CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cato Networks vs Cisco

Cato Networks sells the Cato SASE Cloud, a SASE platform built as a global cloud with a single-pass engine, a single data lake and single policy enforcement. Cisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data. CISO Tribune files both under SASE and SSE. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Cato Networks
  • Cisco
Cato Networks vs Cisco: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
Cato NetworksCato Networks sells the Cato SASE Cloud, a SASE platform built as a global cloud with a single-pass engine, a single data lake and single policy enforcement.catonetworks.comCiscoCisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data.cisco.com
What it sells
  • Cato SASE Cloud[5]A global cloud with a single-pass engine, a single data lake and single policy enforcement.
  • Cato AI Security[1][5]Secures and governs AI interactions, from third-party AI usage to homegrown AI applications and agents.
  • Cato DLP[11]Data loss prevention with a catalog of 350+ pre-defined data types.
  • DNS Security[13]Inspects all DNS traffic and blocks requests to malicious destinations before a connection is made.
  • Cisco HypershieldA security architecture for data centers that segments workloads and closes exploit gaps at scale.
  • Cisco Secure AccessA secure access service edge (SASE) product that unifies networking and security policy for a distributed workforce.
  • Cisco Duo[1]An identity security product that gives visibility into an organization's identity ecosystem and enforces access policy.
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)A network access control product that uses data from across Cisco's stack to enforce policy, manage endpoints and grant trusted access.
  • Splunk Enterprise Security[1]A security information and event management product that detects and responds to threats using collected logs and events.
  • Cisco Talos[1]A threat intelligence and research organization that supplies threat data used across Cisco's security products.
Categories
Headquarters
Tel Aviv, Israel[3]San Jose, United States[3][13]
Founded
Not stated on its pages1984[4]
Ownership and funding
Privately held[1][2][4][5][8][11]Public (NASDAQ: CSCO)[1][2][10][12][13]
Named customers
Not stated on its pages
  • Marriott[5]
  • United States Golf Association[6]
  • Rosen Hotels & Resorts[7]
  • Elon University[8]
Recent news
  • October 27, 2026Cato Networks launched Cato AI Endpoint, an endpoint client for discovering AI use, protecting sensitive data and enforcing AI policies across browsers, desktop applications and local agents.[16]
  • August 3, 2026Cato Networks launched Cato Agentic Threat Prevention, a capability using autonomous agents to predict likely attack paths and personalize protections for each customer environment.[17]
  • August 12, 2026Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion for the period ended July 25, 2026.[2]
  • May 13, 2026Cisco reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue of $15.8 billion for the period ended April 25, 2026.[9]
  • May 4, 2026Cisco announced its intent to acquire Astrix Security, a non-human identity security company, and completed the acquisition on June 29, 2026.[10]
  • April 9, 2026Cisco announced its intent to acquire Galileo Technologies, Inc.[11]
  • November 25, 2025Cisco completed its acquisition of EzDubs, a privately held AI software company based in San Francisco.[13]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 4, 2026[4]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 5, 2026[12]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Cato Networks sells mainly to organizations that want to replace point products with a single platform for networking, security and access. Cato Networks says organizations can start with a capability such as SD-WAN, SSE or ZTNA and expand over time. Cato Networks says its managed services let teams choose how much to hand off, from co-managed to fully managed. For data protection, Cato Networks says its DLP is designed for organizations that need to protect sensitive data across distributed users, multiple locations and cloud environments. Cato Networks describes that DLP as suited for security and IT teams looking to consolidate data protection into a single platform.From its own pages, Cisco sells mainly to enterprises that need to secure hybrid environments spanning data center, cloud, campus, and IoT. Cisco addresses organizations with a global workforce that need secure access for humans, things, and agents under one consistent policy model. Cisco addresses enterprises that want to govern an agentic AI workforce. Security teams are addressed with unified intelligence and operations for visibility across users, systems, and AI agents.
Last verified
November 2, 2026October 10, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cato Networks and Cisco are both filed under SASE and SSE.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cato Networks's primary category is SASE and SSE; Cisco's is Firewalls and NGFW.
  • Cato Networks is also filed under Zero trust network access and Workforce AI usage security. Cisco is also filed under Network access control and SIEM.
  • Cato Networks lists Cato SASE Cloud, Cato AI Security, Cato DLP and DNS Security. Cisco lists Cisco Hypershield, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Duo, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Splunk Enterprise Security and 1 more.
  • Cato Networks is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, United States.
  • Cisco was founded in 1984.
  • Cato Networks is privately held. Cisco is a public company listed on NASDAQ as CSCO.
  • Cisco publicly names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Elon University.

What it sells: Cato Networks

What Cato SASE Cloud does[5]
Cato's SASE platform converges networking, security and access into a single, global, AI-powered cloud service. Thousands of SPACEs run on bare-metal compute across worldwide PoPs, interconnected by tier-1 carriers.
What Cato AI Security does[1][5]
Cato AI Security secures and governs all AI interactions, from sanctioned third-party AI usage to runtime protection of homegrown AI applications and AI agents. Cato Networks says AI security can be deployed independently to protect AI usage and AI agents across the organization.
What Cato DLP does[11]
Cato DLP offers a catalog of 350+ pre-defined data types covering common use cases for sensitive data, PII, and compliance. The Cato DLP engine inspects all traffic to private applications and SaaS apps. Cato DLP offers inline scanning and policy enforcement tailored for GenAI traffic such as ChatGPT.
What DNS Security does[13]
Cato DNS Security inspects all DNS traffic in real time to prevent malicious activity hiding within the protocol. It protects against phishing, domain squatting, website impersonation, DNS tunneling and crypto-mining activity.

Questions about Cato Networks and Cisco

What do Cato Networks and Cisco sell?
Cato Networks sells Cato SASE Cloud, Cato AI Security, Cato DLP and DNS Security. Cisco sells Cisco Hypershield, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Duo, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Splunk Enterprise Security and 1 more.
Are Cato Networks and Cisco in the same category?
They share SASE and SSE. Cato Networks's primary category is SASE and SSE and Cisco's is Firewalls and NGFW.
Where are Cato Networks and Cisco headquartered?
Cato Networks is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, United States.
When were Cato Networks and Cisco founded?
Cisco was founded in 1984.
Who owns Cato Networks and Cisco?
Cato Networks is privately held. Cisco is a public company listed on NASDAQ as CSCO.
Which customers do Cato Networks and Cisco name?
Cisco publicly names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Elon University.
Who are Cato Networks and Cisco sold to?
From its own pages, Cato Networks sells mainly to organizations that want to replace point products with a single platform for networking, security and access. From its own pages, Cisco sells mainly to enterprises that need to secure hybrid environments spanning data center, cloud, campus, and IoT.
What have Cato Networks and Cisco announced recently?
October 27, 2026: Cato Networks launched Cato AI Endpoint, an endpoint client for discovering AI use, protecting sensitive data and enforcing AI policies across browsers, desktop applications and local agents. August 12, 2026: Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion for the period ended July 25, 2026.

About Cato Networks

Cato Networks sells the Cato SASE Cloud, a SASE platform built as a global cloud with a single-pass engine, a single data lake and single policy enforcement. Cato Networks describes its SASE platform as converging networking, security and access into a single, global, AI-powered cloud service. Cato Networks states that the platform delivers secure, optimized access from distributed points of presence close to users and business resources.[15]

Cato Networks states that day-to-day planning, scaling and maintenance depend on specialized, hard-to-find expertise. In the company's account, controls differ across users, sites, datacenters and cloud, leaving gaps as applications migrate. Cato Networks positions its platform as a replacement for point products, with a single policy and console running on an SLA-backed global backbone.[6][7]

The core of the platform is the Single Pass Cloud Engine, called SPACE. SPACE converges NGFW, threat prevention, and CASB, DLP and ZTNA into one cloud-native stack. Thousands of SPACEs run on bare-metal compute across worldwide PoPs, interconnected by tier-1 carriers. Every inspected flow feeds network, device, user, app and data context into one open data lake that is accessible through the Cato API. Cato Networks says NGFW, CASB, DLP, ZTNA, threat prevention and AI controls all run on a single policy engine.[6]

On the networking side, Cato Networks carries SD-WAN traffic over a private global backbone. Cato Networks connects sites to the Cato Cloud, where they are managed centrally. For access, Cato Networks offers adaptive, risk-based, zero-trust access to private applications located on-premises or in the cloud. The access methods include ZTNA Client, Enterprise Browser, Browser Extension and Clientless Portal. Cato Networks says these access methods can coexist with current access solutions and be selectively deployed to secure some or all application access.

Cato Networks discovers local, custom and managed agents across the enterprise, including their tools, MCP servers, data access and execution paths. Cato Networks controls prompts, responses, tool calls and tool actions before agents create business impact. Cato Networks says AI security can be deployed independently to protect AI usage and AI agents across the organization. Organizations can run AI Security for Applications on-prem or in their own cloud with AI Security Outposts.[9][10]

Other modules run on the same platform. Cato DLP offers a catalog of 350+ pre-defined data types covering common use cases for sensitive data, PII, and compliance. The Cato DLP engine inspects all traffic to private applications and SaaS apps. Cato EPP is fully managed through the Cato Management Application. Cato DNS Security inspects all DNS traffic in real time to prevent malicious activity hiding within the protocol, and it blocks DNS requests to malicious destinations before a connection is ever made. The Cato Management Application unifies configuration, monitoring and analytics in a single pane of glass.[12][13][14]

Cato Networks offers MDR, which delivers zero-footprint detection of persistent threats with no agents or appliances. Cato Networks monitors last-mile ISPs 24×7 at every site. On an outage or performance degradation, Cato Networks works with the ISP to resolve it. For management, customers can choose Cato or a qualified partner to help manage the networking and security environment. For site deployment, the zero-touch Cato Socket deploys quickly at customer premises, by the customer or with Cato and partner remote or on-site support. Customers can self-manage, co-manage with a partner and Cato, or hand over complete hands-free operations.[15]

On deployment, Cato Networks says zero-touch provisioning and self-service client rollout enable selective deployment by use case, geography, or org unit. Cato Networks says its modular platform coexists with existing infrastructure, allowing gradual adoption. Cato Networks says organizations can start with a specific capability such as SD-WAN, SSE, or ZTNA and expand over time without rearchitecting the environment.[6][12][13][14][15]

Cato Networks on the record

Sources

Cato Networks full record

  1. [1]catonetworks.comCato Networks · catonetworks.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cato raises 359 millionCato Networks · catonetworks.com · published June 30, 2025 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cato continues expansion with new global headquartersCato Networks · catonetworks.com · published June 2, 2024 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cato SASE Cloud Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  5. [5]Cato Networks: World’s Leading Single-Vendor SASE PlatformCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Platform Architecture | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]SASE Platform | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Agentic AI Security | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]AI Security | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Data Loss Prevention (DLP) | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Endpoint Protection (EPP) | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]DNS Security | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Cato Management Application (CMA) | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Cato Managed Services | Cato NetworksCato Networks · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Cato Networks Launches Cato AI Endpoint to Secure AI Use Beyond the BrowserCato Networks · published October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Cato Networks Launches Agentic Threat Prevention to Predict and Mitigate AI-Assisted AttacksCato Networks · published August 3, 2026 · Tier A

Cisco full record

  1. [1]Security Products and Solutions for Cloud and Workforce Protection - CiscoCisco · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cisco reports fourth quarter earningsCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published August 12, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]IndexCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cisco systems reaches agreement with state city on major land purchaseCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published April 17, 1996 · Tier A
  5. [5]MarriottCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]cisco.comCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Rosen hotels and resortsCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Elon universityCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cisco reports third quarter earningsCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published May 13, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Cisco announces intent to acquire astrix securityCisco · blogs.cisco.com · published May 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Making AI Trustworthy and Observable in Real-Time: Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire GalileoCisco Blogs · published April 9, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Cisco Security Services Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  13. [13]Cisco completes EzDubs acquisition - CiscoCisco · published November 25, 2025 · Tier A

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