Category: #IT/CYBER/TECHNOLOGY

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Announcing GlobalProtect Cloud Service: Consistent Protection Delivered to Remote Networks and Mobile Users

Today at Ignite 2017 in Vancouver, we announced GlobalProtect cloud service, a new cloud-based security infrastructure managed by Palo Alto Networks that allows you to deploy consistent next-generation security to your remote networks and mobile users using Panorama management.

The old ways of thinking about perimeter security are just that: old. Organizations often have many remote locations, users are way more mobile, and commonly used applications – formerly located behind the safety of the corporate firewall – have migrated to the cloud as SaaS applications or to such infrastructure as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. GlobalProtect cloud service addresses all of these fundamental trends.

Typical approaches to securing remote networks and mobile users, such as backhauling traffic to the corporate network or using multiple point products, are difficult to manage, costly and inconsistent when it comes to security policy and protection. Years ago, we began to solve these challenges with GlobalProtect network security for endpoints, which extends the protection of next-generation security to your remote locations and mobile users. Now, GlobalProtect cloud service operationalizes the deployment of consistent security to remote locations and mobile users.

Based on the entire suite of our Next-Generation Security Platform features, GlobalProtect cloud service is managed by Panorama, allowing you to create and deploy consistent security policies across your entire organization. To consume GlobalProtect cloud service, you will use Panorama to onboard remote networks and mobile users, and then create and deploy security policies as needed.

Remote networks will connect to GlobalProtect cloud service via an on-premise IPsec VPN-capable device, or through one of our technology integration partners that support SD-WAN or IPsec VPN connectivity options. Remote networks will have protected access to corporate resources, SaaS applications and other web applications. Mobile users will utilize the GlobalProtect app on their device to connect via an IPsec or SSL VPN connection and be granted similar protected access.

GlobalProtect cloud service uses a shared ownership model in which Palo Alto Networks manages the security infrastructure, and you manage security for your remote networks and mobile users. With GlobalProtect cloud service, you can reduce the operational burden associated with deploying security to remote locations and mobile users, and move your security expenditures to a more efficient and predictable operational expense (Opex) based model – right-fit for the era of cloud.

To learn more:

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center]

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Accelerating Security Innovation: Introducing the Palo Alto Networks Application Framework

At Palo Alto Networks, we strive to provide the most compelling security to our customers, delivered with the utmost consistency across the network, endpoint and cloud. We are trusted by more than 39,500 customers to protect their organizations, prevent cyberattacks, and help maintain trust in the digital age. Our decade-long journey was founded on two words: innovation and disruption. The time has come to once again help change the future of the security industry, but this time we aren’t forging the way by ourselves – we are building on everything we have done and dramatically changing the consumption model for the most comprehensive security achievable. It is time to unleash security innovation, entrepreneurship and better protection for our customers.

The Palo Alto Networks Application Framework, announced today at our Ignite 2017 conference in Vancouver, reinvents how our customers rapidly adopt the most compelling new security technologies, consumed via cloud-based apps developed by any provider, large or small.

The framework is built on top of the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform, allowing our customers to access, evaluate and adopt the most compelling new security technology, as an extension of the infrastructure they already own and operate. These apps can be built by us, by third-party partners, by MSSPs and by customers directly to solve any use case imaginable.

It’s time to elevate this discussion beyond the level of individual products and vendors. Now, customers can embrace the technology they need to keep up with the ever-changing threat landscape, not make security decisions based on the typically large upfront ROI risk and cost of deploying and managing new hardware. It is not reasonable to ask security teams to differentiate workflows and derive actionable next steps from a mountain of threat intelligence, throwing manpower and new products at the challenges, only to find the next day that the threats and specific resource needs have once again shifted.

The answer is to drive a level of innovation that is at least as speedy, flexible and adaptive as attackers themselves. Our journey here is beginning, but we can’t do this alone. Delivering on this promise takes an entire community of developers and entrepreneurs to solve the most challenging security use cases facing our customers today.

Meet Our Community

As of today, more than 30 security industry vendors have committed to developing applications for the Palo Alto Networks Application Framework, including the following:

Accenture
AlgoSec
Anomali
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Attivo Networks
BlackStratus
Booz Allen Hamilton
Carbon Black
CrowdStrike
ExtraHop
Fidelis
FireMon
ForeScout
FourV Systems
HYAS
IBM
Phantom
PhishMe
Portnox
Proofpoint
ProtectWise
Recorded Future
SafeBreach
Schlumberger
SecurityScorecard
Siemplify
Sift Security
Sisense
Splunk
Sqrrl
Swimlane
Tanium
Telstra
Tenable
ThreatQuotient
Tufin
Wandera

Become an Application Developer for Palo Alto Networks Application Framework

Today we also announced the formation of a $20 million security venture fund. The fund will provide early stage capital investments to fuel development of innovative security applications. The fund expects to collaborate with Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital to identify and evaluate innovative security applications for potential co-investment. Prospective developers can sign up for review by our Corporate Development team and VC partners here.

Learn More

You’ll be hearing a lot from us in the coming weeks and months about the Palo Alto Networks Application Framework and everything our community is doing to support it. Regularly here on the blog, we’ll be profiling the industry vendors who have signed on to be part of our vision – and how they plan to support it. Plus, there will be plenty of opportunities to engage with us as we anticipate full availability of the framework in early 2018.

For more:

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center]

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The Power of Leading From the Front: Encouraging Industry-Wide Diversity and Inclusion

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe a diverse and inclusive culture with people of different backgrounds, thoughts and ideas is instrumental in finding the most creative and effective solutions to the toughest cybersecurity challenges organizations around the world face today. This belief is an essential underpinning to achieve our mission of protecting our way of life in the digital age.

We have made significant strides in this mission, not just in the development of our next-generation security technology, but also in initiating industry collaboration by bringing together partners and competitors alike as a founding member of the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA), coming together to share threat intelligence information in a coordinated effort against cyber adversaries. This is one example of how we have led from the front to further our mission for the greater good with marked success.

Now, in an effort for Palo Alto Networks to continue to lead from the front, I am honored to take part in the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which I believe will be instrumental in encouraging industry-wide collaboration to encourage increased diversity and inclusion in workplaces across industries. This initiative aims at rallying the business community to cultivate a trusting environment where all ideas are welcomed, and employees feel comfortable and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion.

Speaking from experience, we know this must not be just a pledge on paper; it requires active participation, and we are pleased to have some progress already underway to share. For example, the Palo Alto Networks Women’s Networking Community, founded by several female leaders at our company, provides career development, inspiration and networking opportunities for women across and beyond the company. The goal is to create a community that supports and fosters the development and achievement of women. We have seen consistent growth in membership and, as of May 2017, have over 300 active members.

As part of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative last year, we pledged to train 400 veterans and transitioning service members over the next five years. We believe vets are well-suited to transition into cybersecurity because their service gives them skills that make them uniquely qualified. As one of our veterans’ initiatives, we partnered with the organization VetsInTech to assist veterans transitioning into the private sector through cybersecurity education and training.

Whether through our own programs or alliances with larger initiatives like the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, we are committed to the development of these professionals and, in particular, underrepresented groups.

We look forward to continuing efforts in our own organization, participating in the initiatives’ dialogues and sharing best practices to continue encouraging diversity and inclusion initiatives across industries – and to lead from the front.

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center]

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Cybersecurity Automation Squared: Security Automation × Network Automation

In cybersecurity, the concept of automation is provided in two distinct yet complementary areas: network automation and security automation. Network automation simplifies the workflow to deploy and manage security devices. Security automation provides the needed interactions and intelligence to learn, adapt and prevent successful attacks.

There are times in service provider cybersecurity conversations when the descriptors are dropped, and the topic just becomes “automation.” However, based on the audience’s perspective and focus with only the network or security aspects, this may limit complete understanding of the benefits provided when both types of automation are used in tandem.

Network automation and virtualization are coupled to allow for rapid deployment and configuration of devices and applications without slow, error-prone human intervention or purpose-built hardware deployments. Network automation drives the rapid scalability that enables operational benefits from virtualization.

The networking industry continues to transform from purpose-built hardware like routers, switches and firewalls to software-centric models that can leverage general-purpose or mass-market hardware. Network automation is often tossed around in conversations accompanied by acronyms such as SDN (Software-Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization). The key with automation in this environment is the ability to instantiate a virtual system as a piece of the network – that is, to get the system up and running, connected to peers, and ready to move packets – without direct human intervention. Network automation could be applied to internal private networks using VMware, or in public cloud environments such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, or with platforms used across public and private deployments, such as OpenStack.

While rapid instantiation of a virtual network function is often good enough for network automation of routing and switching functions, it is only the beginning for security.

Security is a dynamic ecosystem of enforcement, threat analysis, threat feeds and signature updates that allow it to adapt as adversaries leverage previously unknown exploits and malware techniques. This is a world that never sleeps and keeps evolving.

Security automation is the engine that drives this ecosystem. Effective security automation includes automated data collection, analysis, enforcement and feedback.

  • Data collection: Security automation starts in learning mode by pulling files and links from the network for malware indicator analysis, crawling websites, and receiving third-party information about potential threats.
  • Analysis and enforcement: Once indicators of compromise are known, they can be converted to threat signatures, URL categorization and threat feeds. This information can be pushed into enforcement points in the network, primarily next-generation firewalls or endpoint protection applications. All of this is done moment by moment, day after day, with little to no human intervention.
  • Feedback: As enforcement points see attempted attacks, the ecosystem can send alerts, perform dynamic policy updates, quarantine users and devices leveraging network automation, and push out notifications to affected users. The endless feedback loop is only effective when highly automated, without the bottleneck of limited or nonexistent human resources.

Rick Howard, our Chief Security Officer, gives a great perspective on security automation in a March 2017 interview on Federal News Radio. Rick reinforces the idea that manual security techniques will always stay behind automated adversaries and provides insight into how to move to automated security.

As you can see, cybersecurity automation is really “automation squared” for modern preventive security in a virtualized world: network automation to easily instantiate and bring a firewall online and ready for action anywhere in the world; security automation to work against adversaries and continuously try to prevent successful cyberattacks.

Palo Alto Networks partners with managed security service providers to provide effective and differentiated security services that reduce cost and increase average revenue per customer.  For more information, visit our Nextwave Managed Security Service Provider Program.

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center] 

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Cloud Security Alliance Announces “Grand Opening” of Its New Third-Party Global Consultancy Program

SEATTLE, WA – June 5, 2017 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today announced the launch and immediate availability of the CSA Global Consultancy Program (CSA-GCP). The new professional services program, developed and managed by the CSA, has been established to support the growing global demand from organizations in need of improved cloud security posture and high standards of compliance and assurance. The CSA-GCP is grounded with CSA’s industry-leading and widely accepted best practices in cloud security and is being offered by a highly-vetted, trusted network of organizations and professionals with the first being BH Consulting, KMPG, Optiv and Securosis.

“For many organizations, adopting the cloud can seem like a monumental task, and it can be difficult to know where to begin as there are too many and often too complex series of business and technology decisions that must be understood and weighted,” said Daniele Catteddu, CTO of the CSA. “The Cloud Security Alliance Global Consulting Program has been created with precisely this in mind and supports our ongoing mission of providing best practices and education for secure cloud computing. These first four program providers are among the most trusted and recognized in the industry and bring with them a broad understanding of the challenges organizations face when moving to the cloud. We are excited and fortunate to have them on board.”

The first four providers making up the initial program network are:

BH Consulting is an independent advisory firm, specializing in information security consulting, ISO 27001, cybersecurity, risk assessment, cloud security, incident response, cloud and digital forensics, and training.

KPMG is one of the largest professional services companies in the world, providing audit, tax and advisory services. KPMG works closely with their clients, helping them to mitigate risks and grasp opportunities.

Optiv is a provider of end-to-end cybersecurity solutions to help companies plan, build and run successful cybersecurity programs in any technology environment, whether on premise, cloud or a hybrid of both.

Securosis is an information security research and advisory firm that has the field-tested techniques, frameworks, and programs to be “more” secure in the cloud than in data-centers, without sacrificing agility.

The CSA-GCP will initially focus on consultancy support in the areas of secure cloud design, cloud architectures, secure cloud implementation, cloud information security programs, cloud assessment and compliance, risk management, and cloud security governance. The following CSA best practices will be included as a reference body of knowledge: CSA Security Guidance, Cloud Control Matrix, Consensus Assessment Initiative, Open Certification Framework and STAR Program, Enterprise Architecture, and Software-Defined Perimeter.

Only organizations with a broad understanding of CSA best practices and values are eligible to be recognized as a qualified source of professional services based on CSA best practices. Provider fees for consultancy work are set independently by each authorized partner and are based on the individual program scope and support required. Organizations interested in working with one of the CSA-GCP providers may visit https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/global-consultancy/#_contact.

For more information on the CSA Global Consultancy Program, please visit https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/global-consultancy/.

About Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events and products. CSA’s activities, knowledge and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers, to governments, entrepreneurs and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem.

Media Contact

Kari Walker for the CSA
ZAG Communications
703.928.9996
kari@zagcommunications.com

[Cloud Security Alliance Research News]

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