Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) has introduced a comprehensive suite of security innovations designed to support the rapidly evolving agentic AI ecosystem, where intelligent software agents are no longer limited to responding to queries but are increasingly सक्षम of taking action autonomously. Announced at the RSA Conference 2026, these solutions aim to address key barriers to enterprise adoption of AI agents by embedding robust security measures across every stage of the agent lifecycle—from identity and access control to deployment and real-time threat response.
At the core of Cisco’s announcement is the expansion of Zero Trust Access to AI agents, enabling organisations to establish trusted identities, enforce strict access controls, and ensure full visibility over agentic activities. New capabilities within Cisco Identity Intelligence and Duo Identity and Access Management (IAM) allow enterprises to register and map AI agents to accountable human owners, while Secure Access security service edge (SSE) introduces model context protocol (MCP) policy enforcement and intent-aware monitoring. These advancements ensure that agents operate strictly within defined parameters, reducing the risk of misuse or unauthorised actions.
To further strengthen AI security, Cisco has launched AI Defense: Explorer Edition, a self-service platform that empowers developers and security teams to test AI models and applications against real-world threats before deployment. Equipped with dynamic red teaming, model validation tools, and API-first integrations, the platform enables organisations to identify vulnerabilities such as prompt injection and jailbreak attempts while embedding robust guardrails into agent workflows. Complementing this is the introduction of the Agent Runtime Software Development Kit (SDK), which integrates policy enforcement directly into the development phase across major AI frameworks.
Cisco also revealed DefenseClaw, an open-source secure agent framework designed to automate security processes and streamline deployment. By integrating tools such as Skills Scanner, MCP Scanner, AI Bill of Materials (BoM), and CodeGuard, DefenseClaw ensures that AI agents are fully verified, scanned, and inventoried before deployment. Its planned integration with NVIDIA OpenShell further enhances runtime security by providing a sandboxed environment that eliminates manual intervention and accelerates secure scaling of agentic workloads.
In parallel, Cisco is advancing security operations through new AI-powered innovations within its Splunk platform. These include Exposure Analytics for real-time asset visibility and risk scoring, Detection Studio for streamlined threat detection workflows, and Federated Search for cross-environment data correlation. Additionally, a suite of specialised AI agents—such as Triage Agent, Malware Threat Reversing Agent, and Guided Response Agent—will automate and accelerate security operations, enabling Security Operations Centres (SOCs) to detect and respond to threats at machine speed.
Cisco’s strategy is built around three key pillars: protecting the world from AI agents, protecting agents from external threats, and enabling rapid detection and response to AI-driven incidents. According to a recent Cisco survey, while 85% of enterprises are experimenting with AI agents, only 5% have deployed them at scale—highlighting the urgent need for trusted security frameworks.
By embedding security into the foundation of the agentic AI economy, Cisco is positioning itself at the forefront of enabling safe and scalable AI adoption. As organisations continue to explore the transformative potential of AI agents, Cisco’s integrated approach aims to provide the confidence and control needed to unlock innovation while mitigating risk.
