Best Practices for Securing Hybrid Work Networks with Cisco Solutions

[antulhayat]

Hi everyone,

With so many organizations now running on hybrid work models (part of the team in office, part remote), I’ve been thinking a lot about how to balance strong security with reliable connectivity.

I currently manage a medium-sized network setup with a mix of Cisco Meraki for remote offices, Cisco ASA firewalls for VPN access, and collaboration tools like Webex for communication. It works well, but I see new challenges popping up:

Remote employees connecting from unsecured home networks

Increased demand for Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Ensuring VPN scalability when many people log in at once

Managing app performance for Webex and other cloud tools without compromising security

Handling BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) securely without adding too much friction

I’d love to hear from others in the community:

What Cisco solutions or configurations have you found most effective for securing hybrid work?

Has anyone here moved from VPN to Cisco Duo or SASE (Secure Acc ess Service Edge), and how has that worked out?

Any tips for monitoring and troubleshooting performance issues when employees are spread across multiple regions?

I think this is something many of us are facing right now, and it would be great to share experiences and best practices.

@Hybrid 

[Enes Simnica · Accepted solution]

gDay to u @antulhayat and that is a great topic! Hybrid environments really bring a unique mix of challenges. In my experience, one of the best ways to protect remote users connecting from home networks is by leveraging Cisco Umbrella at the DNS layer along with endpoint protection like AMP or SecureX integrations. That way, even when devices are outside the corporate perimeter, they’re still shielded from a lot of common threats.

On the VPN side, scalability is always tricky. We’ve found that moving toward a Duo + Zero Trust model makes a big difference. Duo MFA provides that extra security layer, and Duo Network Gateway allows more granular application access compared to traditional full-tunnel VPNs. And my Cisco friend, if u’re considering SASE, Cisco+ Secure Connect, which combines Umbrella, Duo, and SD-WAN, centralizes a lot of those security and performance functions in one place.

Of course, for collaboration tools like Webex, SD-WAN really helps ensure performance consistency, especially for a distributed workforce, and applying QoS to prioritize collaboration traffic can go a long way too. On the BYOD front, Duo device trust checks give u a balance of security without adding too much friction, and pairing it with an MDM like Meraki Systems Manager or Intune provides even tighter control when needed.

Finally, for monitoring and troubleshooting across regions, ThousandEyes has been invaluable in giving visibility into whether performance issues are coming from an ISP, the SaaS provider, or internal infrastructure. Meraki Insight is also useful for tracking Webex and other cloud app performance specifically.

And yeah, overall, I’d say Duo, Umbrella, and SD-WAN form a strong foundation for hybrid work security and reliability, and adding ThousandEyes gives the visibility needed to keep things running smoothly......

enjoy ur weekend my friend!

-Enes
CCNP x2 Enterprise
Your Friendly Networking Ninja