All news with #palo alto networks tag

Massive Scan Campaign Targets GlobalProtect VPN Portals

🔎 GreyNoise reports a roughly 40x surge in malicious scans against Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect VPN login portals beginning November 14, with about 2.3 million sessions hitting the /global-protect/login.esp endpoint between Nov 14–19. Activity focused on the United States, Mexico, and Pakistan and is linked to recurring TCP/JA4t fingerprints and ASN reuse, notably AS200373 and AS208885. GreyNoise recommends treating these probes as active reconnaissance — block and monitor attempts rather than dismissing them.

Attack Surface Management: 12 Tools to Harden Perimeter

🔒 Regular network scans are no longer sufficient to secure modern environments. This article reviews a dozen Attack Surface Management solutions—covering both CAASM and EASM approaches—that automate asset discovery, continuous monitoring, and risk prioritization. Vendors highlighted include Axonius, CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, Palo Alto Xpanse, and others that integrate with existing SOC tooling and often leverage agentic AI to assist detection and remediation. It concludes with seven practical questions to evaluate ASM needs, automation, remediation paths, and pricing models.

CIO: Embed Security into AI from Day One at Scale

🔐 Meerah Rajavel, CIO at Palo Alto Networks, argues that security must be integrated into AI from the outset rather than tacked on later. She frames AI value around three pillars — velocity, efficiency and experience — and describes how Panda AI transformed employee support, automating 72% of IT requests. Rajavel warns that models and data are primary attack surfaces and urges supply-chain, runtime and prompt protections, noting the company embeds these controls in Cortex XDR.

Arista and Palo Alto Expand Zero-Trust for Data Centers

🔒 Arista Networks and Palo Alto Networks extended their partnership to deliver a framework for zero-trust inside the data center. The integration pairs Arista’s Multi-Domain Segmentation Services (MSS) fabric and full network visibility with Palo Alto’s next-generation firewall (NGFW) to enable an inspect-once, enforce-many model. CloudVision MSS supports dynamic quarantine and can offload trusted high-bandwidth 'elephant flows' after inspection, while the NGFW triggers hardware line-rate isolation when threats are detected. Unified policy orchestration and Arista Validated Designs (AVD) with AVA automation add network-as-code and CI/CD-friendly deployment so NetOps and SecOps can scale independently.

Widespread Outdated and Unmanaged Devices Threaten Networks

🔒 Palo Alto Networks found that 26% of Linux systems and 8% of Windows systems are running outdated versions across telemetry from 27 million devices spanning 1,800 companies. The analysis also shows 39% of devices lack active endpoint protection and roughly one-third of devices operate outside IT control. Poor segmentation and unmanaged edge devices increase the risk of undetected compromise.

Enterprise networks hit by legacy, unpatched systems

🔍 New research from Palo Alto Networks shows enterprise networks remain sprawling and poorly controlled: telemetry from 27 million devices across 1,800 enterprises found 26% of Linux and 8% of Windows systems running on end-of-life OS versions, 39% of directory-registered devices lack active endpoint protection, and 32.5% operate outside IT control. Poor segmentation — present in 77% of networks — and unmanaged edge devices increase attacker opportunities.

CISA Adds Samsung Zero-Day Used to Deploy LandFall Spyware

🛡️ US federal agencies have been directed to patch a critical Samsung zero-day exploited to deploy spyware on mobile devices. The out-of-bounds write flaw CVE-2025-21042 (CVSS 9.8) was patched by Samsung in April, but Palo Alto Networks reports it has been used in a campaign since mid-2024. Commercial spyware LandFall was embedded in malicious DNG images and distributed via WhatsApp, with possible zero-click remote code execution. CISA added the bug to its KEV catalog and requires mitigation or discontinuation by December 1.

CISA Orders Federal Patch for Samsung Zero‑Day Spyware

🔒 CISA has ordered U.S. federal agencies to patch a critical Samsung vulnerability, CVE-2025-21042, which has been exploited to deploy LandFall spyware via malicious DNG images sent over WhatsApp. The flaw is an out-of-bounds write in libimagecodec.quram.so affecting devices on Android 13 and later; Samsung issued a patch in April after reports from Meta and WhatsApp security teams. CISA added the bug to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and requires Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies to remediate by December 1 under BOD 22-01. The spyware can exfiltrate data, record audio, and track location.

Data Security Posture Management: Top DSPM Tools Reviewed

🛡️ Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) tools help organizations discover, classify and manage sensitive data across dynamic cloud environments. They focus on locating "shadow data" in known and unknown repositories and typically collect metadata via agentless or API-based scans to avoid moving raw data. DSPM dashboards catalog findings, map lineage and assess compliance, while remediation often integrates with SOAR, SIEM or CNAPP solutions. Many vendors now combine discovery with some automated "fix it" capabilities to streamline response.

Addressing the AI Black Box with Prisma AIRS 2.0 Platform

🔒 Prisma AIRS 2.0 presents a unified AI security platform that addresses the “AI black box” by combining AI Model Security and automated AI Red Teaming. It inventories models, inference datasets, applications and agents in real time, inspects model artifacts within CI/CD and model registries, and conducts continuous, context-aware adversarial testing. The platform integrates curated threat intelligence and governance mappings to deliver auditable risk scores and prioritized remediation guidance for enterprise teams.

Prisma SASE: A Blueprint for Modern Branch Security

🔒 Prisma SASE positions Prisma SD‑WAN and Prisma Access as a unified blueprint for securing modern branch offices, embedding zero trust and local enforcement into the branch edge. It emphasizes identity‑aware controls (User‑ID, Device‑ID, App‑ID), automated IoT discovery and on‑box protections like URL filtering and DNS security to reduce appliance sprawl and contain lateral movement. By pairing on‑device enforcement with cloud services and centralized management via Strata Cloud Manager, the solution aims to simplify operations, maintain consistent policies and keep defenses up to date across distributed locations.

Nation-State Airstalk Malware Uses AirWatch via API

🛡️ Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 linked a suspected nation-state cluster (CL-STA-1009) to a new backdoor named Airstalk that abuses the AirWatch API (now Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management) as a covert command-and-control channel. The malware appears in PowerShell and more capable .NET variants and can capture screenshots, harvest browser cookies, history and bookmarks, and enumerate user files. Airstalk misuses MDM custom attributes as a dead-drop resolver and leverages the API blobs feature to exfiltrate large artifacts; some .NET samples were signed with a likely stolen certificate.

Securing the AI Factory: Palo Alto Networks and NVIDIA

🔒 Palo Alto Networks outlines a platform-centric approach to protect the enterprise AI Factory, announcing integration of Prisma AIRS with NVIDIA BlueField DPUs. The collaboration embeds distributed zero-trust security directly into infrastructure, delivering agentless, penalty-free runtime protection and real-time workload threat detection. Validated on NVIDIA RTX PRO Server and optimized for BlueField‑3, with BlueField‑4 forthcoming, the solution ties into Strata Cloud Manager and Cortex for end-to-end visibility and control, aiming to secure AI operations at scale without compromising performance.

AI-Powered, Quantum-Ready Network Security Platform

🔒 Palo Alto Networks presents a unified, AI-driven approach to network security that consolidates browser, AI, and quantum defenses into the Strata Network Security Platform. New offerings include Prisma Browser, a SASE-native secure browser that blocks evasive attacks and brings LLM-augmented data classification to the endpoint, and Prisma AIRS 2.0, a full-lifecycle AI security platform. The company also outlines a pragmatic path to quantum-readiness and centralizes control with Strata Cloud Manager to simplify operations across hybrid environments.

Prisma AIRS 2.0: Unified Platform for Secure AI Agents

🔒 Prisma AIRS 2.0 is a unified AI security platform that delivers end-to-end visibility, risk assessment and automated defenses across agents, models and development pipelines. It consolidates Protect AI capabilities to provide posture and runtime protections for AI agents, model scanning and API-first controls for MLOps. The platform also offers continuous, autonomous red teaming and a managed MCP Server to embed threat detection into workflows.

Cortex AgentiX: Agentic AI Platform for Autonomous SOC

🤖 Palo Alto Networks introduces Cortex AgentiX, an agentic AI platform designed to build, deploy and govern autonomous security and IT agents. The vendor says AgentiX extends the Cortex foundation and leverages 1.2 billion playbook executions to deliver end-to-end agentic workflows and drive up to a 98% reduction in Mean Time to Respond with 75% less manual work. It ships with prebuilt agents for threat intelligence, email, endpoint, network, cloud and IT, and highlights full transparency, role-based controls and human-in-the-loop approvals. AgentiX is embedded in Cortex XSIAM and Cortex Cloud today; a standalone platform and Cortex XDR integration are slated for early 2026.

Move Beyond the SOC: Adopt a Risk Operations Center

📡 The Resilience Risk Operations Center (ROC) reframes cyber defense by fusing technical, business and financial intelligence into a single operating environment. Rather than relying solely on a traditional SOC that reacts to alerts, the ROC prioritizes threats using actuarial and claims data to show potential financial impact and guide urgent decisions. Inspired by the US Air Force AOC, it co-locates multidisciplinary experts to anticipate attacks and accelerate response. Early use, including response to an April 2024 VPN zero-day, showed faster mitigation and reduced losses.

CASB Buying Guide: Key Capabilities, Vendors, and Questions

🔒 A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) sits between enterprise endpoints and cloud services to deliver visibility, enforce access controls and detect threats. This guide summarizes core CASB functions — visibility, control, data protection and compliance — and contrasts deployment modes (API vs proxy). It profiles major vendors such as Netskope, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Palo Alto Networks and others, and presents 16 practical questions to assess internal readiness and evaluate providers against SSE/SASE roadmaps.

Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters Shift to Extortion-as-Service

🔍 Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 reports monitoring a Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters Telegram channel since early October 2025, noting a tactical shift toward an extortion-as-a-service (EaaS) offering that omits file encryption. Researchers also observed posts mentioning a potential new ransomware, SHINYSP1D3R, though its development and the profitability of EaaS remain uncertain. Unit 42 found the group's data leak site apparently defaced and confirmed leaked records tied to at least six firms; the actors had set an Oct 10 ransom deadline but later stated on Oct 11 that "nothing else will be leaked."

Vendor and Hyperscaler Watch: Attack Surface Tools

🔎 Cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) and external ASM (EASM) solutions help organizations discover and continuously monitor internet-facing assets to reduce exposure and harden security. The article surveys a dozen commercial offerings — including Axonius, CrowdStrike Falcon Exposure, Microsoft Defender EASM, and Palo Alto Cortex Xpanse — highlighting discovery methods, integrations, AI features, and sample pricing. It stresses continuous monitoring, asset context and prioritization, and recommends vetting vendor automation, remediation workflows, and pricing transparency.