Cisco's security strategy is confusing

It's not clear what their brand and focus are

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer or any other entities with which I am affiliated.

Photo by Jainath Ponnala on Unsplash

After writing about how many cybersecurity companies will fail (and potentially succeed), recently, I’ve done a deep dive into companies where cybersecurity is not the core business but a big part of it. For example, I explored Microsoft’s large cybersecurity business. Check out the Substack articles if you’re curious.

Microsoft will struggle with security

How Microsoft security succeeds

This week, I’ve decided to look closely at another large company’s security business, Cisco. Honestly, the offerings seem confusing to me. Why would I choose the Cisco security platform? Is there a core top-of-the-line product that makes the platform worth it? It just seems like random products Most of them are the result of acquisitions, but they don’t seem to have any broader cybersecurity strategy. For example, Palo Alto Networks’s acquisitions are meant to bolster its cloud security platform. However, it’s unclear what Cisco’s strategy is. Maybe, I’m missing something here.

What is Cisco?

Cisco needs no introduction. It started as a networking company focused on selling routers and software to support multiple network protocols. Then, it became a dominant player in the networking business and expanded into telecommunications. It also has a large security business, and the main highlights are from acquisitions:

• Vulnerability management - Kenna Security

• SIEM - Splunk

• Cloud security - Lightspin

• Identity Management - Duo Security

• CASB - Cloudlock

With that said, it seems to do little to no organic innovation.

Cisco lacks a security story

Like I alluded above, it’s not clear how all these acquisitions are related to each. All the major security businesses with a platform play seem to have a strong anchor product:

• Crowdstrike with its endpoint product

• Palo Alto Networks with its Prisma Cloud product, which was started by its acquisition of Evident.io and Redlock

• Cloudflare with its WAF and SWG

• Microsoft with its endpoint and AD as well as Azure security features

The list goes on, but all these companies have a market-leading product as a core part of their platform. Cisco doesn’t seem to have this. It’s not clear to me that they’ve tried.