We are delighted to announce the launch of the Client-based Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) feature for Cisco Secure Connect. This new feature complements our existing Clientless ZTNA, providing you with even more secure and flexible hybrid work options.   What are the benefits of Client-based ZTNA? Enhanced Security: Client-based ZTNA adds a critical layer of protection by verifying device identity and health before granting access to resources and data. This granular control significantly reduces the attack surface and mitigates risks associated with compromised or untrusted devices. Improved User Experience: Users can now enjoy seamless and secure access to corporate resources from anywhere, anytime, and on any device without the complexity of traditional VPNs. This translates to increased productivity and a better overall user experience. Expanded Use Cases: With Client-based ZTNA, we unlock new possibilities for our customers. They can now extend secure access to unmanaged devices, contractors, and partners, easily enabling secure collaboration and remote work scenarios.   What about our existing Clientless ZTNA? Our Clientless ZTNA solution remains valuable for providing secure access in specific scenarios. The introduction of Client-based ZTNA complements our existing offering, giving our customers more flexibility and choice to address their unique security and access needs.   How can I enable this new feature? New Customers (Customers who provisioned their accounts 1 August 2024 or later): Starting today, all new Secure Connect Complete customers will have this feature enabled by default. This applies to both Essential and Advantage customers. Essential customers are limited to 10 private resources, while Advantage customers can have 1000 private resources. Existing Customers (Customers who provisioned their accounts before 1 August 2024): We can start enabling this feature for existing customers in two weeks. Beginning on August 15, 2024, please contact Support to enable this feature for your organization and coordinate the necessary data migration.   Where can I learn more about this feature?   Please refer to the Secure Connect documentation to learn more about this feature.

Before the integration of Meraki SD-WAN Hubs, the Secure Connect cloud had to serve as the hub, and all sites were required to be spokes. Now, with the support of the Meraki SD-WAN Hub, a site connected to Secure Connect can function as either a hub or a spoke.   This feature is particularly beneficial for existing Meraki SD-WAN customers, as it allows them to directly access their private applications through a Meraki Hub. This setup can reduce latency for sites that are located close to the hub site or if the application is hosted on an IaaS platform such as AWS, GCP, Azure, or others.   Additionally, there are other use cases to consider. If you're interested, you can learn more about Meraki SD-WAN Hub integration by clicking here to visit the documentation page.  

We are improving the visibility of Secure Connect licensing by bringing visibility into our dashboard. This is the first step of several to provide additional transparency and better communication to our customers and service providers. It is also another small step on our journey to unify our dashboard and remove all cross-launches.   Where to find it:    What it looks like:    What’s next in this area: - Alerting and messaging in dashboard for renewals. - Global overview visibility and API for licensing.

We are improving the visibility of the Legacy Keys by displaying the status of each API Key on the License and API Keys page. You’ll now have specific visibility into which key should be refreshed in case of errors in the dashboard.   To check the status of your API Keys, visit your License and API Keys page: What you’ll see when… All Keys are in good shape: Network Devices key needs to be refreshed:  Reporting key needs to be refreshed:  Management key needs to be refreshed:   For help identifying and fixing an API Key issue, see this doc: I’m seeing errors everywhere! What do I do?

A running list of feature updates for Secure Connect.

Remote Access UI Enhancements