At Cisco’s CTO Roundtable during RSA Conference 2025, myself and our Sales Director Chris Smith we delighted to get an exclusive look at several groundbreaking advancements in cybersecurity. These innovations are especially relevant for our customers who are looking to stay ahead in today’s complex and fast-evolving threat landscape.

Authored by Gísli Helgason CTO Office - Network & Security

Jeetu’s Vision: Reimagining Security for the AI Era

At the CTO Roundtable, Jeetu Patel laid out a bold vision for how AI will shape the future of cybersecurity—and why we need to rethink our approach.

He made it clear that we’re entering a new era, one where traditional, human-scale defences simply can’t keep up with machine-scale threats. Jeetu highlighted two critical aspects of AI: AI safety (how AI behaves and what it outputs) and AI security (how AI itself can be exploited). Both require fresh thinking.

That’s why Cisco is developing new approaches like their Foundation AI Security Model, designed to give the industry a shared language and toolkit for securing AI systems across different platforms.

For CAE customers, this kind of initiative means we’ll be better equipped to assess and trust the AI models we deploy—an important step as generative AI becomes embedded in everything from productivity tools to security platforms.

Jeetu also stressed the need for security systems to become more autonomous, more integrated, and more proactive. His message was clear: defenders need to operate at the speed and scale of attackers. For our customers, this means future-proofing security environments with intelligent, AI-powered solutions that reduce response time, improve visibility, and lessen the load on internal teams.

Kevin's Take: Simplifying Access with Universal ZTNA

Kevin Kennedy, Vice President of Product Marketing for Security, introduced Cisco's Universal Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution. This approach simplifies security operations by providing consistent policy enforcement across diverse environments, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures. This means streamlined access management and enhanced security controls, ensuring that users and devices can securely connect to applications from anywhere. The solution also offers visibility into unauthorised AI applications, helping organisations maintain compliance and protect sensitive data.

AJ’s Demo: Why Cisco XDR Deserves the “2.0” Label

AJ Shipley, Cisco’s VP of Product Management for Threat Detection, Investigation & Response, gave us a firsthand look at what Cisco is calling “XDR 2.0”—and it’s clear why.

While XDR is usually thought of as just a SaaS platform (and those typically avoid version numbers), AJ made a strong case for why this is a genuine leap forward, not just a refresh. The standout upgrade is the integration of agentic AI—a powerful capability that can perform hours worth of threat research in just minutes. Meaning real-time answers to complex investigations, allowing your teams to pivot from analysis to action almost immediately.

He also showed off a completely redesigned user interface that puts context front and centre. Rather than presenting raw alerts and forcing analysts to piece together an attack story manually, Cisco XDR 2.0 now visually maps out attack paths, affected assets, and response options. This makes it far easier for even smaller security teams to grasp the full picture and act decisively.

The forensics capabilities are particularly advanced, offering deep visibility into lateral movement and comprehensive historical context across multiple telemetry sources. This level of analytical depth, traditionally found in high-end, specialized tools, is now integrated into a single, cohesive platform.

For CAE and our customers, Cisco XDR 2.0 is a compelling answer to a common challenge: how do we get enterprise-grade threat detection and response without needing an enterprise-sized SOC? With automation, context, and unmatched forensics baked in, this evolution in Cisco XDR gives us a real edge.

Keep an eye out on our LinkedIn and blog for the last day update!