Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
TypePublic
IndustryNetwork security
Cybersecurity[1]
Cloud Computing[2]
Founded2005 (2005)
FounderNir Zuk
Headquarters
Santa Clara, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Nikesh Arora (CEO)
ProductsPA 220, 4x0, 8x0, 32x0, 34x0, 54x0, 70x0, VM, CN firewall series[3]
Prisma SASE[4] Prisma Cloud, Cortex XDR, Cortex Xpanse, Cortex XSOAR, Cortex XSIAM
RevenueIncrease US$6.89 billion (2023)
Increase US$387 million (2023)
Increase US$440 million (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$14.5 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$1.75 billion (2023)
Number of employees
13,948 (2023)
Websitepaloaltonetworks.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of July 31, 2023[5]

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The core product is a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security. The company serves over 70,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including 85 of the Fortune 100.[6] It is home to the Unit 42 threat research team[7] and hosts the Ignite cybersecurity conference.[8] It is a partner organization of the World Economic Forum.[9]

In 2018, Palo Alto Networks was listed 8th in the Forbes Digital 100.[10] In June 2018, former Google and SoftBank executive Nikesh Arora joined the company as Chairman and CEO.[11]

History

Palo Alto Networks was founded in 2005 by Nir Zuk,[12] a former engineer from Check Point and NetScreen Technologies.[13]

Starting in 2011, Gartner began listing Palo Alto Networks as a leader in the Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls.[14]

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]

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 amongst members.[19][20] By 2018, the organization had 20 members including Cisco, Check Point, Juniper Networks, and Sophos.[21]

The company expanded over the years, offering new enterprise cybersecurity services beyond its original next-generation firewall offering, such as Traps endpoint protection, Wildfire malware prevention,[22] machine learning, and data analytics.[23]

In 2018, the company began opening cybersecurity training facilities around the world as part of the Global Cyber Range Initiative.[24]

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 June 2018, former Google Chief Business Officer and SoftBank President Nikesh Arora joined the company as chairman and CEO.[11] His predecessor, Mark McLaughlin, became vice chairman of the board of directors. Arora received a pay package worth about $128 million, making him one of the highest-paid executives in the United States.[25] In September 2018 Liane Hornsey, formerly Chief People Officer at Uber, joined Palo Alto Networks as Chief People Officer.[26] In October 2018, Amit Singh, formerly President of Google Cloud, succeeded Mark Anderson as President of Palo Alto Networks.[27] In August 2021, William (BJ) Jenkins succeeded Singh as president, with Singh assuming the role of Chief Business Officer.[28]

In 2019, the company announced the K2-Series, a 5G-ready next-generation firewall developed for service providers with 5G and IoT requirements.[29] In February 2019, the company announced Cortex, an AI-based continuous security platform.[30] 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.[31]

Acquisitions

  • January 2014: Morta Security[32][33]
  • April 2014: Cyvera for approximately $200 million[34][35]
  • May 2015: CirroSecure[36]
  • March 2017: LightCyber for approximately $100 million[37]
  • March 2018: Cloud Security company Evident.io for $300 million. This acquisition created the Prisma Cloud division.[38]
  • April 2018: Secdo[39]
  • October 2018: RedLock for $173 million[40]
  • February 2019: Demisto for $560 million[41]
  • May 2019: Twistlock for $410 million[42]
  • June 2019: PureSec for $47 million[43][44]
  • September 2019: Zingbox for $75 million[45]
  • November 2019: Aporeto, Inc. for $150 million[46]
  • April 2020: CloudGenix, Inc. for $420 million[47]
  • August 2020: Crypsis Group for $265 million[48]
  • November 2020: Palo Alto Networks announced its intent to acquire Expanse for $800 million.[49]
  • February 2021: Bridgecrew for $156 million[50]
  • November 2022: Cider Security for $300 million.[51]
  • October 2023: Announced its intent to acquire Dig Security for $400 million[52][53]
  • November 2023: Talon Cyber Security for $625 million[54]
  • December 2023: Dig Security for $400 million[55]

Products

Enterprise products

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:[56]

  • Next-generation firewalls, running PAN-OS,[57] offered in multiple forms including:[58]
    • 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 virtualized appliance through the VM series, allowing the firewall to be run as a virtual machine to secure virtualized data centers and private clouds. It is also compatible with public cloud environments such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
    • 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.[59]
  • 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.[60]
  • Wildfire, a cloud-based threat-analysis service that uses dynamic analysis, static analysis, machine learning, and bare-metal analysis to discover and prevent unknown threats.[61]

Cloud storage and analysis products

In 2019, Palo Alto Networks reorganized its SaaS offerings under the Cortex branding.[62]

  • 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.[63]
  • 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.[64]
  • 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.[65]
  • 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 CSPM, containers, serverless, and identity-based micro-segmentation. It is Palo Alto Networks cloud-native security solution that integrates with DevOps continuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD) processes for a more holistic control of the security life-cycle of cloud assets.[66][67]

Threat research

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.[68] The group runs a popular blog where they post technical reports analyzing active threats and adversaries.[69] Multiple Unit 42 researchers have been named in the MSRC Top 100, Microsoft's annual ranking of top 100 security researchers.[70] 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.[71]

According to the FBI, Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 has helped solve multiple cybercrime cases, such as the Mirai Botnet and Clickfraud Botnet cases,[72] the LuminosityLink RAT case,[73][74] and assisted with "Operation Wire-Wire".[75]

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.[76]

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.[77] 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.[78]

In November 2018, Palo Alto Networks announced the discovery of "Cannon", a trojan being used to target United States and European government entities.[79][80] The hackers behind the malware are believed to be Fancy Bear, the Russian hacking group believed to be responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee in 2016. The malware communicates with its command and control server with email and uses encryption to evade detection.[81]

References

  1. ↑ PCmag (2018-01-26). "Millions of PCs targeted by cryptocurrency-mining malware". Fox News. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  2. 1 2 "Application Framework - Palo Alto Networks". paloaltonetworks.com. 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  3. ↑ "Firewalls & Appliances".
  4. ↑ "Prisma SASE".
  5. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Inc. 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". SEC.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2023-09-01.
  6. ↑ "About Us - Palo Alto Networks". paloaltonetworks.com. 2018. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  7. ↑ "Unit 42 Twitter". twitter.com. 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  8. ↑ "Ignite Conference Twitter". twitter.com. 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  9. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  10. ↑ "Forbes Releases Digital 100". forbes.com. 2018-06-02. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  11. 1 2 "What to Expect of Google and Softbank Star Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto Network's New CEO". fortune.com. 2018-06-02. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  12. ↑ Blacharski, Dan (2010-04-05). "How I Got Here: Nir Zuk, CTO, Palo Alto Networks". ITworld. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  13. ↑ Leyden, John (22 October 2010). "US and UK gov cyber defences = big boys' trough-slurp". The Register. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Recognized as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Network Firewalls Seven Times in a Row". PR Newswire. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  15. ↑ Savitz, Eric (20 July 2012). "Kayak, Palo Alto Networks IPOs Off To Strong Debuts". Forbes. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  16. ↑ Owens, Jeremy (20 July 2012). "Palo Alto Networks stunning IPO a good sign for some tech niches". Mercury News. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  17. ↑ "The 10 largest tech IPOs of 2012". VentureBeat. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  18. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks to Transfer Stock Exchange Listing to Nasdaq" (Press release). PR Newswire. October 12, 2021.
  19. ↑ Albanesius, Chloe (February 13, 2015). "Obama Wants Tech Firms to Alert Feds to Cyber Threats". PC Magazine. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Who We Are - Cyber Threat Alliance". Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Membership - Cyber Threat Alliance". Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks". 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Announces Availability of New Cloud-Based Logging Service". markets.businessinsider. 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  24. ↑ Aasha Bodhani, ITP Net. "Palo Alto Networks introduces global Cyber Range initiative." Jan 16, 2018. Retrieved Feb 6, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Ex-SoftBank COO Awarded $128 Million to Lead Palo Alto Networks". Bloomberg. 2018-06-04. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  26. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks hire former Uber HR exec". Silicon Valley Business Journal. 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  27. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks names Google's Amit Singh as new president". ZDNet. 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  28. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Announces Expansion of Management Team". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  29. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Introduces Fastest-Ever Next-Generation Firewall and Integrated Cloud-Based DNS Security Service to Stop Attacks". PR Newswire. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  30. ↑ "Edited Transcript of PANW earnings conference call or presentation 26-Feb-19 9:30pm GMT". 26 February 2019. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader". start.paloaltonetworks.com. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  32. ↑ Rao, Leena (6 January 2014). "Palo Alto Networks Buys Cyber Security Startup Founded By Former NSA Engineers, Morta". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  33. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks® Acquires Morta Security". Palo Alto Networks. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  34. ↑ Rao, Leena (24 March 2014). "Palo Alto Networks Buys Cyber Security Company Cyvera For $200M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  35. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks® Completes Acquisition of Cyvera". Palo Alto Networks. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  36. ↑ King, Rachel (27 May 2015). "Palo Alto Networks acquires cybersecurity company CirroSecure". Zdnet. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  37. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks acquires LightCyber". Palo Alto Networks. 28 February 2017.
  38. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Closes Acquisition of Evident.io". Palo Alto Networks. Mar 26, 2018.
  39. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Closes Acquisition of Secdo". Palo Alto Networks. Apr 24, 2018.
  40. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks to acquire RedLock for $173 M to beef up cloud security". TechCrunch. October 3, 2018.
  41. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks to acquire Demisto for $560M". TechCrunch. February 19, 2019.
  42. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks to acquire container security startup Twistlock for $410M". TechCrunch. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  43. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks to acquire Twistlock, PureSec". ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  44. ↑ "SEC Form 10-Q, Fiscal Third Quarter 2019, period ended April 30, 2019" (PDF). Palo Alto Networks. 2019-05-30. p. 29.
  45. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks intends to acquire Zingbox for $75M". TechCrunch. 2019-09-04.
  46. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Announces Intent to Acquire Aporeto". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  47. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks completes $420m acquisition of CloudGenix in three weeks". Data Economy. 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  48. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks to buy digital forensics consulting firm for $265M". TechCrunch. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  49. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks acquires attack surface manager Expanse in $800m deal". ZDNet. 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  50. ↑ "Prisma Cloud Shifts Left With Proposed Acquisition of Bridgecrew". 2021-02-16. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  51. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (2022-11-17). "Sources: Palo Alto Networks is buying Cider Security for up to $300M". TechCrunch.
  52. ↑ Ingrid Lunden (October 31, 2023). "Confirmed: Palo Alto Networks buys Dig Security, sources say for $400M". Tech Crunch. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  53. ↑ Maria Deutscher (October 31, 2023). "Palo Alto Networks acquires Dig Security for reported $400M". Silicon Angle. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  54. ↑ Gately, Edward (6 November 2023). "Palo Alto Networks Acquiring Talon Cyber Security in Reported $625 Million Deal". Channel Futures. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  55. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks completes acquisition of Dig Security". Security Info Watch. 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  56. ↑ "Security Operating Platform - Palo Alto Networks". 2018. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  57. ↑ "PAN-OS".
  58. ↑ "Next-Generation Firewalls - Palo Alto Networks". 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  59. ↑ "Panorama - Palo Alto Networks". 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  60. ↑ "Traps - Advanced Endpoint Protection - Palo Alto Networks". 2018. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  61. ↑ "Wildfire Malware Analysis - Palo Alto Networks". 2018. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  62. ↑ "Palo Alto Networks Introduces Cortex, the Industry's Only Open and Integrated, AI-Based Continuous Security Platform". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  63. ↑ "About Cortex Data Lake". docs.paloaltonetworks.com. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  64. ↑ "Hub - Palo Alto Networks". apps.paloaltonetworks.com. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  65. ↑ "Cortex XDR - Extended Detection and Response". Palo Alto Networks. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  66. ↑ "Comprehensive Cloud Security | Prisma". Palo Alto Networks. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  67. ↑ "What is a Cloud-Native Security Platform (CNSP)?". Palo Alto Networks. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  68. ↑ "Unit 42 FAQs". 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  69. ↑ "Unit 42 Archives". 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  70. ↑ "Four Unit 42 Vulnerability Researchers Make MSRC Top 100 for 2018". Unit 42. 16 August 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  71. ↑ Whitmore, Wendi (2021-04-20). "Unit 42 and Crypsis Combine to Offer Threat Intel, Incident Response". Palo Alto Networks Blog. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  72. ↑ "Hackers' Cooperation with FBI Leads to Substantial Assistance in Other Complex Cybercrime Investigations". U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Alaska. U.S. Department of Justice. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  73. ↑ Osborne, Charlie (17 October 2018). "Creator of remote access tool LuminosityLink sent behind bars". ZDNET. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  74. ↑ "Stanford Man Sentenced to 30 Months for Computer Intrusion Crimes". U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky. U.S. Department of Justice. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  75. ↑ "Business E-Mail Compromise (BEC) Task Force in Los Angeles Announces Local Arrests as the Department of Justice Announces the Results of "Operation Wire-Wire" Including 74 Charged in Bec Schemes Internationally". 11 June 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  76. ↑ "Hacking group combines spear-phishing with mass malware campaign". 2 August 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  77. ↑ "Chinese-speaking cybercrime group launches destructive malware family". 18 September 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  78. ↑ "Hack Brief: Fake Adobe Flash Installers Come With A Little Malware Bonus". 12 October 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  79. ↑ "Russian hacking tool gets extra stealthy to target US, European computers". 20 October 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  80. ↑ "Russia's Elite Hackers May Have New Phishing Tricks". 20 October 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  81. ↑ "Sofacy Continues Global Attacks and Wheels Out New 'Cannon' Trojan". 20 October 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
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