Cisco, building on its Webex line of products, plans to provide a cloud-based, air-gapped collaboration system to companies engaged in US national defense and security work. This will extend the secure offerings that the company provides to industries who require collaboration tools with high security to meet US Government requirements.
Cisco announced that the new Webex system, Air-Gapped Trusted Cloud, will be available in 2024 and provide an additional layer of security to teams working together through the Webex app.
Air gaps are a form of security that isolates a computer, network or other device and prevents it from connecting to the outside world. An air-gapped PC, for example, is not able to connect to any communications networks or the internet in order to ensure the security of the data it contains.
The US government currently has a set of guidelines for assessing and authorizing cloud services and products for national security. Air-gapped clouds are among them, as they are completely isolated from the public network and run on US soil only by staff who have been cleared to handle sensitive information.
Cisco claims that with the new system of air-gapped deployments for Webex, the tools will meet security standards demanded by US agencies in national security and defence without compromising the user experience.
“We have enhanced our Webex Collaboration solution with additional security controls and operation capabilities required by the government so that it can be deployed even in an unconnected environment,” said Jeetu Patel, executive vice-president and general manager of security and collaboration for Cisco. This approach allows us the opportunity to provide the National Security and Defense Community with a modern experience.
Cisco commits to FedRAMP compliance
Cisco also reaffirmed their commitment to provide on-premises collaboration solutions, including messaging, calling, meetings and file sharing, by bringing enterprise-grade security up to FedRAMP. is the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. provides a standard approach to security authorizations of cloud service offerings.
The company said that it will also take local regulations, compliance requirements, and security controls into consideration for each government community.
Patel explained that this product was built for companies that work on national security projects and defense projects, and is designed to meet their network and data handling needs. It will therefore not be available outside of this sector. Defense contractors may choose to use the product when working on government contract that requires the level security that the product provides.
“While this announcement is specifically for national security and defense we will continue to innovate to develop fully compliant, customizable collaboration solutions across all aspects of government”, a post that announced the news stated.
