Palo Alto Networks - Experts & Thought Leaders

A wave of cybersecurity firms have abandoned the Department of Defense-backed MITRE test as major companies join independent cyber testing programme PIVOT, run by British company SE Labs.  Participants in MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations plummeted from 30 to just 11 last year. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and Broadcom are among the participants confirmed for PIVOT, a 6-month testing programme by SE Labs evaluating how effectively vendors can defend against the world’s most dangerous hacking groups and attack techniques. Testing critical cyber solutions  “It’s a landmark moment for British cyber security, as the world’s biggest and best organisations choose to test their critical cyber solutions in the UK rather than in the US,” said Simon Edwards, CEO of SE Labs. “There are now very few tier-one vendors that aren’t testing within PIVOT.” “The requirements for cyber security have completely changed. There are autonomous AI agent attacks, such as those that affected Hugging Face, while the sheer economic scale of the JLR incident influenced the UK economy. Businesses need to know which solutions actually protect them against nation-state attacks, major ransomware campaigns and machine-speed threats, and that demands rigorous testing of defences.” PIVOT testing The PIVOT testing will see teams of trained ethical hackers from SE Labs impersonate nation-state cyber groups and other hacking circles responsible for the most disruptive cyber breaches in recent years, replicating attack types across ransomware, malware, phishing and beyond to stress test vendor solutions on their ability to detect threats from known attack groups and protect against them. Authority insights Adam Bromwich, Vice President of Engineering and CTO, Enterprise Security Group at Broadcom, said: "CISOs today need clarity and proof, not just promises. PIVOT emphasises full transparency and inclusion of major analyst firms to set a new standard for trust. For us isn't just about a score; it's about demonstrating Symantec and Carbon Blacks' real-world efficacy in an open, verifiable way that empowers customers to make confident security investments." Simon Reed, Chief Research and Scientific Officer (CRSO) at Sophos, said: “SE Labs’ PIVOT brings clarity to endpoint testing. It highlights who’s genuinely preventing and detecting threats, not just tuning for test conditions. As cybersecurity focuses increasingly on prevention and resilience for real-world protection, this independent assessment is critical to retain trust.”  Independent scrutiny on test results The data from testing is shared with analyst firms for independent scrutiny ahead of publication to help vendors identify gaps in their security solutions and support product development against ongoing threat groups and attack types. The test portion of the programme runs from July to October, with the final report released in January 2027. It comes amid the development of the Cyber Security & Resilience Bill, which will mandate designated essential services and digital service providers to report incidents within 24 hours to the regulator and NCSC and a full report within 72 hours, widen regulatory scope, and promote cross-border information sharing with EU authorities under NIS2.

Axis Communications, a pioneer in network video, announces it has joined a strategic initiative, the Frontier AI Critical Defense Program, created by Palo Alto Networks to protect critical infrastructure from Frontier AI-driven exploits. As a founding partner in this program, Axis will collaborate with Palo Alto Networks to provide joint customers with advanced, network-level protections designed to mitigate the risks associated with AI-accelerated exploits. The rise of Frontier AI models is significantly accelerating the rate at which vulnerabilities are discovered and weaponised, increasing the patching burden on organisations worldwide. Axis knows its devices and solutions operate in sensitive environments like government facilities and critical infrastructure. Disrupting critical operations The rise of using IP devices as sensors means they not only perform their primary function but also provide critical metadata for real-time processes. Due to this, faster patching is needed to keep this critical data secure. The program addresses this exact challenge, ensuring that customers' distributed edge networks and high-value data streams remain protected against AI-accelerated threats without disrupting critical operations. To address these challenges, the initiative enables Axis to securely coordinate with Palo Alto Networks to develop and deliver high-quality “virtual patches” at the network layer. These protections provide a critical layer of "air cover," allowing organisations the time they need to test and roll out official software updates without being exposed to security risks. Resilient product ecosystem Through this collaboration, Axis can strengthen protection for customers while deepening its roles within the broader cybersecurity ecosystem. The insights gained through this partnership will further strengthen the company’s ability to refine its own vulnerability management and remediation efforts, providing a more resilient product ecosystem for its customers. “In a landscape where AI is shortening the window between vulnerability discovery and exploitation, collaboration is essential,” said Sebastian Hultqvist, Manager Platform Solutions, Axis Communications. “By joining this initiative as a founding partner, we are providing our customers with a proactive safety net. This coordination not only protects our customers today but also provides us with valuable insights to continuously improve our security posture.” Next-generation connected devices "Frontier AI has made it possible for cyber threats to find and target software flaws faster than traditional patching can keep up," said Qiang Huang, Vice President Product Management, Palo Alto Networks. "By working with technology leaders like Axis, our program delivers proactive protection to joint customers by blocking threats at the network layer, giving critical infrastructure operators the time they need to safely deploy permanent fixes, while enabling strong business outcomes with next-generation connected devices."

Zero Networks, the provider of Zero Trust security solutions, announces a major expansion of its integration with Palo Alto Networks, extending the companies’ joint solution from automated microsegmentation and firewall policy orchestration to zero-touch containment and AI security. The original integration combined Zero Networks’ automated asset discovery, dynamic tagging, and identity-driven microsegmentation with Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls. The expanded integration enables customers to use Zero Networks to identify and contain threats at the individual asset level, redirect selected traffic to Palo Alto Networks security services for deeper inspection, and manage enforcement through Strata Cloud Manager. The integration also brings together Zero Networks AI Segmentation and Prisma AIRS to govern AI agents and inspect AI traffic. Continuously mapping communication Rather than deploying separate controls for the perimeter, internal network, and AI environment, customers can apply consistent protection across on-premises, cloud, OT, Kubernetes and hybrid infrastructure. Zero Networks enables zero-touch containment by continuously mapping communication between assets and automatically creating least-privilege policies based on observed business activity. Through the expanded integration, selected traffic from protected workloads can be redirected to Palo Alto Networks firewalls for deeper Layer 7 inspection, enabling the platforms to block suspicious activity and contain affected assets before threats spread. Traffic redirection is available today for Linux environments, with Windows support planned, extending deep inspection and automated containment to Windows systems across the enterprise attack surface. Identity-based policies Zero Networks-managed assets and policies can now be surfaced through Strata Cloud Manager, giving security teams a consolidated view of discovered assets, segmentation policies, and the Palo Alto Networks controls inspecting their traffic. Dynamic asset tagging keeps policies current as workloads move, IP addresses change, and new assets appear, reducing the need to manually maintain static firewall rules. The expanded integration brings Zero Networks AI Segmentation together with Palo Alto Networks Prisma AIRS to provide security controls for AI agents and their traffic. Zero Networks identifies and governs AI agents, applying identity-based policies to restrict each agent to approved systems and destinations, while blocking unsanctioned AI services. When deeper inspection is needed, selected AI traffic can be redirected to Prisma AIRS for AI-aware threat prevention, combining control over where AI agents can connect with inspection of their prompts, responses, and data flows. Identity-based microsegmentation “Zero Networks controls which connections are allowed, Palo Alto Networks provides deep inspection,” said Benny Lakunishok, Co-founder and CEO of Zero Networks. “Together, we can contain malicious activity before it can move across the environment.” The joint solution enables organisations to: Contain compromised assets automatically with zero-touch, identity-based microsegmentation. Redirect selected traffic for Layer 7 inspection through Palo Alto Networks firewalls. Manage assets and policies through Strata Cloud Manager for unified visibility and enforcement. Govern AI agents and inspect AI traffic using Zero Networks AI Segmentation and Palo Alto Networks Prisma AIRS. Synchronise asset context with Palo Alto Networks Dynamic Address Groups. Dynamic asset tagging The integration uses existing Zero Networks and Palo Alto Networks enforcement capabilities, allowing customers to expand protection without redesigning the network or manually writing thousands of segmentation rules. The expanded integration between Zero Networks and Palo Alto Networks is available now, including automated microsegmentation, dynamic asset tagging, policy synchronisation, and Linux traffic redirection.