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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Score8.7 out of 10

193 Reviews and Ratings

What is Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)?

The Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) offers a network-based approach for adaptable, trusted access everywhere, based on context. It gives the user intelligent, integrated protection through intent-based policy and compliance solutions.

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Screenshot of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Screenshot of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Pros

  • Robust network access control and authorization capabilities
  • Effective RADIUS server functionality for precise control
  • Granular policy management and device profiling

Cons

  • User interface and navigation are not intuitive, complicating configuration
  • Complex initial setup and ongoing management due to system granularity
  • Upgrade process is often time-consuming and difficult

Cisco Identity Services Engine - go to solution for network security

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Identity Services Engine is an integral part of securing wireless and wired networks. I use Cisco Identity Services Engine primarily as a partner/consultant to secure K12 and SLED customers. These customers almost always have a universal need to tighten security for their corporate devices to verify that no one unauthorized can connect. The guest redirection feature is really useful and easy to setup, especially if the wireless environement is already a 9800 or meraki WLC. The beauty of Cisco Identity Services Engine is it really is a Swiss Army knife. Depending on the business need, you select the use case and work center and follow the flow of configuration. It may seem intimidating at first but there is really good documentation and community resources for all types of scenarios and networks. Cisco Identity Services Engine can be rolled out in phases depending on the comfort level of the implementation team, making it a lot more flexible than something like a firewall that requires tearing out the old and putting a new device in. Overall, I think Cisco Identity Services Engine is a flagship NAC solution and is a no brainer as the next step in securing any wireless and wired network.

Pros

  • Wired and wireless 802.1x
  • Guest portals and easy redirection mechanism
  • Flexible ways to build matching policies for all different types of traffic

Cons

  • Trustsec needs more documentation and configuration best practice examples
  • The licensing model can be difficult to explain and understand for customers
  • Difficult to get an accurate benchmark to know exactly how many Cisco Identity Services Engine nodes and the size of the deployment should be

Return on Investment

  • Secured access for student and staff devices
  • Provided a reliable means of guest redirection
  • Way to implement least privilege with authorization policies that are appropriate for the user accessing the resource

Our Experience with Cisco ISE

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco ISE creates a unified security ecosystem. We used across departments to enforce consistent access policies.
We are also managing guest WIFI using Cisco ISE. It provides customizable portals. Keeping guest traffic isolated from internal resources.
We are also using it for profiling & posturing of network devices

Pros

  • Profiling
  • Guest Access
  • Centralized policy management
  • Posturing

Cons

  • Non Cisco systems is less seamless.
  • Inconsistent Endpoint Detection
  • Better support for mobile and unmanaged devices
  • The licensing model is layered and often confusing

Return on Investment

  • Operational efficiency, and security resilience
  • IT cost savings via automation 30%
  • Downtime reduction(Network segmentation and threat containment reduce downtime by 30, 50%)

Alternatives Considered

FortiNAC

Other Software Used

Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Industrial Wireless Access Points, Cisco Secure Firewall

Cisco ISE - Great for Policy But Needs Easy PSK Support

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for Wi-Fi authentication in a large higher education and healthcare environment. We do PEAP and EAP-TLS authentication.

Pros

  • Granular Policies
  • Uses variables in policies to avoid repeat policies
  • Integrates nicely wigh MS AD

Cons

  • Needs to support Easy-PSK
  • Captive Portals need to be more customizeable.

Return on Investment

  • Helps enforce granular policy for 802.1X
  • Helps with complex sementation goals

Other Software Used

CloudPATH, FreeRADIUS

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We advise customers on adopt ISE to automize the segmentation of the networks, increase the security level, be compliant with EU regulations like DORA or NIS2. Since It can automatically put user devices into their own networks subject to well defined policies. It is part of the Zero Trust ecosystem and can help on keeping the cyber defense secure during the time due to the posture checks.

Pros

  • Integration with third party platforms
  • Scalable and Flexible
  • Network Automation through API

Cons

  • The platform requires too many resources (CPU, RAM etc.)
  • The solution should be cloud native like "Cisco Meraki style"
  • The GUI should be more intuitive

Return on Investment

  • It increases the security level of the users in my personal opinion of the 50 percent (because It avoid the connection to the network of unauthorized users)
  • It reduces the need of manual intervention in case of move add and change so let's say it reduce of 20% of engineer activities

Alternatives Considered

HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager and FortiNAC

Other Software Used

Cisco Secure Connect, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points, Cisco Meraki MS

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)'s user login functionality a centralized system to grand access and authorization to various users to cisco network devices and systems. We use Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) as a password manager for users to login to perform network changes in the network. To provide or revoke access as the network staff changes.

Pros

  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can create users easily
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can add or remove user privileges
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can keep a log of users that have logged into a system

Cons

  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can improve by reducing the upgrade time
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can improve by making it more lightweight
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can improve by simplifying configurations

Return on Investment

  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) helps update users' passwords and meet a complexity requirement
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) provides a log of which users logged into a system
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) manages which the privilege levels of users

Alternatives Considered

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series, Webex App, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft SharePoint

Other Software Used

Cloudflare, Netskope CASB, OneNote