NTT DATA and Cisco today unveiled a new co-sponsored IDC InfoBrief, Wired for Intelligence: A CIO Guide to Enterprise Networking for AI. The study shares strategic guidance for organizations seeking to accelerate transformation by modernizing their network infrastructure.
As organizations integrate AI into more applications, from manufacturing and healthcare to financial services, the demand for high-speed, low-latency, and secure networks is surging. Legacy infrastructure is no longer sufficient to support the scale and complexity of AI workloads. NTT DATA and Cisco are responding to this shift by helping clients evolve from outdated architectures to intelligent, adaptive infrastructure that can power AI-driven innovation.
The Critical Foundation Empowering AI-Driven Growth
The study highlights that network modernization is at the heart of AI success. More than 78% of companies say that networking capabilities are either important or very important when selecting providers for GenAI infrastructure — underscoring the need for networks that can handle and secure ever-scaling AI workloads while running complex AI training, inference, and storage clusters with ease. At the same time, modernization also infuses AI into network operations through AI-driven configuration, anomaly detection, self-healing, and intelligent monitoring to accelerate issue resolution and elevate user experience. Already, industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services are leveraging AI in networking to improve operational efficiency, ensure secure connectivity and reduce costs.
NTT DATA is Enabling Network Modernization Through Intelligent Services
NTT DATA’s comprehensive suite of intelligent services helps clients modernize their digital infrastructure and build secure networks. These services span the full lifecycle from advisory to sourcing, professional services, support and managed services to enable organizations to modernize and unlock the full potential of AI. With many companies undergoing hardware refresh cycles due to the emergence of AI, NTT DATA’s services are designed to meet this critical moment:
- Advisory: Strategic guidance to align network modernization with AI goals.
- Strategic Technology Sourcing: Recommending and procuring the right technology to transform network to be AI-ready.
- Professional Services: Architecting and deploying scalable, secure and high-performance networks.
- Software-Defined Infrastructure Services: Driving business outcomes through adoption of automation and AI agents into infrastructure operations and license optimization.
- Adoption Services: Maximizing value from infrastructure investments through greater adoption of software, continuous improvement and change management.
- Managed Network Services: End-to-end network management to ensure seamless data flow from edge to cloud, minimizing latency and enhancing application responsiveness.
NTT DATA recently launched AI-powered Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) services for Cisco products to deliver intelligent automation and real-time insights to optimize infrastructure, reduce costs, and drive business outcomes.
Guest Post – From data breaches to physical risks: The dark web’s growing danger to executives
Posted in Commentary with tags NordStellar on September 4, 2025 by itnerdCybersecurity experts explain why security teams are turning to the dark web to protect executives
Executives are the prime targets for cyberattacks. However, cybercrime is not the only threat lurking in the internet shadows for high-profile leaders. The dark web has become a hub for bad actors who are seeking to steal corporate leaders’ credentials for access to sensitive data and laying the groundwork for more sophisticated cyberattacks or even plotting assaults that threaten executives’ physical safety.
A study by GetApp, a business software directory, found that 72% of surveyed US executives have been targeted by cybercriminals at least once. Additionally, 69% of employees who work in companies that experienced previous attacks targeting leaders claim that cyberattacks against executives have increased.
According to Vakaris Noreika, a cybersecurity expert at NordStellar, a threat management platform, executive protection has become an even more relevant topic over the last few years. High-profile cases, such as the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, have fueled existing concerns over executive safety — both online and offline.
“Corporate leaders are prime targets for cybercriminals because their credentials and personally identifiable data can grant cybercriminals access to sensitive resources or deploy sophisticated social engineering attacks to maximize the damage and profits,” says Noreika. “The dark web is filled with bad actors — many financially motivated, others driven by political or ideological goals — making it a hub for threats against executives, from cyberattacks to physical assaults.”
Growing concerns from physical security teams
According to Ron Zayas, an online privacy expert and CEO of Ironwall by Incogni, a privacy protection and data removal service, the company’s team noticed a growing interest in executive protection from businesses over the past eight months.
“Multiple high-profile attacks, as well as abrupt political shifts that resulted from the change of administration in the U.S., have been the two main contributing factors fueling the rising interest in executive protection services,” says Zayas. “Physical security teams have shown the greatest interest. While most IT admins use dark web monitoring and consider executive protection a lower priority, physical security experts stress the need for additional measures.”
Zayas reveals that executives are frequently named as direct targets in dark web posts, with their credentials often appearing in data leaks alongside those of other employees. Some companies are explicitly targeted — bad actors disclose their aim to proactively penetrate the organization and obtain the credentials of its senior management.
“In our experience, physical security teams are most concerned about any information leaks disclosing the location of the executives because this would set the stage for a potential assault at home and away from the office,” says Zayas. “Aside from personally identifiable information leaks, they also look for any other dangerous activity posing a threat to physical security.”
Main cyber threats targeting executives
According to Noreika, targeted cyberattacks are the most significant cybersecurity risk lurking for executives on the dark web. If a bad actor successfully obtains corporate leaders’ credentials, personally identifiable information, or other sensitive details, the likelihood of them infiltrating a company’s network, using that data to carry out more devastating attacks, or locating the executive is very high.
“In the most common cases, hackers use stolen credentials to infiltrate a network,” says Noreika. “However, they might also use personal information to launch phishing campaigns, tricking executives into downloading malware. They can also carry out business email compromise attacks, posing as corporate leaders to scam employees, partners, or vendors, or even use snippets of their voice for deepfakes. This enables them to steal company funds, fool third parties into payments, or leak sensitive data.”
Noreika explains that dark web monitoring is essential to detect these threats before they escalate. However, it’s important to note that once information is leaked on the dark web, there’s not much security teams can do to make it disappear. Companies must have a proper executive threat prevention, preparedness, and response plan to maximize the mitigation of security risks.
“Strict access controls, multi-factor authentication, proper network segmentation, and a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy are necessary to ensure that cybercriminals cannot successfully infiltrate a network. Robust physical security measures must also be in place to minimize the risk of endangerment to physical security,” says Noreika.” The response plan should contain swift step-by-step actions encompassing threat containment, incident reporting, and coordination with law enforcement and security teams to mitigate risks and ensure executive safety.”
Noreika emphasizes that cybersecurity training for corporate leaders should also be prioritized. Raising their cybersecurity awareness could significantly decrease the likelihood of their credentials or other personal data ending up in a data leak on the dark web.
ABOUT NORDSTELLAR
NordStellar is a next-generation threat exposure management platform that enables companies to detect and respond to cyber threats before they escalate. NordStellar offers visibility into how threat actors work and what they do with compromised data. NordStellar was created by Nord Security, a globally recognized company behind one of the world’s most popular digital privacy tools, NordVPN. For more information, visit nordstellar.com.
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