Expanded AI Defense and AI-Aware SASE Aim to Secure Autonomous Workflows
Cisco has unveiled a major expansion of its security portfolio designed to help enterprises safely adopt agentic artificial intelligence. Announced at Cisco Live EMEA in Amsterdam, the updates focus on protecting AI agents from compromise, governing how agents interact with tools and systems, and ensuring resilient, encrypted connectivity for AI-driven workflows.
As organizations move beyond AI assistants toward autonomous agents that operate across hybrid and distributed environments, Cisco says traditional security models are no longer sufficient.
AI Defense Expands to Protect Agents and the AI Supply Chain
Cisco introduced its largest update yet to AI Defense, adding new capabilities that address risks across the AI supply chain and during real-time agent operations.
Key additions include centralized visibility into AI software assets, governance of model context protocol (MCP) servers, and enhanced testing to identify vulnerabilities before deployment. Runtime protections have also been expanded to monitor agent behavior in production, helping detect manipulation attempts such as poisoned tools or prompts designed to trigger unauthorized actions.
These updates allow organizations to inventory AI assets, track their origins, and enforce policies throughout the AI lifecycle from development to real-world deployment.
Industry-First AI-Aware SASE Brings Intent-Based Security to AI Traffic
Cisco also announced new AI-aware security enhancements to its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform, aimed at governing agent interactions and ensuring reliable performance for AI workloads.
The platform can now identify and optimize AI traffic in real time, maintaining low latency during traffic surges. New inspection capabilities analyze the intent behind agentic communications, enabling security teams to detect threats that traditional tools may miss.
Unified policy enforcement across SD-WAN and security service edge components is designed to simplify governance as enterprises scale agent adoption and face increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Networking Upgrades Prepare Enterprises for Post-Quantum Security
To support AI-driven workflows across campus and branch environments, Cisco introduced IOS XE 26, the latest version of its network operating system. The release powers new secure routers and smart switches and delivers full-stack post-quantum cryptography protections for enterprise networks.
Cisco says these upgrades are designed to protect long-lived, encrypted communications against future cryptographic threats while maintaining predictable performance for AI workloads.
Additional Security Innovations Announced
Alongside its core AI security updates, Cisco announced new identity protection features for on-premises Active Directory environments through Cisco Duo, as well as agentic automation capabilities within Cisco Security Cloud Control that can proactively analyze and remediate firewall issues.
Positioning for the Next Phase of Enterprise AI Adoption
Cisco’s latest announcements reflect a broader strategy to align networking, security, and AI governance as enterprises transition to autonomous, agent-driven systems. By combining AI Defense, AI-aware SASE, and post-quantum-ready networking, the company aims to provide a unified foundation for secure AI adoption at scale.
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