The next wave of technological transformation is here, with enterprises rapidly evolving from digital-first to AI-driven operations. It's more difficult today for organizations to secure sensitive data as it is spread across more places than ever and exists across multiple formats, free-form content and diverse types.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, more than 80% of enterprises will use generative AI models, significantly increasing the volume and complexity of enterprise data flows. At the same time, as tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and open-weight models like DeepSeek become more widespread, so do the risks. From unintentional data exposure to weaponized AI attacks, the stakes are rising fast.

Organizations must navigate these challenges while managing the surge of unstructured data, which IDC estimates makes up over 80% of enterprise information, making it even harder to identify and protect sensitive data. Adding to the pressure, governments and regulatory bodies worldwide are introducing stricter AI and data protection regulations, increasing compliance burdens and the risk of hefty penalties.

Palo Alto Networks is at the forefront of solving these security challenges with AI-driven innovations in data security, helping businesses safeguard sensitive data today and in the AI-powered future.

Gain Visibility and Control Over Data Anywhere

Data security was once about protecting sensitive information within a well-defined perimeter. Now, that perimeter no longer exists. In an AI-driven, browser-first world, sensitive information moves freely across SaaS apps, cloud storage and unmanaged devices, making visibility and control extremely challenging. The rise of GenAI tools and modern sharing practices is accelerating data exposure like never before, often in ways that traditional security tools can’t see and monitor.

Palo Alto Networks delivers comprehensive data security coverage across the modern enterprise, enabling consistent protection across every location and risk surface, as the SaaS and AI landscape grows exponentially. This includes endpoints, networks, email, clouds and all user traffic, regardless of where work happens. It provides visibility and protection for data shared across thousands of GenAI apps, ensuring continuous oversight amid rapidly emerging technologies. On top of that, the Palo Alto Networks secure browser, Prisma Access Browser, extends data security to granular user activity across any application accessed via the browser and any device.

According to Palo Alto Networks 2025 internal research, more than 80% of sensitive data is currently out of sight for security teams and you can’t protect what you can’t see. Traditional DLP depends on manually defined rules and tribal knowledge, which often miss sensitive content that doesn't follow predefined patterns.

With automatic shadow data discovery, Palo Alto Networks goes beyond traditional methods. It uses GenAI-powered clustering and large language models (LLMs) to autonomously uncover not only the data you set out to protect, like personally identifiable information (PII), but also additional, often overlooked types of sensitive information, including financial records, intellectual property, customer contracts and confidential business content. This helps organizations discover what they didn’t even know to look for to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

With this comprehensive and unified approach, organizations can future-proof their data protection strategy against AI-driven risks, rogue data flows and the expanding complexity of enterprise exposure, so sensitive data stays secure everywhere it goes.

Figure 1: Comprehensive, single-pane-of-glass visibility with Strata Cloud Manager.

Focus on Real Risks with Precision AI–Augmented Data Classification for Greater Accuracy

Most data loss prevention (DLP) tools rely on traditional classification techniques like brittle pattern-matching that lack context and struggle to keep up with today’s dynamic, unstructured and free-form data. Palo Alto Networks takes a radically different approach to data security, applying Precision AI®—our proprietary AI system—to redefine data classification. In this context, Precision AI leverages AI and LLMs to dramatically improve accuracy and slash false positives, helping organizations confidently focus on real risks.

This next-generation AI-driven capability is built on a foundation of proven strengths for protecting both structured and unstructured data: thousands of predefined data identifiers, highly scalable exact data matching that supports billions of records, document fingerprinting, advanced natural language processing, and optical character recognition (OCR) for image-based content. On top of that, hundreds of ML-based classifiers for documents and images, along with trainable models for novel or proprietary data types, work in parallel to deliver precise classification at enterprise scale.

Where most tools stop, Precision AI goes further. By leveraging context-aware machine learning (ML) and LLMs, it identifies sensitive data even when it doesn’t follow predictable patterns, such as casual text, free-form messages or unique business documents. It delivers human-like accuracy while preserving customer privacy, continuously learning and adapting from new data without ever exposing it.

The result? You detect more real risk and dramatically less noise, with up to 10x fewer false positives than traditional regex-based tools. Precision AI helps organizations focus on protection where it matters most.

Effortless, Unified and Intelligent Data Security Management at Scale

Managing data security shouldn’t involve a patchwork of siloed tools, manual policy tuning, fragmented visibility, or friction-filled blocking enforcements. Palo Alto Networks radically simplifies and accelerates every aspect of data protection, delivering a unified, intelligent, cloud-delivered solution that scales effortlessly across every environment.

With a single policy framework and centralized console, security teams gain consistent protection across on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployments—without needing to recreate or reconfigure policies. From guided policy recommendations to prioritized onboarding, enterprise-wide data security management is automated and seamless, no longer taking months or years to reach optimal efficacy.

AI and ML automation streamline operations, dramatically reducing the manual effort required for policy management and incident response. With AI Strata Copilot™, teams benefit from over two million intelligent recommendations monthly—automating policy creation, reducing manual tuning cycles, and enhancing decision-making with natural language guidance. Built-in feedback loops further increase accuracy by flagging and retraining misclassifications. AI-powered triage capabilities also help teams surface and prioritize the most critical incidents, accelerating response and resolution.

Figure 2: AI-driven guidance from Strata Copilot™.

When it comes to protection, Palo Alto Networks goes beyond stopping data flows and alerting admins. In addition to a comprehensive set of dynamic enforcements to prevent data loss, the solution delivers real-time user coaching for policy violations so users are immediately notified and guided on how to handle data safely. This reinforces security policies with ongoing education and minimizes repeat violations.

Figure 3: Sensitive data exposure prevented in ChatGPT.

The new Data Asset Explorer unifies visibility across all channels, such as SaaS, endpoints, network, and email, providing teams with a comprehensive view of sensitive data relationships across users, devices, and applications. This speeds up investigation, correlation, and remediation of potential data leaks.

By removing complexity and automating what matters with Strata Copilot™, Palo Alto Networks reduces support case MTTR by 50%—delivering a simpler, smarter, and more cost-effective way to protect what matters most: your data.

Secure All Data—Anywhere, Anytime

As data security grows more complex in the age of AI, Palo Alto Networks empowers organizations to take back control, solving today’s challenges with unified visibility, automation and Precision AI. Businesses can confidently protect their most valuable assets by improving visibility and securing all critical data channels.

With more accurate data classification, teams can focus on real risks while dramatically reducing false positives and operational overhead. Effortless scalability, intelligent policy automation and precision-driven AI ensure consistent, frictionless protection across the enterprise.

Palo Alto Networks delivers data security that’s not just powerful—it’s practical, enabling your organization to move faster, operate smarter, and thrive securely in an AI-powered world.

Ready to simplify and strengthen your data protection strategy? Join us for a LinkedIn Live on May 29 where we'll dive into the latest trends in data security and explore why an AI-driven, dynamic approach is essential for today’s organizations. And then, catch up with us again on June 24 at InterSECt, our virtual event where we will help accelerate your network security journey.