Digital transformation and the cloud are driving unprecedented innovation and growth. However, the move to the cloud is expanding threat surfaces out beyond the perimeter – often on endpoints, a… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Digital transformation and the cloud are driving unprecedented innovation and growth. However, the move to the cloud is expanding threat surfaces out beyond the perimeter – often on endpoints, applications, and cloud services that fall beyond the visibility and control of the organization’s security team. The lack of visibility and control across multiple clouds, regions, and accounts has created a major security gap for organizations looking to continue to innovate and grow through the scale and power of the cloud.

Ingress security has always been key to protecting enterprise networks from inbound malicious threats – but the role of ingress security has grown even more important in the multicloud world. Organizations need a more robust ingress security solution that not only provides deep visibility and control to protect against evolving threats, but also applies these controls quickly and evenly across clouds, regions, and accounts as infrastructure scales.

The importance of ingress security in today’s multicloud world

The attack chain starts with a threat actor over the internet looking for a way to gain access to the network by various attack techniques. Some of these techniques are evasive enough to get around traditional security controls. Hiding in plain sight, they disguise themselves as legitimate traffic or shroud themselves within encrypted traffic to gain initial access on a vulnerable ingress point. From there, attackers can lie in wait, collecting insights on the now-compromised network while looking for a valuable target. Then, when the timing is right, they can act quickly and execute their attack on the network under the radar.

Organizations need strong security capabilities across the entire attack chain, but it’s here, at this initial access point, where ingress security can stop these attacks before they enter the network. Unfortunately, traditional security tools are not designed for today’s agile multicloud world. As attack surfaces continue to expand, the number of tools required to protect an organization’s infrastructure grows as well. Suddenly, teams are juggling dozens of management tools – each with their own dashboard and nuances. This multi-tool approach creates complexity for organizations, leading to misconfigurations, wide open threat policies, and other security and networking gaps. Some organizations use homegrown solutions to consolidate tool sprawl, but these require manual configuration and updates every time a new cloud provider is added to an environment – contributing to uncontrollable tech debt and additional vulnerabilities.

Cisco Multicloud Defense simplifies ingress security

Organizations need strong ingress security that gives them visibility into their expanding attack surfaces and the ability to consistently control traffic entering their environments. Cisco Multicloud Defense provides this consistent visibility and control – helping organizations gain multidirectional protection across their clouds, regions, accounts, and workloads. It can block inbound attacks, prevent lateral movement, and stop data exfiltration by leveraging IDS/IPS, web application firewall, URL filtering, FQDN filtering, data loss prevention (DLP), and antivirus capabilities all baked into a single SaaS solution.

Multicloud Defense alleviates security complexity across clouds, regions, and accounts with consistent policy controls and deep visibility into workloads – including potentially malicious traffic and unauthorized entities trying to gain access to the cloud infrastructure. Just as critical, security teams can be assured that policies are being applied appropriately and consistently across multiple cloud environments.

For ingress protection, Multicloud Defense acts as an integrated Web Application Firewall (WAF) and IDS/IPS solution to block threats targeting applications and infrastructure. It also leverages geographic IP and known malicious IP blocking capabilities to identify entities attempting to connect, making an “allow” or “block” decision in real time. And for encrypted traffic flows, Multicloud Defense uses TLS decrypt and reverse proxy capabilities enabling organizations to decrypt and inspect traffic before it enters the cloud infrastructure.

Building powerful multicloud network security across the entire attack chain

Cisco Multicloud Defense provides security throughout the entire attack chain. Ingress security gives organizations the ability to identify suspicious or abnormal behavior that is trying to gain unauthorized access to the cloud. However, expanding attack surfaces, infrastructure complexity, and increasingly sophisticated threats make it hard to detect, analyze, and stop threat actors with traditional security tools. Cisco Multicloud Defense simplifies security across complex environments while giving organizations the ingress protection they need to stop incoming threats that target their distributed applications and infrastructure. With consistent, unified ingress protection across environments, Multicloud Defense reduces risk for organizations and enables them to remain agile in today’s multicloud world.

To learn more about Cisco Multicloud Defense:

Get an overview of Multicloud Defense capabilities
Take the Multicloud Defense product tour
Request a Multicloud Defense demo
View architecture guide
Read white paper

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Security on social!

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  Ingress security from Cisco Multicloud Defense gives organizations consistent visibility and control across multicloud environments.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

In the ever-evolving landscape of business and technology, the role of digital infrastructure has never been more critical. Recent surveys by IDC highlight that most enterprises recognize the pivotal… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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In the ever-evolving landscape of business and technology, the role of digital infrastructure has never been more critical. Recent surveys by IDC highlight that most enterprises recognize the pivotal importance of digital infrastructure in achieving their business goals. In a world where change is constant, organizations are embracing digital transformation to stay competitive and relevant. However, this transformative journey is not without its challenges, particularly as macroeconomic factors introduce uncertainty and risks. In this blog post, we’ll explore the key elements required to align successful digital infrastructure transformation to business strategy, including the importance of stakeholder needs, the rethinking of technology skills and operational models, and the critical role of telemetry in managing the digital infrastructure lifecycle.

Stakeholder Alignment is Key

To embark on a successful digital infrastructure transformation journey, organizations must first recognize the importance of aligning different business, technology, and operational functions. IDC identifies various roles within an organization, each with specific desired outcomes. These roles range from IT practitioners managing daily operations to decision-makers responsible for strategic technology investments. Bridging the gap between these roles and their objectives is crucial for transformation success.

The integration of these roles requires careful planning and collaboration. Some organizations may opt to partner with service firms that offer methodologies, data insights, and best practices designed to address the diverse requirements of all stakeholders. Such partnerships can help minimize risks and accelerate the time businesses need to see value from their IT investments.

Modern Infrastructure Demands New Skills and Tools

Digital business relies heavily on modern infrastructure encompassing compute, storage, network, infrastructure, and software to gain competitive advantages. This infrastructure also extends to automation, AI/ML, analytics, security software, and cloud services. In today’s fast-paced environment, organizations must be prepared for digital disruption, as nearly 70% of businesses foresee their industries undergoing significant changes in the next five years.

Digital infrastructure transformation necessitates the adoption of cloud operating models and new technologies. IT teams must quickly embrace these changes to remain competitive and agile. Access to data, integration, AI/ML, analytics, and automation is essential for driving digital business success and desired business outcomes. Skills also play a critical role, and services partners bring a lot to the table when needing assistance and initiatives. These elements empower data-driven decision-making, enhance operational effectiveness, and support the development of agile business processes to deliver business outcomes.

The Role of Telemetry in Digital Infrastructure

Rapid access to accurate and timely data is fundamental for digital business agility. Telemetry, the collection of data from systems and devices across the infrastructure, can provide essential insights into the use, health, and performance of the digital operating environment. Telemetry data, coupled with AI/ML techniques, can be transformed into actionable insights via dashboards, enabling informed business decision-making and skills enablement. Using these automated processes through AI and ML may provide insights faster, with less chance of human error, than retrieving the data in a more manual fashion.

Embedding telemetry data into the entire lifecycle of digital infrastructure, from planning to adoption and optimization, accelerates decision-making in a measured and calculated way which drives the business forward. Choosing a services partner that combines data and insights with expert resources can help IT teams achieve better outcomes with less risk.

Challenges and the Path Forward

Successful digital infrastructure transformation relies on a services partner’s capabilities and the ability to align, measure, and connect technical and operational outcomes with business objectives. Organizations must learn to strategically use their data to transform faster while also reducing risk. Education to the full extent of a services partner’s capabilities is essential for making the right choices.

In conclusion, as businesses and IT organizations navigate the complex landscape of digital infrastructure transformation, they must prioritize stakeholder alignment, embrace modern technologies and tools, and leverage telemetry data. Partnerships with trusted services partners, such as Cisco Lifecycle Services, can offer the expertise, insights, and support necessary to ensure a well-architected, agile, and secure digital infrastructure. With the right strategy and partners in place, organizations can drive innovation, differentiation, and agility in a multicloud world. Read more about digital infrastructure transformation in the Cisco-sponsored IDC spotlight, Getting Infrastructure Transformation Right.

Message from the Sponsor

Cisco Customer Experience (CX) service offerings help organizations realize tangible business outcomes faster with Cisco software, products, and solutions – at every step of their technology lifecycle journey. From architecting and deploying new solutions, and streamlining operations, to optimizing the IT environment, Cisco and its partners can help IT teams achieve their desired outcomes faster.

To learn how to transform with less risk and effort, visit Cisco Services.

For more information on how to accelerate business outcomes, visit Cisco Lifecycle Services.

  Organizations embrace digital transformation so they can stay competitive amid constant change and challenges. This blog from IDC shares things you can do to transform successfully.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cyber security attacks in 2023 reached a new level of sophistication as significant supply chain attacks and evolved malware tools have accelerated the risk facing financial institutions. With… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Cyber security attacks in 2023 reached a new level of sophistication as significant supply chain attacks and evolved malware tools have accelerated the risk facing financial institutions. With insider threat and supply chain risk presenting the weakest link in the chain, the threat facing financials is no longer if, but how they will be breached. And more importantly, how they can detect, contain, and defend against breaches as they occur.

Tool sprawl has created an operational challenge in that it adds complexity around the operational consistency of security information. There are a few approaches that can help, but one thing I am hearing loud and clear is the desire to use tools properly, and not add another tool when a current security control is present (but unutilized). One tool that has immense potential value because of inherent support existing infrastructure is Cisco’s Secure Network Analytics.

Cisco Secure Network Analytics in Financial Services

This tool allows financial institutions to turn almost all existing hardware into a malware detection engine through using features on the devices that they have already paid for. This can replace or augment intrusion detection systems (IDS) at smaller and medium sites. It can also provide this capability at line rate at 100g in the data center, and even inspect encrypted traffic in the campus and WAN, without decrypting. It can help with DDOS, data exfiltration, and help detect insider and supply chain threats using threat intelligence and AI/ML.

The Cisco Secure Network Analytics tool also helps banks meet their regulatory compliance — as compliance is not only a legal obligation, but also a crucial aspect of protecting a company’s reputation and its customers. Compliance regulations are set to ensure that financial institutions are operating under safe, secure, and ethical conditions. This is where Cisco Secure Network Analytics can be part of a comprehensive solution to help financial institutions meet their regulatory obligations.

Helping today’s infrastructure counter tomorrow’s threats

As earlier noted, a key benefit of Cisco Secure Network Analytics is its implicit support for the majority of equipment already used. You will be able to take an existing platform available in branches, data centers, and the WAN, and turn them into a pervasive, enterprise-wide IDS. With this, you can provide extensive visibility wherever the network itself is, without adding more complexity. It even integrates with Cisco Identity Services Engine to be able to quarantine malware as it is detected, through sending a change of authorization to the network.

Across the suite of supported devices there are a number of capabilities Cisco Secure Network Analytics can provide:

Enhanced Visibility and Threat Detection: Cybercriminals go to the banks, because that is where the money is. Cisco Secure Network Analytics offers an advanced threat detection system that monitors network traffic, identifies suspicious activities, and helps mitigate threats. This aligns with many regulatory requirements that mandate financial institutions to have robust systems for identifying and mitigating potential security threats.
Data Protection: Protecting customer data is a key regulatory requirement for all financial institutions. Cisco Secure Network Analytics helps safeguard sensitive data by providing insights into who is accessing the network, what data they’re accessing, and whether there are any potential data breaches.
Auditing and Reporting: Regular audits are part of compliance requirements for financial institutions. Cisco Secure Network Analytics simplifies this process by providing detailed network traffic analysis and threat detection reports. These reports can be used to demonstrate to regulators that the institution is actively monitoring and managing network security, and show what countries or third party institutions are actively or historically communicating with the network. Through supporting the hardware already used, it provides an easy way to audit remote sites without deploying yet another box.
Simplifying Network Segmentation: Regulations often require financial institutions to segregate their networks to limit the potential spread of threats and protect sensitive data. Cisco Secure Network Analytics simplifies network segmentation by providing full visibility into network traffic, allowing for easy identification and isolation of different network segments. Once you have grouped what things should be talking, it is easy to find what exceptions to your policy exist so they can be updated, or remediated.
Compliance with Specific Regulations: Cisco Secure Network Analytics can help financial institutions meet specific regulations such as GDPR, PCI DSS, and the Dodd-Frank Act. It provides the insight to help meet the FFIEC regulations. For example, for GDPR compliance, the platform provides insights into the movement and location of personal data across the network. For PCI DSS, it offers visibility into cardholder data environments (and what is accessing this to validate the segmentation control), which is critical for demonstrating compliance.

The tool is foundational in providing broad visibility without adding more tools and sprawl. Existing hardware using licenses that you already own, can be turned into malware detection sensors that can allow you to extend your ability to sense and detect malware and stop ransomware before it spreads. With the native integration to tie back into Identity Services Engine, it can then quarantine this traffic on the network. It does this with what you own today, to help counter the threats you face tomorrow.

Read more about Cisco Secure Network Analytics or ask your account manager to do a proof of concept, so you can see what you are not seeing, today.

  With cyber security attacks in FSI on the rise the pressure is on to detect, contain, and defend against breaches as they occur. A tool that has immense potential in protecting because of inherent support existing infrastructure is Cisco's Secure Network Analytics.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Protecting your organization against cyber threats is a top priority. It’s no secret that data breaches and security vulnerabilities can wreak havoc on businesses. The key to safeguarding your o… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Protecting your organization against cyber threats is a top priority. It’s no secret that data breaches and security vulnerabilities can wreak havoc on businesses. The key to safeguarding your organization? Understanding your risk landscape and taking proactive measures to protect your assets.

In this blog post, we’ll dive into Cisco Vulnerability Management’s ability to ingest asset, vulnerability, and fix data from third-party security tools, providing you with a centralized view of risk for effective prioritization and remediation. We’ll also share details on our latest native connector with Rapid7 InsightVM.

Cisco Vulnerability Management: A Brief Overview  

Cisco Vulnerability Management is a risk-based vulnerability management SaaS solution that enables effective vulnerability prioritization through the transformative power of data science. It can ingest security data from a variety of third-party tools, including scanners, asset discovery tools, web application security tools, static and dynamic application security testing tools, bug bounties, and more. In doing so, Cisco Vulnerability Management ensures you have a consolidated, holistic view of security risk across your organization.

Using proven data science techniques like machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive modeling, Cisco Vulnerability Management assesses, prioritizes, and even predicts risk. These approaches allow us to dynamically calculate the risk of every vulnerability and group of assets to enable security and IT teams to prioritize the risk in their environments that matters most. Remediation guidance and workflow integrations with ticketing systems like Jira and ServiceNow then help teams efficiently carry out remediation efforts to ultimately reduce risk.

New Connectors for Cisco Vulnerability Management

Cisco Vulnerability Management offers a variety of native and toolkit connectors to bring security data into one place for effective risk-based vulnerability management.

Rapid7 InsightVM Connector for Cisco Vulnerability Management

Our latest native connector is with the Rapid7 cloud-based vulnerability management solution, InsightVM. Customers of both solutions can use this connector to ingest asset, vulnerability, and fix data from InsightVM into Cisco Vulnerability Management. Combining this ingested data with data from your other security tools in Cisco Vulnerability Management gives you a consolidated view of risk to implement effective prioritization and remediation. For guidance on setting up the InsightVM connector, see our help documentation. 

Cisco Vulnerability Management already has an established connector with Nexpose, Rapid7’s on-premises vulnerability scanner. For customers who are currently using the Nexpose connector, but are planning to migrate to the InsightVM connector, our team has documented migration steps.     

Benefits of Ingesting Security Data into Cisco Vulnerability Management

Gain a Centralized View of Risk

Cyber threats evolve rapidly, and your risk landscape changes accordingly. Consolidating your asset and vulnerability data from scanners, vulnerability management tools, asset discovery tools, SAST & DAST tools, bug bounties and pen-test findings into Cisco Vulnerability Management gives you a comprehensive view of your organization’s risk. Having a centralized view not only makes it easier to identify vulnerabilities but also helps you pinpoint the most critical ones. You can assess the potential impact on your organization and prioritize accordingly.

Adopt Effective Prioritization

Once you have all your data in one place, the next step is to prioritize vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk to your organization. The Cisco Security Risk Score (formerly Kenna Risk Score) in Cisco Vulnerability Management is assigned to every CVE, CWE, and WASC in your environment.

Leveraging ground truth telemetry and an extensive amount of internal security data, the Cisco Security Risk Score ties into Cisco Vulnerability Management’s predictive model to algorithmically determine risk scores for each unique vulnerability, ranging from zero (no risk) to 100 (highest risk). And, in concert with asset criticality scores, Cisco Vulnerability Management determines an actionable risk score for each asset and group of assets that ranges from zero (no risk) to 1000 (highest risk).

The Cisco Security Risk Score takes into account all of the internal and external variables used in the predictive model that are high indicators of risk. Internal risk calculations factor in the number of instances of each vulnerability in your environment, their potential severity, and the criticality of the assets threatened by each vulnerability. External risk calculations factor in more than just the CVSS score of the vulnerability by also including EPSS, threat intelligence information such as whether or not an exploit kit is available for the vulnerability, the volume and velocity of exploits that take advantage of the vulnerability, and the prevalence of the vulnerability seen throughout customer environments. With accurate and quantifiable risk scores, you will understand your organizations’ current risk posture and identify the actions you can take to reduce the greatest amount of risk.

Improve the Remediation Process

Once you’ve identified the vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk to your organization, you can work to remediate them. Cisco Vulnerability Management helps align security and IT teams by providing evidence-based prioritization and self-service remediation workflows. Teams can reduce risk fast with Top Fix Groups that guide you on which vulnerabilities should be fixed first and their impact on your risk score. And, of course, integrations with ticketing systems like Jira and ServiceNow help make the remediation process even more efficient by automating some of the tedious work.

Interested in Learning More about Connectors for Cisco Vulnerability Management?

Check out the Cisco Vulnerability Management Technology Integrations page to see a filterable list of available integrations to help you centralize your data and drive effective risk-based vulnerability management. You can also view our downloadable integrations brief for more details!

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Security on social!

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  Rapid7 InsightVM's asset, vulnerability, and fix data is ingested into Cisco Vulnerability Management for data centralization and effective risk prioritization.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Parents with school-aged children have a very cool backstage pass. Well, it’s more like a front-row seat. It is a front-row seat that’s a window into wonder and ever-shining hope for the futu… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Parents with school-aged children have a very cool backstage pass. Well, it’s more like a front-row seat. It is a front-row seat that’s a window into wonder and ever-shining hope for the future.

While my husband and I have no children of our own, we are fortunate to have access to this front-row seat, thanks to family members who invite us to our nephews’ and nieces’ school events and kid activities. We’ve had our share of sports games and meets, school plays, bingo and fundraising, career days, and my favorite, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fairs. It is a very different world that we wouldn’t have otherwise experienced.

At my niece’s middle school STEM fair in the fall of 2022, I had the great privilege to present and show Cisco Collaboration’s AI technologies to middle school students — the digital natives who have never lived in a world without this technology. It was very easy and intuitive for them to use and play with the technologies I showed. As I discussed how the technology works, these young people quickly came up with new ideas and suggestions on how to apply the technology to many other use cases. As a technology junkie, this kind of interaction takes me to cloud nine. Sure, it was pretty cool showing off cool tech. But what was even cooler was that these twelve-year-old kids got it, and knowing that they did means our technology is not only on the right track, but we are also shaping and influencing future technology.

I was perfectly content to leave that STEM fair on my geeky cloud nine high, but a young man, Rayaan, approached me as I was packing up my booth. I found out later he was a high school senior who also presented at the fair, running a small group coding session. He introduced himself and asked, “So, do you work for Cisco?” (I had proudly used my Cisco Webex nameplate on my booth.) I naturally replied, “I sure do! Do you know what Cisco does?” And in the back of my head, “Cisco: Also named the best place to work in the U.S. three years in a row!”

The rest of the conversation left me in awe. This young man not only knew what Cisco does, he had a pretty good idea of its history and its contributions to the technologies we live by every day. As we finished packing our booth contents and headed to our cars, he then proceeded to inform me that he was applying to the Cisco High Externship Program — an experience designed for high school seniors. Hence, he did his research on Cisco. He even commented that he thinks it would be a cool place to work one day when he enters the workforce.

Fast forward to summer 2023. My new young friend did get into the Cisco High Externship Program. Did I help him get into the program? Perhaps a little, but it was all him. I had no idea who even ran the program at Cisco. I did give him guidance on his resume and application, practiced interviews with him over Webex, and gave him advice on how to be fully present during that interview, and any interview, for that matter. But, Rayaan got into the externship program all on his own and excelled.

Reflecting on this engagement, I realized something I had never considered before. Some Cisco colleagues have the great privilege of having their own children enter the workforce, and sometimes it’s even at Cisco! I’ve somewhat experienced a glimpse of that. Back in the day, company owners named their enterprises “Company Name and Sons” in preparation for their children entering and taking over the business. I know I can’t rename Cisco and have no children entering and taking over the business. But what I have realized, though, is that even as an individual contributor, I have a great responsibility to perform as best as I can so that the longevity of Cisco can ensure that young people like Rayaan have an opportunity to have as great a work experience and fulfilling career as I have. Of course, doing my best work is the professional thing to do, but doing my best work also means leaving a legacy: supporting Cisco’s purpose of powering an inclusive future for all so young people can continue the work we current Cisconians have started, and for them also to have a great place to work when their turn comes.

Are you ready to experience Cisco for yourself? Discover the possibilities now. 

Subscribe to the WeAreCisco Blog.

  After meeting a high schooler applying for Cisco's High Externship Program, Technical Solutions Architect Maria E. realizes her role in Cisco's future.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The annual Cisco Live Europe event will take place February 5-9, 2024 in Amsterdam. Cisco DevNet will be there in the DevNet Zone, offering a host of opportunities for network programmers and… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The annual Cisco Live Europe event will take place February 5-9, 2024 in Amsterdam. Cisco DevNet will be there in the DevNet Zone, offering a host of opportunities for network programmers and application developers to meet with experts, and get hands-on immersive training on Cisco programmable interfaces and APIs.

But with an event of this size, how do you find the sessions best suited to your needs? No worries! We’ve put together four DevNet Zone Learning Maps to help you get the most out of your Cisco Live DevNet Zone experience. They are…

From Code to Cloud: Navigating Observability in Application Development

Explore the vital tenets of Cloud Native Application Observability (CNAO) and harness the power to monitor, secure, and optimize Kubernetes deployments on leading cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure and OpenShift. This educational journey equips you with the tools to achieve comprehensive, real-time visibility over your technology stack, drawing actionable insights from network metrics, events, logs, and traces. Elevate your applications with the capability to anticipate issues and pivot swiftly when needed to assure high performance and robustness within your ever-evolving cloud ecosystem. Delve into the art of full stack observability to fortify your cloud-native applications against the unexpected.

Explore the Learning Map for From Code to Cloud: Navigating Observability in Application Development

Code, Secure, Deploy: The Integrated DevSecOps Approach

Delve into the integrated practice of DevSecOps, where development, security, and operations converge to form a rugged coding foundation. In this holistic approach, security is not an afterthought. It is a fundamental element, woven seamlessly into every phase from design to deployment. Gain insights into the collaborative tools and processes that position security as a pivotal component of development and IT operations. Engage with a multi-faceted community of developers, security experts, and operations professionals to construct software that is as secure as it is functional. Make robust defense a part of your development DNA.

Explore the Learning Map for Code, Secure, Deploy: The Integrated DevSecOps Approach

Coding the Foundation: IaC for Modern Infrastructure

Get the know-how you need to craft configuration files for robust infrastructure specifications. Learn how to create a reusable foundation for configurations and distributions. Harness the power of version control with Git, and CI/CD tools like GitLab and Ansible for continuous improvement, rapid deployment, and effective change management. Transform your network infrastructure performance with developer-centric tools and practices. Ensure continuous evolution and resilience in your operational workflow. Join us to redefine infrastructure with coding finesse.

Explore the Learning Map for Coding the Foundation: IaC for Modern Infrastructure

Commit to Production: The DevOps Way

Embracing DevOps is a journey and this map is your guide through the fusion of IT and DevOps culture, enhancing collaboration and efficiency. Explore through theater sessions, hands-on workshops, and lightning talks, all designed to bolster your IT operations with developer-centric innovations for streamlined automation and elevated performance. You’ll find a wealth of insight, tools, and practices to evolve your organization’s approach to rapid, reliable delivery. Embrace the DevOps spirit and transform your workflow.

Explore the Learning Map for Commit to Production: The DevOps Way

  Find the sessions for network programmers and application developers that let you meet with experts and get hands-on immersive training on Cisco programmable interfaces and APIs.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Are you an Internet Service Provider or local government applying for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to acquire telecommunications equipment, Internet and Wi-Fi… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Are you an Internet Service Provider or local government applying for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to acquire telecommunications equipment, Internet and Wi-Fi infrastructure, network equipment, software, or cybersecurity solutions? Between 2025 and 2028, states will award more than $42 billion of BEAD funding to Cisco customers and potential customers. Funding will be awarded to Internet Service Providers, local and Tribal governments, non-profits, and others for the benefit of residences, businesses, and community anchor institutions that lack access to gigabit-level broadband service.

What is the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Grant Program?

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program provides $42.45 billion to support broadband deployment and adoption activities across all the states and territories. States and territories may use funds for the following.

Unserved service projects that address areas where 80% of locations in the proposal area lack access to reliable 25/3 Mbps service.
Underserved service projects that address areas where 80% of locations in the proposal area lack access to reliable 100/20 Mbps service.
Community anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries, and hospitals, serving vulnerable populations lacking access to 1 Gbps service.
Data collection and broadband mapping.
Installing internet and Wi-Fi infrastructure or providing reduced-cost broadband within a multifamily residential building.
Affordability, including for internet-capable devices.

When will the $42+ billion in BEAD funding be released to states and subgrantees?

Twenty percent of BEAD program funds will be released by the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to states and territories in 2024. Expenditures will commence in 2025 and continue for about 5 years.

During 2024 most states and territories are expected to receive an initial 20% of their BEAD allocation ranging from $20,000,000 for Delaware to over $600,000,000 for California. Dates vary because each state has a unique process and schedule for submitting the required 5-Year Action Plan and Initial/Final Proposals to the NTIA.

Release of the remaining 80% by the NTIA to states is based on completion milestones, approval of Final Proposals, and 5-Year Plan updates. Implementations shall be completed within four years of receipt of a subgrant.

When will Cisco’s customers have the authority to budget funds and issue purchase orders?

Despite the release of Initial Funds (20%) to states in 2024, approval for subgrantees to budget BEAD funds is contingent on Final Approvals by the NTIA sometime during 2025. BEAD allocations will flow first from the NTIA to states and after that from states to customers via one or more rounds of competitive awards. Customers must comply with federal, state, and their own budgeting and procurement processes to issue purchase orders.

What are the eligible uses of BEAD funding?

Construction, improvement, and/or acquisition of facilities and telecommunications equipment required to provide qualifying broadband service, including infrastructure for backhaul, middle-mile and last-mile networks, and multi-tenant buildings.
Deployment of internet and Wi-Fi infrastructure within an eligible multi-family residential building.
Engineering design, permitting, and work-related to environmental, historical and cultural reviews.
Personnel costs, including salaries and fringe benefits for staff and consultants providing services directly connected to the implementation of the BEAD program.
Network software upgrades, including, but not limited to, cybersecurity solutions.
Cybersecurity and training for cybersecurity professionals who will be working on BEAD-funded networks.

The Cisco Solution to Bridge the Digital Divide with Extended Wireless Connectivity design provides a complete last-mile solution. It brings together Cisco Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul radios, Cisco Industrial Ethernet (IE) switches, Cisco Meraki outdoor access points, and integrated security to extend any fiber or broadband network, such as one from a school to targeted areas or specific homes within the community. The result is reliable and secure internet access to and within your Community Anchor Institution.

Must applicants for BEAD funding attest to NIST Compliance?

The BEAD program mandates that states require network operators applying for funding to attest that they are abiding by the cybersecurity and supply chain risk management guidelines established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Is eligibility of every address for BEAD funding finalized?

No, currently there are disputes about which residences and businesses already have high-speed internet. Before BEAD grants can be subgranted, each state must first resolve disputes or challenges initiated by incumbent Internet Service Providers objecting to the availability of funding to competitors on the basis that the address is presently served or will be served.

Will the Cisco Public Funding Office be able to help navigate the intricacies of BEAD funding?

YES!

As each state, territory and the District of Columbia fund a mix of programs, some entirely focused on broadband infrastructure deployment, and others focused on affordability and adoption, we encourage you to be an active part of the outcome conversation.

Engage your Cisco Public Funding team today.

Learn more about broadband access and funding

Learn about Community Anchor Institutions and funding opportunities
Discover Cisco’s approach to broadband access

  Did you know that over $42 billion is now available to state, local, and tribal governments to purchase broadband related equipment, all thanks to the BEAD funding program. Learn how Cisco's Public Funding Office can help get you started.  Read More Cisco Blogs