Cisco Secure Access, the evolution of Cisco Umbrella

For years, Umbrella has been recognized as the gold standard for DNS-layer security, providing a critical first line of defense for organizations worldwide. By blocking threats before a connection was even established, it gave IT teams the visibility and control they needed to keep their networks safe. It’s a powerful solution that has set the foundation for how we protect the modern internet.

However, the threat landscape has evolved rapidly since Umbrella’s foundations were laid. Today’s attackers are more sophisticated, and with hybrid work, the proliferation of cloud-based applications, and AI-based threats, a more modern and advanced solution is required.

This shift is why Cisco Umbrella has evolved to Cisco Secure Access. Rather than simply updating an old tool, we built a modern security platform from the ground up to address the challenges of today’s hybrid world. Secure Access isn’t just a replacement; it is the evolution of everything that made Umbrella successful, enhanced with the capabilities required for today’s risks.

Cisco Secure Access is a cloud-delivered Security Service Edge (SSE) solution that helps organizations securely connect users, devices, applications, and AI agents wherever they are.

Grounded in zero trust, Secure Access brings security and access functions together in a cloud-managed service. It protects access to the internet, SaaS applications, and private applications while giving IT and security teams centralized policy, visibility, and control.

Cisco Secure Access combines core SSE capabilities—including Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)—with additional security, data protection, and access capabilities in a unified solution.

Secure Access evaluates who or what is requesting access, what resource is being accessed, and relevant security context before applying policy.

This allows organizations to control access based on identity, device posture, application, destination, risk, and other contextual information rather than relying primarily on a user’s location on the corporate network.

For IT and security teams, Secure Access centralizes policy creation, reporting, and management. A unified client also helps reduce the need for users to interact with multiple security agents and sign-in processes.

Secure Access provides security and access controls across all your internet and SaaS private applications—whether modern or legacy.

Private applications: Zero Trust Network Access provides granular, application-specific access to private resources in data centers and cloud environments. Access is denied by default and granted according to policy and context. For applications or traffic that aren’t suited to ZTNA, VPN as a Service (VPNaaS) provides secure private access, including support for legacy applications.

Internet and SaaS applications: Secure Web Gateway capabilities inspect and control web traffic to help protect users from malicious websites, infected files, phishing, ransomware, and other internet threats.

Cloud Access Security Broker: CASB capabilities provide visibility and control over SaaS application usage, helping organizations identify and manage sanctioned and unsanctioned applications.

Sensitive data: Data Loss Prevention provides controls designed to identify sensitive information and reduce unauthorized data movement across internet, SaaS, private application, and endpoint channels.

Generative and agentic AI: Secure Access provides visibility and controls for generative AI applications and model repositories. AI Access capabilities help organizations identify shadow AI, control how AI applications are used, and reduce risks such as sensitive data exposure.

Zero trust for agentic AI: Secure Access also extends zero trust security to agentic AI, providing controls for autonomous AI agents and their interactions with identities, applications, APIs, tools, and data.

Apply zero trust to access: Secure Access uses identity, device posture, contextual information, and least-privilege policies to determine access. With ZTNA, users can be given access to the specific applications they’re authorized to use instead of broad access to the underlying network.

This approach can help reduce the attack surface and limit an attacker’s ability to discover resources or move laterally if an account or device is compromised.

Monitor the user experience: Secure Access includes Experience Insights, powered by ThousandEyes, to provide visibility into digital experience across users, networks, and applications.

This information can help IT teams determine whether an access problem originates with a user’s device, network connectivity, an application, or another part of the connection path and troubleshoot problems more quickly.

Support security and compliance requirements: Secure Access includes security and data protection controls that can help organizations address regulatory and compliance requirements. Secure Access has also achieved FedRAMP authorization for specified capabilities supporting U.S. government requirements.

Simplify operations with Cisco Cloud Control: Secure Access is part of Cisco Cloud Control, which provides a foundation for connecting these security capabilities with a broader Cisco operating environment as the organization’s requirements evolve.

Organizations do not need to adopt every Secure Access capability at once—there is flexibility to roll out capabilities based on your unique needs and priorities. Those looking primarily for DNS-layer security can start with Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense.  

Organizations with broader requirements can use Secure Access for capabilities such as secure internet and SaaS access, ZTNA, VPNaaS, data protection, AI security, and digital experience monitoring.