digital footprint thesis

Digital footprints of university students

Author: Faisal Mubarak A Alhamami

• Thesis download: Digital Footprints of University Students.pdf     [ 1.5 MB ]  

Alhamami, Faisal Mubarak A, 2020 Digital footprints of university students , Flinders University, College of Science and Engineering

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Digital footprints create a personal digital identity for each person from the use of different applications and devices. The personal digital footprint can be utilized to get information about an individual’s behaviour. Universities are now looking for approaches to analyze the students’ digital footprints to improve their experience and enhance university services. This thesis explores a case study of students’ digital footprints. It aims to find out what students’ digital footprints are. It also aims to find out how and why students leave the digital footprints behind. The review of literature helped in understanding concepts of digital footprints, the different types and their sources. Usecase examples have been used to better understand the concept of digital footprints. A qualitative research method and a exploratory case study methodology have been adopted from Phondej et al. approach. To collect data, two systemized reviews of literature based on the keywords, “Digital footprint” and Student have been conducted. This study findings indicated that there are two methods that students' internet usage can be classified, these are active and passive methods of creating digital footprints. This means that students do not use the internet with same levels of knowledge, and they should be informed of the types of digital footprints they leave behind as well as their implications. The findings also provided categories of negative and positive impacts of student online activities, and these will assist the Flinders Campus Mental Wellness project to understand the virtual ecosystem of devices and applications.

Subject: Computer Science thesis

Thesis type: Masters Completed: 2020 School: College of Science and Engineering Supervisor: Professor Trish Williams

Award: Doctor of Philosophy -->

Flinders University Theses Collections

• DOI: 10.1146/ANNUREV-SOC-071913-043145
• Corpus ID: 59132697

Digital Footprints: Opportunities and Challenges for Online Social Research

• Scott A. Golder , M. Macy
• Published 30 July 2014
• Sociology, Computer Science
• Review of Sociology

264 Citations

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Annual Review of Sociology

Volume 40, 2014, review article, digital footprints: opportunities and challenges for online social research.

• Scott A. Golder 1 , and Michael W. Macy 1
• View Affiliations Hide Affiliations Affiliations: Department of Sociology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; email: [email protected] , [email protected]
• Vol. 40:129-152 (Volume publication date July 2014) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043145
• First published as a Review in Advance on June 16, 2014
• © Annual Reviews

Online interaction is now a regular part of daily life for a demographically diverse population of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. These interactions generate fine-grained time-stamped records of human behavior and social interaction at the level of individual events, yet are global in scale, allowing researchers to address fundamental questions about social identity, status, conflict, cooperation, collective action, and diffusion, both by using observational data and by conducting in vivo field experiments. This unprecedented opportunity comes with a number of methodological challenges, including generalizing observations to the offline world, protecting individual privacy, and solving the logistical challenges posed by “big data” and web-based experiments. We review current advances in online social research and critically assess the theoretical and methodological opportunities and limitations.

[J]ust as the invention of the telescope revolutionized the study of the heavens, so too by rendering the unmeasurable measurable, the technological revolution in mobile, Web, and Internet communications has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of ourselves and how we interact…. [T]hree hundred years after Alexander Pope argued that the proper study of mankind should lie not in the heavens but in ourselves, we have finally found our telescope. Let the revolution begin. —Duncan Watts (2011 , p. 266)

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Publication Date: 30 Jul 2014

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What is a Digital Footprint: Everything You Need To Know

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Every time we go online, we leave a digital footprint. This footprint consists of all the data associated with our name that can be traced back to us . It includes everything – from the websites we visit to the searches we make on Google.

Our digital footprints are stored in places such as search engines, social media platforms, and public databases .

This article will discuss what a digital footprint is and how it works . We’ll also talk about the different types of footprints and provide some examples. Finally, we’ll explain the benefits of building positive digital footprints !

Digital Footprint Definition

A digital footprint is a record of our online activity created every time we go online. It includes all our online activities and can be regarded as an impression of our identity that lingers even when we’re offline. 

The information you share online leaves a data trail, which can help others create a particular image of you. That’s why it’s important to be aware of the digital footprints you leave behind and take steps to protect your information.

How Do Digital Footprints Work?

Whenever we go online, we leave a trail of data behind us. Search engines, social media sites, advertisers, and many other companies collect and store this data. Some of it is made public, while other pieces of information are kept private.

Our online activity can be tracked based on information from our digital footprints. This information can also be utilized to create fake profiles for marketing or other purposes.

Types of Digital Footprints

When it comes to digital footprints, there are six different types you should be aware of: 

1. Personally Identifiable Footprints

These are footprints that can be used to identify us specifically. They include our name, address, email address, and phone number. Personally identifiable footprints are the most sensitive type of data and should be protected at all costs.

2. Anonymous Footprints

Anonymous footprints are the ones that can’t be used to identify us. These include the sites we visit and the searches we make. These footprints are not as sensitive as personally identifiable ones, but they should still be protected. It’s advisable to protect your digital footprint by using a reliable VPN or other cybersecurity tools such as antivirus or antimalware apps.

3. Active Digital Footprints

As the name suggests, these are the footprints we create on purpose. They include things like the comments we leave on social media, the posts we share, and the searches we make. Active footprints are the easiest to track because they are right in front of us.

4. Passive Digital Footprints

Unlike the active ones, passive digital footprints are created without our knowledge or consent. These may include the websites we visit, the videos we watch, and the ads we see. Because we are not always aware of our passive digital trace, it’s more difficult to create and maintain a positive digital footprint. 

5. User Input Footprints

These are footprints created when we input information into a website or application. They include our username, password, and credit card number. User input footprints should always be protected because they can be utilized to steal our identity.

6. Sensor Data Footprints

These are footprints created by the devices we use. They include things like our location, age, and gender. Sensor data footprints can be used to track our behavior and personal preferences.

Digital Footprint Examples

Now that we know what a digital footprint is, let’s take a look at some examples. Here are a few of the most common categories of digital footprints:

• Social media data : Social media data is one of the most common digital footprints. It’s the content you post on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Web browsing data : Your web browsing history can also be used to track your online activities. This includes your search queries, the websites you visit, and the ads you click on.
• Online shopping data : If you’ve ever made purchases online, your shopping history is stored in a database. It lists the items you’ve bought, the websites you’ve visited, and the credit card information you’ve entered.
• Financial data : Your financial data can also be used to track your activities. This contains the bank accounts you’ve used, the credit card transactions you’ve made, and the amount of money you’ve deposited into your account.

Benefits of Digital Footprints

While digital footprints have negative aspects, there are also some positives. The benefits of having a positive digital footprint are as follows:

• Increased trust : When you have a stellar online reputation, it can increase the trust people have in you. This can be beneficial in personal and professional relationships alike.
• Increased opportunities : A good online reputation can open up many possibilities you would not have otherwise. It can help you land jobs, scholarships, and other opportunities.
• Improved search results : A positive footprint can improve the search results people get when they are looking for information about you. Specifically, these hits can portray you in a favorable light as someone who hasn’t tarnished their online presence.

Negative Aspects of Digital Footprints

Now that we know the advantages of digital footprints, let’s also take a look at their negative aspects. Here are the things you need to be aware of:

• Privacy concerns : One of the biggest issues with digital footprints is privacy. Many people are worried that their personal information will be accessed and used without their consent.
• Reputational damage : A negative footprint can compromise your reputation, which can be adverse in the professional world. For example, if you have a bad reputation online, it could prevent you from being accepted into schools and colleges.
• Employment concerns : Some employers are concerned about digital footprints and may do a background check on potential employees. If you have a negative footprint, it could prevent you from getting your desired job.

How To Protect Your Digital Footprint

Here are a few of the most important things you can do to protect your digital footprint:

• Use a VPN (virtual private network): this is a tool that can help protect your online privacy by hiding your IP address. It encrypts your data and keeps it secure. By using a VPN, you can hide your personally identifiable footprints from prying eyes .
• Be careful with social media : Social media is a great way to connect with friends and family, but you can end up sharing too much information in the process. Be careful about what you post on social media, and adjust your privacy settings accordingly.
• Use strong passwords : A strong password is one of the best ways to protect your online identity. Make sure to use a unique password for each of your accounts and never share them with anyone.
• Cybersecurity : Lastly, you should always adhere to good cybersecurity practices. This includes using antivirus software, updating your software regularly, and being careful about the websites you visit.

Tips on How To Erase Your Digital Footprint

Erasing your digital footprints isn’t always easy, but it is possible. Here are a few actions you can take to start removing your digital footprints:

• Deactivate your social media accounts : The easiest way to erase your digital footprints is to deactivate all your social media accounts. This will remove a large portion of the information associated with you from the internet.
• Remove your personal information : Another way to delete your digital footprint is to clear all your personal information from the internet. This includes removing your name, address, and other personal details from the web. You can do this by  contacting the website or organization that has your information and asking them to remove it. Services like Ghostery or PrivacyFix are also a good option as they scan for and delete your personal information from the internet.
• Unsubscribe from mailing lists : If you don’t want your personal information to be shared, you can unsubscribe from mailing and newsletter lists. Organizations will stop sharing your information with others as a result.
• Delete cookies : Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer. They track your online activities and collect information about you. Deleting the cookies can help you erase some of your digital footprints.
• S ubmit a Google Listing removal request : If you have a negative digital footprint and wish to remove your name and contact information from the search results, you can do so via a Google Listing removal request.

Final Thoughts

Digital footprints are a part of our everyday life. They can be helpful in several ways but can also be harmful if not handled properly. By being aware of the dangers and taking the necessary precautions, you can protect yourself from the negative aspects of digital footprints . Just remember to be careful about what you share online and with whom you share it. 

Further reading

The Onion Theory of Data Security Layers

What Is the Dark Web? Myths and Facts About the Hidden Internet

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Data theft forum admins busted after flashing their cash in a life of luxury

Two men without a clear source of income landed cyberfraud charges after being so flash with their ill-gotten cash that it gained the attention of the authorities.

In 2022, Russian national Pavel Kublitskii and Kazakhstan national Alexandr Khodyrev arrived in Florida and requested asylum, which was granted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Both provided DHS with the same residence address in Hollywood, Florida.

However, their lavish lifestyle was unusual. For example, Kublitskii opened a Bank of America account with a cash deposit of $50,000 and rented a luxury house, while Khodyrev purchased a 2023 Corvette with approximately $110,000 cash. All while appearing to not have a job.

The investigation indicated that the two men were involved in the activities of the dark web platform WWH Club and related forums Skynetzone, Opencard, and Center-Club.

WWH Club and the other forums are Dark Web marketplaces where cybercriminals buy, sell, and trade login credentials, personal identifying information (PII), malware, fake identification documents, and financial credentials. The forums even provide training for aspiring cybercriminals.

The FBI was able to determine the IP addresses of the WWH Club site’s administrators after obtaining a search warrant for the US-based Cloud company Digital Ocean. Based on the information derived from the logs, the FBI agent concluded:

“In addition to the forum owner and creator, it appears there are several other top administrators who operate the site and receive a portion of the generated revenue. One of those top administrators operates under the usemame “Makein.” The FBI agent provides details which show there is probable cause to believe that Kublitskii and Khodyrev both serve as administrators of WWH and share the Makein username.”

Makein is also the handle of the owner and primary administrator of Skynetzone.

Part of the offered training at WWH was a scheme that recruited and taught users to purchase items with stolen credit card data. An FBI covert online employee registered for an account on WWH and paid approximately $1,000 in bitcoin to attend the WWH training.

While on the forums, the agent saw an post where a user was selling stolen PII of people and businesses in the US. Buyers could choose how many people’s PII they wished to buy and specify the particular US state of residence, gender, age, and the credit score of their desired victims. In exchange for $110, paid in Bitcoin, the WWH seller sent the undercover agent a folder containing 20 files, each of which contained the name, date of birth, Social Security Number (SSN), state of residency, address, credit score, credit report, and account information from LendingTree.com for a US citizen.

The lead FBI agent explained:

“I know, based on my training and experience, that the presence of account information from LendingTree.com suggests that this stolen PII derived from a February 2022 breach of LendingTree that compromised the data of over 200,000 customers.”

The FBI researched domain registrations, exchanged messages, Bitpay transactions, blockchain analysis, and other digital evidence and came to the conclusion that the suspects shared the Makein account and were responsible for the cybercrimes committed by that persona.

Agents obtained records from Google which revealed that messages from and to their accounts often contained stolen PII and credit card information and which tied the account to the suspects.

With probable cause provided, the FBI agent requested the court to authorize the requested criminal complaint charging the suspects with conspiracy for trafficking in unauthorized access devices and possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices.

Kublitski has been placed under arrest. It is not clear if Khodyrev was arrested as well. The WWH forums are running as usual and the current administrators acknowledge that the suspects were involved, but only as moderators.

Check your digital footprint

If you want to find out how much of your data has been exposed online, you can try our  free Digital Footprint scan . Fill in the email address you’re curious about (it’s best to submit the one you most frequently use) and we’ll send you a free report.

We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identit y

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection .

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Was a Microsoft MVP in consumer security for 12 years running. Can speak four languages. Smells of rich mahogany and leather-bound books.

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Digital Economy Report 2024

The Digital Economy Report 2024: Shaping an Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future highlights the urgent need for sustainable strategies throughout the life cycle of digitalization. From raw material extraction and usage of digital technologies to waste generation, the report explores the nature and scale of the sector’s environmental footprint, which remains largely unassessed. What is apparent is that developing countries are suffering disproportionately from digitalization’s negative environmental effects, as well as missing out on economic developmental opportunities due to digital divides. UNCTAD calls for global policies involving all stakeholders to enable a more circular digital economy and reduced environmental footprints from digitalization, while ensuring inclusive development outcomes. Previous editions of the Digital Economy Report have largely focused on the implications of digitalization for inclusive development, the importance of bridging digital and data-related divides, enabling value creation and capture in developing countries and fostering better governance of data and digital platforms. The Digital Economy Report 2024 turns attention to the environmental footprint of digitalization. The topic is timely, not to say overdue. Digital transformation is taking place in parallel with growing concerns related to the depletion of raw materials, water stress, climate change, pollution, and waste generation, which are all linked to planetary boundaries. The rapid pace and expanding scope of digitalization make it increasingly important to understand the relationship between digitalization and environmental sustainability. How the world’s ongoing digital transformation is managed will greatly influence the future of humanity and the health of the planet.

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Tracking emissions to help companies reduce their environmental footprint

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Amidst a global wave of corporate pledges to decarbonize or reach net-zero emissions, a system for verifying actual greenhouse gas reductions has never been more important. Context Labs, founded by former MIT Sloan Fellow and serial entrepreneur Dan Harple SM ’13, is rising to meet that challenge with an analytics platform that brings more transparency to emissions data.

The company’s platform adds context to data from sources like equipment sensors and satellites, provides third-party verification, and records all that information on a blockchain. Context Labs also provides an interactive view of emissions across every aspect of a company’s operations, allowing leaders to pinpoint the dirtiest parts of their business.

“There’s an old adage: Unless you measure something, you can’t change it,” says Harple, who is the firm’s CEO. “I think of what we’re doing as an AI-driven digital lens into what’s happening across organizations. Our goal is to help the planet get better, faster.”

Context Labs is already working with some of the largest energy companies in the world — including EQT, Williams Companies, and Coterra Energy — to verify emissions reductions. A partnership with Microsoft, announced at last year’s COP28 United Nations climate summit, allows any organization on Microsoft’s Azure cloud to integrate their sensor data into Context Lab’s platform to get a granular view of their environmental impact.

Harple says the progress enables more informed sustainability initiatives at scale. He also sees the work as a way to combat overly vague statements about sustainable practices that don’t lead to actual emissions reductions, or what’s known as “greenwashing.”

“Just producing data isn’t good enough, and our customers realize that, because they know even if they have good intentions to reduce emissions, no one is going to believe them,” Harple says. “One way to think about our platform is as antigreenwashing insurance, because if you get attacked for your emissions, we unbundle the data like it’s in shrink-wrap and roll it back through time on the blockchain. You can click on it and see exactly where and how it was measured, monitored, timestamped, its serial number, everything. It’s really the gold standard of proof.”

An unconventional master’s

Harple came to MIT as a serial founder whose companies had pioneered several foundational internet technologies, including real-time video streaming technology still used in applications like Zoom and Netflix, as well as some of the core technology for the popular Chinese microblogging website Weibo.

Harple’s introduction to MIT started with a paper he wrote for his venture capital contacts in the U.S. to make the case for investment in the Netherlands, where he was living with his family. The paper caught the attention of MIT Professor Stuart Madnick, the John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who suggested Harple come to MIT as a Sloan Fellow to further develop his ideas about what makes a strong innovation ecosystem.

Having successfully founded and exited multiple companies, Harple was not a typical MIT student when he began the Sloan Fellows program in 2011. At one point, he held a summit at MIT for a group of leading Dutch entrepreneurs and government officials that included tours of major labs and a meeting with former MIT President L. Rafael Reif.

“Everyone was super enamored with MIT, and that kicked off what became a course that I started at MIT called REAL, Regional Entrepreneurial Acceleration Lab,” Harple says. REAL was eventually absorbed by what is now REAP — the Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, which has worked with communities around the world.

Harple describes REAL as a framework vehicle to put his theories on supporting innovation into action. Over his time at MIT, which also included collaborating with the Media Lab, he systematized those theories into what he calls pentalytics, which is a way to measure and predict the resilience of innovation ecosystems.

“My sense was MIT should be analytical and data-driven,” Harple says. “The thesis I wrote was a framework for AI-driven network graph analytics. So, you can model things using analytics, and you can use AI to do predictive analytics to see where the innovation ecosystem is going to thrive.”

Once Harple’s pentalytics theory was established, he wanted to put it to the test with a company. His initial idea for Context Labs was to build a verification platform to combat fake news, deepfakes, and other misinformation on the internet. Around 2018, Harple met climate investor Jeremy Grantham, who he says helped him realize the most important data are about the planet. Harple began to believe that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions estimates for things like driving a car or operating an oil rig were just that — estimates — and left room for improvement.

“Our approach was very MIT-ish,” Harple says. “We said, ‘Let’s, measure it and let’s monitor it, and then let’s contextualize that data so you can never go back and say they faked it. I think there’s a lot of fakery that’s happened, and that’s why the voluntary carbon markets cratered in the last year. Our view is they cratered because the data wasn’t empirical enough."

Context Labs’ solution starts with a technology platform it calls Immutably that continuously combines disparate data streams, encrypts that information, and records it on a blockchain. Immutably also verifies the information with one or more third parties. (Context Labs has partnered with the global accounting firm KPMG.)

On top of Immutably, Context Labs has built applications, including a product called Decarbonization-as-a-Service (DaaS), which uses Immutably’s data to give companies a digital twin of their entire operations. Customers can use DaaS to explore the emissions of their assets and create a verification or certificate of the quantified carbon intensity of their products.

Putting emissions data into context

Context Labs is working with oil and gas companies, utilities, data centers, and large industrial operators, some using the platform to analyze more than 3 billion data points each day. For instance, EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., uses Context Labs to verify the carbon intensity of its operational assets and refine its overall GHG emissions mitigation strategy. Other customers include the nonprofits Rocky Mountain Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund.

“I often get asked how big the total addressable market is,” Harple says. “My view is it’s the largest market in history. Why? Because every country needs a decarbonization plan, along with instrumentation and a digital platform to execute, as does every company.”

With its headquarters in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Context Labs is also serving as a test for Harple’s pentalytics theory for innovation ecosystems. It also has operations in Houston and Amsterdam.

“This company is a living lab for pentalytics,” Harple says. “I believe Kendall Square 1.0 was factory buildings, Kendall Square 2.0 is biotech, and Kendall Square 3.0 will be climate tech.”

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Cisco Layoffs, AI And Security Focus: 5 Things To Know

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins cited 'several $100 million-plus transactions in the quarter.'

Deep cuts at Cisco Systems appear aimed at readying the 40-year-old networking giant for increased customer demand to modernize technology for improved security and artificial intelligence growth – areas where Cisco partners can see business gains in the new fiscal year.

These are some of the biggest takeaways from the latest quarterly earnings report by the San Jose, Calif.-based company – and CRN 2024 Channel Chiefs member – with Cisco revealing more signs of customer excitement for the AI era. Cisco’s 2024 fiscal year ended July 27.

[RELATED: The 10 Biggest Tech Company Layoffs Of 2024 (So Far) ]

Cisco Layoffs

Cisco’s own excitement for the AI era came through in an optimistic forecast for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. The vendor predicts revenue of $13.65 billion to $13.85 billion, above Wall Street consensus by $215 million, according to a report from William Blair.

The vendor’s full fiscal year revenue forecast of $55 billion to $56.2 billion is in line with Wall Street expectations and represents 3 percent year over year growth including Splunk, according to the investment firm.

The customer demand environment appears headed in Cisco’s direction, with CEO Chuck Robbins (pictured) citing “several $100 million-plus transactions in the quarter with global enterprises who are leveraging the breadth of our technology platforms to modernize and automate their network operations and deploy next generation machine learning and AI applications” during the vendor’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday.

Cisco also saw product orders grow 14 percent year over year including Splunk, 6 percent year over year excluding the subsidiary. A year ago, orders fell 14 percent, according to a Bank of America report.

And last quarter, product orders were flat without Splunk, 4 percent with it, according to William Blair. The data supports “the thesis that networking demand has troughed, setting the stage for a recovery in fiscal 2025.”

Here’s more on the Cisco layoffs and AI and security opportunities ahead for the vendor and its partners.

Mass Layoffs To Meet Opportunities

Cisco confirmed massive layoffs Wednesday with plans to cut about 7 percent of its global workforce, which should cost up to $1 billion and affect upwards of 6,000 people, based on the vendor’s 84,900 headcount as of July 2023 – the latest number reported by Cisco.

The vendor said in a regulatory filing that the cost will mostly consist of severance, one-time termination benefits and other costs.

Cisco will spend between $700 million and $800 million in the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year. The 2024 fiscal year ended July 27.

Robbins said on the earnings call that his team is “shifting hundreds of millions of dollars into AI,” including AI networking for cloud, AI infrastructure, silicon and cybersecurity – part of the reason for mass layoffs.

“It's a meaningful shift, but we feel like the market is moving so quickly, we have to do that,” he said.

On the call, Scott Herren, Cisco executive vice president and CFO, said the restructuring and layoffs of about 7 percent of the global Cisco workforce is not about saving costs, but “finding efficiencies across the company so that we can pivot more resources, much like we did last year, into the fastest growth areas within the company.”

Herren added on the call that the company should see savings “by putting more work into lower-cost locations.”

Davidson Moved To Adviser

Along with confirming a reported workforce reduction, Cisco revealed Wednesday that Jonathan Davidson – who has spent a combined 22 years with the vendor – has moved from his role as executive vice president and general manager of the networking business to serving as an adviser to Robbins.

Davidson left Cisco in 2010 for a seven-year stint with Juniper Networks before returning to Cisco in 2017, according to his LinkedIn account.

“He believes deeply in the power of connection and has demonstrated care and commitment to his teams, Cisco’s innovation and technology, and communities around the globe through his passion for providing digital access for all,” Robbins said in a blog post. “We are grateful for his many years of leadership.”

Patel Heads Newly Combined Org

Jeetu Patel, EVP and general manager of the security and collaboration business units, will lead a unified networking, security and collaboration organization and take on the role of EVP and chief product officer.

Patel has been with Cisco for about four years. He came to the vendor after about five years with Box, leaving the content cloud provider in 2020 with the title of chief product officer and chief strategy officer, according to his LinkedIn account.

On Wednesday’s earnings call, Robbins said that Cisco’s “biggest competitive differentiation in the marketplace” is “deep, cross-integration across the portfolio.”

The pace of AI innovation and the growing combination of security and network led to Robbins’ decision “to have a single leader,” he said.

In the Wednesday blog post, the vendor said that consolidating the three business units should help “accelerate our product innovation and bring our portfolio together in a more integrated way than ever before.”

“It will also allow us to provide a better, unified experience for our customers and partners, while delivering unique solutions to help them achieve their technology outcomes and drive business growth,” Robbins said in the blog post.

The vendor will also work to “to integrate the Splunk product line into this new organization at the right time.”

Patel “has led by example with his creative vision and intense focus on innovation and swift execution” and helped increase growth in the security and collaboration businesses, according to Robbins’ post.

“We've seen double-digit bookings growth in our devices business as a result of AI innovation and our open strategy that embraces competing meetings solutions in the market,” Robbins said. “He continues to champion innovation in generative AI across our security and collaboration offerings, bringing differentiated capabilities to Webex and driving the vision for a unified AI Assistant across Cisco.”

Cisco And AI

Cisco executives revealed Wednesday that it crossed $1 billion to date in AI orders with webscale customers and predicts another $1 billion in AI product orders this fiscal year.

Cisco’s $1 billion in expected AI orders in the 2025 fiscal year “doesn't have a meaningful amount of enterprise built into it” at this time, with Cisco only now “beginning to see the enterprise pipeline build a bit,” Robbins said on the call.

He added that the $1 billion should be primarily back-end network deployments and a combination of Ethernet and optics.

Robbins said on the call that enterprise customers have been “upgrading their infrastructure in preparation for AI.”

“In some cases, they're taking some of the dollars that they've set aside for AI to actually spend it on modernizing their infrastructure in order to get ready for that,” Robbins said. “We're beginning to see customers actually prepare for AI applications – even though, in many cases, they may not know the full range of what they will be deploying. But they know they need to be ready.”

Enterprise platform deals have included customers “buying the entire portfolio to refresh their infrastructure,” and some customers “are updating their data center infrastructure and their core network infrastructure to be ready for smaller training models on their own private data and/or inference,” Robbins said. Customer use cases have ranged from enabling AI-powered robotics to AI-powered supply chain visibility.

The AI revolution has also helped with legacy Cisco businesses. Data center switching grew double digits year over year, he said. And Cisco saw “three of the top four hyperscalers deploying our Ethernet AI fabric.”

Cisco And Security

The AI era means customers improving cybersecurity postures and building a more resilient and agile digital footprint, Robbins said.

The vendor has added 230 more extended detection and response (XDR) customers and is “pushing 600 customers on that platform, which– it's a pretty significant decision when customers make that decision, so that's encouraging,” he said.

Cisco’s cloud edge security product “is actually ramping even faster than XDR did,” he said. The vendor also has 2,200 customers using Cisco’s AI assistant for security product.

The vendor reported a double-digit number of deals that have closed with Cisco and Splunk sales forces selling together, and Splunk saw double-digit growth in annual recurring revenue. Splunk has a six- to nine-month sales cycle normally, so the subsidiary is progressing “maybe even a little ahead of what I would have expected at this point,” Robbins said.

Robbins said that Cisco is investing in “cross-sell incentives for Splunk on the Cisco sales force.” Gary Steele, Cisco’s president of go-to-market and formerly president and CEO of Splunk, “is focused on simplicity” and “more frontline quota-carrying reps,” Robbins said.

“We're going to incent the security sellers inside Cisco,” he said. “We're looking at the Splunk sales force over time being able to sell the security portfolio from Cisco.”

When asked about what customers are buying networking and security together, Robbins said it is mostly by large enterprises and large public sector users.

“In the quarter, we had large enterprise and large public sector customers that actually executed all these nine-figure deals,” he said. “You're seeing it particularly at the cloud edge, when you see SD-WAN and cloud security coming together. But we're also beginning to see it – and we're going to actually drive it – in the data center with Hypershield, where you have security embedded deeply in the network.”

Robbins said Hypershield will be “available this fall."

Splunk brought in $960 million in total revenue for the fourth quarter, according to the vendor. For the quarter, security product revenue including Splunk grew 81 percent year over year. Taking out Splunk, security grew 6 percent.

In security, Herrin said the vendor saw “growth in SASE and double-digit growth in network security.” Observability with Splunk grew 41 percent. Taking out Splunk, observability grew 12 percent.