<p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/6064b63e6183e100198198db-2400/Jeetu Patel Headshot.JPG" border="0" alt="Cisco Senior Vice President Jeetu Patel" data-mce-source="Cisco" data-mce-caption="Cisco Senior Vice President Jeetu Patel"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>With over 250,000 customers, Cisco is the <a href="https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/canalys-cybersecurity-market-q1-2020">world's largest enterprise security provider</a>and it's betting that its size will give it an advantage over a crop of buzzy startups in the highly competitive security space.</p><p>In an interview with Insider, senior vice president Jeetu Patel said the company's security strategy hinges on leveraging the data it gleans from its massive customer base in order to dominate the market.</p><p>"You have to be a data company in addition to being a software company to make this happen," Patel said.</p><p>The company <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2021/03/30/cisco-integrates-networking-security-it-management-for-the-enterprise/">announced</a> a slew of new security offerings this week, including updates to its enterprise security software SecureX like automated security management and passwordless authentication. The new offerings come on the heels of a string of security acquisitions in recent yearsincluding <a href="https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/corporate-strategy-office/acquisitions/sourcefire.html">SourceFire</a>, <a href="https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/corporate-strategy-office/acquisitions/opendns.html#:~:text=SAN%20JOSE%2C%20Calif.,any%20device%2C%20anywhere%2C%20anytime.">OpenDNS</a>, <a href="https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/corporate-strategy-office/acquisitions/cloudlock.html">CloudLock</a>, and <a href="https://duo.com/resources/news-and-press/releases/cisco-completes-acquisition-of-duo-security">Duo Security.</a></p><p>Cisco's security offering is one of the 36-year-old software giants' leading businesses in the transition toward a subscription-based, recurring revenue model, according to Patel.</p><p>Its security revenue grew 10% year-over-year as of last quarter, drawing in more than $3 billion in 2020. While that business unit still accounts for less than 10% of Cisco's overall revenue, security was its fastest growing business <a href="https://investor.cisco.com/home/default.aspx">last quarter</a><strong>, </strong>which is especially important <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-beats-quarterly-revenue-estimates-2021-2">as other businesses face revenue declines</a>. </p><h2>As it competes against insurgent security startups, Cisco touts its sheer size is a selling point</h2><p>The $135 billion security industry is saturated with young startups that typically specialize in one area and bill themselves as best-in-class for their particular niche. Case in point, at least <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-funding-rounds-cybersecurity-lacework-snyk-tanium-orca-2021-3">18 security startups have raised over $100 million each since the beginning of 2020</a>. </p><p>However, Patel argues that Cisco's customers benefit from its simplicity: The company markets SecureX as a one-stop security product that takes less time and effort for companies to manage than an array of separate applications.</p><p>"Security has gotten to be extremely complicated for organizations," Patel said. "When we make it harder for people to use security [tools], we make it easier for hackers to break in."</p><p>While longstanding security giants like Cisco have a harder time generating buzz and attention than startups do, Patel said that his firm's scale and the robustness of its security platform leads to better products. For example, Cisco's size gives it an advantage that smaller startups can't access: A wealth of data from its tens of thousands of clients that can be fed into the machine learning systems that power its security products.</p><p>Specifically, Cisco gathers data in real-time about how employees behave on the networks of its 25,000 customers, including when they log on, their location when they access work servers, and the type of files they upload and download. Its machine learning systems can then abruptly detect changes in employees' behavior that could indicate that an account has been compromisedlike logging on from a new location and downloading large amounts of data. Cisco's software can then sends an alert to network administrators.</p><p>Cisco has an incredibly broad purview across which to identify patterns and anomalies: Its security products protect 86 million endpoints and process 900 million authentication requests per month.</p><p>"Most companies go out and solve problems for one control point, they don't tend to solve problems for all control points that are out there," Patel said. "The fact that we have a very broad portfolio solves problems."</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-secure-acquisitions-cybersecurity-data-securex-2021-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition-legalization-2018-2">How racism contributed to marijuana prohibition in the US</a></p>
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