As organizations and individuals worldwide become more reliant on technology, there are more opportunities to connect and collaborate—but also more risks. Now in its 18th year, Cybersecurity Awareness Month continues to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity in the United States and other nations around the world.
This year’s theme is “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.” The theme encourages individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, stressing personal accountability, and the importance of taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity.
More than 85 percent of the world’s web traffic travels securely across Cisco connections, and our software and solutions protect and keep private the data of over 500,000 organizations, from the public sector, to critical infrastructure, to the Fortune 500.
Since our founding in 1984, security and privacy have been priorities for Cisco. As we have transitioned to provide more software-based solutions, having a strong security and privacy foundation has become more critical than ever.
In fact, we lead in the development of industry standards to enhance global cybersecurity. Our track record on trust and responsibility is evident in our reputation on Wall Street and among world leaders, as well as our consistent presence on lists of the world’s most ethical businesses. Here are 5 ways that Cisco is doing its part to #BeCyberSmart:
1. Employee engagement: Our internal Keep Cisco Safe risk mitigation campaign provides Cisco employees mandatory annual security training, ongoing phishing simulations, year-round security nurturing and the resources to keep security and trust top of mind. At Cisco we continually drive the importance of security throughout the enterprise to make sure every Cisco worker understands their role in the security and privacy equation. By creating a collective sense of responsibility and ownership, we protect ourselves, our enterprise, and our customers; helping to enhance security and privacy worldwide.
2. End-to-end security and privacy: Cisco embeds security and privacy by design with our Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL), a repeatable and measurable process that is now unified across all solutions and services we offer. This combination of tools, practices, and awareness increases the resiliency and trustworthiness of Cisco solutions throughout their lifecycles. New solutions are not released to customers until security and privacy requirements are embedded and confirmed.
3. Investments in innovation: Today’s cyber-attacks are ever-evolving, so we must make investments to stay ahead. These investments include enhancements to the foundational security of our solutions, adding layers of security that help protect against counterfeit and unauthorized versions of hardware and software. We also manage a portfolio of 400 (and growing) products that are equipped with trustworthy capabilities to protect against cyber-attacks, verify hardware and software integrity, and earn and build customer trust.
4. Responding to global needs: Cisco has always taken a global approach to security and privacy. Recognizing privacy as a fundamental human right, we work closely with regulators around the world to drive consistency in our approach to protecting and respecting privacy. We have a centralized Chief Privacy Office with regional officers leading each of the three major regions where we do business. Each regional officer chairs a Regional Privacy Council for their respective territory to ensure we are addressing local and country laws in our global approach.
5. Incorporating a New Trust Standard: Cisco is defining a new framework for the trusted technology relationships of tomorrow. The New Trust Standard has changed the way we do business. We’re listening to what our customers want, putting in place the technology, processes, policies, and people to deliver, and working alongside them to map out a digital future with trust at its foundation. With supporting data insights from the Cisco 2021 Consumer Privacy Survey, the New Trust Standard establishes the critical elements needed for organizations to earn, maintain, and grow customer confidence.
Our business—and our world—are undergoing rapid change. As we evolve in response to emerging customer needs, we’ll continue to connect everything securely, privately, and responsibly, so that anything is possible. Please visit our Trust and Responsibility page for more information on what we are doing to #BeCyberSmart.
Cisco are always on point, great content, and always innovating
Acknowledgement of the extent of this threat between the cyber and physical world is still an issue that many don’t appear to want to know about, Cisco is helping to bridge that gap
Amazing company