Security company Palo Alto Networks announced hardware and updates to its operating system to enable organizations to implement and automate best practices for application-based controls.
The US-based Palo Alto Networks said its new OS versions include PAN-OS version 8.1, the PA-3200 Series, the PA-5280, the ruggedized PA-220R and two new models in the M-Series management appliances.
IT research firm Gartner predicts that: “Through 2019, more than 80 percent of enterprises’ web traffic will be encrypted.
Gartner also predicts that: “During 2019, more than fifty percent of new malware campaigns will use various forms of encryption and obfuscation to conceal delivery, and to conceal ongoing communications, including data exfiltration.”
“PAN-OS version 8.1 introduces many new features to help organizations improve their security and manageability in easy-to-implement ways. The new next-generation firewall and management appliances allow for significantly greater throughput, especially for encrypted traffic, and greater scale,” Lee Klarich, chief product officer, Palo Alto Networks, said.
Palo Alto Networks is offering PAN-OS 8.1 to all current customers of Palo Alto Networks with valid support contracts in March. The starting price for PA-220R, PA-3200 Series, PA-5280, M-200 and M-600 is $2,900-$200,000.
According to Palo Alto Networks, many organizations have not yet addressed the lack of visibility associated with encrypted traffic due to the complexity and performance impact of decryption, leaving those that do not decrypt network traffic without the ability to find and prevent over half of malware campaigns.
The new Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS operating system, version 8.1, reduces the complexity surrounding the implementation of cybersecurity best practices, including those associated with SSL-decryption within multi-vendor environments.
New next-generation firewall models improve overall performance and enable customers to decrypt traffic at high speeds. Enhanced application logging adds additional richness to log data to improve the precision of Magnifier’s behavioral analytics with which customers rapidly hunt down and stop advanced threats.
With 20 times more SSL-decryption sessions capacity compared to its predecessor, the new PA-3200 Series appliances deliver high-performance decryption at the internet edge. The new PA-5280 appliance brings higher performance and doubles the session capacity for securing large data centers and mobile network operators, or MNO, infrastructures.
“Buyers are rolling out tightly integrated security solutions, and are looking for network traffic decryption that’s built into existing cybersecurity infrastructure because it removes complexity, allowing security to function as a business enabler, rather than an inhibitor,” Jeff Wilson, senior research director, Cybersecurity Technology, IHS Markit, said.
Meanwhile, Palo Alto Networks announced the introduction of its ruggedized PA-220R next-generation firewall. The price of PA-220R will be $2,900.
This NGFW appliance is designed to prevent cyber-attacks in the network environments of industrial control systems, or ICS, and supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems. The PA-220R meets required performance and reliability standards for operating in demanding industrial settings, such as utility substations, power plants and factory floors.
“With the introduction of the PA-220R, we can now extend these capabilities to our OT deployments and within our exploration, production and processing assets, even in locations with harsh environments,” Mario Chiock, CISO emeritus and fellow, Schlumberger, said.
