HPE highlighted some of its key cybersecurity initiatives from the past year and the year ahead, including addressing talent shortages and its efforts to support edge-to-cloud transformation with its HPE GreenLake.

“Delivering a secure HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud experience is paramount to HPE, our customers and our partners. As we continue to support organizations shifting to hybrid cloud, we see the security of cloud platforms as a shared responsibility, and that takes collaboration,” Bobby Ford, chief security officer wrote in a blog.

According to the company’s 2023 Cybersecurity Report, HPE GreenLake leverages a risk-based and compliance-driven approach to cyber resilience and data protection, a "crucial focus" as workloads have shifted away from pure public cloud environments.

In December, HPE introduced updates to the enterprise private cloud version of GreenLake in a move to target data-first modernization in hybrid cloud environments. “Customers increasingly say [pure public cloud environments] is an imperfect solution for all operations for a variety of reasons, including challenges around the confidentiality and sovereignty of data, as the hybrid cloud becomes increasingly popular and flexible,” the report said.

HPE said it will focus on investing in talent creation and development to address the global cybersecurity talent shortage. In 2022, the company launched its Cybersecurity Career Reboot program, which seeks out candidates who “may be overlooked because they lack the experience required to land entry-level jobs in the field, who are viewing cybersecurity as a new career path or who may find it difficult to gain corporate employment.”

“All enterprises are feeling the squeeze of increased competition for talent. At HPE, we’re reframing the cybersecurity talent shortage as an experience shortage,” Ford wrote.

The company also touted its Professional Rotation Experience Program (PREP) designed to recruit recent graduates into a two-year rotational program that includes global exposure to “all of HPE’s cybersecurity functions.”

HPE also indicated it will continue to focus on defining cyber maturity improvement goals that align with industry standard and trends.

“In the past year, we have strengthened our position across security categories and have diligently invested in cybersecurity research, controls and talent development,” CEO Antonio Neri wrote in the cybersecurity report.

Neri pointed to HPE’s recent Axis Security acquisition as a demonstration of the company’s commitment to security. That acquisition most notably plays into a push from HPE’s Aruba Networks to build out a secure access service edge (SASE) and meet increasing demand for VPN replacements and integrated networking and security.

The Axis Security will enable HPE “to expand our edge-to-cloud security capabilities and address the need for improved application performance and increased network security as enterprises continue to migrate applications to the cloud,” Neri said.

HPE’s stock climbed more than 6% in extended trading the same week that earnings for its fiscal first quarter and the Axis Security acquisition were announced. Neri in a live interview at the time said the first-quarter performance was “record-setting” for the company.