Cisco ASA is a security device that provides visibility on the nature of IN and OUT traffic and allows you to manage security policies more efficiently. Cisco ASA traffic monitoring and analysis plays an important role in preventing the network from any malicious or activities. Thus, a traffic monitoring tool like NetFlow Analyzer will help you identify traffic that generated a large number of connections through your firewall and monitor the performance of your firewall policies.
With NetFlow Analyzer's real-time traffic graphs and reports, you can:
- Monitor unexpected traffic due to malicious activities.
- Pinpoint the source & destination IPs that consume a high amount of traffic.
- Classify the threats into bad source & destination, DDoS attack, suspect flows, and scan/probes
- Identify potential threats that can cause disturbances in the network.
- Remediate the events by applying ACL or service policies.
NetFlow Analyzer uses flow technologies to analyze the traffic patterns passing through your Cisco ASA firewall. Configuring flows from Cisco ASA provides a set of pre-bundled reports that helps to detect suspicious traffic in the network and allows you to apply ACL or service policies. For instance, even though your firewall is configured to allow only legitimate traffic, there is an excess flow of traffic and it is affecting the performance of your firewall.
In case of such scenarios, the top five features you can look for in NetFlow Analyzer are:
- Identify the top talkers in the network from dashboard
The dashboard in NetFlow Analyzer will give you the details on top talkers in the network by usage such as top applications, protocols and IP addresses. Check for the excess or unusual traffic for specific ports or protocols in the network. The dashboard view gives of traffic details up to layer 7 applications which helps in identifying the most used ports in the network. Once you identify the port, check if it is an external port which could cause a security threat.
- Generate reports for Cisco ASA device
Reports in NetFlow Analyzer gives in-depth visibility to track the traffic based on set criteria and time. With custom search reports, you can drill down to conversation level details to find out if the excess traffic is due to a particular application or a source or destination. Also, a consolidated report for Cisco ASA will give you a complete view of traffic details. With Cisco ASA traffic reports, you can also answer how much traffic is consumed by each IP address, what is the share of traffic for each application and protocol, and who are the top offenders and targets in the network.
- Identify malicious traffic with advanced security analytics module
ASAM gives an in-depth view of the security events happening in the network. It helps in detecting zero-day network intrusions. It classifies the security threats into four different category and they are : 1. Bad Src – Dst 3. DoS attack 3. Suspect Flows 4. Scan/Probes. These categories are based on malformed TCP/UDP packets, invalid TOS flows, and invalid source/destination.
- Set real-time alerts and get notified via email or SMS
Threshold-based alerts in NetFlow Analyzer notifies you whenever there is traffic spike or unusual traffic in the network. Set multi-level thresholds and get notified when the bandwidth usage is high in the network with this our Cisco ASA traffic monitoring tool.
- Filter network traffic by applying an access control list (ACL)
NetFlow Analyzer allows you to take control of your network once you find out the exact cause of the problem. If there are any external IPs that could be a threat to your network, you can apply ACL and block the access. Also, if there are any non-business critical applications consuming excess traffic, you can re-configure your existing service policies and shape traffic.
Thus, NetFlow Analyzer helps you to answer the who, when and what of your network traffic. Apart from being a Cisco ASA monitoring solution, NetFlow Analyzer also provides complete traffic monitoring and security analytics for other firewall devices such as Fortigate, Sonicwall, Juniper, and other leading vendors in the market.
Troubleshoot faster and take control of your Cisco ASA monitoring with NetFlow Analyzer.
FAQs
NetFlow Analyzer uses flow technologies to analyze the traffic patterns passing through your Cisco ASA firewall. Configuring flows from Cisco ASA provides a set of pre-bundled reports that helps to detect suspicious traffic in the network and allows you to apply ACL or service policies.
Is Cisco getting rid of ASA? ›
The Cisco ASA 5506-X with FirePOWER Services is now obsolete (past End-of-Life and End-of-Support status).
What is the difference between ASA and checkpoint? ›
The significant difference between Cisco ASA and Check Point firewalls is that Cisco ASA focuses on traditional firewall functionalities, while Check Point offers next-generation firewalls with advanced features like application control, threat prevention, and identity awareness.
Does Cisco ASA have IPS? ›
ASA IPS Module Network Configuration
The first thing to cover is how to configure the basic network settings of the IPS module, assuming that the defaults are not acceptable. The way to do this differs between the ASA 5505 and all of the other models.
How to monitor traffic on ASDM? ›
If you go to the "Monitoring" section in ASDM, and then click on “Logging”, you can bring up the realtime log viewer, and then filter on the offending ports, and IPs. That way you could build your ACLs correctly.
What is replacing Cisco ASA? ›
The FPR1150 is a direct replacement for a Cisco ASA 5555-X. The Cisco ASA 5555-X is now End of Life and Cisco Support for the ASA5555 Adaptive Security Appliance will cease in September 2025, Cisco recommends that Customers with ASA5555-X products migrate to the Firepower 1000 series firewalls.
Is Asa end of life? ›
Cisco announces the end-of-sale and end-of-life dates for the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Release 9.8(x), Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv) Release 9.8(x) and Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) Release 7.8(x). The last day to order the affected product(s) is February 4, 2022.
Is Asa stateless or stateful? ›
Cisco ASA operates as a stateful firewall, inspecting traffic and maintaining a state table of all active sessions. Cisco FTD combines the capabilities of ASA with advanced threat protection, making it a powerful stateful inspection firewall with next-generation capabilities.
Is Cisco ASA the same as Firepower? ›
What is a key difference between Cisco Firepower and Cisco ASA? A. Cisco Firepower provides identity based access control while Cisco ASA does not.
Which is better Check Point or Palo Alto? ›
We give Check Point the edge due to its higher security scores in Cyber Ratings tests, even as Palo Alto came out ahead in value. Check Point also came out on top in recent Miercom firewall benchmark tests sponsored by Check Point, which scored a 99.7% malware block rate versus 72.7% for the nearest competitor.
Ease of Management: Some users find Palo Alto's user interface and policy management more intuitive and user-friendly compared to Cisco ASA's ASDM (Adaptive Security Device Manager). Scalability: Palo Alto firewalls are often seen as more scalable, especially for larger and complex network environments.
Does Cisco ASA have a GUI? ›
Simple, GUI-based firewall appliance management
Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) lets you manage Cisco Secure Firewall ASA and the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client through a local, web-based interface.
What OS runs on Cisco ASA? ›
The ASA software is based on Linux. It runs a single Executable and Linkable Format program called lina. This schedules processes internally rather than using the Linux facilities.
How to check traffic in Cisco ASA? ›
NetFlow Analyzer uses flow technologies to analyze the traffic patterns passing through your Cisco ASA firewall. Configuring flows from Cisco ASA provides a set of pre-bundled reports that helps to detect suspicious traffic in the network and allows you to apply ACL or service policies.
How do I monitor all traffic? ›
The best way to check network traffic is with a tool like SolarWinds® Bandwidth Analyzer Pack (BAP). BAP is built to automatically check and compile network traffic insights from devices across your network in a centralized dashboard and alert you to any concerning behavior in your network.
How does traffic monitoring work? ›
When a vehicle passes over the detector, it disrupts the magnetic field and triggers a sensor. Inductive loop detectors can be used to count vehicles, measure speed, and detect congestion. Video cameras: Video cameras or security cameras can be used to monitor traffic conditions in real time.
Does firepower replace ASA? ›
Cisco developed the Firepower appliance, the heir apparent and replacement to the ASA. Firepower ran on two different codes, the ASA code and the FTD (Firepower Threat Defense) code. The ASA was the basic software, but it lacked the advanced next-gen and IPS functionality.
Is Cisco ASA 5520 end of life? ›
The Cisco ASA 5520 Adaptive Security Appliance is now obsolete (past End-of-Life and End-of-Support status).
Why are so many people leaving Cisco? ›
In February, Cisco announced that it would conduct a companywide layoff round that would impact about 5 percent of its workforce, totaling about 4,250 employees. This was due to Cisco seeing "greater degrees of caution" related to product ordering during its fiscal Q2 in 2024, which lowered product revenues.
What is the Cisco ASA flaw? ›
CVE-2024-20358: A vulnerability in the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) restore functionality available in Cisco ASA Software and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software could allow an authenticated local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root-level privileges.
