Secure Access – DNS Defense, the evolution of Umbrella DNS

Cisco Umbrella defined the industry, making DNS-layer security a critical first line of defense for over 30,000 customers. For years, this approach provided the visibility and control necessary to protect organizations from threats on the internet.

But as the “office perimeter” disappeared and hybrid work became the norm, the threat landscape shifted. Today’s AI-driven attacks and cloud-based vulnerabilities require a more modern and advanced platform.

To meet these challenges, Cisco Umbrella DNS has evolved to Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense. Secure Access builds on Umbrella’s strengths while delivering new, advanced capabilities designed for today’s evolving risks.

Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense has all of Umbrella DNS features plus adds Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to safeguard sensitive data, built-in malware protection to scan and remove malware from cloud file storage apps, and unified policy management that makes deployment and management easy.

It’s backed by Cisco’s global network of recursive DNS resolvers and advanced AI-driven detection, to deliver faster, more comprehensive threat blocking.

For existing Umbrella DNS customers, Cisco provides an upgrade process designed to transfer configurations and convert existing policies into the rules-based policy model used by Secure Access. Learn more about the upgrade offer for existing customers.

Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense is a cloud-delivered security service that uses the Domain Name System (DNS) layer to help prevent users and devices from connecting to malicious or unwanted internet destinations—plus so much more.

Proactively block threats like phishing, ransomware, malware, and DNS tunneling before they reach you with our cloud-delivered security. DNS Defense goes beyond standard DNS security by including cloud DLP and advanced malware protection, helping you keep your sensitive data and files secure across all your cloud applications. Because DNS requests typically occur before a connection to an internet destination is established, DNS Defense can identify and block many threats before they reach your network or endpoints, and its unified policy management makes deployment and management easy.

DNS Defense serves as a foundational DNS security product that can expand to a full Security Service Edge (SSE) solution over time, allowing organizations to evolve and expand their security protection at their own pace.

DNS Defense helps protect users, devices, and networks from internet-based threats while reducing the number of threats that reach other security controls.

Malware, phishing, and ransomware: DNS Defense can block access to domains associated with malware, phishing, botnets, ransomware, and other high-risk activity before a connection is made.

DNS tunneling and advanced threats: AI-based detection helps identify techniques such as DNS tunneling and Domain Generation Algorithms (DGAs), which attackers can use for command-and-control communications, lateral movement, or data exfiltration.

Risky and unwanted destinations: Organizations can use web content filtering and policy controls to restrict access to categories or specific destinations based on their security, acceptable-use, or compliance requirements.

Threats to files and data in cloud apps: DNS Defense also extends beyond DNS-layer protection. Available capabilities include cloud malware protection and Cloud Loss Prevention (DLP) to help identify malicious files and sensitive data in supported cloud applications.

Cisco operates a global recursive DNS service with more than 50 DNS points of presence. DNS requests are resolved through this infrastructure while DNS Defense evaluates destinations for security risks and applies organizational policies.

Cisco processes more than 800 billion DNS requests each day, providing broad visibility that contributes to its DNS threat intelligence. Cisco Talos threat intelligence further informs DNS Defense using threat research, statistical analysis, machine learning, and other detection techniques.

DNS Defense can be used as a DNS-centric security solution without requiring an organization to purchase or deploy the full Cisco Secure Access Security Service Edge (SSE) platform.

Organizations that later need additional security capabilities can expand to other Secure Access capabiliites, including Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and Secure Internet Access. This provides a way to begin with DNS-layer security while maintaining a flexible path to a broader SSE architecture as requirements change.

Evaluate DNS-layer protection for your users, devices, and networks with a Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense free trial.