Building upon its established security Cisco SecureX, Cisco is extending the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance, the world’s most widely deployed firewall platform, with the new Cisco® ASA CX Context-Aware Security solution. This solution moves the ASA platform well beyond the capabilities of existing “next generation” firewalls by providing unprecedented visibility into security threats and highly-customizable application access control. The Cisco ASA CX enables administrators to control which devices and users have access, and which type of access, to network resources and more than 1,000 applications and 75,000 micro-applications.
Additionally, Cisco is updating its midrange firewall appliances to use the Cisco SecureX Framework for a context-aware approach to security. With additions to the Cisco TrustSec® solution and its policy-management platform, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Cisco is once again setting the industry benchmark for security.
Today’s business needs have changed the face of network security. Enterprises are being driven to enable more types of users – from employees to contractors and even sometimes their “co-opetition” – with greater access to applications, devices and resources. But these enterprises need to make sure that only the right users get access to specific applications, data and service functionality, while securing the rest. These demands have broken legacy security models, which force IT to choose between enabling greater productivity or greater security.
Cisco’s security offerings turn this “or” to “and” by enabling businesses to accommodate an increasingly mobile workforce while mitigating the inherent risk in “borderless” enterprises. Using fine-grained controls that combine context awareness, identity awareness, policy and threat intelligence, Cisco delivers a unique and powerful combination that will help enterprises accelerate their businesses while delivering the right levels of security for all devices in all segments of their network.
Key Highlights
- Cisco ASA CX: The next-generation context-aware security solution:
- Extends the ASA platform by setting the industry bar for having the broadest visibility and most fine-grained control. It identifies more than 1,000 applications, such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and iTunes, which it breaks down into more than 75,000 micro applications.
- Utilizes the power of the Cisco SecureX Framework – a context-aware, network-centric security framework that’s delivered across unified access, edge, branch, data center and cloud segments of an overall network, supported by Cisco’s portfolio of security products and services.
- Unlike other firewalls, only ASA CX uses SecureX to gain end-to-end network intelligence, aggregating information from the local network using Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility as well as near real-time threat data from the global Cisco Security Intelligence Operation (Cisco SIO), an advanced security infrastructure that provides threat identification, analysis and mitigation to continuously provide the highest level of security for Cisco customers.
- Empowers administrators to enable devices and applications with high levels of protection and control. Administrators can clearly see the specific type of device, as well as the operating system it’s running, its location and its current security posture.
- Cisco TrustSec and Cisco Identity Services Engine: Cisco TrustSec 2.1 and ISE 1.1 provide comprehensive visibility via new device sensors that are integrated into the infrastructure to automatically detect and classify all devices attaching to the network. ISE 1.1 also provides real-time directed endpoint scans, based on policy, to gain more relevant insight and accuracy while classifying devices.
- Cisco ASA 5500-X Series midrange security appliances: These new high-performance, next generation Cisco ASA appliancesinclude the ASA 5512-X, 5515-X, 5525-X, 5545-X and 5555-X, areoptimized for Internet edge deployment for small-to-large enterprises.
- Security Certifications: Cisco also updated the security certification programs Cisco CCNA® Security, Cisco CCNP® Security and Cisco Security Specialists which include ASA training and offer professionals job-ready training and skills specific to the best practices of network security administrators, engineers and experts using the latest Cisco equipment, devices and appliances.
