Year: 2013

October 2, 2013 Leave a Comment
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A Weekly Dose of Cyber Security Awareness

In any given week, one doesn’t need to look very far to be reminded of the events and issues that can surface anytime, anywhere, and to anyone. Given their modes of occurrence, range of diverse levels, technical, non-technical, and globally, wouldn’t it be convenient to have a brief synopsis and analysis of the events and issues? A weekly publication from Cisco, the Cyber Risk Report, is available now to give you the awareness and insight related to these security events and issues. The Cyber Risk Report provides a lot of information that conveys thought-provoking analyses and perspective.

Why the Cyber Risk Report Matters

There are several benefits of this publication. The report provides current information on multiple topics saving you time from sifting through all of the media outlets. It can minimize your blind spots and broaden your understanding of the nature of the factors contributing to the weekly events being reported. It is not uncommon for these issues and events to surface simply because the victims have not seen them coming. The bad guys are betting on this. Is this the only source of knowledge needed? Of course not, but the Cyber Risk Report is certainly a great resource to gain insight and keep a pulse on the constantly evolving security landscape.

What the Cyber Risk Report Offers

The Cyber Risk Report contains a summary and analyses of events and issues that transpired in the week leading up to its publication. Every week a specialized team of Cisco security analysts meets to create its content based on a review of several information sources. This content is organized into categories that I have highlighted in red as shown in the snapshot below.

CRR_Sample

Figure 1: Cyber Risk Report Example

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Mike Adler

October 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
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Cisco on CNN at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

Why does Cisco invest hundreds of millions of dollars around the world each year to help improve access to education, healthcare, critical human needs, and disaster relief?  Cisco CEO and Chairman John Chambers said in a recent CNN interview that “corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a must for the future of capitalism.” He shared his insights on a panel interview at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City, which aired on CNN’s Piers Morgan Live show September 26th. Fellow panelists included host Piers Morgan, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton, and Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent.

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Jennifer Barr

Social Media Manager, Online Brand

Cisco Talent Acquisition

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Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Unsampled Netflow – Why it’s Important for Cybersecurity

Quick question for IT leaders – can the switches on your network report 100% unsampled netflow?  If they can’t, there may be elusive cybersecurity threats hiding within your network. Yes, inside your network.

Every week, I hear stories of intellectual property (IP) loss and personal identifying information (PII) being compromised. This is due in part to many agencies still approaching cybersecurity the way they always have – guarding the edges to keep threats out. But that’s not enough anymore. With malware now being custom-written to bypass the perimeter, external drives plugged in, and the ever-present possibility of tricked or malicious insiders, monitoring inside the network is now one of the most effective ways to find and eliminate threats.

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Peter Romness

Cybersecurity Principal, US Public Sector CTO Office

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Social Media Measurement Twitter Chat Recap

Can there ever be enough discussion around “social media measurement”? While I joke as part of the opening of this post, it is a topic that we’ll continue to explore in upcoming #Ciscosmt activities. And as a follow up to my recent “Decoding Social Media Measurement” post, last Thursday Charlie Treadwell, Manager, Digital and Social Media Marketing at Cisco, shared his insights through the monthly #Ciscosmt Series Twitter chat. Below is a transcript of the interesting conversation as well as a few key takeaways.

Social Media Measurement #Ciscosmt Twitter Chat Recap
Social Media Measurement #Ciscosmt Twitter Chat

I think this is a great start to the ongoing conversation we’ll explore further as we move forward. As it evolves,  it provides more and more critical data points for business impact. I’m interested to hear how you are using social media measurement to benefit your business and also what types of metrics are most important to you.

Key Takeaways

  • Social media measurement is a key element in showing business value…social media benefits are no longer taken at face value. Businesses must align metrics to overall goals and benchmark along the way.
  • Metrics will vary from company to company based on individual goals. However, some basic types of data to measure includes: cost and/or support savings, revenue, influencers, share of voice, engagement, and crowdsourcing.
  • Social media measurement can be implemented even on limited budgets. Use tools like Google Analytics, individual social channels, or other resources to gather data and make informed decisions.
    Pilot and test social media strategies on an ongoing basis and create measurement benchmarks throughout the initiatives to ensure efforts are maximized.
  • Quantity is an important part of the social media measurement equation. However, “quality” is an even more crucial element to consider. Take time to look deeper into the metrics to understand the types of engagement, influencers, or other data points that can be retrieved.
  • Measurement can and should be implemented across the organization when it comes to social media. HR, sales, support, marketing, and other areas can benefit from strong measurement best practices.

October Twitter Chat

And mark your calendars for next month’s Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Twitter chat, taking place on Thursday, October 24th from 9-10 a.m. PT. More details will follow shortly on this blog and through the @CiscoSocial handle on Twitter. Stay tuned for more details by following the Cisco Digital and Social Blog and the #Ciscosmt hashtag!

Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series: Engaging Employees in Social Media Twitter Chat Transcript

[storify url = ” http://storify.com/elhoust/making-sense-of-social-media-measurement”]

Cisco Social Media Training Program Opportunity:

If you have any questions or are interested in other types of social media training, check out our complimentary Cisco Social Media Training Program and follow the #ciscosmt hashtag.  To request  customized one-on-one team training sessions, email ciscosmtraining@external.cisco.com.



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Elizabeth Houston

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BIG Awards Finalists Vie for $100K and Mentoring Support

So here we are again – seems like only yesterday that we were going through the difficult task of picking the BIG Awards 2012 finalists…. and now over a year later we are about to announce the finalists for the 2013 competition, and have had a full year supporting last year’s winners Snap Fashion and Digital Shadows.

The BIG Awards is one of the 4 main components of Cisco’s British Innovation Gateway (BIG) programme, which forms the core of our innovation-based legacy from London 2012.

So much has happened in the last 12 months it’s hard to fathom and already both 2012 winners are moving their businesses forward in so many ways. Snap Fashion launched in Singapore and Digital Shadows received Cool Vendor 2013 status from Gartner. It seems like they are the “grown-ups” to the new talent coming through – I have to say it was great to see Jenny,  CEO from Snap Fashion, and Alastair, CEO from Digital Shadows, offering their advice and experience at our recent semi-final event at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden.

Phil Smith, CEO of Cisco UKI and Tom Kneen, BIG Programme Lead, Cisco with Jenny Griffiths, CEO and Founder of Snap Fashion and Alastair Paterson, CEO of Digital Shadows.
Phil Smith, CEO of Cisco UKI and Tom Kneen, BIG Programme Lead, Cisco with Jenny Griffiths, CEO and Founder of Snap Fashion and Alastair Paterson, CEO of Digital Shadows.

As a team we were wondering how we would match the quality of the 6 finalists from 2012. But when we first glanced at the early submissions for the 2013 competition we knew we had no need to be worried – the entries did not disappoint and once again the judging panel was set a very hard task to pick 20 semi-finalists and then in the last couple of weeks the finalists.

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Tom Kneen

Business Development Manager, CTO Office, UKI

GEO - Sales UKI Mgmt

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Cisco Security Intelligence Operations NCSAM 2013

For the last couple of years, Cisco Security Intelligence Operations has released a series of blog posts for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The theme for this month from the National Cyber Security Alliance is “Our Shared Responsibility.” The Department of Homeland Security is running a series on this theme, as are many other private organizations.

Our action and inaction have consequences for systems and services used by us, our friends, and our places of employment. Attackers use accounts compromised due to poor passwords and lack of two-factor authentication to launch other attacks on users connected to those accounts. End-user systems infected with malicious software are leveraged to conduct distributed denial of service attacks against financial and government websites. Users who fall victim to spear phishing attacks open the door for attackers to leap frog their way through sensitive networks and collect proprietary information from our places of employment.

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Nicholas Leali

Security Analyst, IntelliShield

Cisco Security Intelligence Operations

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A Brave New World for IT: Internet as WAN

Today’s IT organizations are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Most face an avalanche of new bandwidth requirements hitting their networks, yet too few resources to support the business’ needs.  In 2013, three out of four organizations will not have any additional wide area network (WAN) budget (Nemertes Research). That means 75% of IT teams will not be able to buy more bandwidth to address exponential traffic growth, and will need to re-think their entire approach to the network if they want stay successful.  Treading water will not be an option.

Here is a sampling of the trends that are challenging IT now:

Slide1

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Raakhee Mistry

Senior Director

EN & Cloud Marketing

September 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
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Ask The Futurist: “How Will Mesh Networking Affect Robotics?”

For as long as I remember, robots have always been cool. Perhaps it’s my passion for all things futuristic, but I don’t think I am alone in saying robots have provided a glimpse of what could be possible. Looking at today’s Internet of Everything (IoE) world, robots have advanced from the 1950s tin wind-up toy robots and the affable C-3P0 and R2-D2 from George Lucas’s Star Wars, to emerging technology that has the potential to improve our lives and increase shared connections.

Today’s “Ask the Futurist” question is focused on how robotic technology and its supporting networks will evolve over time. Here’s the question from William Maguire, a wireless engineer.

Question: “How do you think mesh networking will affect robotics in the next 20 years?”

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Dave Evans

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Cisco Positive Train Control: Enhancing End-to-End Rail Safety … and More

Positive Train Control (PTC) is one of many new safety measures mandated by the U.S. Federal Government to help prevent train-to-train collisions, derailments and other human-caused accidents. If warnings to slow down or to stop a train go unnoticed by an engineer, the locomotive’s onboard computer will automatically apply the brakes after a certain amount of time, with the intention to prevent a collision and potentially save lives.

Earlier this year in April, Cisco and Lilee Systems announced plans for the industry’s first end-to-end communications network for PTC with a proof-of-concept network, located in the San Francisco Bay area, to verify communications architecture. Today, this vision has become a reality that is ready for the market with Cisco Positive Train Control (PTC) 1.0.

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Tony Shakib

No Longer with Cisco