2019-03-11T07:21:00Z

What needs improvement with Cisco Web Security Appliance?

Please share with the community what you think needs improvement with Cisco Web Security Appliance.

What are its weaknesses? What would you like to see changed in a future version?

Julia Miller - PeerSpot reviewer
Community Director at PeerSpot
  • 0
  • 27
20
PeerSpot user
20 Answers
PK
UI Developer at ANB SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED
Real User
2023-04-19T13:38:00Z
Apr 19, 2023

The tool needs to provide logs. They need to improve firewall threat defense.

Search for a product comparison
Md Manirul Islam - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy General Manager Pre-Sales at Beximcocomputers
Real User
Top 5
2023-01-03T14:51:39Z
Jan 3, 2023

The solution could improve the graphical user interface. It is not up to the regular standard of what we would expect from Cisco. Additionally, they need to improve the categorization when blocking in the settings. The CLI could have a better view than the graphical user interface but I did not investigate further.

DA
Business Architect at Letris
Reseller
Top 20
2022-08-18T11:51:00Z
Aug 18, 2022

The transparent proxy is quite difficult to enforce on smartphones and tablets because it is on a sticker implementation rather than a line mode. The WCCP ID is the biggest IP address of the appliance but it is not able to be reached by the user. The addition of inbound features such as a reverse proxy and load balancers would be very useful. Reporting could be improved so that a central management solution is not required.

AnilKumar29 - PeerSpot reviewer
DGM - Pre-Sales at Niveshan Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
Real User
Top 20
2022-07-13T09:36:00Z
Jul 13, 2022

There are occasional delays in customer support but it's a minor thing.

Rainier S. - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Integration Engineering / Enterprise Technology & Innovation at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
2022-07-03T14:18:00Z
Jul 3, 2022

The reporting needs improvement. We were using a stripped-down version of Splunk at the time, and as far as I recall, there was no easy way for us to send those logs to our enterprise Splunk. It kept pushing us to use the smaller version. That was probably just a sales team thing, but other than that, the product was great, but the reporting was definitely an issue. I would like to see Risk API included, as well as the ability to automate adding things to the blacklist and whitelist without having to do it manually and having it report into the Cisco WSA cloud via risk API.

Muhammad Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Unit Head System Administration & Automation at MCB Islamic Bank Ltd
Real User
Top 10
2022-06-06T09:37:00Z
Jun 6, 2022

It should have a user-based quota, per-user quota, that can be defined on the appliance. That way, if a user reaches their quota individually, they should be blocked for the next day. One major feature that is still not in this product and that should be implemented by Cisco is that it should have a live graph. We'd like to see, for example: What is the user consumption at the right now? What is the bandwidth, when bandwidth is used by the user? There is no current graph of it and I would recommend it should be in the product.

Learn what your peers think about Cisco Web Security Appliance. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2023.
708,544 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Vusa Ndlovu - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Solution Architect at Nexio South Africa
Real User
Top 5
2022-05-19T16:19:00Z
May 19, 2022

We just deployed it. I would just like to have more filters. However, I need more time to give a report to see what limitations may exist. During the setup, we had issues with updating the rules. I would like more automation. When it's on a failover, everyone will think that they'll filter nicely.

CE
IT Network Engineer at a maritime company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 5
2022-01-14T12:51:41Z
Jan 14, 2022

The support for the solution could be improved as there are issues with SMARTnet support.

JO
Network Support Engineer at a government with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
2021-08-18T18:24:25Z
Aug 18, 2021

The stability could be better. The solution needs to be more user-friendly and easier to navigate. It's not so easy right now.

YT
Information Security Manager at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
2021-05-27T07:33:00Z
May 27, 2021

This solution could be more secure. Purpose-wise, I don't necessarily see the point of this solution. Users can gain access to restricted content easily with a simple VPN. It just seems like a waste of money to me. In my opinion, this kind of technology should be available in a bundle. If internet security and web security were bundled together, that would be great.

ED
Owner at Jolly Security Inc
Real User
Top 10
2021-01-26T11:10:31Z
Jan 26, 2021

Sometimes reporting is a little bit short. Cisco has always put more emphasis on developing big products that are very robust security-wise, rather than focusing on developing solutions with a lot of bells and whistles. In other words, it's not beautiful, but it gets the job done. Reporting is not so beautiful compared to other solutions, it's not so cute and colorful; however, it does a very good job in the areas that it supports — because it detects malware and malicious code. There is a ton of intelligence behind it.

it_user1272714 - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrating engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
2020-08-19T07:57:00Z
Aug 19, 2020

The GUI is not user-friendly, so it needs to improve or be simplified. The initial setup is complex, it could be easier.

DD
Solution Architect- Network Infrastructure at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
2020-06-14T08:03:00Z
Jun 14, 2020

Obviously there is always room for improvement for almost all the appliances available in the market. But there are scopes for improvement. I'm pretty sure that Cisco will keep on integrating different feature sets as the market demands and I have seen Cisco as an organization that puts in proactive efforts providing different features before they come into the market. So I'm pretty sure that Cisco will give due diligence in terms of providing all the features in their WSA. But one thing I don't like with Cisco is that they're very fragmented in terms of feature sets. What I mean is that the one thing I don't like about Cisco is that they are very much fragmented in terms of providing the complete solution. They keep on breaking their different feature sets into different boxes. The days are coming when almost all the customers are looking for a consolidated box or a box wherein you can have multiple feature sets based on infrastructure, which will decrease the carbon footprint in the data center. Then, obviously, the number of devices they will have in the data center will go down. So cooling requirements and power requirements will also go down. So that's what the customer is looking at. But Cisco is too segmented. They gave ESA, they gave WSA, they give their next-generation Firewall Firepower. Then they gave a management center. And for network AMP they made a separate box set. So there are too many devices. Though I understand technically that, yes, fragmented technology is best because we should let the dedicated device do dedicated jobs. But again, in terms of customer acceptability and the customer's point of view, consolidated devices make much more sense for them. I would obviously prefer the WSA to be integrated with ESA because there is no point putting so many hardware devices and infrastructures in. So if WSA had the functionality of ESA, at least the basic functionality of ESA, it could be merged into a single box, and that would be good.

DA
Business Architect at Letris
Reseller
Top 20
2020-05-17T07:17:00Z
May 17, 2020

There are some problems with this solution but it's not related to this product. If a user wants to use it for other devices like mobile or smartphones, this product isn't so reliable. If you want to implement it in a track point mode, it is difficult to implement and is not so reliable. There should be more implementation.

Usman Rasool - PeerSpot reviewer
VP - Head Enterprise Technology Infrastructure at MCB Islamic Bank Ltd.
Real User
Top 10
2020-04-26T06:32:39Z
Apr 26, 2020

The licensing model needs to be more flexible. How it works is that you can have from zero to 499 users at the first stage, then from 500 to 999 users at stage two, and so on. They need to be more flexible because when you exceed 1,000 users then you are supposed to deploy a separate appliance to cater to them. The technical support could use some improvement.

RS
Sr. Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
2020-03-16T06:56:06Z
Mar 16, 2020

They need a better graphical interface, and they need a better ISE mechanism. In the next release, I would like to see the reporting features enhanced.

MF
Network Security Engineer & Systems Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
2019-11-28T06:06:00Z
Nov 28, 2019

Technical support needs to be improved because they take a very long time and there is no communication or notification. Controlling engines at the network layer needs to handle more links or multiple links from the internet. Controlling with the applications, or more applications as part of the local applications so that it's bigger. The price should be moderated.

GF
Network Security Team Leader
Real User
2019-11-04T06:14:00Z
Nov 4, 2019

The price of this solution needs to be reduced. The FTD 21 model's Firepower Threat Defense does not have the multi-instance feature for the virtualization with the physical equipment. This makes it difficult to propose this solution to the customers. The issue that we are facing is, for example, if we have a project with a client, and we suggest the twenty-one series, we don't know until we have implemented it that we do not have the multi-instance feature.

AT
Deputy General Manager at BTS Group
Real User
2019-10-13T05:48:00Z
Oct 13, 2019

The pricing is too high, so that could be improved. Also, the solution is not very compatible with other products.

YK
Director at Genians
Real User
2019-03-11T07:21:00Z
Mar 11, 2019

I would like to see management automation in the next release.

Related Questions
Miriam Tover - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Manager at PeerSpot
Apr 19, 2023
Hi Everyone, What do you like most about Cisco Web Security Appliance? Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the community!
2 out of 20 answers
AT
Deputy General Manager at BTS Group
Oct 13, 2019
The setup was very easy and straightforward.
GF
Network Security Team Leader
Nov 4, 2019
The technical support is good. It is reactive and the documentation is very specific and very useful.
Julia Miller - PeerSpot reviewer
Community Director at PeerSpot
Apr 19, 2023
If you were talking to someone whose organization is considering Cisco Web Security Appliance, what would you say? How would you rate it and why? Any other tips or advice?
2 out of 20 answers
AT
Deputy General Manager at BTS Group
Oct 13, 2019
I will rate this solution a nine out of ten. I hope to see the next release being more affordable and better integration between platforms.
GF
Network Security Team Leader
Nov 4, 2019
I would rate this solution a six out of ten.
Download Free Report
Download our free Cisco Web Security Appliance Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2023.
DOWNLOAD NOW
708,544 professionals have used our research since 2012.