Maybe the licensing and cost can be improved.

No issues with deployment.

Haven't had issues with stability.

Haven't had to scale it.

Maybe test the configuration very well before enabling actions (like VLAN moving, Captive Portal), because they can cause many problems in production environments if there are configuration mistakes.

This product provided a really good effect in terms of network access control. With the ForeScout NAC, distinguishing guests and corporate staff was easier.

This was very easy to achieve since the product integrates really well with Active Directory and the NMAP feature discovers all endpoints within the network.

With the use of the NAC solution from ForeScout, the company was able to defend against unauthorized access to the network, thereby thoroughly distinguishing who is a Corporate user and who is a Guest. Process for Guest Registration (if implemented properly) was also easy.

Detection and control of Dual-Homed devices needs to be improved, as the product sometimes gives false positives. Also, more custom policies should be made available.

I used this solution for 14 months.

There were issues of false positives whenever a new hotfix was installed even with the GA release. There was actually an issue where an upgrade to a new version of the hotfix plugin increased the CPU optimization and network bandwidth usage.

ForeScout is scalable since a management device is available to manage other CT boxes.

Technical support from ForeScout is pretty good, with escalations made promptly when needed.

No previous solution.

The initial setup was straightforward, as the steps were simple to understand. It only got complex when creating policies that are not simple.

I worked for a vendor team, and for any client ready to implement this product, I would recommend that the necessary requirements for deployment should be done before the team arrives to start implementation. This makes deployment less stressful.

No other options were evaluated.

If you are looking for a NAC solution which works without the use of agents, I would say ForeScout is the one to go for.

• Rogue detection and blocking
• Guest registration
• Full visibility of network hosts
• Threat protection

We are provided with real-time visibility and control of devices accessing our network.

• Reduce false positives
• Reduce bugs
• Improve on host classification
• Increase the Nigerian partner base

We've been using it for over two years.

No major issues.

No major issues.

No major issues.

It's good, but certainly it needs improvement especially on the side of the partners.

Initial setup was straightforward. All it required was to integrate traffic sniffing/monitoring and management ports into our core switch, and instruct the core switch to mirror every traffic to the device through the sniffing port. The rest was simply to define all our network segments on the device and integrate all access switches via SNMP.

We implemented it through ForeScout's only Nigerian partner, and this is what I would advise everyone interested in the solution to do.

It is quite expensive, but there are specs for small companies as well.

Cisco ISE was also evaluated, but the CT10000 was easier to implement and integrate into our environment.

You can go ahead, but you will need good network skills to get the maximum benefits from it.

I would also advise that you don't activate all the add-on features, but use it solely for its primary function - visibility and rogue detection/blocking.

Endpoint visibility, policy flexibility, compatibility and integration with other products.

Automation! One broad example is that we can now stop network threats right away and without intervention.

Forescout is constantly adding new features, so this may change as of this writing, but sometimes the switch management interface doesn't display accurate information which relates to false positives on individual switch access errors.

1 year

None that were Forescout related. CounterACT always opens a bunch of little IP sessions with endpoints, ake sure you have a large enough connection table on your firewall if you plan to put it behind one.

Minor. Had to reinstall one virtual appliance, which is painless when you have an Enterprise Manager.

No, this is one of the products strengths.

10 out of 10. Very responsive and address concerns quickly.

9 out of 10. Really fast response, high level of competency.

I switched from Cisco NAC because it is reliant on 802.1X, and has no other function than to ensure endpoints have authenticated via your method of choice.

Straightforward. Setup is simple with a solid, pre-defined set of policies that you build on and customize as you learn.

In house.

Without access specific numbers, we now have the ability to instantly shut down internal malicious hosts or traffic, refuse or restrict access to non-compliant hosts, discover risks on the network we didn't know were there, and automate the remediation of a multitude of security risks. As I work for an organization that spends a lot on security administration, at a minimum, the cost savings must have already paid for the product.

Palo Alto

Make sure to plan for all endpoints. If you want full coverage of your networks, account for anything that has an IP address. For example, a busy core switch can have 20+ IP addresses, and each one goes against your license count. Also, if you plan to have it behind a firewall, take into consideration your firewall's connection limitations. Although CounterACT isn't really a heavy bandwidth user, it does open a ton of short connections on a constant basis. The more you tune these down, the less accurate your real time host information becomes.