No matter how much pest prevention we do around our house, inevitably we'll find a pest (or maybe even a lizard) in the house every now and then. It's Florida.

Real pests vs. intrusive, hostile or malicious computer code. Obvious? Maybe. Similar? You bet.

In both situations, you react in either of two ways. The first option is to scream at the top of your lungs, freeze in panic and stare at it as scurries across the room or your computer screen. That is certainly the tactic my children like to take and it is probably not the most effective.

The second option -the way Cisco opts to approach it is with Advanced Malware Protection (AMP). AMP not only prevents malware, but also detects, contains and removes advanced malware too. Quickly. Not only can AMP detect malware but it can show where it came from, where it's been and what it's doing.

I started thinking about the critters that sneak into my house and what they have in common with malicious computer attacks. What was the chain of events that lead this outsider inside? What does it want to do in in my house? To watch TV? To play with my kids' toys? To enjoy the air conditioning? Why does it want to be in here with my 2 and 9-year olds instead of outside with his friends? While I think about this I also wonder what's motivating hackers to lurk inside a company's computer systems? Or worse,mycomputer!

If I only knew what they were thinking, I would be able to target intrusions in a different way. Perimeter-based defenses alone can only do so much. Standalone signature based detection tools are inexpensive and equally inefficient. By moving to threat-centric security models, we gain visibility and control allowing your customers to act smarter and more quickly at all stages of an attack.

Can you say the same for other security solutions?

We've taken this comprehensive and scalable approach and packaged it into Cisco AMP for Endpoints, making it simple for your customer to understand -cutting down the learning curve to close a sale.

That's something our competitors can't do.

Not only does AMP strengthen your customer's security defenses by providing an unprecedented level of visibility but it also provides you with entirely new service-based revenue streams -breach prevention, investigation and incident response.

What you can do right now to protect your company from malware.

Become an expert on AMP; Get Trained.

Get a front row, virtual seat, to hear more about our security portfolio and what it can do for your business and your customers. Register now for Virtual Partner Summit.

This blog series explores how Cisco helps before, during and after a security breach as well as supply chain breaches. Learn how to take advantage of Cisco's security product sales incentives and how to best market them.  Come back next week to learn how Cisco helps you after a security breach.