Cisco Secure Access vs Forcepoint CASB comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and Forcepoint are both solutions in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5, while Forcepoint is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.0. Cisco holds a 4.6% mindshare in CASB, compared to Forcepoint’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Forcepoint users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Access and Forcepoint CASB based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Access vs. Forcepoint CASB Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access vs. Forcepoint CASB

September 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 920,769 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 4.4%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 4.6%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forcepoint CASB is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access	4.6%
iboss	4.4%
Forcepoint CASB	1.8%
Other	89.2%

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula

Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Cloud gateway has strengthened remote web security and now needs better Mac and ISP support

The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent for the Mac agents. That is where in 2025, we had to migrate to the Palo Alto-based platform. If your use case is for just Windows laptops,you can consider this platform as an option One issue is the data center resiliency part. In India especially, they are not tied up with the Tier 1 ISPs like Tata or Airtel; they were having Tier 2 ISPs and encountered many issues reaching few major sites that my organization depends on, and they were having problems that they could not fix quickly. They also lack a mechanism to route that traffic within their data center; rather, they ask customers to make a pac file change to route it to Singapore explicitly. It would be better if they route from their backend , i mean even if I send it to India DC, they should be able to route it internally to make that work; however, they fail to do that and ask the customer to route it in the pac file. Another suggestion is that in China, they do not have the proper setup; they used to have numerous problems with slowness and lack of premium circuits in China as well. That leads to multiple sites working slowly with latency-related issues. So the main issue is the ISP-related problems that need to be solved.

Read full review

reviewer2788500

Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Secure access has unified zero trust and web protection while AI assistance automates tasks

From a feature perspective, I have not experienced any issues, drawbacks, or shortcomings. However, the cost of Cisco's products and licensing is high. My clients usually prefer cheaper options if possible. Mid-size or smaller businesses typically cannot afford Cisco Secure Access. Additionally, there is a steep learning curve, as it is very intensive. Someone with significant knowledge can work on it, but a new professional would have to spend considerable time to get accustomed to it. It is hard to find engineers who can work on it. Overall, we get what we pay for, as it is a pretty good feature and service. The pricing of Cisco's products and licensing is higher than competitors. If they could be more reasonable, that would help. The support offered for two years also has higher costs. Overall, the client's IT budget gets affected. It was challenging to learn because, as mentioned, it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.

Read full review

AlexOgbalu

Director at LiveFromSpace Limited

Improving support responsiveness has remained critical while access monitoring and compliance needs have been fully addressed

We have the enterprise licenses for the scanning of the codes, both at runtime and in development, and we also have access to Veracode's e-learning platform as well as a bundle from Veracode.All that has been mentioned is the main benefits Forcepoint CASB provides to us, and it helps us to meet compliance requirements that are necessary in our industry. It's important for enterprises considering Forcepoint to work with very good system integrators and value-added resellers because a lot of things needed go beyond just getting the licenses. You need someone skilled to do all those configurations, write all the rules, and make sure you achieve a very stable environment. I am giving this review an overall rating of eight.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"From a corporate perspective, I understand that it's important to keep the company data safe."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

More iboss pros

"The feature I like the most about Cisco Secure Access is the whole concept of zero trust, as it is exactly what we need and I believe that Cisco Secure Access is the future of cybersecurity."

"Cisco Secure Access has definitely helped our organization, cutting incident response time at least in half and giving us analytics that let us quickly identify devices and users so everything from headquarters contacting the base to the on-site tech removing a rogue device from the classroom network is much quicker."

"Cisco Secure Access has protected our company against threats such as phishing or ransomware, as we have seen it successfully address various cybersecurity vulnerabilities."

"Based on ROI, Cisco Secure Access is worth the investment, as it is a core security product that allows customers to measure their ROI effectively."

"It's very useful because you can have visibility, especially in terms of logging and knowing who's doing what with Cisco Secure Access."

"I use this solution for securing security controls like Secure Security Control (SSC) for local Internet breakouts."

"I believe Cisco Secure Access is the best option on the market at the moment; it is the right and recommended choice."

"What I like the most about Cisco Secure Access is that it is really easy to use and it is secure."

More Cisco Secure Access pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is its management ease."

"The product offers an easy initial setup."

"Most of the features are valuable, primarily for the firewalls, the proxy, and Forcepoint CASB products."

"As it is based on AWS, it is not a problem."

"The visibility around the usage of cloud applications within my tenant is the most valuable aspect of the solution, as the administrator gets visibility and control of these applications for users whether on-premise or not and whether using pocket devices or their IOD."

"Generally, most of our customers are happy with it though."

"I like that the layout and configuration are easy compared to other solutions on the market."

"Macro integration is a good feature."

More Forcepoint CASB pros

Cons

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"I have heard they are doing DDoS filtering, but I am not certain if they are implementing it correctly."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"It is stable, but due to growth, it can sometimes be less stable than wanted."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"I would rate iboss an eight out of ten because it provides strong cloud-based security threat protection, centralized policy management, and visibility into web traffic. I would give it a higher rating if automation, reporting, and troubleshooting capabilities could be improved further."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

More iboss cons

"It is expensive."

"One main problem we have been having recently with Cisco Secure Access is that we have a lot of workstations out in our plant and they are all touchscreen devices."

"My experience with the Experience Insight feature, called DEM, is not good. I find the integration between Cisco Secure Access and ThousandEyes does not work well and does not deliver what it is supposed to."

"Cisco is not well accepted in the market since they are somewhat behind their competitors."

"My experience with customer support for Cisco Secure Access has been okay, but it is not very fast."

"Cisco Secure Access could be improved with fewer bugs; we need to address less software bugs, as there are technical issues and errors in the software, which we are trying to resolve to achieve a more stable version that companies can use without issues, but it is a working process, and we understand this."

"It is confusing. When you look at the prices, you have different licensing and years of licensing that you have to purchase. Additionally, it's unclear what service you get from those licenses regarding end-user support. We have a representative who has to walk me through it every time."

"My advice to another organization considering using Cisco Secure Access is that there is a reason the cost is high, because of the security, but other than that, that is really it."

More Cisco Secure Access cons

"The deployment and initial setup can be quite difficult to install."

"There are various modules to secure a public cloud, such as Cloud Security Posture Management. You might have seen these features available if you've reviewed solutions like Zscaler or Netskope. A full-fledged CASB should be manageable. However, the tool does not seem to offer complete public cloud visibility. While it provides some cloud visibility and can manage API traffic for Web 2.0, it lacks a specific module for securing public cloud environments."

"I'd like to see different ways to authenticate users, perhaps different types of authentication."

"The solution needs to be easier to install, and they need to clean up the backend, so stuff doesn't break."

"Forcepoint CASB is mature and performing its function, but it is not easy to manage and not as fully-featured as competitors."

"Forcepoint removed the ability to scan for unsanctioned applications on the CASB."

"They should work on the possibility of consolidating all of the products with the group of agents."

"When using the Forcepoint CASB, and you are a remote worker, basically not in the office, you have to have an agent on your computer, a Forcepoint agent. However, with many other CASB solutions, they can integrate with MDM."

More Forcepoint CASB cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"The pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Cisco Secure Access have been very competitive compared to other platforms. I believe that if Cisco continues to improve costs or offers something similar to a Cisco credit, it would attract more customers."

"For what you get, it's a fair price in comparison to other products."

"The pricing really depends on the size of the customer's business because it is price-relevant to the environment."

"The solution is not that expensive compared to Zscaler. Netskope is between Forcepoint CASB and Zscaler in terms of cost. Forcepoint CASB would be the first choice because it negotiates well and offers a perpetual license, though it may seem subscription-based. I rate its pricing a six out of ten."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Construction Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	41

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

iboss could be improved by making the dashboard more user-friendly, providing more detailed real-time alerts, and imp...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

iboss is primarily used for cloud security, helping to protect users when they access websites and cloud applications...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

The pricing and licensing for iboss were reasonable for the security features. The setup costs were manageable, thoug...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?

In my experience with the Experience Insights feature or Digital Experience Monitoring of Cisco Secure Access, Thousa...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?

We use Cisco SD-WAN in our own company for our own needs, and we are also selling this to our customers while perform...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?

Currently, AI Supply Chain Risk Management is not really an issue for us today. I would rate Cisco Secure Access a se...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint CASB?

I would put the pricing of Forcepoint CASB at a five, closer to a four. I don't think it's very expensive, but it's a...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Forcepoint CASB?

From a functionality perspective, I don't have any recommendations, but in terms of support, the speed of support is ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Forcepoint CASB?

Forcepoint CASB ensures that access to cloud applications is properly vetted and monitored. We have a lot of remote a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Cisco Umbrella vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 10% of the time

FortiSASE vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 8% of the time

Netskope vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 7% of the time

Secure Access – DNS Defense vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 5% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 2% of the time

More Cisco Secure Access Competitors

Akamai Enterprise Application Access vs Forcepoint CASB

Compared 22% of the time

Netskope vs Forcepoint CASB

Compared 13% of the time

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker vs Forcepoint CASB

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Forcepoint CASB

Compared 8% of the time

Axis Security vs Forcepoint CASB

Compared 2% of the time

More Forcepoint CASB Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access

October 2026

Download Cisco Secure Access product report

Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint CASB

October 2026

Download Forcepoint CASB product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

No data available

Imperva Skyfence

Overview

iboss is the Zero Trust SASE platform that gives organizations complete visibility and governance over their AI, data, and applications through one unified platform, one console, one policy engine, and one data lake.

Your endpoints may already stop malware. Your data and application activity can still be invisible. iboss decrypts and understands every connection, then turns that signal into answers security leaders can act on.

The platform leads with three capabilities in this order: AI Security and Visibility, Data Security and Visibility, and App Visibility and Control. Zero Trust Network Access, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN sit underneath as the access fabric that carries those three. Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

- AI Security and Visibility: conversation capture, shadow-AI discovery, AI DLP, and agent governance across Claude, Co-Work, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, and emerging services.

- Data Security and Visibility: full SSL/TLS decryption, deep content inspection, MIP label compliance, and one-click compliance reporting.

- App Visibility and Control: signatureless CASB, dual risk scoring, in-app controls, and SSPM for major SaaS.

- Containerized Zero Trust SASE: dedicated containers, isolated SSL keys, one console, one policy engine, one data lake.

- Access fabric: ZTNA, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN under the same platform.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

- Complete visibility over AI, data, and applications from one platform instead of separate point tools.

- Encrypted traffic is inspected by default so data decisions use content and context together.

- Shadow SaaS and new web tools appear as they are used, with enforceable controls in one console.

- Native data sovereignty through dedicated containers, in-region inspection, and per-customer SSL key custody.

- Scale proven in published materials: 10M+ users, 100+ countries, 150B+ transactions, 2.5B+ threats blocked.

Economic buyers are CISOs, CIOs, and VPs of Security. Champions include security architects, network and infrastructure leaders, SecOps, and GRC. Primary segments: enterprise and business, financial services, government (including FedRAMP Gov Cloud), healthcare, manufacturing, legal and professional services, retail and hospitality, and MSP/MSSP partners. Education, including K-12, is one vertical among these.

iboss

Cisco Secure Access is a comprehensive Security Service Edge (SSE) solution (a key component of a SASE solution) that addresses the complexities of securing a hybrid enterprise. Cloud-delivered and grounded in zero trust, it delivers a unique blend of user simplicity and IT efficiency for frictionless, secure access to all applications—SaaS (with gen AI), private apps, and the internet—regardless of user location or device. Secure Access protects users, data, and devices against relentless, sophisticated, and constantly evolving threats including AI-driven attacks and identity breaches.

Provides all core SSE components (ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and FWaaS) plus extended capabilities.

Includes VPN-as-a-Service (VPNaaS), data loss prevention (DLP), AI Assistant, visibility/control/guardrails for generative AI use, digital experience monitoring (DEM), reserved IP, remote browser isolation (RBI), DNS-layer security, flexible security enforcement (in cloud or on-premises), policy verification, and more.
Protects users as they seamlessly access resources and apps with no extra steps needed, regardless of protocol, port, or level of customization
Simplifies IT operations through a single client, single dashboard, single license, and unified policies.
Lowers risk with least privilege, granular controls backed with unmatched threat intelligence of Cisco Talos.
Eases interoperability with other products from Cisco and third-party vendors with common administrative controls, data structures, and policy management.

Robust integrations

Integrates with Cisco Identity Intelligence to protect against the startling increase in identity-based attacks.
Integrates with many SAML Identity Providers (IDPs) such as AD, Azure AD, Okta, Ping, etc.
Integrates with Cisco offerings including SD-WAN, Splunk, XDR, Thousand Eyes, third party technologies such as Menlo RBI, Chrome Enterprise Browser, and AppOmni for SSPM.

Cisco

Forcepoint CASB offers robust features for integrating with Forcepoint DLP, implementing adaptive security, and ensuring cloud application visibility. Its real-time monitoring and management simplicity are valued. Integration ease with macro and credential IDs, favorable pricing, and a straightforward setup are additional strengths.

Forcepoint CASB supports data protection in cloud environments, empowering organizations to manage and monitor access seamlessly across devices and locations. It provides behavior analytics, advanced notifications, and geo-specific login detections. However, there are integration challenges and backend reliability concerns. Enhancements are needed in system integration and dashboard usability. Authentication options are limited, and there are complexities with multiple agents that affect ease of use.

What features make Forcepoint CASB effective?

Integration with Forcepoint DLP: Ensures seamless data loss prevention capabilities.
Adaptive Security Policies: Tailors security measures to changing threats.
Shadow IT Discovery: Detects unauthorized applications in use.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides immediate insights into application usage.

What ROI benefits should users anticipate?

Scalability: Adaptable to growing security demands.
Favorable Pricing: Cost-effective compared to competitors.
Easy Configuration: Simplifies initial deployment processes.

In industries relying on remote workforces, Forcepoint CASB integrates with tools like Secure Web Gateway to unify and secure access. It is instrumental in providing analytics for connection monitoring and notifications for proactive threat management. Its applications in telecommunications and finance sectors demonstrate the importance of protecting remote environments and controlling access efficiently.

Forcepoint

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. Google 5. Apple 6. Cisco Systems 7. Oracle 8. Intel 9. HP Inc. 10. Dell Technologies 11. Verizon Communications 12. AT&T 13. Comcast 14. T-Mobile 15. Sprint 16. Vodafone 17. Orange 18. BT Group 19. Deutsche Telekom 20. Telefonica 21. Nokia 22. Ericsson 23. Samsung Electronics 24. Sony 25. Panasonic 26. LG Electronics 27. Siemens 28. General Electric 29. Ford Motor Company 30. General Motors 31. Toyota Motor Corporation 32. Volkswagen Group

Zions Bank, GE Healthcare, HomeAway, Logitech, Universal, California National Resources Agency and many mor

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access vs. Forcepoint CASB

September 2026

Free Report: Cisco Secure Access vs. Forcepoint CASB

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Access vs. Forcepoint CASB and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco Secure Access vs. Forcepoint CASB report.

See our list of best Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) vendors.

We monitor all Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.