Palo Alto Networks Introduces Next-Generation Firewall Service (NGFW) for AWS

Highlights –

• Cloud NGFW for AWS enables organizations to shift security responsibility to Palo Alto, allowing them to speed cloud innovation while remaining secure.
• The Next-Generation Firewall service is easy to deploy and simply scales like other native AWS services.
• NGFW’s key capabilities include advanced URL filtering, threat prevention to stop malware, and App-ID traffic classification.

Palo Alto Networks, a 10-time leader in network firewalls, in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), has designed a new, fully managed next-generation firewall (NGFW) service to simplify the complexities of securing AWS cloud deployments. According to the network firewall vendor, the cloud NGFW for AWS enables organizations to speed up their pace of innovation while remaining highly secure.

Pal Alto Networks said that it developed the new service after discovering that its customers have had to spend sufficient time and resources to develop applications and take their business forward instead of managing cloud network security. Cloud NGFW for AWS, thus, moved the operational responsibility, including deployment, availability, maintenance, and scale, to Palo Alto Networks.

“A key reason that companies have embraced the cloud is that they want to concentrate on their core competencies and leave other tasks like infrastructure and underlying services to experts like AWS. The native AWS experience and the proliferation of AWS native services have given these organizations the tools they needed to embrace the cloud,” said Anand Oswal, Senior Vice President, Network Security at Palo Alto Networks.

“Now, as cyberattacks continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, organizations are looking for network security that is as easy to deploy as other native AWS services. We are thrilled to team with AWS to combine the top-notch security we are known for with the world-class experience people have come to expect from AWS.”

“We’ve heard from customers that security and simplicity are two of the top reasons they choose AWS,” said Stephen Orban, Vice President, AWS Marketplace and Control Services at AWS. “Over the last year, we’ve worked closely with Palo Alto Networks to jointly develop a best-in-class cloud-native network security solution that helps customers speed their pace of innovation.”

The new platform can easily integrate with AWS Firewall Manager. It has been designed to present users with unparalleled cloud protection and simplicity. Below mentioned are a few cloud-centric features offered by it:

Best-in-Class security

• Advanced URL Filtering uses a deep learning method to help stop zero-day web threats in real time, allowing applications to connect to legitimate web-based services securely.
• Threat Prevention helps block known vulnerability exploits, malware, and command-and-control communication.
• App-ID reduces the attack risk by controlling traffic based on patented Layer 7 traffic classification.

The Cloud NGFW for AWS also offers various simple-to-use features that allow direct implementation. They are as follows:

Cloud native ease of use

• Easy to deploy: Cloud NGFW may be purchased through AWS Marketplace and rapidly set up and linked with AWS services, enabling additional network protection in minutes with only a few clicks.
• No infrastructure to manage: As Cloud NGFW is a fully managed cloud service, enterprises need not worry about deploying, updating, or managing any infrastructure. The service makes use of AWS Gateway Load Balancer, Cloud NGFW for AWS provides high availability, elastic scaling on demand to fulfill unpredictable throughput needs.
• Native AWS experience: Cloud NGFW for AWS is well integrated with AWS Firewall Manager. This allows it to provide simple and consistent firewall policy management across multiple AWS accounts, and virtual private clouds (VPCs).
• Automation:Support for API (Application Program Interface), CloudFormation and Terraform templates enables automation of end-to-end workflows.

“As a SaaS startup, our application is the lifeblood of our business so it needs to be protected with best-in-class security,” said Aidan Curry, CEO and Founder of HotspotRF. “But, we want to spend our time helping our customers optimize their Helium hotspot placement and not deploying and managing firewalls, so it has to be extremely easy to use. Because Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW is a managed cloud service, it’s simple for us to consume, and because it’s from Palo Alto Networks, we have confidence in the security it delivers.”