Palo Alto Features

Antivirus

The broadening use of social media, messaging and other, non-work related applications introduces a variety of vectors that can be used to propagate viruses, spyware, worms and other types of malware. Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls allow organizations to first block unwanted applications with App-ID and then scan the allowed applications for malware.

Application Visibility

IP addresses and port numbers are useful for network devices but tell you nothing about what is on the network. Knowledge of the applications, users and content traversing the network provides an organization with the power to quickly determine the associated risks and quickly respond. Leveraging the rich context provided by the Palo Alto Networks' firewall, the visualization, analysis and reporting tools, allow an administrator to quickly learn more about network activity and analyze incidents from a current or comparative perspective.

Data Filtering

Feature-level control, file blocking by type and data filtering features allow organizations to implement a range of policies that can help balance the use of personal or non-work related applications with the business and security risks associated with unauthorized file and data transfer.

Decryption

Take control over the use of encryption over the network and ensure that it is not being used to conceal unwanted activity or dangerous content. Using policy-based decryption and inspection, administrators can ensure that SSL and SSH are being used for business purposes as opposed to propagation of threats or unauthorized data transfer. The next-generation firewall can ensure that SSL/SSH sessions are inspected in a safe and secure manner.

Device Management

As a means of leveraging the depth of existing firewall knowledge and accelerating the implementation process, the management interface has been purposefully designed with a familiar look and feel. Using Panorama, the device web interface, or a full Command Line Interface (CLI), experienced firewall administrators can quickly become comfortable managing Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls.

IPS

Today's attacks use a combination of application vectors and exploits. Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls provide organizations with a two pronged approach to stopping these attacks. Unwanted applications are blocked through App-ID and those that are allowed can be scanned for vulnerability exploits by the NSS-Approved IPS engine.

IPv6

Organizations that are implementing an IPv6 infrastructure can deploy the same user-based enablement policies that have been deployed in their IPv4 environments. IPv6-based applications and content can be classified, controlled, inspected, monitored and logged, just as they are in IPv4 environments.

Modern Malware Protection

Modern attackers have increasingly turned to targeted and new unknown variants of malware in order sneak past traditional security solutions. To address this change in the threat landscape, Palo Alto Networks has developed WildFire, which provides the ability to identify new malware in minutes by executing suspect files in a virtual environment and observing their behaviors. This enables Palo Alto Networks to identify malware quickly and accurately, even if the particular sample of malware has never been seen in the wild before.

Networking

A flexible networking architecture that includes dynamic routing, switching, and VPN connectivity enables organizations to deploy Palo Alto Networks into nearly any networking environment.

Policy Control

The increased visibility into applications, users and content can help simplify the task of determining which applications are traversing the network, who is using them, the potential security risk. Armed with these data points, administrators can apply secure enablement policies with a range of responses that are more fine-grained than the traditional allow or deny.

Redundancy & Resiliency

Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls support a series of redundancy and resiliency features that ensure the firewall will continue to enable the business through secure application enablement

URL Filtering

Acting as the perfect complement to policy-based application control provided by App-ID is an on-box URL filtering database that provides control over related web activity. By addressing the lack of visibility and control from both the application and web perspective, enterprises are safeguarded from a full spectrum of legal, regulatory, productivity and resource utilization risks.

Virtual Systems

Virtual systems are unique and distinct next-generation firewall instances within a single Palo Alto Networks firewall. Rather than deploy many individual firewalls, security service providers and enterprises can deploy a single pair of firewalls (high availability) and enable a series of virtual firewall instances or virtual systems. Each virtual system is an independent (virtual) firewall within the device that is managed separately and cannot be accessed or viewed by any other user.

Virtualization Security

Secure site-to-site and remote user connectivity is a critical infrastructure component for nearly any organization. Every Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall platform allows organizations to easily communicate in a secure manner between sites using standards-based IPSec VPN connections while remote user communications are protected through a rich set of VPN features.

VPN

Secure site-to-site and remote user connectivity is a critical infrastructure component for nearly any organization. Every Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall platform allows organizations to easily communicate in a secure manner between sites using standards-based IPSec VPN connections while remote user communications are protected through a rich set of VPN features.