Palo Alto Networks Release the World’s Fastest Next Generation Firewall

The World’s Fastest Next Generation Firewall

 

Palo Alto Networks, the global leaders in Next Generation Firewall security, have this week released the world’s fastest, most powerful, layer-7 firewall to date. In a bold attempt to outstrip the competition, the PA-7050 boasts unprecedented throughput speeds whist retaining the definitive Palo Alto feature-set (App-ID, User-ID, Content-ID and so on).

New strains of cyber-attack have led to significant firewall advancements in recent years, malicious threats veiled as common applications are increasingly more difficult to detect and have spurred-on a revolution in firewall design. Palo Alto have been at the forefront of this riposte, developing application-specific, Next Generation, firewalls which enable granular security policy enforcement within mission-critical enterprise environments.

Security & Network Performance

Technology advancements continue to raise important considerations for enterprise networking. As the amount of data increases, alongside the number of portable devices, staying on top of network security is an ever-evolving challenge.

Not only must enterprise networks maintain the high levels of security required to deal with today’s menacing cyber-threat landscape, but also be proactive in ensuring that the safeguarding of wireless networks does not lead to throttled speeds and with that, continued workforce productivity.

The PA-7050

Keeping pace with accelerating internet speeds as well as growing data demands is key to what the PA-7050 can offer, and looks to be the defining factor in differentiating the product from other  Next Generation Firewalls on the market. Boasting firewall throughput of up to 120 Gbps, the PA-7050 runs the standard PAN-OS operating system and achieves full threat prevention whilst providing high-speed network capabilities.

Having improved both the hardware and software on the PA-7050, Palo Alto Networks claim to have produced their most scalable, flexible and user-friendly firewall yet. Featuring a new chassis design, incorporating eight slots (six of which are for processing and the remaining two for special functions), the monster unit is capable of hosting 24 Million sessions and 750 Thousand connections per second. However, Irrespective of its multi-blade design, the PA-7050 can be operated as a single device, as well as offering support on a per-chassis basis.

More Information

Find out more about the Palo AltoPA-7050 or the other Next Generation Firewalls in the Palo range by calling Ensign on 01929 556 553, or emailing info@ensign-net.co.uk.

Palo Alto vs. Checkpoint – Gartner 2013 Quadrant Review

Palo Alto and Checkpoint are battling for enterprise firewall market leadership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Palo Alto Networks and Checkpoint Software both performing strongly in Gartner’s 2013 Enterprise Firewall Magic Quadrant, and seemingly racing away from the fragmented competition, a direct product comparison has perhaps never been more relevant.

Checkpoint’s offerings have come out on top of Gartner’s annual assessment for the past 16 years running; a staggering statistic, which seemingly cements their place as the thought leaders in firewall technology. The company offers what they have dubbed a ‘total security solution’, which encompasses unified gateway and single endpoint, as well as single management architecture.
However, their grip on the top-spot has been slipping somewhat in recent times due to sustained pressure from relative newcomers, Palo Alto Networks. Their ground breaking technology has not only altered the playing field, but given the California-based network security company a real chance of overtaking their rivals.

A bit about the quadrant

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is essentially a way of assessing the competition between the major players in a given sector of the technology industry; In this case, the enterprise next-generation firewall space. The axes of the quadrant have been designed to measure market leadership, based on two key indicators; the ‘ability to execute’ and the ‘completeness of vision’.
The relative ability of each manufacturer is basically an assessment of the resources available to them, and is deemed to be indicative of their capacity to meet demand for, and to ultimately support, a growth in orders.
The second heading, the completeness of vision, indicates the level of technological innovation demonstrated by each product. Once complete, the quadrant’s four sectors categorise each manufacturer as being either being ‘niche’, a ‘challenger’, ‘visionaries’, or ‘leaders’.

How does Gartner define enterprise firewalls?

The enterprise firewall market is being driven by advanced threats to network security, as well as an evolutionary shift from traditional stateful inspection firewalls, to those in the Next-Generation category*. Gartner specifies that products entered into the Magic Quadrant must be able to support single-enterprise firewall deployments as well as large global deployments, including branch offices. The products must also be inclusive of highly scalable management and reporting consoles, products, sales, and support ecosystems which are focused on the enterprise.

*Next-Generation firewalls are characterised by the incorporation of full-stack inspection to support intrusion prevention, application-level inspection and granular policy control.

Head ‘2’ head

As previously stated, Palo Alto Networks and Checkpoint Software both perform well within the quadrant. The two companies alone share the ‘leaders’ space, with Palo Alto adjudged to be demonstrating more ‘vision’ in terms of their technology; a metric which could bode well for outstripping Checkpoint in the future, should the trend continue.
Checkpoint currently occupy the top-spot, predominately on their ‘ability to execute’, which could very well prove to be an accurate indication that their lead is by no means unassailable, given Palo Alto’s sharp rise and on-going momentum.

The technology

Traditional Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), such as that of Checkpoint, use port and protocol to classify traffic, which according to Palo Alto can lead to, “erroneous identification of the application”. Contrary to this, Palo Alto have adopted a three tier classification process, a method they feel is more consistent with the type of traffic traversing business networks. Rejecting the assumption that an IP address can be considered a trustworthy indication of user identity, their technology first identifies the application and then traces this to the user; all of which takes place whilst the firewall inspects for policy violations.

In Summary

The inescapable truth to come from Gartner’s 2013 Quadrant, is that Palo Alto currently possess a technically superior product, one that boasts more innovation and advancements than that of their Checkpoint counterpart, not to mention anyone else – a fact that has earned Palo industry recognition, and seen the relative latecomers perform such a remarkable ascent.
It is this level of protocol sophistication that has made Palo Alto firewalls such a strong contender to Checkpoint, and shows precisely why Gartner’s Quadrant estimates Palo’s ‘vision’ as being a commanding factor in their play for market leadership.

If you found this blog useful we’d love to hear your feedback.

To find out more about Palo Alto and next generation firewalls, speak to one of the Ensign team

UPDATE! Latest Palo Alto enterprise security and WildFire advancements have boosted the defence against modern malware.

Next-Generation Firewalls for Dummies – Free Download

Palo Alto Firewalls – A Dummies Guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much like our busy, pot-hole ridden, roads, it is likely that in recent years, you’ve noticed an increase in the amount (and type) of traffic traversing your enterprise network.

The technology being implemented within the workplace has grown in sophistication, and in the majority of cases, is no longer signed off or even selected by IT departments. Aside from our desktop machines, there are numerous other devices, such as smartphones, tablets and netbooks for which their users require the same level of access. The applications being used by this new army of devices can carry harmful viruses, malware and other threats. So, whilst having fantastic effects on productivity and employee satisfaction,  they come with a certain degree of risk to the overall security and well being of your business network.

From these circumstances, what we see emerging is a simple benefit Vs risk scenario, in which the substantial pros of implementing web 2.0 applications within the workplace, can be offset by the level of risk they pose when not properly monitored. So what next?

There are undoubtedly a million and one places in which you could begin thinking about your network security options… but….If you are seriously concerned about this next generation of threats to your enterprise network, and are unsure where the answers might lie, help is here…

This easy to understand introduction to next-generation firewalls is a great place to start your research.  Next Generation Firewalls for Dummies will provide you with some of the key pieces of information that can help you begin a better, more informed, enquiry into updating or implementing a next-generation firewall network infrastructure. You can download your free copy here… or by going to http://www.ensign-net.co.uk/firewalls_for_dummies_download.html

Ensign are always happy to discuss a solution for your specific business needs, and can even arrange a courtesy test to identify what threats, if any, there are to your network before any further action is taken.

Get in touch today www.ensign-net.co.uk

 

 

Enterprise Network Security – Should You Upgrade Your Firewall?

Is it time you updated your enterprise network security? I’m afraid to say that the answer is in many cases, a resounding yes. As you may have read in one of our previous blog posts, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) is fast becoming an integral part of today’s enterprise IT infrastructure, an infrastructure that more than likely was not built to support such a large volume of files and devices.

In the past it’s fair to say that more traditional corporate network security was far simpler, dealing only with business specific applications and threats coming from a comparatively small number of devices. The productivity that undoubtedly accompanies the trend of allowing employees the freedom to use their own devices, and the money saved on hardware and additional services both come with a kicker – a host of viruses carried by employee applications, malware and other threats to the enterprise network are fast becoming a stepping stone for hackers attempting to get at your data.

The Palo Alto PA-4000 Next-Generation Firewall

Put bluntly, older security infrastructures are simply not sophisticated enough to deal with modern day threats, which have evolved significantly further than merely allowing the firewall to identify traffic as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

In current times, applications no longer behave and adhere to the simplistic rules that they must use certain ports and act in a standard way. They are now intelligent enough to adapt, allowing them to attempt circumvention of security systems.

So, it’s a given that better network security is a must if your enterprise wishes to embrace new technology whilst minimising the risks – risks that can be extremely high and extremely damaging.

The solution – Your enterprise network has a firewall in place… you’ll be fine, right? Think again – sure, there is security in place, but is it the right security to deal with a landscape of 21^st century applications. Your older firewall is likely to be struggling to keep up with the flood of new applications entering your network and it is also likely that you have implemented a number of ‘add on’ features, such as IDS/IPS and web filtering, in an attempt to remedy this situation. This method can be costly, messy and above all, not fully effective as it won’t be seeing traffic at the application level.

Palo Alto Next Generation Firewalls offer a new way of identifying, classifying and tracking the applications and very importantly now, users traversing your enterprise network, according to a set of specific, predefined, parameters. Next Generation firewalls allow you to approach your network security at a granular level, meaning that specific users can be given more or less access according to their working needs.

With Palo Alto network security solutions in place, IT administrators are able to monitor and crucially now, block and mitigate against unwanted behaviour by user (using AD or captive portal), inspect encrypted traffic that can be used to hide malware or spirit confidential data out of the company as well as identifying any and all applications.

Through discarding archaic and primitive ‘blocking’ policies and replacing them with safe application enablement you can allow your network and your staff to evolve. Doing so will allow them to make use of web 2.0 applications, making their jobs easier and more efficient, at no extra risk to your enterprise network and all whilst retaining complete peace of mind.

If you would like to learn more about Palo Alto Firewalls and your enterprise network security, we are offering a unique opportunity to attend a complimentary hands-on workshop, where our experts can guide you through any questions or issues you may have – to find out more visit us here.

Alternatively, if you have any questions regarding your enterprise network security or any other business networking issues, please don’t hesitate to contact Ensign Communications.