2016 – What a Year for Cisco Security

What a giant year for Cisco Security!

In 2016, we pursued our effective security architecture with innovative solutions – from the network to the endpoint to the cloud. I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the strides we made to bring together so many elements of our architecture in an integrated approach that results in simpler, more effective security for our customers. I’m smiling as these words go down on paper because of how I’ve seen our customers and partners respond and benefit.

February

At Cisco Live Berlin we delivered the industry’s first, fully integrated, threat-focused Cisco Firepower Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW). Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst with ESG called it our “latest chapter in [Cisco’s] network security pedigree.” The Cisco Firepower 4100 Series appliances were released, with integrated threat and access management and a compact footprint, designed for the Internet edge and in high-performance environments. Focused on threat defense instead of the legacy application control, Cisco Firepower keeps customers safer by detecting and responding to attacks faster and more effectively than ever.

June

Our Cisco Midyear Cybersecurity Report evidenced how customers can dramatically reduce time to detection of attacks and remediate them efficiently.

At Cisco Live Las Vegas, we asserted our leadership in cloud security. We advanced threat protection for the distributed enterprise with Cisco Meraki MX Security Appliances with Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) and Threat Grid. This completely cloud-managed unified threat management (UTM) solution now provides branch offices with protection against the most advanced threats.

To further protect branch offices, customers can easily activate Stealthwatch Learning Networks License on their Cisco Integrated Service Router (ISR), allowing it to act as a security sensor and enforcer to block malicious traffic on the local network – where there is often little security deployed.

Cisco Umbrella Branch, embedded into ISRs, and Umbrella Roaming, activated in Cisco AnyConnect, deliver a first line of defense for branch offices and roaming employees by blocking connections to bad IP addresses, URLs, and domains.

And with Cisco Defense Orchestrator network operations staff can easily manage thousands of security devices (Cisco ASA, Cisco NGFW, Cisco Umbrella, and more) from a single cloud-based portal, simplifying policy management while making security policy stronger.

September

Our acquisition of CloudLock soon followed and accelerates our vision to deliver the most comprehensive cloud security solution. By integrating the CloudLock technology into our security portfolio we’re eliminating the visibility gap common in traditional security infrastructure, giving security teams a complete picture of cloud app usage, risks, and security implications so they can proactively take action.

It’s clear that Cisco is sparking a cloud security transition like no other company.

November

We advanced our endpoint security strategy with Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints that combines prevention, detection, and response to simplify endpoint security – reducing complexity and preventing more threats from taking hold. It detects advanced threats in a matter of minutes, and then automatically stops and removes those threats from every computer in your enterprise in seconds.

Throughout the year we continued to enhance the Cisco Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS) to help companies more easily protect their complex and dynamic networks. Even enterprises with an NGFW often choose to augment their firewall with an NGIPS for better visibility, threat detection, and response. An NGIPS can be deployed where firewalls simply can’t reach or are impractical, within the premises and in cloud environments. It can even serve as a quick “fix” for unpatched or “unpatchable” vulnerabilities.

Folks, I’ve just hit the highlights.  While each of these solutions on their own is impressive, what is truly interesting is that they integrate together into a security architecture to become a force multiplier of effectiveness.  Our architectural approach, combined with the power of the network, allows us to deliver integrated threat defenses – so you can see and know more, and stop more threats from the network to the endpoint to the cloud.

I’ll share more with you about Integrated Threat Defense later in the New Year. Until then, I hope your 2017 is off to a great start.