With the Rise of AI, Cisco Sounds an Urgent Alarm About the Risks of Aging Tech

Aging integer infrastructure instrumentality similar routers, web switches, and network-attached storage—has agelong posed a soundless hazard to organizations. In the abbreviated term, it's cheaper and easier to conscionable permission those boxes moving successful a forgotten closet. But this infrastructure whitethorn person old, insecure configurations, and bequest tech is often nary longer supported by vendors for bundle patches and different protections. As generative AI platforms marque it easier for attackers to find and exploit vulnerabilities successful targets' systems, the web tech institution Cisco is launching an effort to rise consciousness astir the contented and beforehand improvements—both for past Cisco devices and products from different companies that are inactive successful use.

Dubbed “Resilient Infrastructure,” the inaugural includes probe and manufacture outreach arsenic good arsenic method shifts successful however Cisco manages its ain bequest products. The institution says that it is launching caller warnings for its products that are approaching extremity of life, truthful if customers are moving known insecure configurations oregon effort to adhd them, they volition person a wide and explicit punctual erstwhile they update a device. Eventually, Cisco volition spell a measurement further to wholly region historical settings and interoperability options that are nary longer considered safe.

“Infrastructure globally is aging, and that creates a ton of risk,” says Anthony Grieco, Cisco’s main information and spot officer. “The happening we’ve got to get crossed is this aging infrastructure wasn’t designed for today’s menace environments. And by not updating it, it's fostering opportunities for adversaries.”

Research conducted for Cisco by the British advisory steadfast WPI Strategy looked astatine the prevalence and interaction of end-of-life exertion successful the “critical nationalist infrastructure” of 5 countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan. The survey recovered that the UK (followed intimately by the US) faces the biggest comparative hazard of the radical from wide usage of outmoded, bequest exertion successful cardinal sectors. Japan had the lowest comparative risk—thanks, the study says, to much accent connected accordant upgrades, decentralization successful captious infrastructure, and “a stronger, much accordant nationalist absorption connected integer resilience.”

In general, the probe besides emphasizes that breaches and different cybersecurity incidents astir the satellite regularly impact attackers exploiting known vulnerabilities that could beryllium avoided done patching oregon upgrading end-of-life technology.

“The presumption quo is not free—there is really a cost, it’s conscionable not being accounted for,” says Eric Wenger, Cisco's elder manager for exertion policy. “If we tin assistance elevate this hazard to thing that is treated arsenic a board-level concern, past hopefully that volition assistance to underscore the value of making an concern here.” As an industry, helium adds, “we’re not making it hard capable for the attackers.”