As leaders in cybersecurity, we operate at the forefront of digital transformation. I speak with executives and security practitioners every day, and I hear a consistent theme: How do we stay ahead of adversaries who now move faster than ever, without adding more tools and complexity? Our customers are tasked with preparing for the quantum revolution, while also expanding their digital estate that spans multiple clouds, supports a hybrid workforce and rapidly adopts artificial intelligence. And they do all this while facing threat actors operating at unprecedented scale, speed and sophistication.
That’s why we’re excited to introduce PAN-OS® 12.1 Orion, which has been engineered to make network security smarter, more predictable and more resilient. It’s built to address the challenges facing modern organizations by providing a robust foundation that enables IT leaders to confidently embrace the future of multicloud, AI, quantum and beyond.
Demystifying the Quantum Future Is Your First Step to Readiness
Nearly every leader I speak to is concerned about quantum risk, because, at some point in the next few years, quantum computers will be powerful enough to break the encryption that currently protects virtually all of today’s digital communications. The threat of quantum computing may seem distant, but organizations must recognize that the time to act is now. Becoming quantum-safe is a multi-year journey, and taking the first step today is critical to staying ahead of tomorrow’s threats.
PAN-OS 12.1 Orion is designed to provide an easy path to quantum-safe security. It enables you to wrap your arms around the problem by conducting a comprehensive Quantum Readiness assessment, giving you an inventory of cryptography usage across your entire enterprise. This assessment identifies where you are and where you are not compliant with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards, giving you the visibility needed for effective planning.
For legacy applications that can't be immediately upgraded or don’t natively support PQC, this release introduces the industry’s first cipher translation, which instantly upgrades any application to be quantum safe. And when you’re ready to take the next step toward becoming quantum-safe, our new fifth-generation quantum-optimized NGFWs are built to decrypt and inspect PQC-encrypted traffic at scale.
For additional information check out our latest Quantum Security blog.
Unified Network Security to Accelerate Multicloud and AI Transformation
Enterprises are scaling cloud and AI initiatives to drive innovation and growth, but fragmented security tools and inconsistent controls increase operational overhead and expose critical assets to risk. Security teams are burdened with operational complexity, struggling to maintain visibility, enforcing consistent policies, as well as protecting dynamic workloads at the speed of business.
PAN-OS 12.1 Orion was built to tackle these challenges head-on. It simplifies multi-cloud security by continuously assessing every cloud and AI asset for risks from weak or missing security controls. It automatically deploys and redirects traffic to best-of-breed network and AI security, builds a complete multi-cloud security fabric, and it applies microperimeters to contain lateral threat movement. Finally, the entire security fabric scales automatically, providing constant protection and performance. This is the industry’s only network security platform that automatically discovers, deploys and scales security for today’s dynamic multi-cloud and AI environments.
Enterprises can confidently scale their multicloud and AI initiatives with a unified network security foundation that evolves with them, delivering consistent visibility with control and protection at every stage of their journey:
- Discover Assets Instantly – Automatically discover and map workloads, applications, AI assets and data flows across every cloud, eliminating blind spots and manual inventories for complete, real-time visibility.
- Assess Risk in Real Time – Continuously detect misconfigurations and exposures as they emerge, delivering actionable insights so teams can prioritize and fix issues without manual investigations.
- Deploy Protection in One Click – Instantly deploy a multicloud security fabric and firewalls across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, as well as hybrid environments, automating protection deployment with scalable coverage for dynamic workloads.
- Operationalize from One Console – From its unified, NOC-style command center, Strata Cloud Manager delivers the centralized visibility to manage policy enforcement, control east-west traffic with microperimeters, and scale security on demand, streamlining incident response and compliance.
Start your multicloud and AI transformation with the Cloud Network and AI Risk Assessment (CLARA).
Scott Moser, SVP, Chief Information Security Officer, Sabre, said:
Our vision at Sabre is to power the global travel industry by providing innovative software and technology solutions, and we can't be distracted or slowed down by cyber threats. With the threat landscape being radically changed by AI-powered attackers, complex global architectures, and the huge shifts coming with quantum computing, we need a cybersecurity partner with a powerful vision and a proven ability to execute. The introduction of PAN-OS 12.1 Orion is just another milestone that proves why Palo Alto Networks is our partner of choice for cybersecurity.
Proactive Security Starts with the Power of Precision AI
At the forefront of our AI strategy is innovation. We’re using Precision AI®, our proprietary system that leverages the capabilities of machine learning, deep learning, as well as generative AI, to augment your expertise and help you build a more proactive infrastructure. Precision AI continuously analyzes vast amounts of data in real time to anticipate threats and automate defenses, freeing your teams to focus on strategic initiatives. It enables proactive risk mitigation, addressing security gaps before attacks start. Precision AI provides real-time detection and prevention using AI to fight AI, automatically defeating attacks.
Because our commitment to innovation never stops, PAN-OS 12.1 Orion expands the use of Precision AI capabilities across the entire enterprise.
- Advanced DNS Security Resolver: We’ve made it even easier to protect your organization from DNS-based threats with our new resolver-based deployment option. Advanced DNS Security Resolver (ADNSR) is purpose-built for today’s threat landscape, providing enterprise-grade protection for your users and infrastructure wherever they are. It’s fast and flexible, working seamlessly across hybrid and multivendor environments. ADNSR detects 2x more DNS threats than the closest competitor and is fully integrated with Strata™ Cloud Manager, giving you centralized visibility and unified policy control across your entire environment. That means better performance, streamlined operations and stronger protection.
- Device Security: Device Security represents a breakthrough evolution and expansion of our existing IoT Security capabilities. Device Security enables you to discover, assess, and protect every managed, unmanaged and IoT device in your enterprise. It combines active and passive data collection with integrations across dozens of IT, OT and security tools, giving you a complete view of every device. It leverages the power of Precision AI to reduce alert fatigue by ~90% and makes proactive risk mitigation easy with risk-adaptive policies and Guided Virtual Patching seamlessly applied across SASE, Software NGFW and Hardware NGFW.
- New AI-Driven Threat Detections: We’ve added powerful new AI-driven threat detection enhancements across the attack lifecycle to keep your defense several steps ahead. Innovations, such as Single-Query DNS tunneling detections, in-memory API vector analysis, as well as Encrypted Sliver C2 prevention, deliver smarter and more precise threat detection, from initial access to post-exploitation. These capabilities are part of our Cloud-Delivered Security Services (CDSS), powered by Precision AI, providing real-time, end-to-end protection across your entire security stack.
Effortless Management and Operations
PAN-OS 12.1 Orion raises the bar with transformative advancements in enterprise security, all seamlessly unified and simplified through Strata Cloud Manager, our AI-powered management and operations solution. Strata Cloud Manager delivers continuous operational resilience, allowing you to respond quickly and remediate issues with expanded detection and a unified operational view across NGFWs, SASE and SD-WAN. With PAN-OS 12.1 Orion, Strata Cloud Manager delivers more powerful tools, giving you:
- Effortless Migration – Simplify your transition to the cloud with a seamless, in-product tool that enables smooth migration from Panorama® to a unified cloud management experience, reducing complexity and accelerating deployment.
- Strengthened Zero Trust Posture – Enhance your security posture with a comprehensive dashboard that offers real-time recommendations to optimize policies and quickly remediate anomalies, supporting a more resilient zero trust architecture.
- Centralized Compliance and Reporting Tools – Proactively track, audit and enforce real-time compliance with standards like NIST, HIPAA and PCI DSS using automated, closed-loop remediation workflows.
- Proactive Operations – Prevent disruptions before they impact users with our new AI-powered health monitoring that detects issues across six critical categories – device, network traffic, configuration, security services, network services and end point agent – for faster resolution and improved reliability.
- Strata Copilot and AI Canvas – Troubleshoot faster and make informed decisions with natural language-driven assistance and new customizable, intent-based dashboards and widgets. Surface the insights you need without digging through logs, streamlining operations and reducing time to resolution.
New Fifth Generation Hardware
We’re thrilled to introduce 14 new fifth-generation Next-Generation Firewalls across three product families. These platforms are engineered from the ground up to deliver the performance and protection you need for the data center, the enterprise branch, and even the most rugged industrial environments.
- PA-5500 Series: Purpose-built for the data center with up to 4x the performance of the previous generation, quantum-optimized processing, and 400 Gbps interfaces.
- PA-500 Series: Delivers best-in-class Layer 7 security for the integrated branch in a compact, power-packed design with simplified Zero Touch Provisioning.
- PA-455R-5G: A ruggedized NGFW with 5G connectivity, designed for harsh industrial and outdoor environments
Your Secure Journey Starts Here and Extends into the Future
PAN-OS 12.1 Orion is more than just an operating system; it's a paradigm shift. It’s our response to the growing complexity you navigate every day. It represents our commitment to delivering a unified, AI-driven and future-ready platform that simplifies your operations and strengthens your defenses. With PAN-OS 12.1 Orion, you can move from a state of complexity to one of confidence, ready to secure what’s next.
At Palo Alto Networks, we take our role in delivering mission-critical infrastructure with the utmost seriousness. We know our technology serves as the foundation upon which you build your defenses. That’s why we don't just build for the threats of today; we innovate for the challenges of tomorrow.