Palo Alto Networks Inc. today announced a new partnership with Google LLC Cloud that combines BeyondCorp Enterprise from Google Cloud and Prisma Access from Palo Alto Networks to provide hybrid users with secure access to applications.

Built on the backbone of the Google Cloud network, the cloud-delivered Zero Trust Network Access 2.0 solution is said to enable users to work securely from anywhere, regardless of device type. Tapping into Prisma Access, customers gain access to ZTNA 2.0 security for all devices, branch offices and applications. With the inclusion of BeyondCorp Enterprise Essentials, users can secure access to applications and resources for unmanaged devices.

The pairing combines threat intelligence and machine learning that automatically detects and remediates threats to users, applications and enterprise data, powered by low-latency connections on Google Cloud. “Legacy VPN and ZTNA 1.0 solutions provide access to users that are too broad and lack continuous security inspection, putting cloud-first and hybrid organizations at risk,” explained Kumar Ramchandran, senior vice president of products at Palo Alto Networks.

Also announced today by Palo Alto Networks at its annual Ignite Conference in Las Vegas was Prisma Cloud Secrets Security. A cloud-native application protection platform, the solution taps into signature-based secrets detection, observing events and identifying patterns that match the signatures of known attacks, and an entropy model that measures the amount of uncertainty an attacker faces to determine the value of a secret.

Prisma Cloud now scans all files, including “infrastructure as code” and source files, to deliver a solution that offers full application lifecycle protection. The service does so by scanning for hardcoded in-code pre-commit, version control systems and continuous integration pipelines.

The service additionally alerts users to exposed secrets in cloud works and resources using built-in runtime policies. Key features include application programming interface risk profile for cloud-native applications that rely on APIs for communication.

Prisma Cloud now has enhanced web application and API security capability with API risk profiling. The innovation understands and prioritizes risks based on over 200 factors in every API in a given environment.

Cloud infrastructure entitlement management integration with Amazon Web Services Inc.’s IAM Indenty Center allows users to evaluate the overall identity risk in their cloud environment. The feature understands net-effective permissions that can be applied to enforce least-privilege access to cloud resources, ensuring that if an unauthorized user gains access they are limited on the damage they can do.

Agentless workload scanning for containers offers scanning of container workloads for software vulnerabilities without the need for an agent. Enhanced vulnerability explorer functionality delivers accurate risk prioritization, including a viewer for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures, a list of publicly disclosed computer security flaws.

Application control for hosts allows users to control applications and the versions running on host machines. Using this protection policy, Palo Alto Networks provides compliance controls that allow users to select which applications can run on their host machines and specific allowed version.

Lastly, the new Adoption Advisor in Prisma Cloud assists users in putting the platform into operation for code-to-cloud security. Adoption Advisor analyzes deployments to deliver a report that considers where the user is on the cloud adoption maturity model. The report recommends which security capabilities should be enabled to raise security posture most effectively at each stage of the application lifecycle.

Image: Palo Alto Networks