Simplifying Zero Trust Security for the Modern Workplace

Organizations face an evolving array of cyber threats these days. As attackers have become more sophisticated, it is important to adopt a comprehensive security strategy that includes a layered approach and increased protection for the modern workplace. That includes the home office, branch, campus, coffee shop, or anywhere in between. 

Cisco’s Enhanced User Protection Suite: 

Cisco is proud to announce the latest enhancement to our User Protection Suite, with the addition of Cisco’s Identity Services Engine (ISE). The upgraded suite is designed to provide comprehensive workplace security and help organizations implement zero trust access. This ensures security for the hybrid work force and delivers seamless and secure access to applications and data from anywhere, on any device. 

Organizations use Cisco’s User Protection Suite as an essential tool to deliver layered security and ensure frictionless access for their users everywhere. That means protecting users at moments of vulnerability, including their inbox, credentials, and access to applications and devices, as well as protection for devices that cannot have an agent, like cameras, printers, or unmanaged devices.  

According to Talos Quarterly Incident Response Trends Report, we continue to see attackers use valid accounts as a top way to gain initial access, accounting for 66% of engagements. From there the attacker can carry out malicious activities to gain access to more sensitive information and move laterally. With the addition of ISE to the User Protection Suite, Cisco provides your organization with this enhanced level of visibility into all users and devices accessing the network, while keeping users at the center of your security strategy. 

User Protection Suite Capabilities:  

Cisco’s User Protection Suite includes the key capabilities necessary to protect users and devices. Let’s consider a specific example: phishing. An attack frequently begins with attackers sending a malicious email containing malware to compromise the device or attempt steal a user’s credentials. From there, the attacker could try to access the network, increasing access to sensitive data and damage to the organization.  

With the User Protection Suite, organizations have the layers of protection necessary to stop an attack. This includes preventing lateral movement, securing user identities, blocking malicious emails, and improving device protection. 

Zero Trust Access: Ease the transition to ZTNA 

Cisco Secure Access allows organizations to adopt Security Service Edge (SSE) with integrated Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and VPN-as-a-service. Other solutions require users to guess how to access their resources, for example is a VPN required or not? With Secure Access, Cisco does the work for users behind the scenes to protect user access to all applications. And with ISE and Secure Access working together, Cisco can ensure consistent enforcement of access policies for all users and devices, including IoT devices and BYOD. 

Identity Security: Comprehensive identity visibility and protection 

Because attackers are using valid accounts to access corporate resources, it’s important to have full visibility into the identity ecosystem and have strong identity protections in place. With Cisco Identity Intelligence, Cisco can ingest data across your environment, including your identity providers, SaaS applications, HR resources, and others to determine existing identity vulnerabilities. Additionally, it’s important to address those vulnerabilities. Duo provides flexible authentication options on an extensive set of use cases, including legacy applications, to enable seamless access for trusted users and stop attackers from logging in. 

AI-powered Email Security: 

Email continues to be a critical attack vector for malicious actors. Attackers leverage AI to create convincing email phishing attacks and exploit new tools like those that create malicious QR codes. Once a valid account is compromised, bad actors can launch social engineering attacks, like Business Email Compromise (BEC) that lead to fraud or data breach. Secure Email Threat Defense  uses sophisticated AI powered detectors to identify and block emerging emails threats including Business Email Compromise (BEC), malicious QR codes, and other advanced threats.  

Endpoint Protection, Detection & Response:  

Secure Endpoint protects endpoints from a wide range of attacks, including ransomware and emerging threats. With powerful EDR capabilities, it provides deep endpoint visibility, detects and blocks lateral movement and exfiltration attempts, and reduces the attack surface. Working with Duo, it ensures only healthy devices can access corporate resources and prevent access when a threat is detected. This helps limit the damage and stop an attacker from continuing to escalate privileges to further damage an organization. 

Device Access Control: 

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can authenticate and authorize all devices that connect to the network. ISE assigns tags to these devices, including corporate devices, BYOD, and IoT devices, like cameras and printers. Those tags are integrated into Secure Access to enable organizations to create and enforce security policies across devices and users. This helps organizations follow the principles of least-privileged access and ensure that a thermometer that is connected to the network cannot gain access to the customer database. 

Learn More 

To explore the different tiers of Cisco’s User Protection Suite, check out the User Protection Suite At-A-Glance. And to learn more about how these solutions can help you achieve zero trust for your workplace, connect with an expert today. 

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