Driving unified cybersecurity for a leading telco

Palo Alto Networks was approached by this major service provider to provide ML-Powered Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) that would help to address their lack of Layer 7 visibility and protection, the strain on operational resources due to legacy firewalls, and deployment of point products.

Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this organisation had to shift to remote working or work from home (WFH). Their existing on-premises VPN solution was unable to cope with the sudden surge in remote traffic. The pandemic also made it glaringly obvious that the current solution utilised was in no way able to support the business, especially in times of rapid change and uncertainty.

As such, this company needed a unified solution that would provide consolidation of security products, consistent, secure access, enhanced visibility and control, ensure business continuity and scale alongside the business needs.

The IT Security team had the following requirements:

• Security platform consolidation to have more efficient use of financial and operational resources. There were overlaps in the capabilities of their existing legacy products and security appliance sprawl.
• Enhanced visibility from existing Layer 4 firewalls.
• Secure access with Layer 7 firewalls for visibility and to defend against sophisticated threats.
• Business continuity amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A scalable, cloud-delivered security platform with the ability to deliver consistent, secure access for remote workers.

Palo Alto Networks enterprise security platform was deployed, providing this leading telecommunications company with unified next-generation security capabilities and single-pane-of-glass visibility. ML-Powered NGFWs, supported by cloud-delivered subscriptions such as Threat Prevention, WildFire® and Advanced URL Filtering, helped provide enhanced visibility and defense against sophisticated threats while significantly reducing the number of point products. During the technical evaluation, the Palo Alto Networks platform scored the highest compared to other competitors. The constant engagement and support from the account team led to the trust and confidence of the customer.

Threat Prevention replaced the legacy intrusion prevention systems (IPS), preventing all known threats across all traffic in a single pass. With WildFire, both known malware and zero-day threats could be detected and prevented. Advanced URL Filtering added another feather to the hat, as the NGFW delivered similar if not better URL controls against unauthorised as well as harmful sites.

The almost overnight shift to remote working caused immense strain to the service provider’s on-premises VPN solution. They turned to Prisma® Access, a complete, cloud-delivered security solution, to alleviate this issue. Now, users are able to securely access the required applications—regardless of whether they are located in the data centres or the cloud. Consistent Threat Prevention, WildFire, Advanced URL Filtering and DNS Security, along with decryption, help ensure that cloud, mobility and security are synonymous. Through the deployment process, the IT security team is reassured that their security infrastructure is able to support their business continuity planning and cater to their business needs as their organisation grows.

As their business flourishes and the threat landscape evolves, the service provider needed to ensure that their security was keeping pace everywhere. With Palo Alto Networks enterprise security platform, the organisation now has peace of mind that their data centres, employees and contractors alike (regardless of their location) are secure and can support their business continuity practices. As the pandemic has demonstrated, the service provider is still able to function, even as the working environment has changed drastically.

The deployment of the enterprise security platform has consolidated the sheer number of products and vendors that the organisation has to work with. With the single-pane-of-glass visibility and added defense against ever-evolving threats, the IT security team is now able to simplify and streamline the maintenance of security controls across the entire organisation, even for remote workers.

The organisation immediately saw both the business value and technical prowess offered by the ML-powered solutions and level of support from Palo Alto Networks.

In addition, this infrastructure overhaul has also secured the foundation for more cloud-enabled services with built-in security for the service provider, ensuring that the investments made are future-proof.

Prior to partnering with Palo Alto Networks, the service provider was saddled with poor visibility and protection against ever-evolving threats, managing multiple products and vendors, operational inefficiency and constrained VPN security for remote employees. Now, they are able to have a modern, scalable network with best-in-class security, centrally managed through Panorama™ single pane of glass.

Even with the pandemic and changing future business needs, the organisation now has the security infrastructure and peace of mind to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.