Palo Alto Networks Unveils Cortex Cloud: A New Era in AI-Powered Cloud Security

Palo Alto Networks ups the security ante with new Cortex Cloud - SiliconANGLE

Palo Alto Networks ups the security ante with new Cortex Cloud Palo Alto Networks Inc. last week unveiled its newest cloud security offering, Cortex Cloud. The latest iteration of the company's Prisma Cloud, it's natively built on Palo Alto's Cortex AI-enabled security operations platform. In its announcement, Palo Alto described Cortex Cloud as combining Cortex's "best-in-class cloud detection and response (CDR) with industry-leading cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) from Prisma Cloud for real-time cloud security." Cloud attack surfaces are a favorite target of cyberattacks, reflecting the continuing growth of enterprise cloud adoption and artificial intelligence usage. Cortex Cloud brings together multiple sources of data, automates workflows, and applies AI to deliver insights to reduce risk and prevent threats. The company designed Cortex Cloud to ingest and analyze data from third-party tools enabling to operate across the cloud ecosystem. In a briefing with analysts, Scott Simkin, Palo Alto's vice president of marketing, said Cortex Cloud gives security teams greater insight into what's happening within their infrastructure, enabling them to act quickly and decisively. "One of the primary things we wanted to make better with Cortex Cloud is time to value, ease the workflow, ease of onboarding, and ease of reporting and dashboarding," he said. Cortex Cloud also consistently delivers capabilities such as role-based access control (RBAC) in one place for all cloud modules. "Now they've got it for all cloud modules and the SOC together," Simkin said. Built on Cortex, Cortex Cloud is designed to prevent cloud threats in real time. It leverages runtime protection so customers can achieve protection at a lower total cost of ownership that buying point products. Cortex Cloud includes: Application security: Organizations can build secure apps and prevent issues during development from becoming production vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. Cortex Cloud identifies and prioritizes issues across the development pipeline, providing end-to-end context across code, runtime, cloud, and third-party scanners. Cloud posture: Cortex Cloud builds on Prisma Cloud's cloud posture capabilities, combining cloud security posture management (CSPM), cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM), data security posture management (DSPM), AI security posture management (AI-SPM), compliance, and vulnerability management (CWP) in one natively integrated platform. Cloud runtime: Cortex Cloud natively integrates the unified Cortex XDR agent, including additional cloud data sources, to stop attacks in real time. SOC: The transformation of SOC operations is core tenet of Palo Alto's platform value proposition. To enabled this, Cortex Cloud works with Cortex XSIAM to extend detection and response capabilities from enterprise to the cloud for comprehensive, AI-driven security operations. Cortex Cloud natively integrates cloud data, context, and workflows within Cortex XSIAM to significantly reduce the mean time to respond to modern threats with a single, unified SecOps solution. Simkins said that the enhancements delivered by Cortex Cloud deliver value quickly to enterprises. "When you onboard a cloud account, you onboard it once, and every single posture control and runtime is now activated at the same moment with the click of a button. So time to value has been dramatically improved," he said. "Unifying cloud and SOC within a broader security operations umbrella is the right decision to help enterprises stay ahead. "Customers have told us over and over again they're not looking to adopt individual posture controls," Simkins said. "They're looking to adopt cloud posture, runtime, or end-to-end security operations. So we listened to that feedback to get to a much simpler and easier to understand price and model." With Cortex Cloud, Palo Alto is demonstrating the continuing platformization of security. As security functions become more standardized, it's easier to roll them into enterprise platforms. That transition has been occurring for a while. Next-generation firewalls and other security capabilities have been rolled into a single system. Enterprises no longer need to buy these components separately. I also see cloud-native application protection platforms having reached that point, so they can be rolled in as a SOC tool. This evolution makes security platforms more comprehensive, responsive, and capable than ever before. The era of the standalone security app is rapidly coming to an end. General availability for Cortex Cloud is Feb. 18. Simkins said upgrades for existing customers, through PAN's partner ecosystem, will begin in April.

Palo Alto Networks Introduces Cortex Cloud, the Future of Real-Time Cloud Security

The next version of Prisma Cloud adds AI-powered prioritization, automated remediation, and a new simplified, powerful user experience. Prisma Cloud is merged with Cortex CDR to form Cortex Cloud, stopping attacks in real-time. Cortex Cloud is also available on Cortex XSIAM, making it the preferred SOC platform for enterprise and cloud. Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, is doubling down on cloud security with the introduction of Cortex® Cloud, the next version of Prisma Cloud, that natively brings together new releases of its best-in-class cloud detection and response (CDR) and industry-leading cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) capabilities on the unified Cortex platform. The new solution, announced today, equips security teams with significant innovations powered by AI and automation that go beyond traditional "peace time" approaches to cloud security and stop attacks in real-time. Unit 42® reports reveal that 80% of security exposures were found in cloud attack surfaces, with a 66% increase in threats targeting cloud environments. As cloud adoption and AI usage grow, Cortex Cloud unifies data, automates workflows, and applies AI-driven insights to reduce risk, prevent threats, and stop attacks in real time. Cortex Cloud is designed to ingest and analyze data from third-party tools to provide centralized visibility, AI-driven insights and end-to-end remediation across the entire cloud security ecosystem. Lee Klarich, chief product officer of Palo Alto Networks "As more critical business applications move to the cloud, cloud security must expand to include industry-leading runtime protection. And to make it as easy as possible for our customers to adopt end-to-end cloud security, we're including CNAPP at no additional cost for every Cortex Cloud Runtime Security customer. With Cortex Cloud, we are delivering the next generation of cloud security -- enabling organizations to swiftly prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to evolving threats across their entire enterprise." Cortex Cloud delivers on Palo Alto Networks platformization strategy by rearchitecting its cloud security solution on the AI-driven Cortex SecOps platform to deliver a powerful unified user experience with persona-driven dashboards and workflows. Cortex Cloud helps customers achieve superior protection at a significantly lower total cost of ownership and provides additional value and new features including: Application security: Build secure apps and prevent issues in development before they become production issues that attackers can target. Cortex Cloud identifies and prioritizes issues across the entire development pipeline with end-to-end context across code, runtime, cloud and newly introduced third-party scanners. Cloud posture: Improve multi-cloud risk management with new AI-powered prioritization, guided fixes to resolve multiple risks with a single action, and automated remediation. Additionally, Cortex Cloud delivers a single user experience with tight integration across all of Prisma Cloud's cloud posture capabilities. Cloud runtime: Stop attacks in real time. Cortex Cloud natively integrates the unified Cortex XDR agent, enriched with additional cloud data sources, to prevent threats with advanced analytics - as proven by industry-leading results in the most recent MITRE ATT&CK testing. Our new Cloud Runtime Security offering includes the world's leading CNAPP capabilities at no additional cost, maximizing adoption of end-to-end cloud security on a single platform. SOC: The preferred SOC platform for enterprise and cloud, expanding beyond what any SIEM can deliver. Cortex Cloud natively integrates cloud data, context and workflows within Cortex XSIAM to significantly reduce the mean time to respond (MTTR) to modern threats with a single, unified SecOps solution. Melinda Marks, practice director, cybersecurity, Enterprise Strategy Group "Security teams need to mitigate risk to reduce the chance of cybersecurity incidents, and if and when an incident occurs, they need to respond as quickly as possible. Our research shows that security teams struggle with remediation efficiency because application security, cloud security, and security operations tools and processes have been historically siloed. With the introduction of Cortex Cloud, Palo Alto Networks delivers a unified code-to-cloud-to-SOC platform giving security teams the context to prioritize and drive remediation actions with the highest impact on reducing risk, while speeding up detection and response for security operations." Customer Delivery Existing Prisma Cloud customers will experience a seamless upgrade to Cortex Cloud, and will now experience the power of streamlined, real-time cloud security. Existing Cortex XSIAM customers who add Cortex Cloud gain the ability to seamlessly adopt CNAPP capabilities that are native-by-design on the world's most complete AI-powered, enterprise-to-cloud SecOps platform. Cortex Cloud will be available to customers later in Q3 FY25. Introducing Cortex Cloud Launch Partners Eager to roll out the differentiated Cortex Cloud to customers are Palo Alto Networks' esteemed integration partners: CyberCX, Deloitte, IBM and Orange Cyberdefense. Together with each partner, Palo Alto Networks will drive end-to-end SecOps transformation across enterprise and cloud environments, enabling organizations to achieve superior risk reduction, rapid threat prevention and streamlined operational efficiency. To learn more about Cortex Cloud, the Cortex platform and how Palo Alto Networks is transforming cybersecurity through real-time security, read our blog and register for Cortex's annual signature event, Symphony 2025. About Palo Alto Networks Palo Alto Networks is the global cybersecurity leader, committed to making each day safer than the one before with industry-leading, AI-powered solutions in network security, cloud security and security operations. Powered by Precision AI, our technologies deliver precise threat detection and swift response, minimizing false positives and enhancing security effectiveness. Our platformization approach integrates diverse security solutions into a unified, scalable platform, streamlining management and providing operational efficiencies with comprehensive protection. From defending network perimeters to safeguarding cloud environments and ensuring rapid incident response, Palo Alto Networks empowers businesses to achieve Zero Trust security and confidently embrace digital transformation in an ever-evolving threat landscape. This unwavering commitment to security and innovation makes us the cybersecurity partner of choice.

Palo Alto Networks Unveils Cortex Cloud to Combat Real-Time Cloud Threats

Palo Alto Networks is doubling down on cloud security with the introduction of Cortex® Cloud, the next version of Prisma Cloud, that natively brings together new releases of its best-in-class cloud detection and response (CDR) and industry-leading cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) capabilities on the unified Cortex platform. The new solution, announced today, equips security teams with significant innovations powered by AI and automation that go beyond traditional "peace time" approaches to cloud security and stop attacks in real-time.