Ciena’s CISO, Ryan Hammer, explains our approach to providing the secure foundation our customers and partners expect and deserve.

In my role as CISO at Ciena, I'm often asked about our approach to security. It's not a simple answer, because we strive to weave security into everything we do. At its heart, our strategy rests on ensuring trust–from our customers, our partners, and all who rely on Ciena's technology and services.

This means we must prioritize several key areas.

First, we focus on being confidently compliant. The world of regulations is complex and constantly evolving. We view it as our responsibility to proactively navigate these requirements, including data privacy and industry-standard practices. This isn't just about checking boxes; it's about building a framework for responsible technology management and data handling, demonstrating to our customers that we take their obligations as seriously as our own. We aim to achieve this by striving to communicate our cybersecurity practices clearly, govern information and data effectively, and embed security considerations into our engineering processes. Our customers expect that we consistently deliver on our security commitments.

Our commitment to well-defended & resilient operations is equally critical. Given the complexities of today's threat environment, we emphasize resilience as a core principle. We work to proactively anticipate potential attacks, build robust security defenses, and maintain continuous monitoring of our systems. Recognizing that security incidents are a reality, we also prioritize our capacity to respond rapidly and recover with minimal impact. This includes a focus on strengthening security controls, improving our cloud security posture, and empowering our employees with a secure working environment.

Of course, security is also paramount in the technology we deliver. We strive for a secure product portfolio by making security a core part of our development lifecycle. This entails providing developers with tools and training, conducting thorough security assessments, and maintaining a dedicated team to address any product security issues promptly. We also place a high priority on the security of our supply chain, recognizing that the integrity of our products depends on the security of every component.

At the core of this is the cultivation of a security & risk conscious culture. We want every Ciena employee to recognize their role in safeguarding our company and our customers. This includes establishing clear risk management practices, strategically allocating resources to address the most significant threats, and promoting collaboration across departments. It's about making security a collective responsibility and ensuring that risk remains a key factor in our decision-making.

In summary, security at Ciena is a dynamic and evolving commitment. It's about compliance, resilience, product integrity, and culture. By prioritizing these areas, we aim to provide the secure foundation our customers and partners expect and deserve.

Our discussion does not end here; we will dive deeper into each of these four areas in a series of blogs prepared by the Ciena Security Team, demonstrating our commitment to being a trusted partner by putting security first. Stay tuned.