In
today’s
security
climate,
NetOps
and
SecOps
teams
are
witnessing
increased
attack
surface
area
as
applications
and
workloads
move
far
beyond
the
boundaries
of
their
data
center.
These
applications/workloads
move
to,
and
reside
in
multi-cloud
architecture,
adding
complexity
to
connectivity,
visibility,
and
control.
In
the
multi-cloud
world,
the
SecOps
teams
use
a
distributed
security
model
that
is
expensive,
difficult
to
deploy,
and
complex
to
manage.
Cisco
has
partnered
with
Alkira
to
help
secure
your
multi-cloud
environment.
Combining
Alkira’s
simplified
cloud
connection
through
their
cloud
network-as-a-service
platform
(SaaS-like
model)
with
Cisco’s
industry-leading
security
controls,
we
can
deliver
a
centralized
security
model
for
multi-cloud
architecture
that
is
easy
to
deploy,
manage,
and
increases
visibility
and
control.
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual
provides
unmatched
security
controls
such
as
stateful
firewalling,
Snort3
IPS,
URL
filtering,
malware
defense,
application
visibility
and
control,
and
more.
Additionally,
with
the
purchase
of
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual,
you
will
receive
license
entitlement
to
Cisco
SecureX,
our
open
XDR
and
orchestration
platform,
helping
you
accelerate
threat
detection,
investigation,
and
remediation.
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Management
Center
(FMC)
is
required
for
managing
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual,
helping
administrators
enforce
consistent
access
policies,
rapidly
troubleshoot
security
events,
and
view
summarized
reports
across
the
deployment.
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual
is
available
on
Alkira’s
service
marketplace
through
Bring-Your-Own-License
(BYOL)
and
Pay-As-You-Go
licensing
options.
Customers
can
seamlessly
deploy
and
insert
Secure
Firewall
in
their
Alkira
Cloud
Exchange
Points
(CXP).
Benefits
of
this
integrated
architecture
include:
-
Simplified
network
and
security
architecture:
Leverage
fully
automated
insertion
and
service-chaining
of
Secure
Firewall
in
a
centralized
security
model
for
a
streamlined
network
and
security
architecture. -
Deeper
visibility
and
control
in
multi-cloud
environments:
Enjoy
simplified
firewall
insertion
in
a
centralized
security
model
to
achieve
both
north-south
and
east-west
traffic
inspection
capability
for
multi-cloud
environments. -
Unified
security
policy:
Uniformly
enforce
firewall
security
policy
across
on-premises,
cloud,
and
multi-cloud
environments. -
Greater
visibility:
Cloud-agnostic
security
controls
offer
deeper
visibility
and
control
across
all
platforms -
Auto-scale:
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
provides
a
flexible
architecture
that
can
automatically
scale
with
the
network
load
to
meet
demand.
The
auto-scaled
firewall
instance
receives
the
configuration
and
licenses
automatically
(Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
auto-scale
coming
in
Q2CY23).
The
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
brings
the
following
capabilities
to
the
environment:
-
Stateful
Firewall
Inspection -
Application
Visibility
&
Control -
Next-Generation
Intrusion
Prevention
System
(IPS) -
URL
Filtering -
Malware
Defense -
Encrypted
Traffic
Visibility
Figure
1
shows
a
multi-cloud
environment
inter-connected
using
Alkira
Cloud
Exhange
Platform
(CXP).
In
the
above
architecture,
Cisco
provides
seamless
insertion
of
security
controls
and
enables
the
following
use
cases
for
firewall
insertion:
-
Multicloud
Security:
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
provides
a
centralized
security
model
that
enables
better
security
controls,
visibility,
and
network
segmentation.
This
deployment
offers
north-south
(N/S)
and
east-west
(E/W)
traffic
inspection
models. -
Branch
Security:
Alkira
Cloud
Exchange
Platform
(CXP)
connects
branches
and
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
protects
N/S
and
E/W
branch
traffic. -
Secure
Internet
Edge:
Deployment
of
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
inside
CXP
enables
secure
Internet
edge
for
inbound
and
outbound
Internet
traffic. -
Cloud
DMZ:
Enforce
ingress
firewall
security
policy
for
application
traffic
between
remote
users
and
Internet-facing
applications
deployed
in
the
on-premises
data
centers
or
cloud
environments. -
Shared
Application
Services:
Enforce
firewall
security
policy
for
cross-segment
application
traffic
in
cases
of
business
partner
integration,
mergers,
acquisitions,
and
divestitures.
Firewall
Insertion
made
easy
Using
Alkira’s
customer
portal,
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual
can
be
easily
inserted
in
the
traffic
path
within
minutes.
Figure
2
shows
how
automation
&
orchestration
eliminates
additional
configuration
required
in
the
legacy
insertion
model.
Management
Options
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual
is
managed
using
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Management
Center
(FMC).
Customers
can
use
on-premises
FMC
or
build
a
virtual
FMC
instance
in
the
cloud.
Cisco
and
Alkira
support
both
models
of
deployment.
Insertion
models
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Virtual
protects
the
following
traffic
flows
in
Alkira
CXP:
-
Cloud
to
cloud
(intra
&
Inter-cloud) -
Cloud
to
on-premises -
Cloud
to
Internet -
On-premises
to
cloud -
On-premises
to
Internet -
Internet
to
on-premises -
Branch
to
branch -
Branch
to
Internet -
Internet
to
branch
Alkira
and
Cisco’s
partnership
simplifies
the
deployment
of
enterprise-grade
security
in
the
cloud
while
enabling
multi-cloud
visibility
and
end-to-end
threat
defense
for
customers.
Additional
Resources:
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Data
Sheet
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Management
Center
Alkira
blog
on
Cisco
Secure
Firewall
Threat
Defense
We’d
love
to
hear
what
you
think.
Ask
a
Question,
Comment
Below,
and
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