Activate your Cisco network as a sensor and enforcer for branch-level threat detection and response

Return on investment. We often hear this phrase not only in business, but also in life. For example, when choosing home renovation projects, conventional wisdom says that updating a kitchen will yield greater return on investment than creating a guest room in an unfinished basement. Renovating your kitchen not only increases your home’s future value but also the value of its current usage. It may mean that you are free to be more creative or innovative.  An updated kitchen may mean learning to cook, more dinners with friends and family, or using and displaying your grandmother’s fine china, previously stored in your attic.

Your network infrastructure is also an investment, and you want to gain return on that investment, as well. Just like a house, your network infrastructure needs to be updated and adaptable to change over time in order to improve its current and future usage and value.  An updated network infrastructure fuels business innovation and growth, and knowing that your network is secure is a key driver of that freedom to innovate.

That’s where Cisco Digital Architecture (DNA) comes in. Trends such as mobility, the Internet of Things, cloud, and analytics, are driving organizations to reap the benefits of digitization. To do so successfully, organizations need an adaptable network that can operate at digital speeds as well as an architecture that is secure. Cisco has reimagined network architecture to become open, software-driven, and service-centric to rapidly deliver services that enable IT to innovate faster, reduce costs and complexity, lower risk, and meet compliance.

However, new opportunities come with new security challenges, and properly securing the virtualized network is key to the success of DNA. To ensure this new architecture is secure, Cisco has included its Network as a Sensor and Network as an Enforcer solutions as critical components of DNA.

Cisco Stealthwatch Learning Network License embeds security anomaly detection into the network element, using packet capture and machine learning intelligent detectors for breach validation. It eliminates suspicious packets at the device level for security without impact to branch level network performance.

The easy to use web based tool allows visibility, control and the ability to take action, across multiple routers on the network from a single console. It also enables orchestration and interaction with remote agents at the branch to collect data to make intelligent decisions about branch network traffic behavior, even between branches.

Most importantly, although Cisco Stealthwatch Learning Network License uses new machine learning technology on the newest Cisco Integrated Service Routers to turn your branch network into a security sensor, it also leverages your existing investment in your Cisco infrastructure.

Learning Network License also uses the Netflow generated by Cisco networking devices to improve visibility and security at the branch. It also leverages existing Cisco infrastructure investments such as  Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for user contextual data, identity, and telemetry as well as the Talos database to reference this large threat detection network when making decisions about reputation and indicators of compromise.

For more, visit the Cisco Stealthwatch Learning Network License product page.

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