What Cisco’s purchase of Splunk means for cybersecurity and AI

Cisco’s $28 billion acquisition of Splunk will reshape the security landscape by combining Cisco’s networking and cybersecurity expertise with Splunk’s robust data capabilities.

See also: The Seven Essential Elements of an Analytics-Driven SIEM

The integration of the San Francisco-based security operations giant will provide existing Cisco customers with better observability, a more reliable network, cost-effective security solutions and enhanced AI capabilities, said Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and general manager of security and collaboration. Superior data insights will enable Cisco and Splunk to deliver unparalleled AI security, observability, and effectiveness (see: Jeetu Patel on Consistent Design of Cisco Security).

“I don’t think today you can be a world-class networking and connectivity company if you’re not also a security company,” Patel said. “I don’t think you can be a world-class security company if you’re not an AI company, because you have to deal with machine-scale threats. You can’t do that facing the human scale. And I don’t do it.” I think you’ll be a big AI company if you’re not a big data company. »

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Patel also discussed:

• The importance of AI to anticipate and respond effectively to cyber threats;
• How the acquisition aims to simplify and improve security operations for Cisco and Splunk;
• How the deal will streamline AI processes and deliver more consistent and predictive security.

Patel, who has led Cisco’s security and collaboration business units since August 2020, previously spent more than five years leading Box’s product and platform strategy, defining the long-term vision and roadmap of the enterprise for cloud content management in the enterprise. He was previously CEO and CEO of EMC’s new Syncplicity business unit, a cloud service for enterprise file synchronization sharing and collaboration.