Cisco to discontinue Security Agent

Cisco has announced that it will discontinue its Security Agent and confirmed the end-of-life (EoL) dates for the product. The vendor says that product sales will continue until the end of the year, and that the last copies will be shipped in March 2011.

Product development will stop in December 2011 and no further new version releases, or bug fixes, are planned after this time. For customers with service and support contracts, support will continue until the end of 2013. The company doesn't mention whether this includes security updates.

Cisco's Security Agent (CSA) is an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) for terminal equipment and is designed to protect desktops and servers against attacks. Cisco acquired the software by purchasing Okena and its StormWatch Agent software.

Apparently, no new product is scheduled to succeed the CSA as Cisco hasn't indicated there will be a successor. it's likely that Cisco intends to shift its focus back to its core business and will only offer the Intrusion Detection Systems built-in to its appliances and routers as potential alternatives. Cisco suggests that customers who do require an IPS on their terminal devices in future should use products supplied by other vendors.

(crve)