Cisco has revealed a “first-of-its-kind” Identity Intelligence solution.
Revealed during this week’s Cisco Live event in Amsterdam, the solution resides within the Cisco Security Cloud and is complemented by several new AI-powered security capabilities.
Cisco Identity Intelligence enhances customers’ existing identity infrastructure by offering unified visibility and AI-driven analytics. It enables users to gain insights into their entire identity population, secure vulnerable accounts, revoke unused and risky privileges, identify behavioural anomalies, and prevent high-risk access attempts.
Importantly, this is achieved without the need to overhaul existing solutions, ensuring a seamless integration process.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration, enthused about how the new AI capabilities will empower users during the Cisco Live keynote: “The question we’ve been asking over the past three decades with identity has been, ‘Can Jeetu Patel have the ability to log into this application, typically at the point of time of authentication? Once you authenticate, you’re free to do whatever you want,” Patel said during Cisco Live.
I think it’s the wrong question to be asking. The question should be, ‘Should that person have access, and can we assess based on context and behaviour if that person should be continually granted access?’ It should be a continuous process. We need to reimagine identity-based trust.”
What the Identity Intelligence Specifically Entails
Cisco Identity Intelligence leverages a robust identity graph, consolidating data from diverse third-party sources responsible for managing identity and access. Powered by AI-driven behavioural analytics and Cisco’s network reach, organisations can implement a nuanced response strategy. This may involve actions such as identity quarantine, termination of active sessions, or network isolation facilitated through the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).
Cisco customers will gain visibility with these insights through their existing solutions, including Smart Authentication with Cisco Duo, which means they can identify anomalous patterns based on behaviour and third-party signals. Smart Access with Cisco Secure Access means admins can verify the authentication decision and block unusual or high-risk behaviours. Lastly, Smart Threat Detection with Cisco XDR means they can correlate identity signals to provide missing information.
Cisco underlined Identity Intelligence’s importance by citing the 2024 Duo Trusted Access Report that found that Cisco Duo processed 16 billion authentications in 2023 and saw weaker forms of MFA like SMS and phone calls dip to an all-time low of 5 percent — but the volume of identity attacks is “higher than ever”.
What Other Security Capabilities Has Cisco Announced?
Cisco also revealed new integrations with Cisco Secure Access this week between Cisco Networking and Security Cloud platforms. Cisco Secure Access, part of the Secure Services Edge (SSE) solution, provides a unified approach to networking and security. It offers automated monitoring of digital experiences, extracting insights from network, device, and application performance metrics.
There is also an improved security posture for OT assets, cloud monitoring for catalyst wireless, and new Catalyst 9300-M Cloud-Managed Switch Model hardware. Also unveiled was advanced AI with scalable infrastructure, including Cisco UCS X-Series Direct and Cisco AI Validated Designs.
All these updates are underpinned by Cisco’s ambition to develop one unified, AI-driven security experience within the Cisco Security Cloud.
“What you have is a Cisco Security Cloud that’s embedded with AI everywhere you go, in the fabric of the Cisco Security Cloud,” Patel outlined at Cisco Live.
What Else Has Cisco Announced This Week?
Also revealed at Cisco Live, the vendor showcased a series of AI Assistant features that are now generally available for Webex Suite and Contact Center customers.
The features include automatic meeting and vidcast summaries and automatic translation. These capabilities were previously exclusive to Cisco employees or selected businesses but are now available to all Webex Suite and Contact Center customers.
Cisco also announced a compelling sustainability tool for organisations — Low Carbon Mode. Control Hub’s Low Carbon Mode offers location-based insights to manage energy consumption when low-carbon energy is unavailable.
Cisco also launched a Webex app for the Apple Vision Pro.
Celebrated at this week’s Cisco Live in Amsterdam, the Webex app is now available on the App Store for visionOS, with Patel describing the device as “one of the most consequential devices of our times” during Cisco Live’s keynote.
The app allows users to engage in immersive meetings through Apple’s spatial computing device. Webex joined Microsoft Teams and Zoom as part of the Vision Pro’s app library upon its launch last Friday, February 2.
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