Palo Alto Networks 5G Security Fuses Firewalls, SDN

Palo Alto Networks today rolled out new 5G security capabilities for enterprises and service providers. Specifically, it added understanding of 5G protocols and network interfaces to its firewalls, and says this, combined with its SDN and distributed cloud security, allows it to secure 5G networks, services, applications, and devices. Palo Alto Networks today rolled out new 5G security capabilities for enterprises and service providers. Specifically, it added understanding of 5G protocols and network interfaces to its firewalls, and says this, combined with its SDN and distributed cloud security, allows it to secure 5G networks, services, applications, and devices. “Enterprises won’t use 5G functions unless they have real confidence that they have this enterprise-grade security, visibility, compliance, policies, and remediation,” said Anand Oswal, SVP and GM at Palo Alto Networks. “And what is different from just regular security is that we’ve taken our experience and expertise in securing enterprises and mobile networks, and we add an understanding of IP protocols, 5G network interfaces, and the 5G stacks into our next-generation firewalls and our security platforms. That’s how we’re able to now protect all aspects of the 5G infrastructure: the radio access network, the packet core, which, in many cases, is now virtualized and containerized, and the roaming interfaces for 5G.” Palo Alto Network uses its distributed cloud architecture to scale security. That becomes increasingly important because of the explosion in device connectivity, sheer volume of data, and massively expanded threat landscape that 5G networks enable. “4G is limited to about 4,000 devices per square kilometer, and 5G introduces that to 1 billion in the same perimeter,” Omdia cybersecurity analyst Tanner Johnson said. “So that’s an increase of 250 times, while also increasing speed and reducing latency. The cloud is probably the only domain capable of handling the volume of data created and shared amongst devices.” This device and data increase also grows the threat landscape, Johnson added. “Every single device that has an a node connected to a network or connected to the internet somewhere is a code of potential compromise,” he said. “So you’re taking the current 4G LTE threat landscape, but you’re giving it steroids.” This is why 5G security need containerization and secure network slices, which become extensions of a defense-in-depth security strategy. Johnson said they become extensions of network segmentation, “so if there is a vulnerable application or service that is exploited or compromised within that container, it is automatically, by design, isolated to that single container. The ability for that threat to leap across the network is directly mitigated as a result of that containerized approach. When you have a 5G network at scale, that is fundamentally essential.” Palo Alto Networks can provide containerized 5G security via its containerized firewalls, real-time correlation of threats to 5G users and devices, and 5G network slice security. And these capabilities will allow both service providers and enterprises to take advantage of new services that this network architecture enables such as network slicing and multi-access edge computing (MEC), Oswal said. “Service providers are looking forward to expanding their scope of revenue streams with enterprises” by offering their customers a dedicated network slice, Oswal said. Meanwhile, enterprises want to use this secure connectivity to develop new low-latency services and use cases, he added. “If we think of verticals like smart supply chain, autonomous transportation, smart manufacturing, etc., you have many of these factories and flows that are looking at private 5G networks because they are low-latency, high-precision deterministic networks that you can’t have with WiFi.” Palo Alto Networks’ 5G security also incorporates a zero-trust approach to further reduce risk. Additionally, it offers a high degree of automation, which makes it easier to manage security at scale across 5G equipment and network slices. 5G security capabilities are available now via Palo Alto Networks firewalls in hardware, virtualized, and containerized form factors. This includes the PA-5200 Series and PA-7000 Series hardware models as well as all VM-Series/CN-Series software models running PAN-OS 10.0+. The new 5G security capabilities come a day after Palo Alto Networks reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter 2021. Total Q1 revenue grew 23% year over year to $946 million, and first-quarter billings increased 21% to $1.08 billion. The earnings beat, along with Palo Alto Networks’ second-quarter and full-year 2021 outlook, pushed its shares to an all-time high on Monday up 7.7% at a record $278.50. For the fiscal second-quarter of 2021, Palo Alto Networks forecast total billings in the range of $1.17 billion to $1.19 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 17% and 19%. It also projects total revenue of $975 million to $990 million, representing year-over-year growth of between 19% and 21%. And for the full 2021 fiscal year, Palo Alto Networks raised its earlier guidance and expects total billings in the range of $5.08 billion to $5.13 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 18% and 19%. It also forecasts total revenue between $4.09 billion to $4.14 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 20% and 21%.