Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) at the 2025 RSA Conference today added a series of controls for users, devices and applications to its cloud-based network management platform that promise to make it simpler for organizations to enforce zero-trust cybersecurity policies.
HPE is also tightening integration between HPE Aruba Networking EdgeConnect SD-WAN, including secure access service edge capabilities via integration with the HPE Aruba Networking SSE. Additionally, HPE Aruba Networking SSE now includes mesh connectivity to improve routing among global points of presence (PoPs).
There is also now a set of adaptive distributed denial of service (DDoS) capabilities that make use of machine learning algorithms to dynamically thwart threats. A free license for HPE Aruba Networking Private Edge is also being provided.
At the same time, HPE Private Cloud Enterprise has now also been extended to add the ability to temporarily disconnect from the public internet when network threats are detected.
HPE is also adding additional cybersecurity services to optimize the design and implementation of security strategies for sovereign clouds and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Finally, HPE is tightening integration between the HPE Aruba Networking and HPE GreenLake cloud service it provides to manage the servers and storage systems.
Larry Lunetta, vice president for AI, security and networking product marketing for HPE, said that capability will make it simpler to share data and events between the control planes used to manage HPE Aruba Networking and, for example, the HPE OpsRamp platform for managing IT operations that is part of the HPE Greenlake service. A set of HPE Aruba Networking Central application profiling, classification and risk assessment capabilities now also makes it possible to establish application access policies based on risk preferences. OpsRamp essentially provides the repository for sharing insights using a platform that is infused with machine learning algorithms to analyze data collected from both HPE offerings and third-party platforms, noted Lunetta.
The degree to which organizations are breaking down the historic silos between IT operations networking and cybersecurity teams varies widely. HPE is making a case for an approach that enables those teams to continue to specialize in specific areas in a way that facilitates more collaboration, said Lunetta. That approach allows each IT organization to drive convergence on its own terms, he added.
Less clear is the degree to which cybersecurity concerns might be driving IT organizations to modernize their infrastructure. Many of the legacy systems that IT teams manage today were designed in an era when there was not as much awareness of how easily IT platforms could be compromised. In theory, the adoption of zero-trust policies should go a long way to improving the overall state of cybersecurity in most organizations but implementing and maintaining the controls represents a significant challenge.
Like it or not, however, the need for those controls is only becoming more pronounced as the overall size of the attack surface that needs to be defended within organizations only continues to expand.
