Cisco beefs up VPN and cloud security

Cisco claims to have re-engineered the virtual private network experience

Cisco has announced new tools as part of a drive to make security more invisible for users and easier to manage for IT administrators.

The Cisco Secure Borderless Network architecture promises simple security policy measures that can be used on the road and allow IT managers to monitor and report from both sides of the firewall.

"We are re-engineering the virtual private network [VPN] experience," Tom Gillis, vice president of Cisco's security technology business unit, told V3.co.uk. "We are not suggesting that current approaches don't work, but that they don't work well."

Gillis gave the example of a home worker needing a phone number from his work system. This would be a five-step process to log into the VPN, get credentials and sign in, which Gillis said is not ideal.

"The best user interface is no user interface. It just works," he said.

Cisco will release an updated version of TrustSec in the first half of the year, offering integrated device profiling and guest access services for wireless devices, as well as end-to-end monitoring and reporting services.

The company will also release AnyConnect Secure Mobility, an extension of the current platform that features enhanced threat defences and software-as-a-service (SaaS) access controls.

"This allows companies to get all the benefit of SaaS applications and still keep total control," said Gillis.

The SaaS features are particularly important, according to Cisco, as companies are still concerned about cloud security and are demanding solutions from vendors.