IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks scale up strategic cybersecurity partnership for greater resilience
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IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks scale up strategic cybersecurity partnership for greater resilience

IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks and IBM Consulting are poised to expand their strategic partnership to provide clients with enhanced support in strengthening their end-to-end security postures and managing evolving security threats. As one of a small number of critical IBM Consulting partners, Palo Alto Networks will turn to IBM Consulting whenever it needs security services.

“With cloud, data, and technology serving as the lifeblood of most businesses today, cybersecurity threats now represent an existential risk to organizations’ core operating models – making it crucial for security leaders to work together for the good of our mutual clients,” said Mohamad Ali, Chief Operating Officer of IBM Consulting. “Our relationship with Palo Alto Networks as a select strategic partner is a testament to IBM’s open and collaborative approach to cybersecurity. By bringing together best-of-breed AI, security technology, and consulting expertise from both companies, we can help clients create a strong security program that can adapt and scale with future threats.”

“The speed and scale of threats are accelerating, with many attackers exfiltrating data in less than 24 hours from the initial compromise of an organization,” said BJ Jenkins, President of Palo Alto Networks. “Organizations today need the right cybersecurity partners to keep up with the pace of the ever-changing threat landscape. We are thrilled to expand our longstanding partnership with IBM to help our joint clients mitigate risk and protect critical data assets with industry-leading, AI-powered solutions, cloud security, and services.”

Under the terms of this agreement, the companies will collaborate to offer enhanced security solutions that combine IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Services security technology with Palo Alto Networks security technology. Securing cloud conversions and helping companies update existing security procedures will be the expanded partnership’s top priority.

Managing and Transforming Security Operations Centers of the Next Generation

The first new service will combine the expertise of IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Services with the Palo Alto Networks Cortex platform to offer clients sophisticated, self-managed security operations.

The offering will leverage multiple layers of advanced automation and artificial intelligence from IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks. In particular, IBM Consulting’s Threat Detection and Response Services, which support a wide range of security technologies, will be jointly offered with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSIAM, an AI-driven security operations platform for the modern SOC designed to streamline security operations, aid in stopping threats at scale, and expedite incident remediation. Notably, Cortex XSIAM’s most recent feature allows customers to add their own unique AI models to the Cortex data lake, joining the 1,300+ models that are already there.

This solution will include automated remediation, investigation, and round-the-clock security alert monitoring from IBM Consulting. Resources will also be made available to support continued developments in threat-hunting techniques, cyber threat intelligence, and cyber risk reduction. IBM will help customers with security operations center strategy, development, and upgrading.

To further accelerate customer success, IBM Consulting has already trained its delivery, sales, and technical support teams on Cortex XSIAM and intends to train them further in the coming months.

Safeguarding Hybrid Cloud Migration

Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Cloud and IBM Consulting’s combined offerings will expedite their clients’ cloud migration even more. Prisma Cloud provides ongoing protection and investigative services, secure application development and implementation, and a thorough assessment of security posture. Prisma Cloud protects cloud-native applications from Code to CloudTM, allowing for risk identification and mitigation before they reach production environments. Through the development of a shared understanding of application security and performance optimization, Prisma Cloud facilitates collaboration between engineering and security teams. This new collaborative solution will support organizations in securing their hybrid cloud transformation and reinforce IBM Consulting’s strong ecosystem strategy through close collaboration with leading industry partners.

Companies will be able to take advantage of customized education and training programs as well as IBM Consulting’s extensive and deep experience in cloud and enterprise application security.