How Cisco Empowers the Public Sector to Stay Secure at a Distance

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep workers out of the physical office, the need for secure remote work solutions is greater than ever. Workplaces have been forced to think about securing not just one office or network, but millions of individuals working from their homes. And this shift will only continue as more and more people begin to adopt “work from anywhere” as a permanent option. How do we ensure that remote workers all over the world receive the same level of security as when they were in the office?

Throughout this period state and federal governments have had to reevaluate how to maintain core functions and deliver public services, and in the process are implementing solutions and enabling new digital technology capabilities that will permanently change our world.

The key to making this transition effectively and securely lies in our ability to ensure flexibility, agility, and dynamism.

Maintaining continuity of services

To maintain business continuity, the public sector needs the same flexibility and agility within secure networks that is available to the private sector. We need to empower government agencies to implement dynamic security infrastructure that gives security leaders full visibility into their VPN, DNS, Zero-Trust, firewall, and endpoint security systems.

The way we think about security and the edge has fundamentally changed: The network no longer starts and ends at a campus, branch, or datacenter — it extends to wherever employees are working from. “Cloud” has become the new data center, the “Internet” is the network, SaaS are the applications and the “Edge” is where the person or thing is.

No one does dynamic better than Cisco. We offer solutions to fit the needs of governments’ changing workforce, workplace, and workloads (see Cisco Cybersecurity Solutions for Government). Our secure platform provides unified visibility, automation, and stronger defense, integrating seamlessly with your infrastructure.

Government is stepping up

I recently had a conversation with Texas Chief Information Security Officer Nancy Rainosek and Colorado Chief Information Security Officer Deborah Blyth. It’s amazing to see the progress they’ve made in their respective states, and it is nothing short of remarkable.

Government agencies are stepping up and protecting sensitive information while maintaining day-to-day operations during a time of crisis. All of this is happening under intense scrutiny, but public sector leaders are stepping up to meet the challenge. It’s encouraging to see that many of the short-term “workarounds” necessitated by COVID-19 will actually become permanent and empower digital governments to continue their critical work of serving the public.

Learn more

Visit Cisco Secure Remote Worker to learn more about the innovative technologies that can empower your team anywhere, anytime.