Palo Alto Networks Cortex XMDR Specialization empowers customers’ security operations

Palo Alto Networks announced its Cortex eXtended Managed Detection and Response (XMDR) Partner Specialization to help customers detect, investigate and respond to cyberthreats across endpoint, network and cloud assets.

Building on the demand for Palo Alto Networks pioneering Cortex XDR 3.0 extended detection and response solution, the Cortex XMDR Specialization will enable MSSP partners to combine Cortex XDR with their managed services offerings — helping customers worldwide streamline security operations center (SOC) operations and quickly mitigate cyberthreats.

“Securing an enterprise is a massive undertaking. Organizations recognize the need for effective detection and response across the network, endpoint and cloud but often need help managing their deployment,” said Karl Soderland, senior vice president, Worldwide Channel Sales at Palo Alto Networks. “The Cortex XMDR Specialization will give customers peace of mind that the services they arechoosing will mitigate security gaps and alleviate churn to allow security teams to focus on the most critical threats.”

Cortex XDR — already used by 74 of the Fortune 100 companies and delivering top performance in the MITRE ATT&CK evaluation — expanded its pioneering XDR solution in the 3.0 release to cloud and identity-based threats, giving organizations holistic analytics to protect against sophisticated attacks.

With certification and training now tightly integrated with the new benefits of XDR 3.0, more than 15 organizations have already achieved Cortex XMDR Specialization status and are benefiting from the deeper partnership — including Critical Start, Orange Cyberdefense, PwC and Trustwave.

To achieve Specialization status, partner organizations must have Cortex XDR-certified SOC analysts/threat hunters on staff and available 24/7. Partners seeking this XMDR Specialization distinction must also complete both technical and sales enablement and specialization examinations.

Cortex XMDR Specialization partners will combine experienced analysts, mature operational processes and proven customer support with Palo Alto Networks security products, enabling them to provide customers:

• Complete visibility, detection and response across network, endpoint and cloud assets: Cortex XDR helps reduce the burden of detection and triage for security analysts so they can focus faster on threat investigation and containment.
• Threat prevention: Cortex XDR delivered the best combined threat protection and detection in the MITRE ATT&CK Round 3 evaluation.
• Certified Cortex XMDR SOC analysts: Proven ability to investigate threats with speed and precision, defining an attack’s root cause, scope and trajectory for targeted response.
• In-depth security expertise: Access to experts with decades of cybersecurity experience (across multiple industries) to help rapidly deploy, properly tune and manage dedicated infrastructure.

“PwC is thrilled to have the opportunity to further expand our strong alliance with Palo Alto Networks through the delivery of best-in-class managed security services for our high value, joint customers.The Managed Cyber Defence service fuses the power of PwC’s global threat intelligence, thousands of hours of incident response expertise, and advisory services with Cortex XDR and XSOAR,” said Colin Slater, Partner at PwC UK

“We are excited to partner with Palo Alto Networks to help transform the MDR space together. As a Cortex XMDR Specialization partner we combine the power of best in class Cortex XDR with our MicroSOC services to relieve the day-to-day burden of security operations for customers with 24/7 coverage. Cortex XDR’s integration of endpoint, network, cloud and third-party data enables us to enhance the service that we provide to our customers as our analysts have visibility across an enterprise’s entire infrastructure and can more quickly focus on real threats,” said Laurent Lemaire, Chief Business Officer, Orange Cyberdefense.

“As a Cortex XMDR specialization partner, we are thrilled to be part of this launch. The powerful analytics and automation that Cortex XDR provides, combined with the cloud-native Trustwave Fusion platform, significantly enhances the capabilities of our detection, hunting and response teams to pinpoint anomalies quickly, provide deeper investigations, or if necessary, immediately eradicate the threat,” said Spencer Ingram, Senior Vice President of Operations, Trustwave.

“Cloud-delivered services on the Cortex platform allow us to reduce the time to deploy and configure our offerings while streamlining operations to focus on securing customers’ critical assets. As a Cortex XMDR Specialization partner, Critical Start has the ability to provide our customers monitoring, analysis and coordinated response across network, endpoint and cloud environments, for a comprehensive view of an attack,” said Randy Watkins, Chief Technology Officer, Critical Start.