Forescout Platform Reviews

• Guest management
• Antivirus compliance monitoring
• USB connection management

The bank has been able to manage host connection on the network, manage antivirus, and restrict the use of USB on the bank’s systems.

The patch management ability of the solution needs to be re-examined.

We've used it for five years.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues with scaling it.

Customer service is above average.

Technical support is above average.

It's straightforward to set up.

We used a vendor team alongside an in-house one.

The ROI is commensurate with the price.

The product is expensive.

To get the best out of the solution, the organization’s networks team must be willing to take ownership and provide assistance where required. Use tools like Gigamon during deployment and avoid spanning directly from Cisco switches.

The main feature, the NAC engine, is very flexible since ForeScout CounterACT doesn’t need the use of 802.1x and can work with almost all switch vendors.

Since my company is a systems integrator, we have ForeScout CounterACT in our lab just to test or troubleshoot customer configurations.

There isn’t a specific area to improve. It’s a good product from my point of view. Maybe the licensing and cost can be improved.

No issues with deployment.

Haven't had issues with stability.

Haven't had to scale it.

Maybe test the configuration very well before enabling actions (like VLAN moving, Captive Portal), because they can cause many problems in production environments if there are configuration mistakes.

This product provided a really good effect in terms of network access control. With the ForeScout NAC, distinguishing guests and corporate staff was easier.

This was very easy to achieve since the product integrates really well with Active Directory and the NMAP feature discovers all endpoints within the network.

With the use of the NAC solution from ForeScout, the company was able to defend against unauthorized access to the network, thereby thoroughly distinguishing who is a Corporate user and who is a Guest. Process for Guest Registration (if implemented properly) was also easy.

Detection and control of Dual-Homed devices needs to be improved, as the product sometimes gives false positives. Also, more custom policies should be made available.

I used this solution for 14 months.

There were issues of false positives whenever a new hotfix was installed even with the GA release. There was actually an issue where an upgrade to a new version of the hotfix plugin increased the CPU optimization and network bandwidth usage.

ForeScout is scalable since a management device is available to manage other CT boxes.

Technical support from ForeScout is pretty good, with escalations made promptly when needed.

No previous solution.

The initial setup was straightforward, as the steps were simple to understand. It only got complex when creating policies that are not simple.

I worked for a vendor team, and for any client ready to implement this product, I would recommend that the necessary requirements for deployment should be done before the team arrives to start implementation. This makes deployment less stressful.

No other options were evaluated.

If you are looking for a NAC solution which works without the use of agents, I would say ForeScout is the one to go for.

• Rogue detection and blocking
• Guest registration
• Full visibility of network hosts
• Threat protection

We are provided with real-time visibility and control of devices accessing our network.

• Reduce false positives
• Reduce bugs
• Improve on host classification
• Increase the Nigerian partner base

We've been using it for over two years.

No major issues.

No major issues.

No major issues.

It's good, but certainly it needs improvement especially on the side of the partners.

Initial setup was straightforward. All it required was to integrate traffic sniffing/monitoring and management ports into our core switch, and instruct the core switch to mirror every traffic to the device through the sniffing port. The rest was simply to define all our network segments on the device and integrate all access switches via SNMP.

We implemented it through ForeScout's only Nigerian partner, and this is what I would advise everyone interested in the solution to do.

It is quite expensive, but there are specs for small companies as well.

Cisco ISE was also evaluated, but the CT10000 was easier to implement and integrate into our environment.

You can go ahead, but you will need good network skills to get the maximum benefits from it.

I would also advise that you don't activate all the add-on features, but use it solely for its primary function - visibility and rogue detection/blocking.

Endpoint visibility, policy flexibility, compatibility and integration with other products.

Automation! One broad example is that we can now stop network threats right away and without intervention.

Forescout is constantly adding new features, so this may change as of this writing, but sometimes the switch management interface doesn't display accurate information which relates to false positives on individual switch access errors.

1 year

None that were Forescout related. CounterACT always opens a bunch of little IP sessions with endpoints, ake sure you have a large enough connection table on your firewall if you plan to put it behind one.

Minor. Had to reinstall one virtual appliance, which is painless when you have an Enterprise Manager.

No, this is one of the products strengths.

10 out of 10. Very responsive and address concerns quickly.

9 out of 10. Really fast response, high level of competency.

I switched from Cisco NAC because it is reliant on 802.1X, and has no other function than to ensure endpoints have authenticated via your method of choice.

Straightforward. Setup is simple with a solid, pre-defined set of policies that you build on and customize as you learn.

In house.

Without access specific numbers, we now have the ability to instantly shut down internal malicious hosts or traffic, refuse or restrict access to non-compliant hosts, discover risks on the network we didn't know were there, and automate the remediation of a multitude of security risks. As I work for an organization that spends a lot on security administration, at a minimum, the cost savings must have already paid for the product.

Palo Alto

Make sure to plan for all endpoints. If you want full coverage of your networks, account for anything that has an IP address. For example, a busy core switch can have 20+ IP addresses, and each one goes against your license count. Also, if you plan to have it behind a firewall, take into consideration your firewall's connection limitations. Although CounterACT isn't really a heavy bandwidth user, it does open a ton of short connections on a constant basis. The more you tune these down, the less accurate your real time host information becomes.