Cisco Takes Self-Defending Network Strategy to a New Level

Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced the next phase of its Self-Defending Network security strategy, which helps customers more effectively manage and mitigate risks posed to their networked business systems and applications.

This next phase, called Adaptive Threat Defense (ATD), helps to further minimize network security risks by dynamically addressing threats at multiple layers, enabling tighter control of network traffic, endpoints, users, and applications. ATD also simplifies architectural designs and lowers operational costs. This innovative approach combines security features, multilayer intelligence, application protection, network-wide control and threat containment within high-performance solutions. ATD is a critical advancement in the Cisco Self-Defending Network security strategy that helps customers fortify their business systems.

The first phase of the Cisco Self-Defending Network security strategy focused on the need for integrated security, blending Internet Protocol (IP) and security technologies. The next phase introduced the Network Admission Control (NAC) industry initiative, the first industry-wide effort that increases a networks ability to identify, prevent, and adapt to security threats.

Because the network is a strategic customer asset, the protection of its business-critical applications and resources is a top priority, said John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems, Inc. Todays announcement is part of Ciscos ongoing commitment to deliver a more secure portfolio designed around the evolving demands of global businesses - from their design and architectural needs at inception to helping protect their long-term network investments.

Key components of ATD include better coordinated threat mitigation through Anti-X defenses, Application security, and Network control and containment. Cisco continues to deliver on this next phase of the Self- Defending Network security strategy with the expansion of its product portfolio to address these important areas as follows:

Anti-X defenses: Prevent and respond to network threats through a combination of innovative traffic and content-oriented security services. Core security enforcement technologies include firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS), anomaly detection and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation fused with application-inspection services such as network anti-virus, anti-spyware, and URL filtering. This convergence brings granular traffic inspection services to key network security enforcement points, thereby containing malicious traffic before it can be propagated across the network.

Application security: Provide advanced business-application protection through the use of application-level access controls, application inspection, and enforcement of appropriate application-use policies, web-application control, and transaction privacy.

Network control and containment: Network intelligence and the virtualization of security technologies provides the ability to layer sophisticated auditing and correlation capabilities to control and help protect any networked element or service such as Voice over IP (VoIP) with active management and mitigation capabilities.

Deploying these complementary security solutions will provide ubiquitous, layered protection and improved operational efficiency of business processes and applications. Cisco is announcing today more than 10 new product and technology innovations in these three key areas.

"Adaptive Threat Defense builds on Cisco's vision of the Self-Defending Network, enabling customers to realize tangible security benefits. Cisco's solution delivers reliable, yet efficient security." said Joel Conover, Principal Analyst, Current Analysis. "Customers will be able to realize greater protection of business-critical applications with less intervention from IT staff."