As the Internet of Things (IoT) gets more and more advanced and more devices connect to a company's network, CIOs have come to realise that properly protecting their network is now, more than ever a challenging task.
So says Greg Griessel, consulting systems engineer Security Solutions, at Cisco South Africa. It is for this reason, he says, that Cisco, through various acquisitions and new product developments, is tackling security challenges.
"New devices come out every day, and with companies allowing employees to bring their own devices (BYOD) into the office, it is nearly impossible to lock each one down," he says.
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"Our acquisition of LanCope helps customers monitor, detect, analyse and respond to modern threats on enterprise networks through continuous network visibility and specialised threat analysis and protection," says Griessel.
The combination of Lancope's StealthWatch software running on a Cisco security solution provides visibility into suspicious traffic patterns inside the network to quickly detect a wide range of attacks. In essence, we are paying more attention on securing the network as a whole instead of focusing on individual devices.
Griessel adds that to protect enterprises from risks outside of their firewall the company acquired OpenDNS - and rebranded it to Cisco Umbrella.
Umbrella was designed to protect companies of any size from malware, botnets, phishing, ransomware and targeted online attacks. The OpenDNS Global Network processes over a staggering 60 billion DNS queries daily from more than 50 million active users connected to the service through 24 data centers worldwide.
"Through Cisco Umbrella, IT administrators can remotely enforce mobile security policies for employees that work outside of the corporate network using devices like Windows and Apple notebooks, iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets. In addition, it provides a granular network security for all devices behind the network perimeter. IT administrators can define policies, provision devices, and view reports across users, sites, networks, groups, and devices. It also gives CIOs warnings on possible ransomware attacks heading their way," continues Griessel.
One of Cisco's most recent acquisitions is CloudLock. CloudLock monitors a user's behavior and sensitive data in cloud applications, and using its cloud access security broker technology (CASB) will secure cloud applications that customers buy. "Software as a Solution (SaaS) applications like Google Drive, Salesforce, and DropBox as well as an enterprise's home grown cloud services, applications and data are all protected and can be monitored, controlled and shut down from a central dashboard," says Griessel
"The technology and software gained from each these acquisitions integrate extremely well. And when properly installed and combined with secure hardware, will protect a network from most attacks - giving the CIO a chance to concentrate on other issues. "
He says Cisco has the technology, but it is now just a matter of getting the CEO of many enterprises to realise that security is no longer just an IT issue - it is a boardroom topic that needs to be discussed by the entire company.
"Technology plays an important role in security, but proper employee education on the correct use of social networks and on the Internet in general is also something that needs to be addressed to guarantee a breach-proof network," concludes Griessel.
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