Cisco Cloud Security
Cisco Umbrella uses the Internet's most core component of infrastructure to block malicious destinations before a connection is ever established. By delivering security from the cloud, it is both easy and cost efficient to deploy. The full suite of Cisco Security products have superior threat intelligence features compared to many competing products. Cisco has an advanced threat research department called Talos which is a team of over 250 people who research worldwide cyber threats in real-time. These cyber threat updates are then automatically sent to their suite of customer security products every five minutes.
It's All About Layers!
Security these days is not a single product solution. We have to employ many layers to catch malicious activity and bad actors attempting to infiltrate our users and our data. There is the traditional firewall, the Unified Threat Management Firewall, Endpoint Security such as Antivirus or Intrusion Prevention, Behavior based analytics that look for unusual or non standard activity on user workstations or devices. All of these typically require an agent or piece of software installed on each device. DNS is something that is inherently used by every internet user so it is a natural place to build in security functionality for users. Plus, it is extremely simple to deploy at it's most basic level and users are being secured immediately. It can be deployed in as little as 30 minutes.Acquisition of OpenDNS - "Atmospheric Security"
In 2015, Cisco acquired OpenDNS and moved them into their growing Cloud Security product portfolio. The acquisition was a good one for Cisco. They acquired another large database of Internet based "gunk" and a solution that is very easy to install and begin protecting organizations and businesses both inside and outside the firewall. I like to call it "Atmospheric Security." It can protect users that are mobile, work from home or SOHO workers, mobile devices such as phones and laptops, and it can protect those using WiFi at all those vulnerable cafe's and coffee shops! Doesn't it sound good to have "Atmospheric Security" surrounding your user base?Advanced DNS Based Protection
New security threats are being introduced and propagated at a dizzying pace. Anyone who is online is exponentially being exposed to more and more threats every day. Your business must secure its users from malicious attacks coming at them faster than ever. What governs nearly every transaction on the Internet? DNS...For reference, DNS is a layer of critical infrastructure for how the internet works. It resolves those complicated IP addresses to standard names like www.yahoo.com instead of remembering each website's IP address. It’s no surprise that 97% of advanced malware use DNS as part of their attack. Unfortunately, most businesses do not monitor DNS traffic for malicious internet connections, which creates these blind spots – this is one of the reasons why Cisco Cloud Security experts agree that protecting users in this way one of the more valuable methods of implementing a multi-layered security approach.
Reasons to Look at Cisco Umbrella
- Cloud Delivered, Less cost– because of tight budgets, businesses, schools and colleges can get more for their money when it comes to cyber security. Cisco Umbrella’s cloud-based service is a much lower cost than on premises solutions, it also helps with internet compliance and content control.
- Fast deployment and management– Deployment can take less than 30 minutes… which is ideal for schools and universities or large organizations as it means no downtime and valuable study time will not be interrupted. The solution can be centrally managed via the cloud based dashboard, this greatly reduces the time wasted by IT administrators.
- Enhanced Web filtering (for education and non profits this is extremely valuable)- Internet connectivity is required in every office and classroom as it plays a vital part in the modern day environment. Because of this, schools must be able to control what students have access to and business needs to limit liability. Umbrella’s web filtering allows you to block malicious content and risky sites. There is no need to install web filtering software on each machine, Umbrella can protect all devices on the network within minutes. A deeper deployment only makes it more granular.
- Scalability – Large bandwidth connections are the norm in business and education so that students can research and use online study resources and business can move at the speed of the Internet. While traditional on-premises filtering hardware can be tough-to-scale, Umbrella integrates seamlessly with available bandwidth and provides the capability independent of bandwidth upgrades or ISP changes.
- Reporting - The reporting functionality has only gotten better and better since the acquisition by Cisco. You can drill into data and turn any current query into a regular report that can be scheduled with a variety of options. Great to bring metrics back to the business leadership and make IT look like heroes!
Summing it All Up!
With more unmanaged devices connecting to the network and more users working from anywhere, security gaps are widening.Defending mobile devices, cloud data and user behavior is harder than ever. You need deep visibility to expose not only what files and users are doing on their devices, but where they try to connect to the internet. You need this visibility so you can find the offending machines or users and stop malicious behavior immediately.
