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  3. Cisco Secure Workload
Logo of Cisco Secure Workload

Cisco Secure Workload

byCisco Systems
in
4.4

Overview

Product Information on Cisco Secure Workload

Updated 15th April 2024

What is Cisco Secure Workload?

Secure Workload tackles tasks that are beyond human scale. An open platform, it provides comprehensive visibility into every workload application flow, so you know what your applications are doing and their behavioral interaction with users and devices. AI/ML-powered automation generates best-practice policy recommendations that are tailored to your environment and applications. Secure Workload strengthens your security posture, reduces risk, and decreases costs associated with application downtime at every step in your journey. And with microsegmentation in place, it eases the path for compliance initiatives and easily supports the onboarding of new applications and processes.

Cisco Secure Workload Pricing

Cisco Secure Workload software is licensed based on the number of workload equivalents or devices (endpoints) depending on the agent or sensor type used. Telemetry data can be collected using agents supported by sensors or collectors. Policy enforcement is through agents with enforcement capability and infrastructure enforcement delivered through Cisco Secure Firewall Integration, Application Delivery Controllers, & Security Groups in public cloud infrastructure.

Cisco Secure Workload Product Images

Secure Workload Dashboard
Secure Workload Dashboard
Flow Search
Flow Search
Workspace
Workspace

Overall experience with Cisco Secure Workload

IT Manager
3B - 10B USD, Banking
FAVORABLE

“Cisco Secure Workload - Entry Into The World of Enterprise Segmentation”

5.0
Oct 16, 2025
Working with Cisco as part of this engagement has been rewarding and fulfilling, enabling our enterprise to conduct all relevant due-diligence and technical validation, with full support from the account team, both technically and commercially. Cisco demonstrated their credentials as a partner to the enterprise within this engagement.
IT Security & Risk Management Associate
250M - 500M USD, IT Services
CRITICAL

“Strong vendor but weak inner workings”

3.0
Oct 23, 2025
High level of vendor support available, however, the underlying technology is multiple years behind

About Company

Company Description

Updated 8th February 2024

Cisco is a company that specializes in networking technologies, particularly Internet Protocol (IP)-based solutions. It was established in 1984 by a group of computer scientists from Stanford University. As of today, Cisco has a global workforce, continuing to innovate in various fields, notably in routing and switching. Adding to its core business, the company also delves into emerging technologies including home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security features, storage area networking, and wireless technology. Moreover, Cisco extends its expertise to offer a sweeping range of services such as technical support and advanced services. The company sells its products and services on an enterprise level, to commercial businesses, service providers, and end-users.

Company Details

Updated 25th June 2024
Company type
Public
Year Founded
1984
Head office location
San Jose, United States
Number of employees
10001+
Annual Revenue
30B+ USD
Website
http://www.cisco.com

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Key Insights

A Snapshot of What Matters - Based on Validated User Reviews

User Sentiment About Cisco Secure Workload
Reviewer Insights for: Cisco Secure Workload
Deciding Factors: Cisco Secure Workload Vs. Market Average
Performance of Cisco Secure Workload Across Market Features

Cisco Secure Workload Likes & Dislikes

Like

Strengths of the product include the versatility to not only provide brownfield segmentation capabilities, but also enable application dependency mapping, application observability, forensic analysis capabilities, vulnerability insights, and integration into existing investments to drive intelligent segmentation, both inside and outside of the Cisco ecosystem.

Like

Strong vendor support, unified experience when moving product-to-product

Like

Granular micro segmentation and policy enforcement - the UI makes it easier to see application flows and create rules, and the real-time telemetry helped us catch lateral-movement attempts faster than before.

Dislike

Weaknesses of the product observed in PoC, in comparison to peers, included policy push time from the central orchestrator being slower than comparative vendors. Further, the language regarding 'Consumer' & 'Provider' is different to other peer tooling, where the conventional 'Source' and 'Destination' language is used - this requires adaptation. Lastly, the evolving story between Secure Workload and Hypershield is still unclear, given the overlap in supported operating systems. It is understood the difference in enablement (eBPF) vs native OS firewall configuration, however, the story of when to use which solution needs to be clearer.

Dislike

There is a lot of room left for improvement for actual tech behind the scenes. Customization is also of question due to known limits of it.

Dislike

Steep learning curve and somewhat clunky initial setup; documentation is decent but could be more prescriptive for complex multi-cloud environments. Also, the licensing/pricing can feel heavy for smaller teams.

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Peer Discussions

Cisco Secure Workload Reviews and Ratings

Showing data for 33 ratings and reviews for Network Security Microsegmentation market. View all 33 ratings and reviews across markets for a complete picture.

4.4

(33 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

5 Star
55%
4 Star
33%
3 Star
12%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
Why ratings and reviews count differ?

Customer Experience

Evaluation & Contracting

4.5

Integration & Deployment

4.3

Service & Support

4.6

Product Capabilities

4.4

Filter Reviews
Sort By:
Most helpful
Last 12 Months
Star Rating
Reviewer Type
Reviewer's Company Size
Reviewer's Industry
Reviewer's Region
Reviewer's Job Function
  • IT Manager
    1B-10B USD
    Banking
    Review Source

    Cisco Secure Workload - Entry Into The World of Enterprise Segmentation

    5.0
    Oct 16, 2025
    Working with Cisco as part of this engagement has been rewarding and fulfilling, enabling our enterprise to conduct all relevant due-diligence and technical validation, with full support from the account team, both technically and commercially. Cisco demonstrated their credentials as a partner to the enterprise within this engagement.
  • ENGINEER
    <50M USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Deployment Requires Effort but Boosts Visibility Into East-West Traffic and Segmentation

    4.0
    Oct 22, 2025
    Solid and professional. Deployment took some effort up front, but once configured, Cisco Secure Workload reliably reduced noise and gave us clearer visibility into east-west traffic and micro segmentation across our cloud and on-premises environments.
  • IT SOLUTION CONSULTANT
    50M-1B USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Effective Workload Protection With Challenging Learning Curve For New Cisco Users

    5.0
    Nov 18, 2025
    I would rate my overall experience with Cisco Secure Workload as very good. The platform is reliable, provides strong visibility, and effective workload protection across hybrid environments
  • NETWORK ENGINEER
    1B-10B USD
    Transportation
    Review Source

    Traffic Insights Strong With Cisco CSW, Cost and Compute Demands Noted

    4.0
    Nov 28, 2025
    Cisco CSW is easy to deploy and manage if you use the SaaS product instead of the on-prem option. It provides valuable insight into traffic flow and helps mitigate the attack surface.
  • IT Manager
    1B-10B USD
    Energy and Utilities
    Review Source

    Smooth deployment of microsegmentation

    5.0
    Oct 28, 2025
    The SaaS deployment model enabled us to run a short POC to determine the suitability of CSW and then move into a production deployment. We were impressed with the ability of the product to discover and recommend suitable firewall policies which helped avoid any impact to service. CSW is not widely used in our location and finding an experienced implementation partner was essential
...
Showing Result 1-5 of 36

Recommended Gartner Research

  • Market Guide for Network Security Microsegmentation

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