Raise the Bar, Make an Impact, Put Security Above Everything

Cisco at RSA Conference 2018

At the RSA Conference (RSAC) 2018 last week, more attendees and exhibitors than ever before hit the streets of San Francisco. The annual gathering of security luminaries, leaders and practitioners attracted over 42,000 attendees and more than 600 exhibitors[1] making it – once again – the largest gathering of cybersecurity professionals on the planet.

Since last year’s conference, hundreds of millions of business and consumer records were stolen or compromised. The WannaCry ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries[2]. Now, on an almost daily basis, we hear the drumbeat of news about data breaches giving criminals access to business and consumer information. Almost every industry has been impacted from media to hospitality, logistics to food services.

These attackers are relentless, and defenders continue to be at a disadvantage; point products aren’t keeping up. Further, there is a notable skills gap leaving millions of cybersecurity jobs unfilled which makes companies even more vulnerable to breaches.

At RSAC this year, Cisco made several announcements to integrate technologies that address key attack vectors and promote a more effective security posture. We announced innovations protecting employees from the server to the endpoint – whether they are using email on a laptop or an application in a data center. These new solutions also protect against more sophisticated kinds of attacks. Here’s more detail on the news we shared at the conference:

Cisco announced new capabilities to protect employees’ devices from ransomware, cryptomining, and fileless malware with Advanced Malware Protection (AMP). These sophisticated detection and protection mechanisms now provide threat protection even when a user is offline, killing malicious processes and preventing propagation.

We unveiled improved threat investigation with Cisco Visibility. This new cloud application built into our endpoint console simplifies and shortens incident triage and remediation time. For more information, read the press release or visit at cisco.com for more information.

Cisco also introduced new email security services, including domain-based email authentication and machine learning in reputation validation to more effectively prevent email identity deception used in phishing attacks and Business Email Compromise (BEC).

And Cisco showcased new workload security with a Secure Data Center solution that helps protect the modern data center. Tetration now works with Cisco’s security portfolio, including Cisco Firepower, Next-Generation Firewall, Next-Generation IPS, Advanced Malware Protection, and Stealthwatch to deliver effective security that follows the workload everywhere, reduces the attack surface, and stops data center breaches from moving laterally across workloads. For more information, see Redefining Security for the Modern Data Center in a Multicloud World.

To emphasize our investment in security solutions, Cisco launched a new campaign entitled Security Above Everything to meaningfully change the dialogue in cybersecurity for the better. John  Stewart, Cisco’s Chief Security and Trust Officer, underscored this idea in his keynote Raise the Bar and Make an Impact. John told attendees that organizations must integrate security capabilities across everything – networks, data centers, cloud operations, and devices.

Also, Cisco is putting Security Above Everything into practice for customers globally. A great example is our work with the National Basketball Association (NBA).  This video demonstrates how an organization can protect themselves, and fans wherever they are, and how Cisco supports an integrated approach to security.

See for yourself how Cisco is putting Security Above Everything on our RSA Hub and Security Events page.

[1] For internal use only: RSA Conference 2018 Closes 27th Year Bringing Top Information Security Experts Together to Debate Critical Cybersecurity Issues

[2] New Scientist, May 15, 2017