2017 has been a challenging year in the world of IT, with a number of high-profile incidents making headlines all around the globe. At Meraki we’ve also discovered issues of our own and made progress in eliminating vulnerabilities, helping to protect our customers’ valuable data. We take this kind of work very personally, and consider it a journey, never a destination.

No IT administrator wakes up wanting to hear about issues like these, especially if they create more work to mitigate, but no doubt all IT admins would reluctantly concede these issues are a fact of life that we will all continue to face from time to time. On the rare occasion we at Meraki do need to communicate about an issue, especially when an action is required, we are able to inform not only through email, but also through the dashboard itself, to any Meraki customer who is potentially impacted.

Thanks to the Meraki model, it’s often the case that we only need to inform because we’ve already patched systems before a vulnerability becomes common knowledge. This was the case with several ransomware attacks we’ve seen this year. Thanks to the integration of Cisco Talos intelligence into the Meraki MX, customers with the Advanced Security license are proactively protected against malicious actors through world-class intrusion and malware detection. In other cases, like the recently uncovered KRACK Wi-Fi vulnerability, firmware which addressed the issue was prepared ahead of public disclosure, meaning we merely needed to inform customers and prompt them to upgrade, where necessary.

Whether to require action, or simply to inform, we want to ensure we are communicating as transparently as possible in a way that is easy to keep track of. To this end, today we are introducing the new Cisco Meraki Customer Advisories page. This page will act as a chronological repository of issues that have the potential to impact Meraki customers, regardless of whether it’s an industry-wide issue or one relating to Meraki technology.

The Meraki team will continue to draw attention to high-priority issues through the channels we’ve always used, so think of this as a supplemental reference which will serve as a record of significant issues that have come to our attention. Through this tool we hope to further raise our chances of reaching and informing every Meraki customer.

We may not be able to wave a magic wand and prevent future vulnerabilities or issues, but we remain ever vigilant and will always do our utmost to communicate transparently. Please take a look at the Advisories page and let us know what you think in the Meraki Community.