Foreword

First, let me congratulate Jazib, Omar, and Andrew for producing what will be regarded as the definitive guide to maximizing the value of the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA).

This book takes a hands-on approach to its subject and illuminates the design concepts and functionality built into the latest versions of the Cisco ASA, which allows technology organizations to secure data, services, and assets. The world has moved from IT infrastructure architectures consisting of enterprise-owned assets contained within a perimeter to a constantly changing mix of virtual, cloud, and outsourced environments. If anything, the enterprise IT security mission promises to become even more complex as the Internet of Things accelerates its expansion over the coming years.

So, if IT managers can no longer see, control, and secure the lion’s share of assets for which they are responsible, what can they see, control, and secure? The network holds the answer to that question.

As the IT universe has evolved in ways beyond our imagining, the network itself has become the high ground for information security. Formerly, the only things that mattered in a network were bandwidth, availability, and cost of service. In a very real sense, the ideal network was an open, common carrier highway for all traffic—good, bad, and ugly.

Today, networks are much smarter than they used to be. They offer their operators unprecedented abilities to see, monitor, and control traffic traveling across them. The security benefits of smarter networks should go without saying at this point. The Cisco ASA leads this trend by integrating identity management, access control, intrusion prevention, and VPN services in a single system.

Technology alone, however, does not secure a network or an infrastructure. Infrastructure operators need to effectively use the tools available to them to minimize opportunities for adversaries to do harm. That’s where this book comes in. It provides solid grounding in a proven strategy to get the most from the Cisco ASA.

In conclusion, knowledge is always more powerful than technology, and learning—as provided in this book—is the pathway to knowledge. This book will help you expand the efficacy of your ASA and help you gain some additional perspectives on network security.

Bryan Palma

Senior Vice President

Global Security Services