Palo Alto Networks launches firewall service for AWS to protect enterprises from cyberattacks

Palo Alto Networks announced that it has teamed up with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to unveil the new Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW for AWS — a managed Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) service designed to simplify securing AWS deployments — enabling organizations to speed their pace of innovation while remaining highly secure.

Cloud NGFW for AWS, exclusively available on AWS, brings Palo Alto Networks acclaimed security to organizations’ cloud deployments in just a few clicks. Recognizing that customers want to dedicate their time and resources to building applications and running their business instead of managing cloud network security infrastructure, Cloud NGFW for AWS shifts the operational responsibility, including deployment, maintenance, availability and scale, to Palo Alto Networks.

“A key reason that companies have embraced the cloud is that they want to concentrate on their core competencies and leave other tasks like infrastructure and underlying services to experts like AWS. The native AWS experience and the proliferation of AWS native services have given these organizations the tools they needed to embrace the cloud,” said Anand Oswal, senior vice president, Network Security at Palo Alto Networks. “Now, as cyberattacks continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, organizations are looking for network security that is as easy to deploy as other native AWS services. We are thrilled to team with AWS to combine the top-notch security we are known for with the world-class experience people have come to expect from AWS.”

“We’ve heard from customers that security and simplicity are two of the top reasons they choose AWS,” said Stephen Orban, vice president, AWS Marketplace and Control Services at AWS. “Over the last year, we’ve worked closely with Palo Alto Networks to jointly develop a best-in-class cloud-native network security solution that helps customers speed their pace of innovation.”

As the first and only NGFW to integrate with AWS Firewall Manager, Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW is designed to bring together the protection that Palo Alto Networks is known for with unparalleled simplicity that organizations are looking for.

Security

• Advanced URL Filtering uses deep learning to help stop zero-day web threats in real time, while allowing applications to securely connect to legitimate web-based services.
• Threat Prevention helps stop known vulnerability exploits, malware, and command-and-control communication.
• App-ID reduces the risk of attack by controlling traffic based on patented Layer 7 traffic classification.

Cloud native ease of use

• Easy to deploy: Cloud NGFW can be procured in AWS Marketplace, and then quickly set up and integrated with AWS services, enabling further network security in minutes with just a few clicks.
• No infrastructure to manage: Because Cloud NGFW is a managed cloud service, organizations don’t need to worry about deploying, updating or managing any of the infrastructure. Cloud NGFW for AWS leverages the power of AWS Gateway Load Balancer, providing high availability, elastic scaling on demand to meet unpredictable throughput needs.
• Native AWS experience: Integrated with AWS Firewall Manager, Cloud NGFW for AWS allows even simpler and more consistent firewall policy management across multiple AWS accounts and virtual private clouds (VPCs).
• Automation: Support for API, CloudFormation and Terraform templates enables automation of end-to-end workflows.

“As a SaaS startup our application is the lifeblood of our business so it needs to be protected with best-in-class security,” said Aidan Curry, CEO of HotspotRF. “But, we want to spend our time helping our customers optimize their Helium hotspot placement and not deploying and managing firewalls, so it has to be extremely easy to use. Because Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW is a managed cloud service, it’s simple for us to consume, and because it’s from Palo Alto Networks we have confidence in the security it delivers.”