As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform enterprises, the speed of innovation brings with it new safety concerns and security threats. Traditional security measures are often ill-equipped to handle these evolving risks. To address these challenges, Cisco has introduced Cisco AI Defense, a cutting-edge solution that empowers enterprises to develop, deploy, and secure AI applications with confidence, without compromising speed or efficiency.
1. The Need for Robust AI Security
- Cisco’s 2024 AI Readiness Index reveals that only 29% of surveyed organizations feel fully equipped to prevent unauthorized tampering with AI.
- As AI applications become more widespread and complex, with multi-model and multi-cloud environments, traditional security solutions fall short.
- Risks grow when enterprises train models on proprietary data, increasing vulnerabilities at both the model and application levels.
2. Cisco AI Defense: A Unified Layer of Protection
- Cisco AI Defense provides enterprises with a consistent and comprehensive layer of security for AI applications, safeguarding every user and every application.
- Developed to address urgent risks during the development and deployment of AI applications, Cisco AI Defense ensures that enterprises can adopt AI without security compromises.
3. Key Features of Cisco AI Defense
- Discovering AI: AI Defense detects both shadow and sanctioned AI applications across public and private clouds, providing security teams with insight into all AI applications in use.
- Model Validation: Automated testing checks AI models for potential safety and security issues, identifying vulnerabilities and recommending appropriate guardrails.
- Runtime Security: Continuous validation ensures ongoing protection against threats such as prompt injection, denial of service, and sensitive data leakage.
- Securing Access to AI Applications: Provides visibility and control over AI-enabled apps used by employees, preventing data leakage and the poisoning of proprietary data.
4. Safeguarding Against Evolving Threats
- Cisco AI Defense continuously adapts to evolving threats, leveraging machine learning models and threat intelligence from Cisco Talos to detect emerging risks.
- The platform is self-optimizing and integrates seamlessly with existing data flows, ensuring visibility and control across the enterprise ecosystem.
- Cisco’s Security Cloud and enforcement points provide AI security at the network level, optimized to meet the unique needs of AI-driven enterprises.
5. Full Visibility and Control with AI Defense
- Unlike traditional safety guardrails built into individual AI models, Cisco delivers unified controls for the multi-model AI world.
- AI Defense offers full visibility of an enterprise’s AI assets, allowing security teams to manage risks effectively while ensuring compliance and protecting against data loss.
- Splunk customers using AI Defense receive enriched alerts with additional context, offering deeper insights into potential threats.
6. Cisco’s Commitment to AI Security Standards
- Cisco has been actively contributing to AI security standards from organizations such as MITRE, OWASP, and NIST, positioning AI Defense as a leading solution in the evolving AI security landscape.
The rapid adoption of AI presents new security challenges that traditional solutions are not equipped to handle. Cisco AI Defense bridges this gap by providing enterprises with robust, scalable, and adaptive security solutions for AI applications. By offering continuous monitoring, real-time threat detection, and comprehensive protection, Cisco AI Defense enables businesses to unlock the full potential of AI without sacrificing safety or speed. As AI adoption continues to grow, Cisco AI Defense will be crucial in ensuring the secure and responsible deployment of AI technologies across industries.
