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Cisco IOS Security pros and cons

Vendor: Cisco
4.0 out of 5
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Pros & Cons summary

Cisco IOS Security is valued for its scalability, VPN functionality, and network defense via intrusion protection and Rapid Threat Containment. Though praised for its comprehensive capabilities and 24x7 customer service, concerns include high pricing, slow support, licensing issues, performance instability, and integration errors. Despite robust technical backing, these drawbacks impact usability for smaller markets. Tech buyers must weigh the dependable security features against potential challenges in technical support and system integration.

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cisco IOS Security is acknowledged for its scalability, allowing it to meet varying organizational size requirements efficiently.
Users highlight the encrypted and private communication facilitated by GRE and the added privacy it delivers.
The VPN capabilities are particularly valuable, providing extensive reporting and management tools beneficial for remote working.
Cisco IOS Security is praised for its robust technical support, offering 24x7 assistance through their follow-the-sun concept.
Its matured next-generation security features, including threat detection and response, significantly enhance network security.

CONS

Pricing of Cisco IOS Security is high, making it unaffordable for small or medium-sized organizations.
The technical support services of Cisco IOS Security need improvement, with slow response times and excessive requests for logs.
Integration with other vendors is lacking in Cisco IOS Security, limiting its interoperability and effectiveness as a next-generation firewall and UTM.
Performance issues, including latency and slow deployments, are problematic in Cisco IOS Security, which affects its reliability and efficiency.
Complexity in managing and setting up Cisco IOS Security is a barrier for those without strong technical expertise or experience.
 

Cisco IOS Security Pros review quotes

TM
Sep 21, 2020
Completely integrates branch offices with perimeter security.
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Danijel Cerovecki - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 10, 2025
Cisco IOS Security's threat detection features are effective from the point of real-time insights and alerts.
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Karthik Venkataraman - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 5, 2024
Cisco IOS Security is a mature product with extensive capabilities, serving as the base for the defense layer. It offers good network visibility, which helps in rapid response through the Rapid Threat Containment feature. Its deployment and configuration are straightforward.
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Buyer's Guide
Cisco IOS Security
October 2025
Free Report: Cisco IOS Security Reviews and More
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reviewer1540473 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 3, 2021
Cisco Technical Assistance Center works on a follow-the-sun concept and gives real 24x7 customer support, which is a great advantage when you have a service contract with them.
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JH
Aug 11, 2020
The hardware is pretty stable. It's also a very good product performance-wise. Initially, it wasn't mature like a firewall and there were other leaders, but now they have included almost all the features of next-generation security. Basically, it's a good product to work with.
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BS
Aug 16, 2022
The VPN was valuable for us because more people are working from home. It has a lot of reporting and easy-to-use management tools.
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reviewer1074924 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 23, 2019
Previously, anyone in the organization would see any data point in the wall. They could just go and connect their machine with that data point and could access the network. But now, even if someone came and tried that, they will not be given access.
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reviewer1296726 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 29, 2020
What I have used the most and received the most benefit from is the IPsec technology.
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it_user1391976 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 27, 2020
We are able to filter a lot of traffic especially when a lot of the traffic is in layer 7.
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it_user878949 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 26, 2019
We use Cisco IOS Security mostly for routers to route off the firewall. It's a next-generation device.
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Show 10 more reviews (out of 46)
 

Cisco IOS Security Cons review quotes

TM
Sep 21, 2020
The pricing is the only con for this product.
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Danijel Cerovecki - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 10, 2025
Cisco changes their licensing policy quite frequently, which is becoming confusing and complicated.
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Karthik Venkataraman - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 5, 2024
In the security portfolio from Cisco, the issue is marketing. Cisco is still seen primarily as an enterprise network player rather than being acknowledged as a security vendor.
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Buyer's Guide
Cisco IOS Security
October 2025
Free Report: Cisco IOS Security Reviews and More
Learn what your peers think about Cisco IOS Security. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
869,785 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1540473 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 3, 2021
There are the usual bugs that are inherent to some software upgrades. Sometimes this provides some unexpected issues, however, it happens with all brands all the time.
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JH
Aug 11, 2020
I would love it if it has a link-by-link feature, integration with Unified Threat Management (UTM), and load balancers. They haven't got any link-by-link feature right now, which can be a very attractive option. This link-by-link feature can also be made available for Cisco's UTM firewalls. The link-by-link feature is available in some of the other firewalls. Currently, integration with UTM is missing. Cisco IOS Security also doesn't have the load balancers and a few things that need to be done to get a good UTM firewall. Normally, other firewalls have UTM. As a next-generation firewall, it's good, but as a UTM, it has to do some work.
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BS
Aug 16, 2022
The configuration and reporting interfaces need a lot of improvement. It needs to be more accessible forsolide without a strong technical background. If you had a simplified dashboard, the lower-level techs could manage the solution and provide services. Cisco IOS Security requires someone who is highly trained to operate it.
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reviewer1074924 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 23, 2019
We have a very bad experience on the support. They take too much time requesting logs, and they are not coming directly online to resolve the issues.
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reviewer1296726 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 29, 2020
With respect to user-friendliness, it is a command-line interface and those with such experience will get along just fine, whereas others may struggle.
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it_user1391976 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 27, 2020
The user interface needs to be improved.
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it_user878949 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 26, 2019
Most of their features are meant for Cisco. You cannot integrate them with any other vendor.
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Show 10 more reviews (out of 44)

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