With organisations worldwide harnessing the power of AI to transform their operations, the demands on networks have never been higher. And while global networks have been targeted by cybercriminals for years, recent attacks have been increasing in scale, frequency, and sophistication. Here’s how secure, resilient networks can help organisations stay ahead of rapidly evolving cyber threats.
Keeping up with cybercriminals’ increasingly sophisticated techniques
Our research at Cisco has found that 48 percent of network infrastructure worldwide is aging or obsolete, creating vulnerabilities for malicious actors to exploit. Patching and maintaining is no longer enough – the situation calls for a fundamental shift in strategy.
The business impact is substantial: According to our studies, just one severe network outage per business per year results in global losses with a combined value of $160 billion, driven by congestion, cyberattacks, and software misconfigurations.
This escalating risk is spurring organisations to redefine and enhance their network architectures for greater resilience. At Cisco, we are stepping up our efforts to modernise customer infrastructure and share best practices for securing existing environments through the Resilient Infrastructure initiative. This initiative seeks to reduce the attack surface, bolster default protections, eliminate outdated features, and implement advanced security tools that help protect data and allow for faster threat detection.
The pitfalls of network complexity
Modern networks tend to include solutions and services from multiple vendors, creating layers of complexity that can pose a challenge even for experienced IT teams. This complexity often leads to vulnerability, especially when secure configurations aren’t consistently implemented or maintained. For many, simplicity and automation are now mission-critical.
Organisations can greatly benefit from networks where secure configurations, protocols, and features are enabled by default and adapt automatically. In addition, AI-assisted systems can support troubleshooting and proactively alert administrators to insecure practices, helping put a stop to legacy techniques that no longer meet today’s security standards. At Cisco, our focus on agent-based AI operations builds on established network automation practices, supporting businesses as they evolve their network management and integrate with continuous development workflows.
Strengthening protection for network devices
Security for network devices should be incorporated by design. In the past, network infrastructure hasn’t been monitored as closely as other areas of IT, but today, it serves as a critical control point for managing risk. Enterprises now face the dual challenge of detecting threats quickly and responding before malicious actors can exploit vulnerabilities. Reducing the attack surface, removing insecure legacy features, and incorporating advanced detection and response capabilities is the need of the hour.
At Cisco, we build security into the foundation of the networking portfolio. Recent enhancements enable teams to respond to threats in real time, often before a patch is available, resulting in less downtime, greater resilience, and increased peace of mind.
Secure networking as the backbone of AI
As the digital landscape evolves, organisations need infrastructure that provides a secure, future-ready foundation for innovation. With AI workloads expanding rapidly and quantum computing on the horizon, many are under increasing pressure to ensure their networks can protect sensitive data against emerging threats.
The next generation of security requires networks to embed identity solutions, deep visibility, integrated detection and protection, and streamlined management while incorporating advanced technologies, like post-quantum cryptography. Secure Networking, something only we at Cisco can truly deliver, is the architectural foundation that makes this possible. By blending networking and security, businesses gain the deep visibility, integrated protection, and reduced complexity their infrastructure needs.
Together towards a resilient future
To evaluate current risks and anticipate future threats, enterprises must assess their existing infrastructure, identify gaps, and make modernisation their priority. This demands letting go of outdated technologies, moving towards secure networking, standardising and automating configurations, planning for the entire network lifecycle, and embracing AI-powered capabilities. In addition, IT, security, and network teams must collaborate effectively to manage risk.
The future of trust in the digital ecosystem depends on the decisions organisations make today. Those that fail to build a resilient and secure infrastructure risk being left behind in the AI era.
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