NetApp and Cisco Collaboration Strengthens Defense-in-Depth for Enterprise Cyber Resilience

New NetApp Splunk SOAR playbook helps contain ransomware attacks and limit data loss

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NetApp^® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), today announced an expansion of their collaboration to help customers strengthen defense-in-depth strategies for customers. Combining Intelligent Data Infrastructure with advanced analytics and observability capabilities, NetApp and Splunk have delivered deep, real-time visibility into storage and infrastructure health. Together, they are helping customers turn operational data into actionable insights that improve reliability, security, and business outcomes. By expanding their collaboration with the new NetApp Splunk Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) playbook, NetApp and Splunk are helping joint customers contain ransomware attacks and limit data loss at the storage layer, enhancing the containment of the blast radius of cyberattacks while increasing the speed and reducing the cost of recovery.

“With AI accelerating both the speed and sophistication of cyberattacks, the window to respond has never been smaller,” said Sandeep Singh, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Platform at NetApp. “To limit the cost and impact of ransomware, organizations must act the moment a threat is detected, which means extending security automation into the storage layer where data lives. As the company delivering the most secure storage on the planet, NetApp is uniquely positioned to make storage an active part of a defense-in-depth strategy. By working with Cisco to enable Splunk SOAR workflows to take direct action on data stored in NetApp ONTAP^®, we’re helping make a defense-in-depth security strategy simpler and more effective.”

To give customers the resiliency and flexibility they need to protect their data, Cisco and NetApp are releasing the NetApp Splunk SOAR playbook. Splunk Enterprise Security is already integrated with NetApp Ransomware Resilience to collect analytics from the data layer, enhancing incident triage and prioritization. With the new playbook, Splunk SOAR users can now use those signals as well as signals from other solutions to automatically take incident response actions directly on NetApp ONTAP storage as an integral part of their incident response. These actions include blocking a suspicious user, taking snapshots of the data and taking data volumes offline to protect against further infection. As a result, customers will be better able to contain ransomware attacks and limit data loss at the storage layer. Utilized as part of the organization’s defense in depth security strategy, the NetApp Splunk SOAR playbooks help to strengthen collaboration between security and storage teams.

Automating the response and recovery actions against cyber threats with the NetApp Splunk SOAR playbook improves security team metrics like mean time to contain (MTTC) and reduces the manual effort and skills required to protect data. As a result, NetApp and Cisco are making it faster and more efficient for enterprises to achieve cyber resilience.

“Effective security strategies require visibility and action across the entire technology stack, including the data layer,” said David Dalling, GVP, Splunk Security at Cisco. “With the new NetApp Splunk SOAR playbook, ONTAP storage becomes an active participant in the security ecosystem, enabling organizations to contain threats directly targeting enterprise data. By connecting NetApp storage into Splunk SOAR workflows, we’re helping security and storage teams collaborate more seamlessly and respond to incidents with greater speed and confidence.”

“The partnership between Splunk and NetApp helps customers run their businesses more securely and effectively, connecting operations across storage and security teams,” said Dallas Olson, Chief Commercial Officer at NetApp. “By giving customers real-time visibility into what’s happening across their environments, NetApp and Splunk enable enterprises to reduce disruption and optimize performance so they can use their data to drive measurable business outcomes.”

The NetApp Splunk SOAR playbook is now available to download from SplunkBase.

Additional Resources

• Aligning Storage and Security to Strengthen Cyber Resilience
• Cyber Resilience: The Most Secure Storage on the Planet
• Ransomware Resilience: Ransomware Protection Using AI-Based Detection

About NetApp

For more than three decades, NetApp has helped the world’s leading organizations navigate change – from the rise of enterprise storage to the intelligent era defined by data and AI. Today, NetApp is the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, helping customers turn data into a catalyst for innovation, resilience, and growth.

At the heart of that infrastructure is the NetApp data platform – the unified, enterprise-grade, intelligent foundation that connects, protects, and activates data across every cloud, workload, and environment. Built on the proven power of NetApp ONTAP, our leading data management software and OS, and enhanced by automation through the AI Data Engine and AFX, it delivers observability, resilience, and intelligence at scale.

Disaggregated by design, the NetApp data platform separates storage, services, and control so enterprises can modernize faster, scale efficiently, and innovate without lock-in. As the only enterprise storage platform natively embedded in the world’s largest clouds, it gives organizations the freedom to run any workload anywhere with consistent performance, governance, and protection.

With NetApp, data is always ready – ready to defend against threats, ready to power AI, and ready to drive the next breakthrough. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking enterprises trust NetApp to turn intelligence into advantage.

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NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco’s trademarks can be found at http://www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word ‘partner’ does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.