Analyst(s): Krista Case
Publication Date: August 29, 2024
The News: Cisco announces intent to acquire Robust Intelligence, developer of a platform that protects AI models across their lifecycle, providing capabilities such as automation and risk mitigation from development through production.
Cisco Bolsters AI Security with Planned Acquisition of Robust Intelligence
Analyst Take: AI applications are increasingly driving critical business processes. However, these models themselves can be vulnerable to manipulation, bias, and even adversarial attacks. Attacks such as data poisoning, jailbreaking, and prompt injection can have serious and broad-ranging implications such as inaccurate predictions, data theft, disruption of services, and malicious misinformation.
To facilitate more secure adoption of AI applications, Robust Intelligence provides the ability to automatically assess AI models for potential vulnerabilities, both prior to and following the model’s deployment in production. These risks can then be addressed proactively, in order to mitigate potential damage.
Cisco intends to integrate Robust Intelligence as a part of the Cisco Security Cloud – effectively, infusing the ability to conduct AI model security audits directly into the data flows. This is notable especially considering Cisco’s broad-spread, long-entrenched deployment in the marketplace.
As an additional benefit, Robust Intelligence’s capabilities such as attack prediction and adaptive policy enforcement can help Security Operations teams that are struggling to address sophisticated and quickly evolving threat vectors and expanding heterogeneous attack surfaces with a limited skilled headcount base. In fact, in The Futurum Group’s Cybersecurity Decision Maker IQ data, the ability to use AI to streamline or enhance operational actions emerged as the top reason organizations would increase investment with their existing cybersecurity vendors this year.
What to Watch:
Securing AI applications is crucial for building trust and ensuring successful adoption across organizations. Time and time again, this comes up in The Futurum Group’s conversations with practitioners and research. Adding Robust Security to Cisco’s growing Security Cloud umbrella would provide a streamlined path for practitioners to securely build, deploy, and manage AI applications. Notably, it would provide comprehensive visibility into customers’ AI traffic and analysis for vulnerability to evolving threats.
Of course, Cisco’s security play extends well beyond protecting AI applications specifically – evidenced by its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk in March 2024. Its objective is to protect its leadership in the networking market while strategically capturing adjacent market share by addressing board-level emphasis on addressing cyber-security requirements.
Notably, The Futurum Group’s Cybersecurity Decision Maker IQ data found that the top motivator Network Security decision makers have to investigate new vendors to improve cyberattack prevention and responsiveness – which Splunk does, and which Robust Security would do, as well.
Looking at the planned Robust Security acquisition, this is an emerging area that will only grow more competitive. Cisco’s ability to effectively integrate the technology and articulate its differentiation not only to network administrators, but also to the growing roster of influencers at the decision-making table, including security teams.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Cisco Hypershield: Autonomous, Application-Centric Security
AI Wars: Defending Cyberspace with Intelligence – Six Five Media: Connected
Author Information
Krista Case brings over 15 years of experience providing research and advisory services and creating thought leadership content. Her vantage point spans technology and vendor portfolio developments; customer buying behavior trends; and vendor ecosystems, go-to-market positioning, and business models. Her work has appeared in major publications including eWeek, TechTarget and The Register.
