Cisco Unveils AI-Native Cybersecurity Innovations

Cisco announced major advancements in its Security Cloud platform at the RSA Conference 2024, building on the momentum of its Hypershield launch and Splunk acquisition. 

The company is reimagining security at AI-scale with rapid innovations across its unified, AI-driven security portfolio.

Advancing the SOC of the Future with Splunk Integration

Just two months after completing its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk, Cisco is accelerating customers’ journey toward the Security Operations Center (SOC) of the future:

• Integrating Cisco XDR with Splunk Enterprise Security to improve threat detection and response by combining the strengths of each solution.
• Launching Splunk Asset and Risk Intelligence for proactive risk mitigation through continuous asset discovery and compliance monitoring.
• Introducing the AI Assistant for Security in Cisco XDR to empower analysts with contextual insights and automated workflows.

“The combination of Cisco and Splunk is the most comprehensive security solution for threat prevention, detection, investigation and response, utilising the cloud, endpoint traffic and Cisco’s unmatched network footprint for unparalleled visibility,” said Jeetu Patel, EVP and GM for Security and Collaboration at Cisco.

Protecting Against Unknown Vulnerabilities with Hypershield

Building on last month’s launch of Hypershield, Cisco introduced new capabilities to detect and block attacks stemming from unknown vulnerabilities within runtime workload environments.  

Cisco Hypershield is a radically new, AI-native approach to securing data centres and clouds, enabling security enforcement to be placed everywhere it’s needed. 

It protects applications, devices and data across any location and is “the most consequential security innovation in Cisco’s history,” according to executives.

Furthermore, Suspected workloads can also be isolated to limit a vulnerability’s blast radius. 

Enabling Continuous Identity Security

Cisco also announced enhancements to enable Continuous Identity Security and combat the rise in identity-based attacks:

• Duo Passport to provides frictionless access by minimising repeated authentication requests.
• Cisco Identity Intelligence in Duo to assess and respond to identity risk using AI-driven analytics.

“Cisco Duo’s commitment to dynamic response to risk, coupled with an emphasis on seamless user experience, is not just timely-it’s groundbreaking,” said Todd Thiemann, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. 

With these innovations powered by AI and its Splunk acquisition, Cisco is accelerating its platform strategy to revolutionise how customers connect and protect every aspect of their organisations in the era of AI. 

The company aims to deliver unparalleled visibility, automation and resilience through the industry’s most extensive security and observability portfolio.