Cisco promotes a new chief information security officer to help protect the $195 billion company's data, as the old one leaves

• Cisco has named a new Chief Information Security Officer, appointing Anthony Grieco to the role.
• Grieco has been at Cisco for 20 years, previously serving as an engineer and Trust Strategy Officer.
• He will succeed Mike Hanley, who is leaving for a new position outside the company.
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

Cisco has named a new cybersecurity executive tasked with protecting the information of the $195 billion networking company.

Anthony Grieco will serve as Cisco’s new vice president and chief information security officer, a company spokesperson told Insider on Thursday.

An internal hire, Grieco has spent more than 20 years at Cisco, previously working as a principal engineer and subsequently Trust Strategy Officer. In that role, he helped lead the company’s security business, including developing and marketing cybersecurity products.

Grieco will succeed Michael Hanley, Cisco’s former CISO. Hanley first joined the company in 2018 after it acquired Duo, a security startup where Hanley served as vice president of security.

Under Grieco’s supervision, Cisco expanded its cybersecurity client base, expanding partnerships with both government and private sector clients, the spokesperson said. In addition to its core networking products, Cisco markets cybersecurity software meant to detect and prevent cyberattacks across clients’ networks.

“He is a trusted security advisor to industry, customers and startups worldwide,” the spokesperson said.

Hanley is leaving Cisco for “the next stage of his career journey,” the company spokesperson said. Hanley did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

“We wish Mike all of the best and thank him for his leadership, as well as his many contributions to the team, our customers and partners,” the spokesperson said.

The promotion comes as security firms anticipate steady growth amid heightened concerns over cyber vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity spending is expected to grow by 10% in the coming year as new hacking threats emerge, according to the research firm Canalsys. Earlier this month, Cisco reported $1.68 billion in revenue from its security business in the second half of 2020, a 10% increase from the same period the year prior. 

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