A Conversation with Suresh Chaurasiya, Customer Experience Product Manager & Jasjeet Singh, Director, CX Product Management
Step inside the Cisco Services product management team—a group responsible for shaping the future of Cisco’s Services. In this engaging conversation, Suresh Chaurasiya (Customer Experience Product Manager) and Jasjeet Singh (Director, CX Product Management) share firsthand insights. Together, they explore the latest trends, strategic decisions, and the collaborative process behind bringing transformative Cisco Services to customers worldwide.
Discover what drives their choices, the challenges they navigate, and how customer feedback at events like Cisco Live influences the roadmap for Cisco’s Services.
Jasjeet Singh 💬
“At Cisco Live, we highlighted just how quickly the cybersecurity landscape is evolving—especially with the rise of AI-powered attacks. Adversaries are now leveraging artificial intelligence to develop threats that are not just more sophisticated, but also far more evasive. In this new reality, it’s clear that traditional security tools and reactive measures alone are no longer sufficient to protect organizations”.
Suresh Chaurasiya 💬
“That’s exactly why Cognitive Security is becoming indispensable. With agentic AI, machine learning, and orchestration, we can move beyond simply reacting to incidents. Instead, we’re building systems that anticipate, adapt, and act in real time. As a team, we constantly think about designing services that help organizations shift from reactive defense to proactive, intelligent security operations”.
Jasjeet Singh 💬
“Of course, while AI opens up exciting new frontiers for defense, we have to remember it’s a double-edged sword. The same advanced technologies that strengthen our defenses can also be used by attackers to automate and scale their own operations. Relying solely on AI, without human judgment and oversight, could introduce new kinds of risks”.
Suresh Chaurasiya 💬
“Absolutely—and that’s why the best path forward is a balanced approach. By combining the speed and intelligence of AI with the insights and expertise of skilled security professionals, organizations can truly stay ahead of emerging threats. Ultimately, it’s about embracing innovation while remaining vigilant, so that AI becomes a powerful force for good in cybersecurity”.
What Is Cognitive Security and Why Does It Matter?
So, you may be thinking, “what is Cognitive Security, and why is it essential to incorporate this into my approach to security operations?”
Jasjeet Singh 💬
“Cognitive Security is about creating an intelligent, adaptive defense that responds at machine speed. Unlike simple automation, it fuses agentic AI, machine learning, and orchestration to analyze vast amounts of data, learn from patterns, and act—without losing transparency or control”.
Suresh Chaurasiya 💬
“It’s crucial to recognize that AI can be a double-edged sword in security. While it enables faster threat detection and better risk prioritization, misapplied AI can lead to black-box decisions, alert fatigue, or new attack surfaces. Cognitive Security is purpose-built to enhance—not replace—human decision-making. It bridges the gap between data and action, aligning security outcomes with real business needs“.
The Current State of Cognitive Security: The 4% Problem
As things currently stand in the market, we’re still not there yet in terms of making Cognitive Security and this approach a true baseline across the market. Now, only approximately 4% of organizations globally true have a ‘mature’ level of readiness to meet the threats of today and tomorrow.[1]
Jasjeet Singh 💬
“Across the industry, we’re seeing cognitive capabilities slowly become foundational. Organizations are adopting AI-driven threat scoring, behavior analytics, natural language threat queries, and automated attack path mapping. The most advanced solutions go beyond automation—they connect data across identities, endpoints, networks, and clouds to deliver rich context and drive smarter decisions”.
Suresh Chaurasiya 💬
“But there’s the gap: while many organizations are piloting AI tools, few have a unified Cognitive Security strategy. Trust, transparency, and operationalization of AI outputs remain challenges. To truly benefit, organizations must move beyond isolated tools and integrate Cognitive Security as a strategic, business-aligned layer—one that complements human expertise and adapts to an ever-changing threat landscape”.
Enhancing Security Maturity
Jasjeet Singh 💬
“So, how do you move out of the dreaded 4% and into a ‘mature’ level of readiness?
Traditional tools and manual processes can’t keep up with today’s threats. That’s why Cisco is focusing on helping organizations:
- Govern: Establish robust AI governance and compliance oversight.
- Identify: Continuously discover assets and assess risks.
- Protect: Use AI-driven controls to prevent data loss.
- Detect: Leverage advanced analytics and behavior monitoring for early detection.
- Respond: Automate workflows and empower analysts with AI assistants.
- Recover: Learn from incidents with AI-driven root cause analysis and continuous improvement”.
Suresh Chaurasiya 💬
“As a team, we are constantly reflecting on customer feedback and developing new services for their evolving needs; our minds are constantly on the customer journey to maturity. We ask ourselves: “What are the real pain points? How can we move customers beyond just ‘checking boxes’ to truly resilient security?” It’s not just about building features; it’s about designing solutions that operationalize frameworks like NIST CSF in a way that’s actionable, intelligent, and scalable for our customers. We regularly consider how to translate those high-level principles into tangible, impactful capabilities that enable customers to achieve genuine maturity. Here are some capabilities we are developing to address those gaps:
Core Cognitive Security Capabilities:
- AI risk engine and compliance insights for real-time threat and gap evaluation.
- Comprehensive asset discovery and risk profiling.
- Context-rich threat intelligence and AI-driven DLP.
- Advanced user behavior analytics to detect insider threats.
- Customer-specific tuning and configuration of Cognitive SIEM/SOAR solutions to enable next-generation event management.
- Digitized expertise, available through AI assistants, and automated playbooks to streamline investigations and reduce alert fatigue”.
Cognitive Security in Action: Before and During an Attack
⏱️ Before an Attack
In today’s complex threat landscape, attackers are constantly scanning for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and weak points long before launching an attack. Traditional security approaches, which rely on periodic assessments and manual checks, often leave blind spots that adversaries can exploit.
Cognitive Security reduces the possibility of these blind spots, and the service value shines in real-world scenarios through offering:
- Continuous posture assessment powered by AI, moving from periodic checks to real-time, intelligent monitoring.
- Threat scoring and prioritized remediation planning, so risks are addressed before exploitation.
- Automated workflows and actionable insights, reducing attacker opportunities.
⚡️During an Attack
When an incident occurs, every second counts. A Cognitive Security approach orchestrates a coordinated defense:
- Instant triage and containment through AI-driven workflows.
- Integrated visibility and response across Cisco Secure Products, SOAR, and XDR—eliminating silos.
- Automated incident investigation, risk scoring, and targeted containment strategies.
- Real-time notifications (e.g., via Webex) for rapid, coordinated response.
The Future of Security Must be Fast, Adaptive, and Intelligent
Suresh Chaurasiya 💬
“Adopting Cognitive Security is no longer optional. The scale and sophistication of today’s threats demand an approach that is fast, adaptive, and intelligent”.
Jasjeet Singh 💬
“With Cognitive Security, organizations can move towards a resilient security posture—empowering their teams to safeguard the digital enterprise, today, and tomorrow.
As a team focusing on bringing new services to our customers, we see the rise of Cognitive Security operations as the next step to safeguarding our customers’ digital future.
Explore Cisco’s Security Services and read our blogs to stay up-to-date with upcoming offers“.
Additional Reading:
- Is Reactive IT Finally Dead?
- Operators’ Guide: 3 Technologies Re-architecting the Future of Security
- The State of AI in Cybersecurity 2025
[1] Source: Cisco 2025 Cyber Security Readiness Index
