Palo Alto Networks' Panorama offers easy-to-implement, centralized management features

Huzefa Motiwala, Director- Systems Engineering for India & SAARC, Palo Alto Networks
 

Impact of cyber-attacks on the critical infrastructure of companies

The critical infrastructure of enterprises is where you’ll find the most valuable and confidential data. It shouldn't come as a surprise that increased digital transformation on both organisation and attacker fronts have made these points even more vulnerable. We are now working in a mixed reality with multiple devices, clouds, and sub-networks operating within the company network. Unless the SOC takes the appropriate steps to secure this, breaches could become even more frequent and detrimental. Organisations must look at deploying physical and virtual firewalls to segment their networks and reduce the attack surface. The latter has gained even more importance due to remote work bringing a large number of IoT devices into the fray. As per Palo Alto Networks’ Global IoT Survey 2021, over 84% enterprises have seen non-business IoT devices pop up in their network which makes attack surface reduction a top priority. Additionally, given the hyper-connectedness of networks today, an ironclad strategy that leverages automation backed by AI/ML to offer complete visibility of all devices is needed to significantly enhance threat perception and prevention.

Managing critical events and emergency incidents
 

 Having full visibility and control of your network in the event of an attack is critical for efficient threat management. Therefore, single-platform architecture should be an integral part of the cybersecurity blueprint of an organisation. Platforms bring network, cloud, and endpoint security onto one unified plane making easy work of source detection. Additionally, by helping isolate the mal-functioning systems from the other safe systems within the network, platforms improve response time and bring greater optimisation to enterprise security. Integrating OT security into the platform is also essential for managing emergency incidents as any breach on the IT side can very easily spill over to the operations side, leading to potentially severe consequences for the enterprise. Palo Alto Networks’ Panorama is a great fit for this use case as it offers easy-to-implement, centralized management features that provide insight into network-wide traffic and simplify configurations.

The solutions to protect the infrastructure
 

 Every product within Palo Alto Networks’ comprehensive portfolio provides the visibility, intelligence, automation, and flexibility needed for even the most complex organisations to advance. To uphold network security, we have our VM and CN series Next Gen Firewalls (NGFWs) that are driven by our Nebula OS which is backed with AI and deep inline learning. The multiple cloud environments that the modern enterprise operates in are protected by our Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) line which includes Prisma Access, Prisma SD-WAN, and Okyo Garde. Our Cortex range that includes Cortex XDR, Cortex XSOAR, Cortex XPANSE, and Cortex XSIAM, help enterprises conduct security operations that are well-matched for today’s threat landscape.

On the Increase of cyberattacks
 

 Remote and hybrid workspaces have made our interactions with smart, intuitive devices all the more pervasive, generating reams of digital data that now double up in existing physical spaces. This has prompted cybercriminals to shift focus from enterprises to individuals and their homes. There is an urgent need for organizations to evolve beyond their corporate networks, deploy remote work solutions and bring unified security policy management to remote employees. This is where SASE solutions will be critical in bringing about both security and operational efficiency. Even global destabilization events have played their part, leading to a rise in large-scale cyber-attacks in the form of DDoS, ransomware, supply-chain threats, and more. The volatility of the current geopolitical situation remains a cause of concern. While threats can kick off in a particular region, the interconnectedness of the services and infrastructures used by employees and consumers daily could easily set-off reactions in other regions.