Cyber security

Tech alone not enough to tackle security issues: Cisco

A focus on technology alone will not enable organizations to adequately address the growing threat of cyber attacks, says Bret Hartman, VP and CTO, Security Business Group at Cisco Systems.

Speaking to Telecom Times on the sidelines of the recent Cisco Live event in Melbourne, Hartman emphasised that security could not be addressed by technology alone. “The combination of people, process and technology working together can create an effective security program,” he said.

“Take for example threat sharing across organisations (public or private) and across country lines. Threats know no borders, so effective security requires cooperation between governments, companies and vendors around the world,” he added.

Hartman said that in terms of innovation, security and next-gen tech trends, Cisco’s focus remained firmly on the cloud. “We continue to expand protection as people access more and more applications in the cloud, especially the public cloud,” he said, listing some key examples including the firm’s cloud-delivered network security service Umbrella.

“Umbrella protects users from accessing malicious domains, IPs, and URLs,” said Hartman. “It blocks this traffic over any port or protocol when users are on or off the corporate network. This is true even when the VPN is off.”

Other examples, Hartman added, included Cisco’s Stealthwatch security monitoring and analytics service. “Our work in IoT is another example,” he said. “Our ability to deliver security to protect specific environments in manufacturing and medical devices, for example, to ensure attacks don’t jump to the operational side of the business.”

“In addition, we’ll continue to expand our cloud offerings and enable products delivered through MSSP – Managed Security Service Providers – allowing customers to get the most from their investments.”

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