Mike Wuerthele
A new "industry-first offering" from Cisco, Apple, Aon, and Allianz has been launched, allowing businesses small and large to utilize Apple devices, and Cisco security hardware, and in doing so, qualify for a "enhanced cyber insurance" program protecting the company from the financial impact of a cyber attack.
The program, lannounced on Monday, is multi-fold.To enroll, Aon, one of the four companies in the program, performs a cybersecurity readiness test. Following that, companies implement "Cisco Ransomware Defense" on Apple-provided devices like the Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
After both steps are completed, there are more options for insurance offerings underwritten by Allianz, and sold by Aon. The program offers "broader coverage and lower deductibles" to businesses who comply with the program.
The quartet of companies claim that interested customers will:
Gain insights on ways to bolster their security posture through an Aon cyber evaluation.
- Improve their security postures with the Cisco Ransomware Defense solution to better defend against malware, ransomware and other malware-based threats.
- Empower employees with Apple devices they know and love for greater security and amazing productivity
- Access expert security incident response services for swift action in the case of a cyber incident.
- Be able to apply to qualify for enhanced cyber risk insurance underwritten by Allianz.
It appears that the initiative is the first tangible result of Apple CEO Tim Cook's promise for an insurance discount to Apple and Cisco customers was made in June 2017.
"The thinking we share here is that if your enterprise or company is using Cisco and Apple, that the combination of these should make that insurance cost significantly less," Cook said at the time. "This is something we're going to spend some energy on. You should reap that benefit."
Apple and Cisco first announced their collaboration in Aug. 2015, intended to ensure iPhones and iPads were optimized for Cisco networks, and guarantee compatibility in the other direction as well.
Pricing, including what Apple will charge customers for the devices, is not available at present.
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Oliver Haslam
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
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4 Comments
Hopefully Apple is ready for this. This tells me iOS has matured a lot. Hopefully the 21st century enterprise embraces it.
The IT department is a Microsoft shop. They only have Cisco and iPhones because the users would rebel if they didn’t. So IT’s solution is to cripple functionality. There is a jihad against iPads.
a simple example: you can’t use iCloud services but can use one drive and Dropbox. While they allow a VPN to access internal web services, they don’t allow any apps that might allow any apps, VPN or not, that would access internal servers. Then, to use MS Office, instead of accessing the agency wide licence, the budget must be found to buy MS Office for each iPad. Many give up at this point and don’t edit on them.
Anyone wanting an iPad must explain why they can’t use a laptop running windows. It shits them to tears to be told they aren’t fit for purpose while an iPad is. Bless that inbuilt GPS and ArcGIS apps.
I have been fighting to get Apple devices into the workplace for at least twenty five years. The resistance is powerful.