Cisco Umbrella Replacement: A Quick and Painless move to dope.security

Thinking about upgrading from a DNS-only setup (Cisco Umbrella or DNSFilter) to a full on-device Secure Web Gateway (SWG)? Here’s the plain-English version of what the rollout feels like, what new controls you’ll actually get, and why a POC with dope.security typically moves faster than proxy-based tools.

1) Rollout feel: instant trial, MDM push, base policies auto-start

The experience

• Instant trial gets you into the admin console without contracts or heavy lift. You’ll see a clean dashboard, a default “Baseline” policy, and quick links to add your IdP (Okta/Azure AD) and MDM (Intune/Jamf).
• Deployment via MDM uses a single lightweight agent (PKG/MSI). Push it to a pilot group the same way you ship any standard app. No tunnels, PAC files, GRE/IPsec, or “which PoP are we using?” decisions because enforcement happens on the device.
• Auto-deployed base policies turn on sensible defaults—safe categories, curated SSL bypass for sensitive sites (e.g., banking/health), and standard logging. You’re protected right away, then you can refine.

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Why it’s smooth

With on-device inspection, there’s nothing to backhaul to a cloud proxy. That means fewer moving parts, less chance of strange egress behavior, and a rollout that looks like “install, sign in, done.”

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What you’ll actually do on day one

• Login via SSO and connect your IdP (so user/groups flow in).
• Push the agent to a pilot ring via MDM.
• Watch first events hit your dashboard.
• Connect your SIEM (if you have one)
• Decide which toggles to harden and refine

2) New toys for admins: URL filtering, Cloud App Controls, Shadow IT—and easy policy edits

You keep the simple things you liked about DNS filtering, and add controls DNS never had.

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URL Filtering (Like DNS but deeper)

• Keep your allow/block categories.
• Add “warn/coaching” mode for gray areas (e.g., “Unknown”): user sees a friendly page explaining policy with an override if you allow it.
• Create custom categories, bypass lists, and more for extremely tailored policies
  
  

Cloud App Controls (granular, app-aware)

Target the app and the action, not just a domain. For example:

• Allow Slack, block file uploads to personal Dropbox/Drive.
• Allow enterprise ChatGPT, block personal AI accounts.
• Permit read-only access to certain tools, block uploads everywhere else.
  
  

Shadow IT (see what’s really used)

• Auto-discover unsanctioned SaaS by user and department.
• Easily see if apps are accessed via personal or corporate accounts.
• Use the date to better refine your URL and CAC policies
  
  

Easy policy customization (without a playbook)

• Base policy is automatically deployed blocking the most common risky categories
• Clear audit trail: who changed what, when, and why.
• SIEM integration including Crowdstrikes NG-SIEM so you can compile all transactions in one place
• Per-group controls: marketing gets looser social policy; finance gets stricter data rules.
  
  

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3) Turning on CASB DLP: find (and fix) risky sharing in Drive & Microsoft 365

Once your web policy is humming, flip on AI powered CASB DLP to scan Google and Microsoft cloud drives for risky sharing and sensitive data without a massive list of manually created DLP rules. Instead, AI and LLMs will scan the files for content and context in order to make a highly accurate and informed decision. 

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What “risky sharing” means here:

• Files shared publicly or with “anyone with the link.”
• Files shared to external domains outside your company.
• Sensitive content (PII/PCI/PHI) sitting in places it shouldn’t.
  
  

What the admin sees:

• A clean queue of violations (file, owner, who it’s shared with, why it’s risky).
• A “dopamine” summary detailing the contents of the file
• One-click remediation removing public links, restricting to internal, or to specific teams.
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Why it matters: 

You’re no longer guessing where sensitive files live or who can see them. CASB DLP gives you visibility and guardrails without slowing users down.

4) Why a POC with dope.security typically finishes faster than DNSFilter or Cisco Umbrella

Fewer prerequisites:

• No proxy PoPs, no tunnels or PAC files to test, no egress redesign. No network configuration. 
• No “which data center are we failing over to?” checklists.

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Cleaner testing:

Because enforcement is on the device, you can validate real user experience quickly:

• Is browsing faster/slower?
• Do uploads get blocked when they should?
• Are helpdesk tickets going down?
• Is my team’s productivity up in the office, at the hotel, or at the airport.
  
  

Faster “policy to proof”:

You can show day-zero wins (e.g., block personal-cloud uploads from finance) in minutes—not after network change windows.

Simple success criteria:

• Page-load feel (user feedback + p95 telemetry)
• Ticket count trend
• Number of risky-sharing findings resolved by CASB DLP
• App-level controls working as intended (Slack, Drive, AI tools)
  
  

Bottom line:

Most teams reach a confident “go/no-go” faster because there’s less architecture work and clearer signals that the policy is doing what you want—without detours.

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Where to go from here

Start the instant trial, pick a pilot group, and watch the first wins land the same day.

When you’re done babysitting proxies and exceptions, it’s time to fly direct.