Data Protection – Cisco’s Unseen Support System that Propels Your Business Forward

One million devices are added to the Internet every hour, meaning the volume of data exchanged increases exponentially by the second. As customers determine how to employ modern, intelligent networking systems to support their strategy and goals, a priority is to harness and derive value from this vast amount of business critical data. But, while big data and associated technologies present tremendous opportunities, along with that comes risk. We hear from customers over and over that security is top of mind and if it’s important to customers, then it’s important to Cisco.

Effective, secure data management is central to how companies manage businesses today. Hackers know this too and are doing everything they can to steal it, hold it for ransom, destroy it, or sell it on the dark web. Cisco’s 2017 Midyear Cybersecurity Report highlights the escalating threats consumers and businesses alike face today. With this in mind, managing and protecting data as a critical asset has never been more urgent.

At Cisco, we take the protection of our customers’ data very seriously – it’s part of our DNA. Adversaries are working hard to create data incidents, so we’re working harder to build secure, intelligent networks to enable positive customer outcomes.

I asked Judy Barron, Director of our Cisco Services Data Protection team, to share how we’re integrating data protection into the culture at Cisco and steps we’re taking to mitigate risk and help avoid human error.

Guest Author: Judy Barron, Director, Cisco Services Data Protection, Customer Assurance

Data protection is something that is often taken for granted. Customers simply—and logically—expect that vendors do what it takes to protect data. However, sometimes that blind trust can be misplaced, depending on how secure a vendor’s site, network and storage solutions are, and how prepared they are to address emerging threats or remediate when issues do occur. In our case, Cisco has people who focus solely on Cisco Data Protection to ensure the right processes and technologies are in place. If you don’t hear much about us, it means we’re doing our job.

Aligned with the Cisco Data Protection program, our dedicated Services Data Protection program ensures that our people, processes, systems, and products all demonstrate industry leadership when it comes to protecting data. Data protection is key to proactively reducing risk. Malicious attacks like WannaCry are increasing in frequency and complexity, and business email compromises (BECs) represent new, lucrative threat vectors. We have to protect against these and countless others. But, securely managing your data is about more than just protecting against a potential data breach.

In Services, we alleviate your worries about regulations compliance, data encryption, secure access, and handling and storage so you can focus on what it takes to achieve your business outcomes. Here are just a few ways we do that:

We adhere to our own rigorous Data Protection Policy, detailed Code of Business Conduct (COBC), and thorough incident management process to protect your data.

We reinforce a data-centric mindset to ensure your data is managed securely, beginning with the initial concept of an offering, application, or product.

We strive to ensure all of our applications and offerings are built, maintained, and governed with security and privacy in mind.

We’re obsessed with protecting data because we want to deliver what our customers tell us are the most important data requirements to support business continuity, fulfill emerging needs, and enable predictive and pre-emptive capabilities to accelerate their business outcomes. We strive to instill customer confidence in the way we protect data and drive security, and aim to provide a seamless experience, enabling our customers to focus on driving their businesses with peace of mind. Cisco Data Protection has your back and your data covered!