Palo Alto Networks Inc. said today it’s adding four new cloud security modules to Prisma Cloud, a multicloud security offering that enables developers to block vulnerabilities during the application development and deployment process.

Prisma Cloud is a relatively new service that’s made up of several technologies Palo Alto Networks obtained through its acquisitions of RedLock Inc., Evident.io, Twistlock Ltd. and PureSec Ltd. It provides monitoring features that can identify security issues, together with breach prevention tools that allow administrators to block any threats they find.

Palo Alto Networks says Prisma Cloud is needed because the adoption of multicloud leads to more complex security concerns for enterprises. It says companies using multiple clouds have a growing need to detect threats to their cloud resources. They also need to maintain compliance and secure their cloud native applications, protect their cloud networks, enforce permissions and secure identities across different workloads and clouds.

Today’s updates are meant to make this happen. They integrate yet more technologies, this time from Palo Alto Networks’ acquisition of a company called Aporeto Inc. First up is a new Data Security module that adds data loss prevention capabilities for Amazon Web Services Inc.’s Simple Storage Service or S3. Palo Alto Networks said this can be used with Prisma Cloud’s cloud security posture management tools to provide customers with more context around their data exposure risk.

The second module relates to Web Application and API Security, and protects web apps against Layer 7 threats that target the top layer of the Open Systems Interconnection Model, a conceptual framework used to describe the functions of a networking system.

Third, Palo Alto Networks said it’s introducing Identity-Based Microsegmentation, which provides end-to-end visibility for network communications and comprehensive security policy control and management tools. Last, the Identity and Access Management module adds new cloud infrastructure entitlement management capabilities that give administrators more visibility into who can access specific cloud resources, so they can be automated through identity access controls.

Doug Cahill, a senior security analyst and group practice director at Enterprise Strategy Group, said companies are increasingly using cloud-native technologies such as containers and serverless infrastructure to speed up application release cycles and achieve more scale.

“This presents a requirement for security teams to integrate security across the full application lifecycle and deliver security through a platform-centric approach as markets converge,” Cahill said. “The innovation with Prisma Cloud 2.0 speaks to this approach.”

Image: Palo Alto Networks