Palo Alto Networks has a new cloud network security vision that protects organizations’ critical assets and data with software firewalls. These innovations directly address organizations' challenges with the significant transformation of their corporate workload locations and application delivery.

The Need for New Innovations in Software Firewalls

The rapid pace of cloud and AI adoption has created significant challenges for organizations today. The volume and sophistication of cyberattacks are increasing dramatically. In the past year alone, the number of new and unique attacks observed daily has more than tripled, from 2.3 million to 8.9 million. CISOs are under immense pressure to ensure their teams can effectively defend against these evolving threats, leaving no security gap unaddressed.

Compounding this challenge is that many organizations rely on cloud service provider (CSP) firewalls as part of their cloud security strategy. While these firewalls offer some level of protection, they often fall short in blocking a significant portion of known threats, in some cases, blocking less than 10%. This leaves organizations vulnerable and underscores the critical need for more robust network protection in the cloud. Network security administrators must prioritize deploying the best available protection wherever possible to mitigate these risks.

Moreover, enterprise AI adoption necessitates dynamic and automated security solutions. DevSecOps teams need tools and processes to keep pace with software-defined, zero touch deployments and the accelerated rate at which AI is being integrated into applications and workflows.

This continuous evolution requires a fundamental shift in security strategy. The static, perimeter-based security models of the past are no longer sufficient. Organizations need dynamic, proactive protection strategies that can adapt to the ever-changing nature of diverse environments.

To address these challenges, network protection must evolve to become:

• Proactive: Continuously discovering security gaps and automatically adapting to changing workloads, cloud-native assets and emerging technologies like AI.
• Precise: Delivering the highest possible efficacy against all types of known and unknown attacks and protecting both north-south and east-west traffic.
• Scalable: Offering dynamic agility and scaling capabilities across virtualized, cloud and AI environments.

Software Firewall Innovations from Palo Alto Networks

To provide comprehensive protection, Palo Alto Networks is introducing the following groundbreaking innovations to our software firewalls portfolio:

• Continuous Risk Assessment: This feature automatically discovers and maps cloud workloads and network topologies and analyzes network traffic to identify vulnerabilities that attackers are most likely to exploit. These capabilities provide actionable insights into an organization's current network security posture, risk and exposure.
• Multicloud Networking: Palo Alto Networks goes beyond visibility by offering a reimagined multicloud networking solution in the Strata Network Security Platform. With a single click, organizations can automate the deployment or reconfiguration of firewalls to address identified risks. Traffic is automatically redirected to appropriate firewalls, and a multicloud mesh network is created to connect applications across different cloud providers seamlessly. The entire process is validated and continuously updated to maintain pace with cloud environments.
• Microsegmentation and Container Security: Recognizing the need for enhanced protection against lateral movement, Palo Alto Networks is introducing microsegmentation capabilities. This allows for granular control of connectivity at the asset level, whether it's a virtual machine or a container within a Kubernetes cluster. This fine-grained segmentation combines the Layer 7 security capabilities of Palo Alto Networks firewalls, enabling selective traffic steering based on asset identity, risk or malicious activity.
• Hyperscale Security Fabric: To address the increasing demand for high-performance real-time security, Palo Alto Networks is introducing the hyperscale Security Fabric (HSF). HSF enables auto scaling by integrating firewalling and load balancing into a single platform, eliminating the need for separate cloud-native or third-party load balancers. It offers elastic scalability, automatically adapting its architecture, separating components into dedicated load balancers and firewall instances without requiring manual intervention. HSF also ensures session resiliency, maintaining application continuity in the event of component failures. With the ability to achieve 200 Gbps or more in a single instance, HSF provides the elastic scalability required for the AI era.

Software Firewall Innovations Protect Workloads and App Delivery Everywhere

Palo Alto Networks is delivering a suite of innovations designed to address the evolving challenges of cloud security. It provides organizations with the tools they need to protect their workloads and app delivery in today's dynamic and threat-filled landscape.

Log in to our on-demand InterSECt virtual event to learn more about these and other network security innovations.