Connect. Secure. Manage.
Cisco DNS Security Integration
Integrate Cisco DNS-layer protection with enterprise networks, validating resolver paths, roaming users and controlled exception handling.
Devices supported
across the UK
Client locations
supported
Traffic handled
at peak time
Average
response time
Average response is not a resolution time or a contractual guarantee. Support scope and response commitments are agreed for each engagement.
Cisco DNS security integration applies rules when devices look up domain names. We plan the resolver path, identity context and response process for the supported service. The scope explains what this control can see and block. A DNS decision does not prove that all app traffic is inspected or that every harmful destination will be stopped.
Defined trust
Make access boundaries explicit rather than relying on an assumed internal network.
Controlled access
Connect identity, policy and network enforcement to the services people actually use.
Evidence for change
Test the intended security outcome and retain useful operational records.
Map how names are resolved today
We find the resolvers used by offices, remote users, servers and specialist devices. Internal zones, directory services and split-DNS arrangements are included because changing resolution can disrupt private apps even when public browsing continues to work. The current path is documented before any forwarding or client setting is altered.
We also review encrypted DNS, hard-coded resolvers and apps that use their own resolution method. These can change whether the intended policy sees a request. The design records the supported coverage and any exceptions rather than assuming that a single upstream resolver change controls every endpoint in the estate.
Standards & partnerships
Confidence in the team behind your network.
Cisco Partner
Cisco Meraki
Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials PlusMCI Network Services is operated by Proxar Ltd. Certifications apply to the certified legal entity and the scope of its certificates. View accreditation information
Choose the right integration method
The supported Cisco service may identify a site, an endpoint or a more specific user context depending on the rollout. We assess the actual need and the available platform capabilities. A branch-level policy is not automatically a user-specific policy, and a remote laptop may need a different arrangement from an office desktop.
We confirm subscriptions, endpoint components and any virtual appliances or identity integrations required by the chosen design. Customer ownership of those components is clear. The rollout should not leave a hidden dependency on an obsolete agent or a server that nobody includes in its maintenance process.
A useful starting point
Not sure where to start?
Bring the requirement. We will help you define the engineering work.
Preserve internal resolution
Private apps often depend on internal DNS names and records that should not be sent indiscriminately to an external resolver. We map the relevant zones, forwarding rules and failover behaviour. The design keeps the authorised internal lookup path available while applying the intended protection to the traffic in scope.
Testing includes names used during login, device management and app startup, not just a public search engine. A change that breaks a background directory lookup may appear later as an authentication problem. We therefore involve app and identity owners where their services depend on the resolver path being changed.
Different environments. The same care.
Built around the work
your network supports.
Finance, banking and the wider private sector. We start with the systems and people that depend on your connections.
Finance & banking
Market-data paths, routing and provider coordination on clients’ behalf.
Financial-market services ↗Offices & multi-site teams
Reliable access between people, workplaces and business applications.
Office network design ↗Data centres & cloud
Network boundaries, workload connections and operational ownership.
Data centre networks ↗Build a policy with clear exceptions
We agree the blocking and reporting aims, the populations receiving each policy and the process for reviewing a disputed destination. A false positive needs a controlled investigation, not an immediate organisation-wide allow entry. The exception should identify its purpose, scope and review point.
Allowing a domain does not make every service hosted beneath it safe. We explain the limits of broad destination exceptions and consider whether a narrower control or another inspection layer is needed. The policy is designed around business needs rather than a goal of eliminating every helpdesk request by relaxing restrictions.
Test policy and bypass conditions
Acceptance checks that the intended clients use the expected resolver path and receive the correct policy. We use authorised test destinations or vendor-provided validation methods where suitable, avoiding live malicious infrastructure. We also test private resolution and a representative app transaction after the change.
The assessment considers what happens when the primary resolver or site path is unavailable. An alternate resolver that ignores security policy may restore names while silently removing the control. The customer should understand and approve that behaviour, or choose a supported recovery design that maintains the required restriction.
Make logs useful and proportionate
DNS records can reveal sensitive information about users and business systems. We agree access, retention and the purpose of reporting with the customer's security and privacy owners. The project does not assume that domain-query logs are anonymous simply because they are technical records.
Operational reporting should identify actionable conditions, such as a misconfigured endpoint population or repeated requests from an unexpected device. We separate investigation of a security event from routine setup support. The handover states who reviews alerts and how evidence is escalated without sharing unnecessary user or app information.
Cached answers can also affect a policy test. We distinguish a newly resolved destination from a current connection using previously received information, and record the conditions of the observation. This avoids reporting that a policy change has failed or succeeded before the relevant request has actually passed through the intended resolver.
Plan service evolution without assumptions
Where the customer uses a current Umbrella arrangement, we assess the actual entitlement and migration path rather than assuming that every component has the same lifecycle. Cisco Umbrella Migration Planning addresses that transition. MCI's DNS integration scope focuses on a tested resolution path, clear policy ownership and documented limits, with wider web or private-application security treated as related but distinct controls.
Technical references
- Cisco Secure Access configuration documentation — Cisco / Cisco Meraki
- Prepare Umbrella for migration to Secure Access — Cisco / Cisco Meraki
Talk to a specialist
What does your network need next?
Tell us what you are planning, changing or trying to improve. We will help define a practical next step and the engineering scope.
+44 203 196 6566Choose option 1
sales@proxar.co.ukUK-wide service.
Most of our engineers are based in Kent, with a focus on London, Sussex, Essex and Berkshire.
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