Cisco Introduces Cloud-Based Security Portfolio

A new set of cloud based security services launched by Cisco last week aim to close the “security effectiveness gap.” The new portfolio consists of a number of tools designed to protect more environments against attacks by malicious actors. The goal of the new products is to simplify and reduce the total number of different tools needed to fully protect an enterprise from the broad array of threats that now exist to network security, according to Cisco. The company said the new cloud-based portfolio, rolled out at its Cisco Live event in Las Vegas, is an “architectural” approach to security, with each tool designed to integrate with the other security services.

As digital transformation brings more users, devices and applications online, Cisco said companies are challenged to protect an expanding attack surface.

“With more space to operate in and greater opportunities to generate a profit, active adversaries are relentlessly targeting businesses, organizations and people, the company said in a statement.” In response, companies are deploying up to 70 disparate security products to address a variety of needs — a practice that is difficult to manage and often leaves businesses more vulnerable.” Although this niche-product approach can provide a range of security capabilities, it can also create unmanageable complexity that results in a security effectiveness gap for companies. In contrast, Cisco said its approach is designed to decrease complexity in addition to increasing capabilities.

In particular, Cisco said that the new products target distributed and mobile businesses that may need full coverage for headquarters, branch offices, or even employees connecting to the network from the field. Security is central to protecting as well as leveraging a company’s assets as business models become more data-driven and consumer relationships more data-dependent, Brad Russell, research analyst, Parks Associates, told us via email.

“Cisco’s rollout of a set of integrated security tools especially designed for distributed computing environment[s] and more preemptive anomaly monitoring will give businesses urgently needed defenses to secure their business activities,” he said. “These will be most valuable where companies lack depth of in-house expertise and currency in security innovations.”