Cisco SD-WAN now sports Advanced Malware Protection on its popular edge routers, adding to their routing, segmentation, security, policy and orchestration capabilities. Credit: vuk8691 / Getty Images Cisco has added support for Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) to its million-plus ISR/ASR edge routers, in an effort to reinforce branch and core network malware protection at across the SD-WAN. Cisco last year added its Viptela SD-WAN technology to the IOS XE version 16.9.1 software that runs its core ISR/ASR routers such as the ISR models 1000, 4000 and ASR 1000, in use by organizations worldwide. Cisco bought Viptela in 2017. The release of Cisco IOS XE offered an instant upgrade path for creating cloud-controlled SD-WAN fabrics to connect distributed offices, people, devices and applications operating on the installed base, Cisco said. At the time Cisco said that Cisco SD-WAN on edge routers builds a secure virtual IP fabric by combining routing, segmentation, security, policy and orchestration. With the recent release of IOS-XE SD-WAN 16.11, Cisco has brought AMP and other enhancements to its SD-WAN. “Together with Cisco Talos [Cisco’s security-intelligence arm], AMP imbues your SD-WAN branch, core and campuses locations with threat intelligence from millions of worldwide users, honeypots, sandboxes, and extensive industry partnerships,” wrote Cisco’s Patrick Vitalone a product marketing manager in a blog about the security portion of the new software. “In total, AMP identifies more than 1.1 million unique malware samples a day.” When AMP in Cisco SD-WAN spots malicious behavior it automatically blocks it, he wrote. The idea is to use integrated preventative engines, exploit prevention and intelligent signature-based antivirus to stop malicious attachments and fileless malware before they execute, Vitalone wrote. AMP support is added to a menu of security features already included in the SD-WAN software including support for URL filtering, Cisco Umbrella DNS security, Snort Intrusion Prevention, the ability to segment users across the WAN and embedded platform security, including the Cisco Trust Anchor module. The software also supports SD-WAN Cloud onRamp for CoLocation, which lets customers tie distributed multicloud applications back to a local branch office or local private data center. That way a cloud-to-branch link would be shorter, faster and possibly more secure that tying cloud-based applications directly to the data center. “The idea that this kind of security technology is now integrated into Cisco’s SD-WAN offering is a critical for Cisco and customers looking to evaluate SD-WAN offerings,” said Lee Doyle, principal analyst at Doyle Research. IOS-XE SD-WAN 16.11 is available now. Related content news Singapore government pushes energy-efficient data center plan The city state is looking at greener energy sources and wants to make every aspect of data center energy consumption, from cooling to coding, more efficient. By John Leyden May 31, 2024 4 mins Energy Efficiency Data Center Design Data Center Management news Everyone but Nvidia joins forces for new AI interconnect Hyperscalers and chip makers, including AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, HPE, Intel and Microsoft, are partnering to develop a high-speed chip interconnect to rival Nvidia’s NVLink technology. By Andy Patrizio May 30, 2024 4 mins CPUs and Processors Data Center news AT&T taps Cisco fixed 5G wireless gateways for WAN service Cisco Meraki devices are also part of fixed 5G wireless services from T-Mobile and Verizon. By Michael Cooney May 30, 2024 3 mins 5G Wireless Security WAN news Alibaba Cloud is betting on emerging markets with massive price cuts The strategy to lower prices may not only help Alibaba undercut competition from larger hyperscalers in emerging markets but also have a more positive effect on its image as a Chinese provider, experts say. By Anirban Ghoshal May 30, 2024 6 mins Cloud Computing PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe