As companies transition to a hybrid multicloud environment, where people work from anywhere on any device, the intersection of security, hybrid work and artificial intelligence has moved front and center.

Within this evolving computing environment, the importance of abstracting networking and security across major cloud providers continues to become even more important, according to Jeetu Patel (pictured), executive vice president and general manager of security and collaboration at Cisco Systems Inc. The impact of AI on data security has led to the need for a platform approach and responsible AI frameworks, he added.

“As the attack surface gets larger and larger and the attacks are getting more sophisticated, security plays a pretty big role on the hybrid work side and on the security side,” Patel said.

Patel spoke with theCUBE industry analyst John Furrier at today’s RSA Conference, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the rapid evolution of AI, collaboration and security, as well as the future of these domains and how they will shape the way businesses operate. (* Disclosure below.)

AI’s impact on security and the importance of a platform approach

Abstracting networking and security to act as a layer above major cloud providers, such as Microsoft Corp., Google LLC, Amazon Web Services Inc. and private data centers, allows for efficiencies and ensures that workloads can be driven across any cloud provider while still maintaining the policy structure for security, according to Patel.

Another key focal point is the increasing significance of AI in security, which will lead to three fundamental changes: altering the user experience, improving the efficacy of security and increasing the efficiency of security professionals. AI will help drive a platform approach to security, allowing for better correlation across multiple domains and providing an end-to-end picture of security threats.

“We need to make sure that we can actually somehow figure out a way to augment AI to the talented skillsets that we have and pull it all together,” Patel said. “The future possibilities are very exciting, but you have to keep in mind the downsides. And that’s why responsible AI frameworks are going to be pretty important as well.”

As the market continues to evolve, three critical factors come into play: the model itself, the custom set of specialized data provided and the experience. “When all these three come together, magic starts to happen,” Patel added.

Cisco is currently tackling the importance of collaboration in the security industry as it continues to evolve. For example, the company is working on integrating chat interfaces within security operations centers to allow for real-time detection, response and remediation of threats.

“You have to make sure that the time to investigation compresses as much as you can so that the delta between detection and response is not days or months, it’s actually hours or minutes,” Patel said.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the RSA Conference:

(* Disclosure: This is an unsponsored editorial segment. However, theCUBE is a paid media partner for the RSA Conference. Sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage do not have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE