The image most people have of a hacker is a lone teenager locked up in a room staring at the monitor typing away. While that still might be the case, the vast majority of today’s security breaches are being carried out by organized criminal enterprises, government-sponsored cyber warfare, hacktivists and cyber terrorists. This battle is taking place this very second with hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by both sides to achieve their goals. The security threat landscape is so grave, companies providing IT solutions are forming partnerships with security firms to ensure that products they offer are safe out-of-the-box.
Cisco is using the services of Radware, provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions, in order to protect its new Firepower 9300 appliance. According to Radware, Cisco will be using its distributed denial of service (DDoS) mitigation technology to ensure its new appliance will always be up and running.
The role of a good DDoS mitigation solution is to protect the asset without blocking legitimate user traffic, while at the same time providing real-time protection to ensure application availability. Because DDoS attacks can shut down the digital presence of large organizations such as retailers and financial institutions, the losses can be substantial.
The new Firepower 9300 appliance will be equipped with Radware DDoS mitigation platform and Cisco’s threat-centric security solutions. The combined security platforms will detect threats before, during and after an attack on the network and protect service providers, their customers and their data
“By incorporating our own unique security approach along with Radware’s DDoS protection on the Firepower 9300, we are able to deliver threat-centric security solutions for service providers including advanced firewalling, DDoS protection, and other security protection services,” said Marc Solomon, VP of Security Marketing at Cisco Systems.
The Cisco Firepower 9300 Integrated Security Platform is a carrier-grade, high-performance, scalable and modular multi-services security purpose-built for service providers. Some of the features include:
- Scaling security for increased data flows due to accelerated service demands and carrier class requirements.
- Expanded advanced orchestration and cloud capabilities for easy integration with Cisco architecture and third-party SDN/NFV solutions, as well as Adaptive Security Appliance Virtual (ASAv) with Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) and Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI).
- Advanced features such as secure containers to accommodate future security services and applications.
- Cisco ASA firewall and third-party DDoS mitigation from Radware are currently supported, with additional capabilities planned for the second half of 2015.
“This partnership furthers our cooperation with Cisco around its key data center initiatives with our application delivery and security solutions for ACI, UCS and SDN,” said Jack Sorci, vice president of business development for Radware.
According to the Q1 2015 State of the Internet Security Report by Akamai Technologies, the first quarter has set a record for the number of DDoS attacks observed across the company’s PLXrouted network. This was up 116.5 percent increase from a year ago, which is more than double the reported number.
The intensity and frequency of DDoS attacks is growing, and if companies don’t take the necessary precautions by implementing the best security protocol on their hardware and software, everyone suffers. By taking a proactive approach with its Firepower 9300, Cisco ensures its customers will have a degree of protection.