The Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report finds that not only is there a worldwide shortage of nearly a million skilled security professionals, but threats designed to take advantage of users' trust have reached startling levels. Overall vulnerabilities and threats are at their most numerous since 2000.
As a consequence, organisations worldwide are facing a struggle in their ability to address security gaps, monitor and secure networks.
Report shows the situation is so ‘bleak,’ says the company, organizations need to assume the worst
Another security vendor has issued a report looking back on the previous 12 months with gloomy words and predictions. “The threat picture in 2013 was pretty bleak,” Levi Gundert, technical lead at Cisco System Inc.’s Threat Research Analysis and Communications (TRAC) group, looking at the figures.
Cisco security officials say businesses need to strengthen security around POS machines to mitigate breaches like the one that hit Target.
The personal data on the magnetic stripe of payment cards continues to be a prime target for cyber-thieves, whose job is made significantly easier by the vulnerabilities in the point-of-sale machines being used by retailers such as Target, according to security officials at Cisco Systems.
The networking giant and video conferencing equipment provider loses its case against Microsoft after European judges determine that snapping up Skype doesn't stifle competition.
Microsoft scored a legal victory in Europe after judges in Luxembourg's General Court ruled against Cisco's challenge to the software giant's 2011 acquisition of Skype.
Cisco has patched a number of vulnerabilities in several separate products, including a serious remote code execution flaw in its Wide Area Application Services Mobile software that could allow an attacker to take complete control of a vulnerable device.
Cisco also has patched a vulnerability in its TelePresence VX Clinical Assistant video conferencing system for health care environments. The fix closes a hole that enabled an attacker to login to the admin account using a blank password.
When it comes to making collaboration technology such as high-definition video open and broadly available, it’s clear that the web browser plays an important role. The question is, how do you enable real-time video natively on the Web? It’s a question that folks are anxious to have answered.
Yet another unfortunate patent decision has come out of the appeals court for the federal circuit. This involves a case where certain customers of Cisco products were being sued for patent infringement by TR Labs, and part of its argument was that certain Cisco equipment resulted in the infringement by those customers. In response, Cisco filed a lawsuit in federal court, asking for a declaratory judgment that TR Labs' patents were invalid. TR Labs hit back that it had not sued Cisco, had no intention of suing Cisco, and thus Cisco could not sue for declaratory judgment.
Users of Cisco's Unified Communications Manager, UCM instant messaging and presence, and Prime Central hosted collaboration system need to get busy with patches, after the Borg announced denial-of-service vulnerabilities across all three platforms.
UCM 7.1, Cisco advises, has an improper error handling vulnerability that can be used in denial-of-service. An attacker can hose the system by sending malformed registration messages.
Cisco CEO John Chambers plans to axe five percent of the company's entire workforce, with the 4,000 layoffs beginning in 2014.
Although Cisco has grown, Chambers said it was "not growing as fast as we need," adding that the company had to dedicate its work to growth areas, quickly.
It's interesting how the tech industry works. In late 2011, Cisco was in the midst of revamping itself, its stock was a shade under $14/share, and its investors calling for CEO John Chambers to resign. Today, as Mike Reno from Loverboy used to sing, “The kid is hot tonight, whoa, so hot tonight.” Indeed, Mr. Chambers is on quite a roll, Cisco stock is a shade under $26/share, investors are happy, the entire network product line has been revamped in the past year, and the company is creating some distance between itself and its network completion.
