Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls

Viruses and other malicious code can overwhelm your IT resources, disrupting business operations and impacting business transactions. The onslaught of spyware and unwanted Internet content can seriously impact employee productivity and expose individuals to identity theft. Providing comprehensive malware protection and content control, the Cisco® ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition allows enterprises to make full use of the Internet without the risks and costs associated with infections and threats impacting client systems. Combining a proven firewall with high-quality malware protection, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition delivers a powerful solution that provides strong protection and control for business network communications; stops network threats such as viruses, worms, spyware, spam, and phishing; and controls unwanted email and web content-while reducing the operational costs and complexity of deploying and managing multiple point solutions.

Challenge

Solution

• Most trusted and deployed firewall technology: Building on more than 15 years of market-proven firewall capabilities, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series allows legitimate business traffic, while blocking malware and other Internet threats. In addition, its application control capabilities can be used to limit peer-to-peer, instant messaging, and malicious traffic, which can lead to security leaks and introduce network threats.

• Market-leading content security capabilities: The Cisco ASA 5500 Series integrates award-winning gateway security technology from Trend Micro with Cisco threat prevention capabilities, providing a comprehensive malware protection solution against spyware, viruses, spam, and inappropriate content.

– Antivirus and anti-spyware: Using Trend Micro's award-winning antivirus and anti-spyware technology, Cisco ASA 5500 Series appliances can prevent virtually all known malicious code from crossing the Internet edge. This helps prevent the disruption of business-critical applications and services, and reduces the costly process of cleaning up after an infection.

– URL and content filtering, anti-phishing: Integrated URL filtering, content filtering, and anti-phishing technology helps protect confidential information, and helps reduce potential legal liabilities. It can also help businesses comply with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and the Data Protection Act 1998.

– Anti-spam: Integrated anti-spam technology removes most unsolicited email before it hits the mail server, increasing employee productivity and maximizing network bandwidth and storage.

• Threat-protected VPN: Building upon the market-proven VPN capabilities of the Cisco VPN 3000 Series Concentrator, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition provides secure site-to-site and remote-user access to corporate networks and services. This solution offers businesses maximum flexibility for secure connectivity by combining support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and IP Security (IPsec) VPN connectivity in a single appliance, which effortlessly connects with Cisco's user-acclaimed, seamless access client, the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility client, Using the services offered by the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition, businesses can enforce identity-based security and networking policies to prevent malware and many other forms of attack, while securely extending their network to employees, contractors, and business partners.

• Easy deployment and management: The centralized management and monitoring suite enables large-scale deployment and operation of the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition, while minimizing staff and operational expenses. In addition, the included Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) provides a powerful, yet easy-to-use browser-based management and monitoring interface for individual devices.

• Exceptional scalability: The Cisco ASA 5500 Series scales to meet a wide range of business needs. With a wide range of form factors, performance levels, and security services, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series scales to provide a comprehensive security solution-from the branch office to the enterprise,

Business Benefits

• Enhanced business continuity, by preventing malware infections and security breaches from disrupting business-critical applications and services

• Cost savings, by reducing the need to remove spyware, viruses, and other malware

• Increased employee productivity, due to reduction of spam, spyware, and related distractions

• Efficient use of network resources, by removing non-business relevant traffic and content

Figure 1. Solution Architecture

Primary Components

Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition provides comprehensive client security at the edges of the network and remote locations.

Management

Complementary Solutions

Figure 2. Complementary Solutions

Recommended Solutions

Table 1. Recommended Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security Edition Bundles and Options

Table 2. Cisco ASA 5500 Series Orderable Components

• Cisco ASA 5500 Series: http://www.cisco.com/go/asa

• Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager: http://www.cisco.com/go/asdm

• Cisco product certifications: http://www.cisco.com/go/securitycert

• Cisco technical support: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/svcs/ps3034/serv_category_home.html

• Cisco Advanced Services: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/svcs/ps2961/serv_category_home.html

Note: The Cisco ASA 5500 Series CSC-SSM includes embedded software and support from Trend Micro. Point of sale and registration data will be provided to both Cisco and Trend Micro.