Stop Zero-Day Threats in Zero Time with Nebula

Announcing the 10.2 Release of Our Industry-Leading PAN-OS

A New Shift in Network Security

A nebula – a large cloud of interstellar gas and dust – is difficult, if not impossible, to see with the naked eye. This is similar to the way that new, unknown threats have grown and evolved in the digital era, invisible to even the latest security technologies. These never-before-seen threats are evading most security defenses, making it nearly impossible to detect and prevent these attacks. This has significantly increased the risk of zero-day threats. With cybercriminals now able to penetrate 93% of company networks due to unknown and unstoppable tactics, it’s clear that network security fundamentally needs a shift in approach.

Threat Actors Never Rest

“There ain’t no rest for the wicked” and threat actors certainly uphold this creed. Automation and as-a-service offerings are elevating attacks of all skill levels, both in number and sophistication, helping even inexperienced threat actors bypass network security defenses. The latest trends of widely available, highly-evasive techniques, sophisticated red team tools and hack kits, have improved the speed and success rate of covert and long-term attacks. According to Unit 42's analysis of malicious files evaluated by WildFire, 2021 showed a 73% increase in Cobalt Strike malware samples compared to 2020 – a small glimpse into the new wave of highly evasive threats plaguing organizations today.

To successfully protect against modern day threats, network security requires three key factors:

• First, employ deep learning to quickly detect and validate unknown threats.
• Second, it must operate on real, live traffic to see and stop attacks as they’re happening.
• Third, do all of this at lightning speed, so that there is no impact to user productivity.

Say Hello to PAN-OS Nebula

Nebula is the latest upgrade of our industry-leading PAN-OS software. A reference to interstellar clouds, the name Nebula represents the ability of PAN-OS 10.2 to leverage cloud compute for artificial intelligence (AI) and inline deep learning techniques to secure the modern enterprise with unmatched performance. Nebula ushers in a new era of cybersecurity by doing what other solutions can’t – stop today’s most sophisticated attacks as they happen.

The result? Now you can stop 48% more zero-day threats – 6x faster.

In an industry first, PAN-OS Nebula enables you to:

• Leverage the power of data and deep learning in real-time: Deep learning is a type of machine learning, ideal for detecting unknown and evasive threats. Our deep learning system analyzes live traffic as it enters your network, detecting and preventing today’s most sophisticated attacks as they’re happening.
• Find and stop zero-day attacks as they attempt to break in: Nebula brings security analysis from “offline” to “in-line,” so you can stop evasive attacks instantly, all without sacrificing performance.

Nebula also introduces new and enhanced cloud-delivered security services. In concert with our ML-Powered Next-Generation firewalls, these services maximize ROI and extend best-in-class security without requiring independent infrastructures. Key Nebula innovations include:

• Complete detection and prevention of unknown command-and-control:
  Advanced Threat Prevention is the only IPS to deliver 96% prevention of web-based Cobalt Strike C2, and provide 48% more detection of unknown than the industry’s leading intrusion prevention (IPS) solution.
• Protection against sophisticated and evasive web-based threats: Only Nebula can stop highly evasive phishing and zero-day URLs in real time. Our best-in-class Advanced URL Filtering uses powerful new detectors and inline deep learning to prevent 40% more threats than traditional web filtering solutions. And we discover them faster; 76% of the threats we find aren't known to market leading scanners until 24 hours after we find them.
• Industry-Leading DNS Protection: Prevent 85% of malware by securing your DNS traffic with DNS Security, which uses machine learning to perform deep inspection of DNS traffic, achieving 40% greater threat coverage than any other DNS Security provider.
• The Smartest Security Solution for Smart Devices: Nebula provides greater visibility, compliance and zero trust enforcement for IoT devices, with 90% of all devices discovered in 48 hours and 20X faster policy decisions.
• Maximum security with minimum downtime: Introducing Palo Alto Networks 10th security service, AIOps. With the industry’s first domain-centric AIOps for NGFWs, you can maximize the ROI on your security investment while minimizing downtime. AIOps uses machine learning to analyze telemetry data from your NGFW to intelligently predict firewall health, performance and capacity problems, preventing up to 51% of disruptions on your firewall.

We’ve Got NEXT

Palo Alto Networks has been a consistent, leading innovator in cybersecurity. We first perfected the ability to use signatures and databases to prevent known threats, while using machine learning to detect new attacks. Then came the evolution of the firewall with our ML-Powered NGFW, which took a portion of our machine learning capabilities inline, allowing us to rapidly detect and prevent up to 95% of attacks never seen before. And while this works incredibly well for attack variants, we recognize it’s not enough. In an industry where every second matters, we must push the boundaries of innovation to detect and prevent these automated and highly evasive threats instantly. Years of engineering have allowed us to do exactly that, now, for the first time, ever.

Join us on March 22 as industry experts and our executives discuss the next innovations in network security with PAN-OS Nebula. Register now for Stop Zero-Day Threats in Zero Time with Nebula.