Cisco launches AI-ready security upgrades with Hybrid Mesh Firewall and Universal ZTNA
Cisco announced new security tech designed for the AI era at Cisco Live in San Diego on June 10, 2025. The company is embedding zero trust and observability deeper into networks, covering everything from silicon to security operations centers.
The upgrades center on Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall and Universal Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). These tools simplify policy management, boost visibility, and help enterprises scale securely without bloating their security stack. 
Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall adds new hardware and policy controls via Security Cloud Control, including:
- Secure Firewall 6100 Series: packs 200 Gbps per rack unit performance for AI-ready data centers
- Secure Firewall 200 Series: fast threat inspection plus SD-WAN for branches, at three times the cost efficiency of competitors
- Extended enforcement points on Cisco’s SD-WAN, hypershield switches, and ACI data centers
- Multi-vendor segmentation policy via Mesh Policy Engine, letting teams set intent-based rules enforced across Cisco and third-party firewalls
Universal ZTNA innovations simplify secure access and improve visibility for hybrid environments and AI agents. Highlights:
- Integration of all Cisco SD-WAN products with Cisco Secure Access for unified security policies
- Duo Identity and Access Management now supports passwordless login and proximity verification without hardware tokens
Cisco is also tackling security risks from agentic AI—AI agents that act autonomously. Their approach secures agent identities, enables zero-trust access, and tracks agent actions, powered by Cisco Duo IAM, Identity Intelligence, Secure Access, and AI Defense.
John Grady, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group said:
“The AI era demands a transformative approach to security. Organizations need distributed, identity-based, zero trust protection for applications, users, AI models and agents, supported by a unified policy framework,” said John Grady, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.
“Cisco is in a very unique position to support this with its ability to embed advanced protections directly into the network through innovations like Hybrid Mesh Firewall and Universal Zero Trust Network Access, which safeguard AI models and applications, manage identity, and simplify policy management across distributed environments.”
Cisco also enhanced its integration with Splunk, loading more firewall logs and threat data into Splunk’s platform for faster threat detection and automated response. This includes:
- Deeper Cisco Secure Firewall analysis in Splunk
- Enhanced detection and investigation with Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense support
- Expanded SOAR playbooks to automate threat containment actions
- AppDynamics app-layer risk signals fed into Splunk to contextualize vulnerabilities
Chris Konrad, VP at World Wide Technology, added:
“As AI continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace and new cybersecurity challenges emerge, it’s even more important to fuse security into the very fabric of the network,” said Chris Konrad, Vice President, Global Cyber, World Wide Technology.
“Cisco is redefining security for the AI era with its latest innovations from Hybrid Mesh Firewall to Universal Zero Trust Network Access. This integrated approach will help our customers to prepare for an AI-driven future and achieve better outcomes, by protecting AI models and applications, managing identity, and providing essential tools to combat increasingly complex threats.”
Cisco’s AI-era security rollouts target enterprises racing to adopt AI safely as attackers weaponize AI for smarter hacks. The company’s new network-embedded zero-trust tech aims to make AI adoption less risky and more manageable.
More info: cisco.com/go/security
