Cisco (Security)
What Cisco (Security) actually does
Cisco’s security portfolio is vast and has been assembled largely through acquisition. Duo provides MFA and zero-trust access. Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower) provides NGFW capability. Umbrella provides DNS-layer security and secure web gateway. Secure Access is the newer SSE/SASE offering. Secure Email (formerly IronPort) handles email security. Talos is the threat intelligence research group. And now Splunk, acquired in 2024, provides SIEM and observability.
The product naming has changed repeatedly — Firepower became Secure Firewall, AnyConnect became Secure Client, Umbrella is being folded into Secure Access. This creates confusion in the market and within customer environments running multiple generations of Cisco security products.
Where Cisco has an undeniable advantage is in network infrastructure integration. If your switches, routers, wireless APs, and SD-WAN are Cisco, the security products can share context through ISE (Identity Services Engine) and pxGrid. This fabric-level integration is hard to replicate with third-party security vendors.
Who it’s best for
- Enterprises running Cisco networking (Catalyst switches, ISR/ASR routers, Meraki) that want unified network and security policy
- Organizations that need MFA and zero-trust access — Duo is genuinely strong and simple to deploy
- Companies with existing Cisco EA (Enterprise Agreement) licensing looking to bundle security
- Security teams that need DNS-layer protection quickly — Umbrella deploys in minutes
- Large enterprises evaluating Splunk for SIEM that want to consolidate with a single vendor
Pricing reality check
Cisco security pricing is complex. Products are sold individually or through Enterprise Agreements (EAs) that bundle networking and security. The EA model can deliver significant savings but locks you into multi-year commitments across the portfolio. Duo pricing is straightforward — $3/user/month for MFA, $6/user/month for Duo Access, $9/user/month for Duo Beyond.
Secure Firewall (Firepower) appliances plus subscriptions are priced comparably to Palo Alto. Umbrella runs $2-$5/user/month depending on tier. Splunk adds its own licensing model on top — typically ingest-based or workload-based pricing. The EA bundling makes total cost hard to benchmark against point products. Get your Cisco account team to break out the security line items.
Alternatives to consider
Palo Alto Networks — Stronger firewall management and a more cohesive platform story. If you are not locked into Cisco networking, Palo Alto’s Strata+Prisma+Cortex is more unified.
Zscaler — Purpose-built SSE/SASE without the legacy baggage. If your need is cloud-delivered security, Zscaler’s platform is more mature than Cisco Secure Access.
Okta + CrowdStrike — If you primarily need identity and endpoint, the Okta+CrowdStrike combination is best-of-breed for both and avoids Cisco’s broader complexity.
Microsoft E5 Security — If you are a Microsoft shop, E5 includes Defender XDR, Entra ID, Purview, and Sentinel. Significant overlap with Cisco’s security portfolio at potentially lower incremental cost.
The Charting Cyber take
Buy Cisco security when you are already a Cisco networking customer and the EA economics make financial sense. Duo is a standout product — genuinely good MFA that deploys fast. The Splunk acquisition adds real SIEM capability. ISE-based integration with Cisco networking infrastructure is a legitimate differentiator that no other security vendor can match.
Skip it if you are not a Cisco networking shop. The security products on their own are mid-pack compared to dedicated security vendors. Secure Firewall has improved but still trails Palo Alto and Fortinet in independent testing. Secure Access is early in its maturity. Buying Cisco security without Cisco networking removes the primary advantage.