In our previous blog, we outlined what customers gain by moving to Cisco Secure Access, with a particular focus on what is genuinely new, what is materially improved and why those changes matter from a network and security operations perspective.
Cisco Secure Access represents the consolidation of several security capabilities that historically resided in separate products or control planes. This is the evolution of Umbrella into a modern security platform that aligns with secure service edge principles, where policy enforcement moves closer to the user and the application rather than relying on a fixed perimeter.
From a network perspective, this matters because traffic inspection, access decisions, and policy enforcement no longer depend on the user’s point of connection. Whether traffic originates on a corporate network, a home network, or a mobile connection, the same controls apply.
Secure Access extends DNS-layer protection with deeper inspection and control, particularly for cloud applications and user access. Customers moving from Umbrella DNS to Secure Access DNS Defense gain additional malware protection, data loss prevention capabilities and AI-assisted threat detection without changing their traffic flow or architecture.
The important point is that this does not require enabling full proxy or zero-trust access on day one, as the transformation is a journey where the solution can evolve if/when your needs change and when the business is ready. DNS remains the enforcement point, but the intelligence behind it is broader and more tightly integrated with the rest of Cisco’s security stack.
Simplified policy management has been a core improvement here. Secure Access introduces a more unified, rule-based policy model that applies consistently across DNS security, web traffic, application access and user identity.
Secure Access provides a single management interface across DNS Defense, Secure Internet Access, and Secure Private Access, whereas Umbrella splits capabilities and visibility between the DNS and SIG tiers. This reduces the operational gap between network teams, who think in terms of traffic flows, and security teams, who think in terms of identity and risk.
For customers not ready to adopt zero-trust network access today, Secure Access lowers the adoption barrier. The DNS Defense upgrade includes a trial of Secure Private Access for a limited number of users, allowing teams to test application access models without committing to a full rollout.
This is significant from a network design perspective. It allows organisations to gradually move away from VPN-centric access, validating performance and user experience before making architectural design changes.
Secure Access introduces capabilities that either did not exist in Umbrella or were available only as limited add-ons:
Some improvements are evolutionary rather than brand new, but still meaningful:
From a Data#3 perspective, the most important benefit of Secure Access is not a feature checklist. It is the shift in which the network itself becomes the enforcement layer for security.
DNS, application access and traffic inspection all run on the same cloud-delivered fabric. This aligns network and security teams around a shared control plane rather than separate tools and policies. For existing Cisco networking customers, this provides a clearer path to a converged network and security architecture, without the need to layer new controls on legacy designs.
In practical terms, Secure Access allows organisations to modernise user security without redesigning their entire network overnight. DNS Defense becomes the entry point, with secure internet and private access added when the network and operational model are ready.
That staged approach is the real benefit. It reduces risk, preserves stability, and keeps the network central to the security strategy rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Data#3 can help you map your current Umbrella deployment to a realistic Secure Access pathway aligned with how your network operates. The first step is a simple migration discussion to assess where you are today and what the right next move looks like. Contact your account manager or submit the form below for more information.
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