In an age when cyber threats loom large, the dedication and passion of cybersecurity professionals are more crucial than ever. Each year, Cisco makes a point of selecting and recognizing a standout cybersecurity advocate who has earned the title of cybersecurity defender. This year, it was impossible to choose just one individual.
This is why Cisco’s 2025 EMEA Cybersecurity Defender of the Year award goes out to a team of practitioners at SAP Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) whose contributions displayed an uncommon ability to raise the bar for overall security posture. The recipients are:
- Boris Mäck, Head of Technology and Architecture at SAP Enterprise Cloud Services
- Roland Costea, CISO of SAP Enterprise Cloud Services
- Christopher Hett, Cloud Network Architect at SAP Enterprise Cloud Services
In this blog, we will explore the origins of their passion, the challenges they faced while working on their significant project at SAP ECS, the strategies they employed to overcome these hurdles, and their valuable insights for those looking to make their mark in cybersecurity.
The Birth of Passion for Cybersecurity
A former Romanian chess champion, Roland Costea used his wits for strategy to find his way into the field. Having studied technology and programming at university, he wanted to find a way to make a more unique contribution. He found cybersecurity and never looked back.
Christopher Hett’s passion started early as a computer game hobbyist. After he studied information technology at a university in Germany, his first encounter with cybersecurity was by enabling his work’s Wi-Fi network with state-of-the-art encryption to mitigate attack vectors now also coming from wireless connections outside companies’ premises.
Boris Mäck’s strong background in networking began his cybersecurity journey. His expertise in infrastructure services and network technologies naturally led him into cybersecurity, especially as securing networks became an increasingly critical aspect of IT.
Partnering with Cisco to Overcome SAP ECS Challenges
As one of the world’s leading deliverers of managed cloud services, SAP Enterprise Cloud Services can’t afford downtime. That is why, for Roland, the company’s CISO, it’s all about speed. He notes, “I find that speed is the most critical thing. And when I say speed, it’s speed in the way that we identify, detect, protect, respond, recover, and govern… [After all], you can’t afford to keep an airport down for 30 minutes.” That’s why, in his opinion, the future of multi-cloud needs to include a built-in security component, and that’s where Cisco comes in.
First, Christopher, Cloud Network Architect, explains the situation even further: “We have over 7,000 customer environments, so we need to have a solution that scales but doesn’t disrupt the businesses of those thousands of customers. This is a particular challenge when you want to introduce an elevated security service that demands more resources, and yet uptime still needs to be preserved at all costs.”
Part of the challenge is that SAP is both a multi-cloud provider and one of the top twelve hyperscalers in the world (alongside Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and others), requiring continuous uptime. This means that SAP needs to provide the same native capabilities for all their customers throughout the world “no matter where the customer resides,” and do it in a standardized way “that delivers the same value independently for all our customers in a multi-cloud environment,” as Roland expressed.
For this reason, SAP Enterprise Cloud Service chose to partner with Cisco.
To optimize speed, increase scalability, and ensure business continuity even as services expand, SAP is working to build one overarching private cloud, protected by Cisco Multicloud Defense, part of Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall solutions to sit over their three hyperscalers—providing consistent, automated security across them. In addition, SAP leverages Cisco Secure Access to safeguard user access to the web, cloud services, SaaS and private applications with a single, cloud managed console.
These solutions enhance SAPs security and allow them the flexibility to scale fluctuating business needs and continue to support their network of customers with little to no disruption to their operations.
On the Right Track
“This landmark security project proves the power of the ‘One Cisco’ Team in solving SAP’s biggest security challenges—protecting their customers at scale,” says Robert Nicola, Client Executive. “We delivered an innovative, scalable, and differentiated solution that sets a new standard for customer value.”
Cisco loves to partner with companies like SAP Enterprise Cloud Services because we can do the right thing together.
When asked what made him proud, Boris, Head of CAE Technology and Architecture, shared, “I remember when the CIO of the company we were working with came to us and said, ‘Hey guys, we had a severe ransomware attack in our network, and the only IT systems that survived were the SAP systems hosted in RISE [one of our managed solutions]. To me, this is great proof that we’re doing the right things with our concepts here.’
They are, and Cisco is proud to help. The insights and experiences shared by these Cisco 2025 Cybersecurity Defenders of the Year emphasize shining a light on the good that is being accomplished by the right partnerships and the passion of engaged cybersecurity leaders.
As technology advances, so does the imperative for robust cybersecurity measures. With dedicated professionals like our defenders paving the way, the future of cybersecurity looks promising. Thank you to our defenders for their inspiring stories and for illuminating the path for future leaders in this critical domain.
Interested in making a difference in cybersecurity?
Get recognized! Tell us about the innovative ways in which you or your team are contributing to the cybersecurity landscape and be considered for our next Cybersecurity Defender of the Year award.
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