Transforming Network Security with AI-Powered Innovations in SASE

Today, we stand on the precipice of a great transformation. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are fundamentally shifting the way people work, express themselves, as well as how they get business done. AI will not only help organizations be agile and serve their customers better, it will also help secure them against an ever-evolving threat landscape.

At our virtual Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) event, we showcased the innovations in Prisma SASE that leverage the power of AI and ML. This drives better security and networking outcomes, and automates manual and complex IT operations. With new advancements in SASE, we’re ensuring customers are prepared to meet the scale, complexity and speed of a highly distributed and cloud-first world.

The “Three Cs” of Data Underpin Powerful AI and ML

As organizations globally adopt SASE at an unprecedented pace, the key question emerging is around the right approach for effective implementation. At Palo Alto Networks, we strongly believe a unified, single-vendor approach is the best way for organizations to optimize their security and operational outcomes. In addition to the obvious benefit of simplified management, one additional attribute is the ability to leverage AI and ML across your security, networking and user-experience management, all unified from the same data lake.

The move away from fragmented and siloed tools will continue to be a critical consideration as companies look to adopt the power of data. For an organization to realize the full potential of AI, then there are three principles of data that must be followed:

• Complete Data — You need all of the data for the problem you’re solving. In SASE, that means data elements from security, networking and operations have to be collected in one central place.
• Consistent Data — The formatting, structure and labeling of the data should be unchanged across all collected elements. Any disparities can negatively impact data quality and outcomes.
• Correct Data — You should have unwavering trust in the data, so any output can also be trusted. The way data is collected and summarized must be the same across all of the sources feeding the data lake.

As we showcased in our virtual launch event today, Prisma SASE leverages the “Three Cs” concept to help customers drive transformation outcomes across three core areas:

• Security — We’re raising the bar in the industry for cloud secure web gateway (SWG), with agent-based explicit proxy support and first-of-its-kind phishing detections. This includes Advanced URL Filtering to provide the industry’s only real-time prevention of unknown and highly evasive MitM phishing attacks. Advanced URL Filtering can also help prevent SaaS platform phishing attacks. In addition, our new ZTNA Connector provides the scalability and auto-app discovery needed to securely connect organizations to all of their private applications.
• Networking — We’re introducing key innovations to Prisma SD-WAN, helping extend Zero Trust to today’s highly digitized, hyperconnected branch locations. Prisma SD-WAN Command Center, for example, will provide AI-powered and segment-wise insights. In addition, it gives always-on monitoring for networks and applications, for proactive problem resolutions. Prisma SD-WAN with integrated IoT security will allow existing Prisma SD-WAN appliances to help secure IoT devices, and an On-Prem Controller for Prisma SD-WAN will help meet customers’ industry-specific security compliance requirements to control and manage Prisma SD-WAN deployments.
• Operations — With the industry’s first AI Operations (AIOps) solution natively integrated into SASE with Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM), IT teams can now leverage AI-based problem detection and predictive analytics to automate complex IT operations, increase productivity, and reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR). In addition, customers can proactively remediate issues that can cause service interruption, as well as get a holistic view of the health of their endpoints, applications, network and security policies in a single dashboard.

Driving Transformational Outcomes with Prisma SASE

There’s no better example of leveraging the power of Prisma SASE to drive transformation across security, networking and operations than at Westfield — one of the world’s largest developers and operator of sustainable, high-quality real estate assets.

Tasked with driving digitization across business groups, branch offices and corporate devices, CIO Ken Ogami and his team chose a single-vendor SASE approach. For the first time in the company’s history, Ogami was able to integrate his business, IT and security operations. This helped him do more for less — driving greater agility and security, as well as unlocking millions of dollars in cost savings.

The Future of SASE Is AI-Powered

Whether it’s helping us write a book, drive a car, or predicting the likelihood of developing certain diseases, AI has the opportunity to impact every aspect of our lives. And, as we begin to apply this new innovation to SASE, we are beginning to see a future where AI will have an equally profound impact across an organization’s security, network and operations.

If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to check out our ‘Prisma SASE: AI-Powered Innovation Takes Center Stage’ virtual event experience. There, you’ll find educational videos, demos, industry conversations and more — all designed to help you harness AI-powered SASE to achieve your modernization initiatives.