Cisco Security Risks
Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers described IP mobility and collaboration technologies as among of the largest IT security challenges facing enterprises, and possibly the greatest tools for converging physical and digital security.
Speaking at Cisco security standard conference in Boston this week, Chambers outlined the benefits of “quad-play” — or the combination of data, voice and video with mobility — and the security challenges associated with having a mobile workforce that accesses, shares and spreads information via a growing number of IP-enabled devices and across multiple networks.
“The opportunity for harm, either by deliberate action or by neglect, becomes much higher” as an enterprise workforce has easier access to data and the ability to easily share information via IP communications, Chambers said.
While Chambers warned of the security challenges surrounding quad-play and collaboration technologies, just the day before, he described how these technologies would be the premier growth of cisco drivers for Cisco over the next four years, with a 10% to 15% compound annual revenue growth rate over time. The reason Chambers is so bullish on collaboration and quad-play technologies is because of the benefits he’s already seen inside his own company, he told the Security Standard audience, which consisted mostly of chief security officers and other executive-level IT security professionals.
“Two years ago, I would have thought that 80% to 90% of productivity would come through IP-based applications,” Chambers said. “I’m now realizing that probably 30% to 50% of the productivity in our company will be based on collaboration.”
He also said that the broad sharing of data and information via technology can lead to “the ability to develop [products] faster, to respond to threats faster and to handle customer problems faster.”
But in getting back to the security risks of collaboration and mobility, Chambers outlined a simple scenario.
“In the past, it might have been only five or seven people in a company who know about key data points, or key strategy elements that you are implementing,” Chambers also said.