The company debuted on the NYSE on July 20, 2012, raising $260 million with its initial public offering, which was the 4th-largest tech IPO of 2012.[15][16][17] It remained on the NYSE until October 2021 when the company transferred its listing to Nasdaq.[18][19]
In 2014, Palo Alto Networks founded the Cyber Threat Alliance with Fortinet, McAfee, and NortonLifeLock, a not-for-profit organization with the goal of improving cybersecurity "for the greater good" by encouraging cybersecurity organizations to collaborate by sharing cyber threat intelligence among members.[20][21] By 2018, the organization had 20 members including Cisco, Check Point, Juniper Networks, and Sophos.[22]
In 2018, the company began opening cybersecurity training facilities around the world as part of the Global Cyber Range Initiative.[25]
In May 2018, the company announced Application Framework, an open cloud-delivered ecosystem where developers can publish security services as SaaS applications that can be instantly delivered to customers.[2]
In 2019, the company announced the K2-Series, a 5G-ready next-generation firewall developed for service providers with 5G and IoT requirements.[26][better source needed] In February 2019, the company announced Cortex, an AI-based continuous security platform.[27] In 2022, the company was also listed in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls, also marking the 11th consecutive year of the company being listed.[28]
Palo Alto Networks offers an enterprise cybersecurity platform that provides network security, cloud security, endpoint protection, and various cloud-delivered security. Components of the security platform listed on the Palo Alto Networks website include:[53]
Next-generation firewalls, running PAN-OS,[54] offered in multiple forms including:[55]
As a physical appliance through the PA series, which includes small form-factor firewalls such as the PA-220 for small businesses and offices, to the PA-7000 series built for large enterprises and service providers.
As a streamlined cloud service provided by Palo Alto Networks through GlobalProtect Cloud Service.
Panorama, a network security control center that allows customers to manage a fleet of firewalls at an enterprise scale from a single console.[56]
Traps, advanced endpoint protection. Unlike traditional antivirus, Traps does not rely on signatures to detect malware. Instead, it focuses on analyzing the behavior of programs to detect zero-day exploits. Threat intelligence is shared with and obtained from Wildfire.[57]
In 2019, Palo Alto Networks reorganized its SaaS offerings under the Cortex branding.[59]
Cortex Data Lake – Cortex data lake is a cloud-delivered log aggregation service for Palo Alto Networks devices located in on-premise networks, directly from endpoints, or cloud-based products such as Prisma Access. This data lake information is then fed into the Hub apps that provide analysis, response, and other added services.[60]
Hub – Hub is an open cloud-delivered ecosystem where customers can subscribe to security applications developed by 3rd-party developers or Palo Alto Networks. Some applications from Palo Alto Networks such as XDR (analytics) and Auto Focus (threat intelligence) are Cortex-branded apps on Hub.[61]
Cortex XDR – XDR is the primary tool for data analysis from Palo Alto Networks that leverages modern threat detection and response capabilities on the centralized data collected in the Cortex Data Lake.[62]
AutoFocus – This service provides threat intelligence to enhance the analytic capabilities of the hub applications as an external source of relevant security information.
Cortex XSOAR – Integrating its acquisition of Demisto into the Cortex cloud suite, XSOAR is the Security Orchestration And Response component responsible for automation and integration with other security and network systems for the automation of incident response and intelligence gathering processes.
Prisma Access – Prisma Access is the Palo Alto Networks offering for moving the enterprise network monitoring and analysis functions into the cloud. It is the most comprehensive SASE solution of its kind, secures access, protects users and applications, and controls data for remote users and locations.
Prisma Cloud – Prisma Cloud secures any cloud environment and all compute form factors used to build and run cloud-native applications, including multi- and hybrid-clouds environments. It addresses the majority of cloud security use cases a customer might have, such as cloud and data security posture, containers, serverless function, and code scanning. It is Palo Alto Networks' cloud-native security solution that integrates with DevOpscontinuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD) processes for a more holistic control of the security life-cycle of cloud assets.[63][64]
Unit 42 is the Palo Alto Networks threat intelligence and security consulting team. They are a group of cybersecurity researchers and industry experts who use data collected by the company's security platform to discover new cyber threats, such as new forms of malware and malicious actors operating across the world.[65] The group runs a popular blog where they post technical reports analyzing active threats and adversaries.[66] Multiple Unit 42 researchers have been named in the MSRC Top 100, Microsoft's annual ranking of top 100 security researchers.[67] In April 2020, the business unit consisting of Crypsis Group which provided digital forensics, incident response, risk assessment, and other consulting services merged with the Unit 42 threat intelligence team.[68]
According to the FBI, Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 has helped solve multiple cybercrime cases, such as the Mirai Botnet and Clickfraud Botnet cases,[69] the LuminosityLink RAT case,[70][71] and assisted with "Operation Wire-Wire".[72]
In 2018, Unit 42 discovered Gorgon, a hacking group believed to be operating out of Pakistan and targeting government organizations in the United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, and the United States. The group was detected sending spear-phishing emails attached to infected Microsoft Word documents using an exploit commonly used by cybercriminals and cyber-espionage campaigns.[73]
In September 2018, Unit 42 discovered Xbash, a ransomware that also performs cryptomining, believed to be tied to the Chinese threat actor "Iron". Xbash is able to propagate like a worm and deletes databases stored on victim hosts.[74] In October, Unit 42 warned of a new crypto mining malware, XMRig, that comes bundled with infected Adobe Flash updates. The malware uses the victim's computer's resources to mine Monero cryptocurrency.[75]
US$6.89 billion (2023)
