Cisco says It Will Make The IoT Safe

Cisco Systems is making a play for the fundamental process of putting IoT devices online, promising greater ease of use and security as enterprises prepare to deploy potentially millions of connected objects.

Thanks to a dominant position in Internet Protocol networks, Cisco can do what no other company can: Change networks that were not designed for IoT in order to pave the way for a proliferation of devices, said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager of the IoT & Applications Group.

“The Internet as we know it today, and the network that you operate, will not work for the Internet of Things,” Trollope said in a keynote presentation at the Cisco Partner Summit in San Francisco recently. “We can solve that problem because we own the network.”

At the heart of this ambitious initiative is security, a theme that’s prominent throughout the summit in San Francisco, where the plan was announced.

Competition is heating up in the potentially lucrative area of orchestrating IoT rollouts and security. Just last week, chip design company ARM introduced its med Cloud service and said it was best equipped to lock down the internet of things because most IoT devices use ARM chips.

Within the next year, Cisco will launch a program to certify IoT devices as compatible with its network-based software. Among other things, the software should be able to automatically authorise these devices on a “white-list” basis, allowing only endpoints that are safe instead of trying to find and block those that are not. Devices themselves will play a role here, telling the network what kinds of things they should be able to do, such as only connecting to the home server for the service it provides.

This approach might help to prevent devastating events like the recent Mirai botnet attack that employed thousands of insecure internet-connected cameras.

But the IoT onboarding and management capabilities go beyond security to include automation of other tasks like network configuration that administrators would otherwise have to do.

“There aren’t enough people on Earth to run the network the way it’s being run today, when you look at the scale of the internet of things,” Trollope said during a media briefing after his keynote presentation.

To make this possible, Cisco is using capabilities from Jasper Technologies, the IoT connectivity company it acquired in February. They’ve gone into DNA (Digital Network Architecture), Cisco’s blueprint for building automated and virtualized networks.

The company’s partnership with Apple is an early example of what it can do to help secure and manage devices on Cisco networks, Trollope said.

Asked how much Cisco can accomplish as one company, albeit one that’s pervasive in IP networks, Trollope said it hopes to get some of these capabilities standardized. Specifically, it’s helping to push MUD (Manufacturers Usage Description) through the Internet Engineering Task Force. But because Cisco can work faster than a standards body, it will deploy the technology ahead of time, he said.

Don’t expect all this overnight, though. It could take a long time before most devices are equipped to participate. The key to that part of it will be chip companies, which could save manufacturers a lot of work by building in the technology, Trollope said.

ComputerWorld:                A Strategic Company: The Internet of Things & How ARM Fits In:

 

« Securing Data in the Cloud
How Businesses Can Prevent Point-of-Sale Attacks »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

FT Cyber Resilience Summit: Europe

FT Cyber Resilience Summit: Europe

27 November 2024 | In-Person & Digital | 22 Bishopsgate, London. Business leaders, Innovators & Experts address evolving cybersecurity risks.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence.

Jooble

Jooble

Jooble is a job search aggregator operating in 71 countries worldwide. We simplify the job search process by displaying active job ads from major job boards and career sites across the internet.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

ITQ

ITQ

ITQ is an IT consulting firm with a focus on the entire VMware-product portfolio with three main services: Professional Services, Support Services and Managed Services.

Industrial Cyber Security

Industrial Cyber Security

Industrial Cyber Security provides specialist consulting services in enterprise and SCADA system security.

Professional Insurance Agents (PIA)

Professional Insurance Agents (PIA)

Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) offer commercial insurance services including Cyber Liability insurance.

Unitrends

Unitrends

Unitrends helps IT pros do more with less by providing an all-in-one enterprise backup and continuity solution.

LMG Security

LMG Security

LMG Security is a cybersecurity consulting, research and training firm.

EOL IT Services

EOL IT Services

EOL IT Services is the UK’s most accredited provider of IT Asset Disposal (ITAD), Lifecycle Services and Data Destruction.

ACA Group

ACA Group

ACA Group are a leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services.

RhodeCode

RhodeCode

RhodeCode is an open source repository management platform. It provides unified security and team collaboration across Git, Subversion, and Mercurial.

Crosspoint Capital Partners

Crosspoint Capital Partners

Crosspoint Capital Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on the cybersecurity and privacy sectors.

Spyderbat

Spyderbat

Spyderbat ATI closes the manual investigation gap between detection and response by instantly presenting causally connected threat activity to security analysts at the onset of an investigation.

LBMC

LBMC

LBMC is a professional services solutions provider in accounting and finance, human resources, technology, risk and information security, and wealth advisory services.

Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD)

Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD)

DIVD's aim is to make the digital world safer by reporting vulnerabilities we find in digital systems to the people who can fix them.

Labaton Sucharow

Labaton Sucharow

Standing on the horizon of law and technology, our Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice helps to protect consumers who have been harmed by businesses’ failures to safeguard their customers' data.

Strata Information Group (SIG)

Strata Information Group (SIG)

Strata Information Group (SIG) is a trusted partner in IT solutions and consulting services.

AI or Not

AI or Not

AI or Not - Leverage AI to combat misinformation and elevate the landscape of compliance solutions.

Interlynk

Interlynk

Interlynk's #SBOM and # VEX-powered platform automates and continuously monitors first-party and vendor software supply chains and helps meet #FDA, #CRA, #GSA, and #DoD compliance obligations.