Samir Kumar Mishra on Cisco's AI-Driven Cybersecurity Innovations

In the rapidly evolving landscape of cybersecurity and AI, organizations are facing increasing pressures to adapt and innovate while ensuring robust security measures. Samir Kumar Mishra, Director of Security Business at Cisco India & SAARC, sits at the forefront of these developments.

In an exclusive interview, Mishra sheds light on Cisco's innovative AI enhancements that are set to redefine traditional security protocols. He discusses the challenges in identity security today, the role of Cisco's Security Cloud Platform in protecting AI workloads, and the concept of a 'digital immune system' that fortifies applications against cyber threats. With a detailed look into Cisco's strategies for navigating the complexities of hybrid work environments, Mishra provides a comprehensive overview of how Cisco is leading the charge in integrating cutting-edge technologies to secure digital infrastructures.

DQ: How does the new Cisco AI Assistant enhance traditional security measures?

Samir Kumar: Traditional security measures, which often depend on predefined rules and manual monitoring, fail to fully translate security intentions into effective outcomes, posing challenges such as delayed threat detection, high false positives, limited scalability, and reactive rather than proactive responses. 

The new Cisco AI Assistant enhances traditional security measures by leveraging the power of generative AI (GenAI) to streamline and improve security operations. Integrated with the Cisco Firewall Management Center, it understands plain, everyday language and enables customers to quickly and easily configure policy changes, significantly reducing manual effort and error. Cisco’s AI Assistant for Security is trained on one of the largest security-focused data sets in the world, which analyses more than 550 billion security events each day. Cisco’s extensive native telemetry powers the AI Assistant to provide unparalleled insights into event triage, impact and scope, root cause analysis, and policy design.

This comprehensive, AI-driven approach will help customers make informed decisions and reframe how organizations think about cybersecurity outcomes. As a result, businesses can confidently defend against threats with a proactive, scalable, and precise security posture, tipping the scales in favor of defenders and closing the gap between cybersecurity intent and outcomes. We are making AI pervasive across the Cisco Security Cloud, so no matter what part of our portfolio teams are using, they’ll have an assistant by their side.

DQ: What are the primary challenges in identity security today, and why is there a growing need for increased identity scrutiny in digital environments?

Samir Kumar: The primary challenges in identity security today stem from the complex and evolving digital landscape, which magnifies response time and impacts the effectiveness of security measures during incidents. There are more digital identities, both human and machine, than ever before. Centralizing visibility into identity data sources is crucial for understanding access and activity, despite the challenges in correlating digital identities with real individuals. 

According to Cisco’s 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index, only 7% of companies in India have achieved maturity in crucial areas such as Identity Intelligence. This is concerning, especially given that 82% of companies anticipate a cybersecurity incident disrupting their business within the next 12-24 months. Despite this, 88% of companies feel moderately to very confident in their ability to stay resilient amidst this evolving cybersecurity landscape. Such discrepancies suggest many companies may overestimate their ability to navigate the increasingly sophisticated threat landscape. 

Identity is the fabric that connects humans, devices, and applications in a workplace. As cyber threats continue to grow in sophistication, scale, and frequency, it highlights the necessity for a more integrated and simplified approach to security management that reduces dependency on disparate tools and enhances overall effectiveness.

DQ: How does Cisco's Security Cloud Platform protect AI workloads, and what specific features make it particularly effective in a cloud-based environment?

Samir Kumar: Cisco Security Cloud is integral to the company’s mission to simplify security and secure a hybrid workload. This industry-first platform seamlessly integrates identity, networking, and security, reimagining the future of work with AI. Cisco Security Cloud protects businesses across multi-cloud and hybrid environments while simplifying security operations and improving scalability. 

Cisco’s Security Cloud Platform leverages AI-driven behavioral analytics to detect anomalies and potential threats to AI systems and data. This advanced analysis is bolstered by graduated response capabilities, powered by Cisco's Identity Services Engine, allowing for flexible and proportional reactions to threats. This nuanced approach is especially effective in safeguarding the sensitive and often complex nature of AI workloads. 

In addition to this, a key strength of the Security Cloud Platform lies in its comprehensive visibility. By combining Cisco and Splunk technologies, it provides unparalleled insight across cloud, endpoint, and network traffic in real time. The platform's cross-domain security approach enhances protection for all elements associated with AI workloads—applications, devices, users, and data—leveraging an unmatched network footprint for unparalleled visibility. It not only protects AI workloads but also leverages AI to enhance its own security capabilities. This creates a synergistic relationship between AI and security, making it particularly effective in addressing the unique security challenges posed by modern AI systems and workloads.

DQ: Can you elaborate on the concept of a ‘digital immune system’ and how it helps protect applications and services from anomalies such as software bugs or security issues?

Samir Kumar: A digital immune system helps protect applications and services from anomalies such as software bugs or security issues by creating a resilient, self-healing environment. When a bug is detected in a new deployment, the self-healing capabilities of a digital immune system can automatically revert to the last known stable version, minimizing disruption. It is revolutionizing how we approach application and service protection in our increasingly complex digital landscape. Additionally, real-time monitoring tools continuously track the application's performance and behavior in production, identifying anomalies that may indicate the presence of bugs. This approach ensures that issues are detected and addressed before they can impact users significantly.

It is not limited to a single product or solution, but rather a sophisticated ecosystem of technologies, processes, and strategies working in harmony. They extend beyond mere threat detection and response, enhancing organizational agility by enabling streamlined decision-making by providing real-time insights and analytics. These systems empower leaders to make informed choices quickly and ensure that IT becomes more robust over time, better equipped to handle both known and unknown challenges.

DQ: Based on the CRI report and Data Privacy report, what insights can you share about the current state of organizational preparedness for cyber breaches?

Samir Kumar: Our reports highlight security concerns companies need to be aware of in this digital age – cyber readiness of organizations, the talent gap in cybersecurity, and the role of GenAI. According to the Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index, the current state of organizational preparedness for cyber-attacks reveals significant challenges organizations face. Only 4% of Indian organizations are equipped to confront contemporary cybersecurity challenges. The report suggests that the sophistication, scale, and frequency of cybersecurity threats are currently outpacing the protective measures being implemented by companies. While larger organizations show higher rates of maturity in cybersecurity readiness, there is still significant room for improvement across all sectors and company sizes. Most critically, 91% of companies report shortages in cybersecurity roles. This talent gap exacerbates the other challenges, as organizations lack the human resources necessary to implement, manage, and respond to cybersecurity threats effectively. This shortage could lead to overworked cybersecurity teams, slower response times to threats, and potential oversights in security protocols.

The challenge of cybersecurity has also increased with the pervasiveness of GenAI. Our Data Privacy Benchmark Study showed that most organizations across the globe are limiting the use of GenAI over data privacy and security issues with 27% banning its use temporarily. The biggest concerns with using GenAI are the threats to an organization’s legal and Intellectual Property rights and the risk of disclosure of information to the public or competitors. However, while most organizations are aware of these risks and are putting in place controls to limit exposure, they recognize that more can be done to reassure their customers that their data is being used only for intended and legitimate purposes.

DQ: How is Cisco helping customers securely embrace hybrid work environments?

Samir Kumar: Cisco is leading the charge in securing hybrid work environments, adapting to the evolving needs of organizations in the digital-first world. Their approach is multifaceted, addressing the complexities of employees working from various locations.

At the heart of our strategy is the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, a cloud solution that integrates networking and security functions, ensuring secure access to corporate resources from any location. Additionally, Cisco’s Zero Trust security model verifies every access attempt to corporate resources, maintaining strong security even as traditional network boundaries blur.

Advanced endpoint protection solutions secure devices on both corporate networks and home Wi-Fi, safeguarding against threats targeting remote workers. The SecureX platform provides comprehensive visibility and analytics across the entire IT environment, enabling quick identification and response to security issues. We also have enhanced our Webex collaboration tools with end-to-end encryption, advanced meeting controls, and integration with identity and access management systems, ensuring secure virtual meetings and collaboration. Our holistic approach to hybrid work security—integrating SASE, Zero Trust, and robust endpoint protection—ensures resilience against evolving threats, fostering a secure and productive hybrid work environment.