Cisco Network Consultants

Cisco is a long-time leader in developing state-of-the-art firewall appliances for the broadest possible range of deployments. Cisco's Firepower Next Generation Firewalls provide an advanced cybersecurity solution that marshals dedicated hardware, cloud-based services, and machine learning to anticipate, discover, and respond to cyber attacks automatically. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE-certified firewall experts can assist your organization to plan and execute an efficient upgrade to Firepower Series firewalls from Cisco's from ASA 5500-X, ASA 5500, or PIX appliances and help you integrate Firepower firewalls with Cisco's security services to build and centrally control IT environments that span branch offices, data centers, private clouds and public clouds. Progent's firewall consultants can also help you to maintain and debug older-generation Cisco firewalls. Progent's certified cybersecurity experts can assist you with policy creation and tuning driven by leading best practices so you can establish a consistent security posture across all your networked devices at any location.

Cisco's Firepower Next Generation Firewall Appliances
Cisco's Firepower NGFWs Firewalls deliver a significant performance improvement over Cisco's previous-generation ASA 5500-X firewalls and offer unified control of advanced cybersecurity features like application visibility and control, next-generation intrusion protection (NGIPS) with intelligent prioritization of risks, advanced malware protection, URL filtering, and multi-node sandboxing. For details about Cisco's Firepower line of NGFWs Firewalls, visit Firepower Series firewalls consulting services.

Cisco's ASA 5500-X Series and Legacy Firewalls
Cisco's ASA 5500-X, ASA 5500 Series, and PIX firewalls offer integrated firewall, VPN, and IPS capabilities in single-box packages, delivering a broad range of features to meet the security needs of companies ranging from small businesses to enterprises and Internet service providers. Cisco's ASA 5500-X, ASA 5500, and PIX 500 firewalls allow network security teams to protect their network edge and provide secure offsite and mobile access while using advanced management mechanisms based on Cisco's industry-leading firewall products.

Cisco's ASA 5500 and PIX firewalls have arrived at end-of-life status but are still commonly deployed in smaller organizations as well as in a few larger data centers. Cisco's ASA 5500-X Next-Generation Firewalls represent substantially more bang for the buck and have supplanted Cisco's ASA 5500 and PIX 500 lines of firewalls for new deployments. Still, Cisco's older model firewalls, if properly maintained, can offer a high level of protection by supplying multiple security functions including stateful firewall, Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections, and IPS.

After Cisco's acquisition of Sourcefire, the entire family of ASA 5500-X devices can be configured to support Firepower Services, built on Sourcefire's Snort product, which is the world's most popular intrusion protection system. Firepower services bring powerful new features such as advanced malware protection (AMP), URL filtering, real-time threat analytics, and security automation.

Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified network engineers can assist your organization to support and debug older ASA 5500 Series and PIX firewalls and can also assist you to plan and carry out an efficient upgrade to Cisco's ASA 5500-X firewalls with Firepower. Progent can also assist you to plan, integrate, tune, manage and troubleshoot new firewall solutions built on Cisco's current ASA 5500-X firewalls with Firepower. Progent can also assist you to migrate from your Cisco ASA 5500-X solution to Cisco's Firepower Next Generation Firewalls.

Cisco's ASA 5500-X Firewall Product Family
Cisco's extensive line of ASA 5500-X security appliances features an improved substitute for every rack-mountable unit in the older ASA 5500 generation of devices. Each ASA 5500-X model targets the identical market as the associated previous models, which offers most plenty of choice for selecting a solution that meets their security requirements and IT budgets. All ASA 5500-X firewalls build on Cisco's proven stateful-inspection firewall technology and all incorporate purpose-built 64-bit hardware with multicore CPUs and support Cisco's powerful security services. All devices in Cisco's ASA 5500-X product line deliver consistent protection across any mix of physical, virtual, and cloud deployments.

For more information about ASA 5500-X security appliances, Cisco Firepower services, and Progent's consulting for ASA 5500-X firewalls, visit Cisco Firepower integration and debugging expertise

Firepower Services for ASA 5500-X Firewalls
Cisco ASA 5500-X security appliances work with either software or hardware modules that enable Firepower Services, which offer layered defense against multi-vector attacks. Cisco's Firepower Services are powered by innovative technology adopted by Cisco from Sourcefire. Key capabilities of Firepower Services for ASA firewalls include:

• Layered defense against both familiar and zero-day threats
• Cisco's Advanced Malware Protection that uses big data techniques to discover and remediate security breaches
• Cisco's Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System that performs contextual analysis that covers clients, infrastructure, apps, and content to detect attacks that incorporate simultaneous approaches
• Fine-grained Application Visibility and Control (AVC that is aware of thousands of applications and can automatically launch both standard and custom IPS policies based on the degree of threats

Simpler implementations of ASA firewalls can be effectively managed via Cisco's on-box Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) Adaptive Security Device Manager, a web-based utility provided with all ASA 5500-X versions. ASDM includes a convenient web dashboard for configuring, managing, and debugging ASA 5500-X appliances and service modules.

For multi-device and multi-site environments, ASA 5500-X appliances with Firepower can be administered using Cisco's Firepower Management Center, implemented as one or several physical or virtual devices. Cisco's Firepower Management Center provides unified firewall management, Application Visibility and Control (AVC, enhanced IPS, URL filtering, and Cisco's Advanced Malware Protection (AMP). Due to ongoing rebranding after Cisco's acquisition of Sourcefire Defense Center, Cisco's Firepower Management Center has been delivered under several names that include Defense Center, FireSIGHT Defense Center, and FireSIGHT Management Center.

Firepower Management Center offers features unavailable with Cisco's on-box Adaptive Security Device Manager tool. Additional features include greater context awareness, Cisco's Advanced Malware Protection with mitigation for user devices, a dashboard that offers real-time network infrastructure visualization, automated policy tuning driven by impact assessment of threats, comprehensive IPS, custom application discovery for Application Visibility and Control, customized health alerts, enhanced reporting options, and application interfaces for host input and database access. Hardware-dependent features like clustering, stacking, switching, routing, VPN, and NAT must be managed using either Cisco's ASA 5500-X on-device ASDM or the ASA CLI.

Cisco ASA 5500 Firewalls
Cisco ASA Firewalls leverage technology developed for the Cisco PIX 500 firewall, Cisco's IPS 4200 sensor, and the Cisco VPN 3000 Series concentrator. These technologies converge on the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) 5500 Series Firewall product line to offer a platform that defends against the broadest variety of attacks. Cisco ASA 5500 Series Firewalls provide program security, local containment, and clean VPN functionality across the entire product line. This broad scope of protection enables the guarding of any network segment, including the most common threat vectors like remote sites, LAN-connected internal users, and off-site access Virtual Private Networks.

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) firewalls provide robust application security via intelligent, application-aware inspection engines that analyze traffic at Layers 4-7. This results in a safer environment including Web, voice, and mobile wireless access. To protect against application-layer assaults and to provide better policing of the applications and protocols utilized in their environments, these inspection engines incorporate broad application and protocol knowledge and employ protection enforcement technologies such as anomaly detection and state monitoring. Also incorporated are attack sensing and mitigation techniques including application and protocol command filtering and URL deobfuscation. Cisco ASA 5500 Series firewall inspection engines also provide management of instant messaging and tunneling applications, allowing businesses to enforce usage policies and conserve bandwidth for crucial business processes.

For more information about Progent's support services for ASA 5500 security appliances, see Cisco ASA 5500 series firewalls integration and debugging support.

Cisco PIX Security Appliance Series
Based upon a hardened, specialized operating system that offers rich protection features, PIX firewall appliances provide a high level of protection and have received Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 status and ICSA Firewall and IP Security (IPsec) qualification. PIX security appliances provide security for a broad range of VoIP and other multimedia standards including H.323 Version 4, SIP, Cisco Skinny Client Control Protocol, RTSP, and Media Gateway Control Protocol, enabling businesses to protect installations of a broad range of current and upcoming IP voice and mixed-media applications.

IT managers can also remotely configure, track, and analyze PIX firewalls using a CLI interface. Secure command-line interface access is possible using several methods such as Secure Shell (SSHv2) Protocol, Telnet through IP Security (IPsec), and out-of-band through a console port. PIX firewalls also include dependable automatic-update capabilities, a collection of revolutionary protected remote-management options that ensure firewall settings and software images are always current.

For additional information about Progent's consulting services for PIX 500 security appliances, visit PIX firewalls integration and debugging consulting.

Progent's Migration Consulting Support for Cisco Firewalls
Because Cisco has discontinued selling the PIX and ASA 5500 families of firewalls, many companies are concerned about relying on a key infrastructure mechanism that may stop being supported. ASA 5500-X and Firepower Series firewalls offer the advantage of being current products and also bring a number of functions and economic advantages in comparison to PIX 500 devices. These advantages include substantially higher throughput, optional SSL VPN support, and an expandable architecture that protects your investment by allowing you to self-install new security features when and if you require them. Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers can help you to determine the business value of for moving from PIX or Cisco ASA 5500 firewalls, create a migration plan that permits a quick and non-disruptive upgrade, assist you to install new ASA 5500-x Series or Firepower Series appliances, and offer remote training, consulting, and technical support services.

Additional Ways Progent Can Assist You with Cisco ASA and PIX Security Appliances
Cisco's Firepower Series, ASA 5500 Series, and PIX family security appliances incorporate a wealth of configuration, tracking, and troubleshooting features which offer you the ability to configure these firewalls to match your business needs. Progent's CCIE certified network consultants can help you to configure and support a cost-effective network infrastructure that includes Cisco firewall technology and that offers advanced protection, fault tolerance, throughput, and manageability. Progent's CISA and CISM-certified IS security experts can assist you to create a security policy appropriate for your environment and can set up your firewall to enforce your security strategy. Progent's security assessment engineers can assess the strength of your existing firewall deployment and audit the overall security of your whole information system environment. Progent's Help Desk Call Center can deliver urgent remote technical support for Cisco products and can give you fast access to a Cisco CCIE network engineer.

To find out additional details concerning Progent's professional assistance for Cisco networking products, choose a subject:

• Overview of Progent's Cisco Network Support
• Fast and Affordable Remote Help from a Cisco CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Routers Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Help
• Aironet Wireless Access Points Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Small Business Wireless Access Points Consulting Services
• Cisco Catalyst 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6/6E APs Solution Design, Deployment and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Consulting
• Meraki APs Engineering Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Technical Support
• Cisco VoIP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting and Cisco Wireless IP Phone Solutions
• Cisco Jabber Migration and Support Expertise
• Catalyst Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Security Engineering Support
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunking and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication Services for Telecommuters
• Design and Support for Cisco-powered Datacenters and Colocation Centers
• Network Design Expertise for Service Providers
• Unified Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Technologies for Cisco Environments

Integration of Cisco and Third-party Firewall Technology
Progent offers expertise in firewall and VPN products from all major vendors and can help you integrate Cisco technology with additional security solutions to help you build a cost-effective network infrastructure that provides a level of security and flexibility appropriate for your business. Third-party firewall and VPN support services available from Progent include:

• Palo Alto Networks PA-Series Firewalls Consulting
• Check Point Software Consulting
• Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Consulting
• Watchguard Consulting
• Juniper Networks NetScreen and SSG Firewall Consulting
• SonicWall Consulting
• Fortinet FortiGate Firewall Consulting
• Symantec Raptor Consulting

To ask Progent about professional help for Cisco technology, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.