CIS

Cisco certifications is a Cisco-branded training and credentialing program, with the official Cisco website page listed in the baseline as https://www.cisco.com/c/en_ca/training-events/career-certifications.html. The structured baseline does not provide a founding year, headquarters, employee count, parent company, or named founders. Our analytics show 40 active jobs in Israel and 40 active jobs total, so the current hiring footprint is entirely Israel-based in this dataset. The role mix in Israel is led by engineering with 25 active roles, followed by other with 8, product with 4, sales with 2, and operations with 1. No current CEO is provided in the baseline. The single most consequential recent event is that Cisco was reported to be backing an Israeli cyber startup led by an Iranian-born security veteran, with the report also saying Cisco had invested in Zafran Security.

• July 2026: Cisco was reported to be backing an Israeli cyber startup led by an Iranian-born security veteran, identifying the company as an Israeli cyber startup and naming an Iranian-born security veteran as its leader.
• July 2026: Cisco invested in Zafran Security after the founder departure was reported, linking Cisco directly to the startup as an investor.
• July 2026: Reports said Cisco was in talks to buy Israeli cyber startup Zafran at a steep discount.
• July 2026: A separate report said Cisco was buying a bargain Israeli startup for $150M+.
• July 2026: A report on Epsagon said its founders, after selling Epsagon to Cisco for $500 million, returned with an AI enterprise startup called Harmony.

Our analytics show 40 active jobs in Israel and 40 active jobs total, which makes the current open-role footprint in this dataset Israel-only. The hiring mix is concentrated in engineering, with 25 active roles out of 40, or 62.5% of the Israel open roles. The next-largest buckets are other with 8, product with 4, sales with 2, and operations with 1. That distribution points to a technical hiring profile with some product support and a small go-to-market presence, rather than a broad hiring push across all functions.

Because the total and Israel counts are identical, the geographic mix is not balanced here; it is entirely Israel-heavy in the available data. I do not see a separate news item in the provided window that quantifies hiring acceleration or slowdown, so the safest read is a current snapshot rather than a trend call. The news does, however, show Cisco engaged with Israeli cyber assets through investment and acquisition talk around Zafran, which is consistent with the Israel-centered job footprint in this dataset.

No public sources discuss the company's organizational culture at this time.

• July 2026: Cisco was reported to be in talks to buy Israeli cyber startup Zafran at a steep discount, which signals a potentially pressured transaction context around the target, not Cisco itself.
• July 2026: A report said Cisco invested in Zafran Security after the founder departure was reported, indicating an executive change at the target company.

The news points to continued demand around Israeli cyber startups and enterprise security assets, with Cisco repeatedly appearing in reports tied to that segment. The named company in the recent news is Zafran Security, while another Israeli cybersecurity-related company, Epsagon, appears through its prior sale to Cisco for $500 million. The reports also describe an AI enterprise startup, Harmony, emerging from the founders of Epsagon after that sale, which suggests that AI enterprise infrastructure remains a relevant adjacency in this orbit.

The recent items do not state that Cisco won or lost a customer or contract. They do, however, support a picture of Cisco as an acquirer and investor in Israeli cyber and enterprise software assets, including Zafran Security and the earlier Epsagon transaction. The news also describes one deal as being at a steep discount and another as a bargain purchase for $150M+, which implies a market with price pressure on certain targets rather than straightforward premium M&A. On the sector side, the only explicit trend supported by the news is sustained activity in cyber and AI enterprise startups tied to Cisco.

1. After selling Epsagon to Cisco for $500 million, founders return with AI enterprise startup Harmony - calcalistech.com — CTech (English), 2026-07-28
2. Cisco backs Israeli cyber startup led by Iranian-born security veteran - The Times of Israel — TimesOfIsrael Tech & Startups, 2026-07-23
3. After founder departure, Cisco invests in Zafran Security - calcalistech.com — CTech (English), 2026-07-22
4. Cisco in talks to buy Israeli cyber startup Zafran at steep discount - calcalistech.com — CTech (English), 2026-07-20
5. Cisco buying bargain Israeli startup for $150M+: report - SDxCentral — Israel M&A (Google News), 2026-07-20