Cisco Self-Defending Network:
Combining Best-of-Breed Products and Services with a Systems Approach
A new generation of interactive business communication and collaboration technologies provides tremendous productivity and flexibility gains for organizations of all kinds. But this unprecedented connectivity also unleashes new, complex security risks, including:
Increased exposure to security threats
Ubiquitous access to Web-enabled applications and services enables users to work from anywhere, anytime—but also places businesses at risk anywhere,
anytime.
An eroding network perimeter
The traditional network barriers that separated trusted from untrusted and "inside" from "outside" are now
disappearing. As more applications become directly accessible to remote users and systems, the concept of the network perimeter becomes increasingly
vague and more difficult to protect.
Evolving threats
Information attacks of the past were largely an issue of cyber-vandalism, with hackers primarily looking for fame. Today's
attacks are a profit-driven business, often controlled by organized crime. The modern attacker uses a patient, "stealth" approach to eventually
achieve a successful attack. In addition, modern attackers often avoid technology defenses, using spam, phishing attacks, and fraudulent Web links
to target an organization's weakest link: human beings.
As security risks have evolved, so have organizations' approaches to them. Where information security was once a technology issue, today it is a business issue—representing a more significant cost and operational challenge, but a fundamental business enabler as well. More and more organizations are implementing formal programs to reduce IT risk, especially security and compliance risks. As regulatory compliance becomes a core requirement for organizations in more industries, businesses must develop new capabilities for controlling the kinds of information traversing their network, how that information is used, and who can access it. Organizations not only face the challenge of becoming compliant, but of staying compliant as the network continuously evolves with business needs.
Let ISC's security experts help you with your Cisco Self-Defending network.
