Traps Named A Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms

Gartner has just released its 2017 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), and we’re honored that Palo Alto Networks is named a Visionary in this report. This marks the first year that Palo Alto Networks has been included in the EPP report – we believe this is further proof of Traps’ recognition by top-tier, independent third parties and analysts.

Here are a few highlights from the report that should be of interest to endpoint security professionals:

1. Gartner’s report cautions customers against overreliance on reactive indicators of compromise. According to Gartner, “With the exception of some of the emerging Visionary vendors, too many EPP solutions’ malware detection techniques remain overly reliant on reactive indicators of compromise (i.e., IP address, URL, file hash, partial hash, registry key values). These static indicators are the easiest part of the kill chain for the attackers to change rapidly.”
2. The report offers guidance to customers on what endpoint protection capabilities they should assess when evaluating potential solutions. Gartner observes that “Most attacks exploit well-known unpatched vulnerabilities, use social engineering to trick users to install trojan malware, or use interpreted code such as Java or Visual Basic to download and install malware.“
3. Gartner reflects on the utility of standard testing and the need for improvements in their test by stating that, “Standardized testing, such as AV comparatives and AV tests, are still the best indicators of effectiveness; however, they still overreward reactive solutions and undertest detection of new attacks.”

Our view at Palo Alto Networks is that enterprises will continue to seek more effective endpoint security offerings that can prevent security breaches, whether they are initiated through the exploitation of application vulnerabilities or via new and unknown malware.

I encourage you to read the complete Magic Quadrant report to learn about all of Gartner’s findings.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Eric Ouellet, Ian McShane, Avivah Litan, January 2017. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Michael Moshiri

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center]