Palo Alto Networks NextWave Program Empowers the Threat Response Community With XDR for Incident Response Fueled by MSSP Demand

Driving better security outcomes for customers through partner-delivered incident response services built on Cortex XDR

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on its managed services momentum, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) announced today the expansion of the NextWave Program to empower partners to rapidly contain and remediate cyberthreats by enabling them to deliver incident response (IR) services powered by industry-leading Cortex XDR^®.

The effects of cybersecurity incidents are far reaching in the digital age, but navigating rapidly evolving risks can pose a challenge for organizations. To solve this challenge, many turn to managed security service providers (MSSPs) for help strengthening their security outcomes. The NextWave Program now provides the tools, training and resources to address customer demand for IR services and aligns with the expansion of the Palo Alto Networks Cortex^® MSSP ecosystem, which grew 146% year over year. Leveraging a partner specializing in IR services can accelerate response and remediation across the incident lifecycle for holistic response to an incident.

"The 2022 Unit 42 Incident Response Report found that in 44% of cases, organizations did not have an extended detection and response (XDR) security solution, or it was not fully deployed on the initially impacted systems. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR is designed to provide more comprehensive visibility so threats are identified early along with better context for accelerated investigation and tighter containment," said Tom Barsi, vice president, WW Cortex Ecosystems, Palo Alto Networks. "We are investing in our MSSP partner ecosystem more than ever before with the expansion of the NextWave Partner Program to encompass Threat Response. Partners that achieve this designation are highly skilled and have met stringent requirements with demonstrated deep experience in delivering Threat Hunting and IR services leveraging Cortex XDR. They are able to support customers through Incident Response, during their greatest time of need."

The Palo Alto Networks NextWave Program for Threat Response offers partners:

• Leading IR XDR technology built utilizing proactive and reactive use cases to reduce time and resources spent on delivering services, including collecting data, aggregating data, analyzing data and remediating; a purpose-built platform and program that is designed for true IR in addition to endpoint detection and response (EDR).
• Expert technical and deployment support 24/7 for online access to XDR tenants within minutes and around-the-clock technical support.
• Expanded routes to market with more ways to offer proactive services to clients pre- or post-IR engagement, including advanced threat analytics, proactive assessments and attack surface management.

NextWave Partner Quotes
Deloitte India and Palo Alto Networks recently announced an expansion of their collaboration to offer complete, end-to-end technology-based cyber incident response services to businesses in India. "We are pleased to have earned the Palo Alto Networks NextWave designation for Threat Response to help transform the cyber incident response space together. With cybersecurity incidents becoming increasingly prevalent and sophisticated, along with added regulatory pressure, we foresaw the need for a smarter, faster, and more extensive suite of services that would provide our clients with next-generation security technology and services. Our partnership with Palo Alto Networks affirms that commitment to our clients," said Aloke Kumar Dani, partner — Risk Advisory, Deloitte India.

"Earning the Palo Alto Networks NextWave designation for Threat Response helps further our security team's expertise in delivering a holistic security operations platform to our customers," said Kevin Kilgo, vice president of Managed Services, Fulcrum. "Combining Fulcrum's managed security services, our 24x7x365 security operations center, SIEM as a service, and SOAR capabilities with the best-in-class power of Cortex XDR has helped our SOC team significantly in addressing the ever-growing burden of our customer's detection & response operations."

"We continue to see our enterprise clients divesting internal Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) capabilities. Instead, they are outsourcing this work to chosen partners like PwC," said Ross Foley, director, Managed Cyber Defense Lead, PwC UK. "We are proud to have achieved the Palo Alto Networks NextWave designation for Threat Response to help clients respond to, contain, and remediate cyberthreats and vulnerabilities so they can focus on their business. Our solutions powered by Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR deliver trusted offerings to clients, combining the recognized cyber expertise of both organizations to reduce the probability of a breach as well as the impact should an incident occur."

"We required a technology that checked the boxes for IR capabilities while simultaneously meeting the needs and use cases of an incident responder. The Cortex XDR platform has been built with our biggest daily pain points in mind, and it is designed to be deployed in fragile incident response situations," said Imelda Flores, head of SCILabs, Scitum TELMEX. "By receiving the Palo Alto Networks NextWave designation for Threat Response and adopting Cortex into our service delivery portfolio, we have multiplied our capabilities and offerings without investing in additional resources."

Learn more about Palo Alto Networks NextWave Threat Response.

About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks is the world's cybersecurity leader. We innovate to outpace cyberthreats, so organizations can embrace technology with confidence. We provide next-gen cybersecurity to thousands of customers globally, across all sectors. Our best-in-class cybersecurity platforms and services are backed by industry-leading threat intelligence and strengthened by state-of-the-art automation. Whether deploying our products to enable the Zero Trust Enterprise, responding to a security incident, or partnering to deliver better security outcomes through a world-class partner ecosystem, we're committed to helping ensure each day is safer than the one before. It's what makes us the cybersecurity partner of choice.

At Palo Alto Networks, we're committed to bringing together the very best people in service of our mission, so we're also proud to be the cybersecurity workplace of choice, recognized among Newsweek's Most Loved Workplaces (2021), Comparably Best Companies for Diversity (2021) and HRC Best Places for LGBTQ Equality (2022). For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.

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SOURCE Palo Alto Networks, Inc.