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Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) wants organizational leaders to understand that improving their competitive advantage, not just responding to fear, should inspire their cybersecurity strategy. Fearful tales, however, are hard to ignore. One recent example: Virtually all IT systems of the largest civilian hospital chain in the nation’s capital, including the MedConnect electronic health records system installed by Cerner ( CERN ), were shut down to prevent the spread of a computer virus in late March. Baltimore-based MedStar Health on March 30 called it a “despicable attack.” The disruption affected thousands of employees and many more patients, and restoration of the systems took days. “Within 48 hours of the malware penetration,” the three main clinical systems were “moving to full restoration,” said MedStar. A Cerner spokeswoman told IBD: “We continue to work closely with our client (MedStar) as the broader IT framework is brought back online.” But a week later, MedStar was still working on it: “Our partner Symantec ( SYMC ) … has been on the ground from the start of the situation and has been conducting a thorough forensic analysis,” MedStar said in an update last week, acknowledging it “has worked closely with the FBI throughout this situation.” The company again assured “that we have no evidence of any compromise of patient or associate data.” The Baltimore Sun reported the hospital’s hackers demanded ransom be paid in Bitcoin to unlock the hospital’s maliciously encrypted data. What a pain. What a danger. What a motivation for every organization to get its cybersecurity in order, as if another example were needed. “We’re very familiar with it,” James Mobley, a Cisco security services vice president, told IBD in an interview last week, acknowledging MedStar is a Cisco client. Cisco: Security-Led Firms More Prepared For Cloud, IoT Cisco, the No. 1 maker of computer networking gear and with a growing business in security, plans early next month to release a security survey of business executives. The company says productivity, growth and competitive advantage ought to be motivating cybersecurity decisions, not just fear. Its report, originally set for release early Tuesday, is titled “Nearly One-Third of Businesses View Cybersecurity Primarily as a Growth Enabler.” Silicon Valley-based Cisco, which briefed IBD and other media on the report, found that only a bit more than 30% of 1,014 corporate directors, vice presidents and C-level executives surveyed online “view cybersecurity primarily as an enabler of growth tied to digitization. “Security-led digitizers feel more prepared than others to address cybersecurity challenges in three key digital technology areas: analytics, Internet of Things and cloud computing,” Cisco said. “As a result, these organizations are far more confident about incorporating digital technologies into their business processes and offerings. “In fact, 44% of executives surveyed consider cybersecurity to be a competitive advantage for their organizations.” Cisco said cybersecurity will drive about $7.6 trillion of digital value over the next decade, with $5.8 trillion resulting from “cybersecurity’s enablement of digital use cases that instigate innovation and growth.” Is this marketing pablum or a legitimate call to action? Cisco has been under pressure to grow as fast as some of the smaller networking and software security firms with which it competes or partners. In its fiscal 2015 ended July 25, Cisco’s overall revenue rose only 4% to $49.16 billion, but its security services sales alone grew 12% to $1.75 billion. Medical IT leader Cerner grew 2015 revenue 30% to $4.42 billion, in part by selling P2Sentinnel and P2Sentinel Security as a Service (P2SaaS) products as a “security, auditing and compliance solution for tracking end-user access to confidential patient data in Mellennium, as well as other non-Cerner clinical solutions and infrastructure systems.” Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ), which specializes in security software, grew sales 55% last year. Rival Check Point Software ( CHKP ) saw revenue rise 9%. Symantec, MedStar’s prime cybersecurity contractor, reported pro forma revenue fell 6.3% year over year for its fiscal Q3 ended Jan. 1, adjusting for the sale of its Veritas business. Cisco’s survey data could serve as grist for its hungry marketing-sales machine, but it also provides a heads-up to companies that there’s more to cybersecurity than preventing hacker disruption. When a company is confident it can prevent disruption, this enables minds to focus on everything else. “It’s critically important that we stop thinking about security as a defense-centric approach that is sold by fear, uncertainty and doubt,” Mike Dahn, head of data security for payments firm Square ( SQ ), said in Cisco’s survey results press release. “We need to start thinking about security as an enablement of innovation that actually helps the business go forward.” Cisco stock touched a nearly one-year low of 22.46 in early February, but it has been on an upswing recently. Cisco closed Monday at 27.62, down a fraction. In the meantime, cybersecurity continues to be top of mind. By executive order, the U.S. Commerce Department will host its first Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity meeting on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Scalper1 News
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