Cisco Umbrella Explained: Cloud Security for Users On and Off the Network

For a long time a firewall could keep most attackers out of a corporate network. That era has ended. Mobile working and the move to the cloud mean much more activity now happens outside the network perimeter, and attackers are increasingly exploiting the gaps this creates.

Cisco Umbrella, a proprietary Cisco product, is built to close those gaps. It is a cloud security platform that protects an organisation against a wide range of internet threats, both inside the network and beyond it, so staff can browse the web safely wherever in the world they happen to be.

A first line of defence on the web

Umbrella works as a secure internet gateway and is positioned as an organisation's first barrier against web-borne threats. It blocks malware, phishing, ransomware, command-and-control callbacks and other attacks. Its strength comes from combining several functions in one service: a firewall, a secure web gateway and a cloud access security broker, with protection extending down to the domain name system (DNS) layer.

Threat protection is automated, so malicious activity can be found before it harms the network. The platform also gives visibility across every user, device and location, which means compromised systems and targeted attacks are spotted in real time.

Umbrella studies patterns in internet activity and learns from them. That lets it detect attacks that are being staged, block requests to malicious destinations before they are made, find devices that are already infected and halt phishing and malware early.

Why being cloud-native matters

Because Umbrella runs in the cloud, it is straightforward to roll out and manage. It can cover all users, devices and locations without the complex, slow deployment configurations that on-premises tools often need. In short, it makes internet protection simpler and closes the gaps opened up by a workforce that is widely distributed and increasingly global.

Choosing a secure internet gateway provider, like choosing any security vendor, is a difficult decision, and a wrong choice has serious consequences. Buyers are best served by setting out their own criteria first, matched to their specific security needs, before comparing vendors.

Sources: Daisy UK (Cisco security), Insight's "Cisco Umbrella at a glance" and Cisco's Umbrella website.