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Driving Cybersecurity Forward: A Month of Innovation with Palo Alto Networks and WWT

In today's digital-first world, security isn't just a technology conversation, it's a business imperative. Throughout the month of November, WWT's Associate Academy had the opportunity to attend sessions with Palo Alto Networks, who delivered a four-part series exploring the most pressing topics in cybersecurity: SASE, SOC automation, and AI security. Each session revealed how innovation and partnership enable organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats while accelerating transformation.

Partnership Overview and Strategic Priorities

WWT's Associate Academy program hosts a Partner of the Month series as a way to help new associates build foundational knowledge about our partners. In November Palo Alto Networks hosted a month long series highlighting their strengths, products, and the importance of collaboration. Things kicked off with a session focused on the strength of the WWT and PAN partnership. The milestones we've achieved, like the Global and North American Partner of the Year (2024), WWT Cyber Range investments, and advanced certifications in Prisma Access and XSIAM delivery are all reflections of this strong partnership. The PAN speakers helped breakdown the various strengths and focus points of their platforms. From Strata, Cortex + Prisma Cloud to their Unit 42 team and Precision AI, PAN is ready to meet the needs of WWT's clients. 

 

Securing the Modern Edge+

Hybrid work and cloud adoption are requiring new approaches to connectivity. This is where SASE [Secure Access Service Edge] comes in. This architecture is a convergence of networking and security into a single, cloud delivered platform. Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Access delivers zero trust everywhere, including remote work, branch locations, and access to private apps. This technology stands out for the elegance of its' design, providing SSL/TLS decryption at scale without hardware constraints, unified through Strata Cloud Manager and browser-based security for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and GenAI controls.

These practical and innovative features enable enterprise-grade Data Loss Prevention and AI Access Security to ensure that organizations can embrace flexibility without sacrificing protection. 

 

 

Reinventing Security Operations

While SASE is about securing the edge, Cortex is about transforming the heart of security operations. Today's SOC teams face a growing imbalance between alert volume and available resources to manage them. PAN's Cortex portfolio takes this challenge head-on, collapsing silos and supercharging efficiency with AI-driven automation. XDR offers visibility across endpoints, networks, and clouds. XSOAR orchestrates workflows and automates repetitive tasks. XSIAM unifies it all into a single platform that reduces mean time to detection and remediate from days to minutes. With AI copilots guiding analysts and Agentic automating remediation, security becomes proactive, precise, and scalable. This vision solves the paradoxical problem by doing more with less without compromising resilience. 

 

 

Securing the Next Frontier

We ended our month of PAN with a deeper dive into the hot topic that's reshaping every industry: Artificial Intelligence. AI offers unprecedented innovation while also introducing new risks. With nearly 80% of enterprises adopting AI and only 6% having a viable security framework, this gap is certainly cause for alarm. Prisma AIRS is Palo Alto Networks' solution. This platform is designed to secure AI systems end-to-end. Starting with discovery, AIRS offers organizations visibility into their models, agents, and applications. It moves to assessment, scanning LLMs for vulnerabilities and running automated red teaming to discover weaknesses. Prisma AIRS culminates protection, deploying runtime security through network intercepts or API level integration. It's about more than just blocking threats, it enables trust. By embedding security into the AI lifecycle, Prisma AIRS ensures that innovation doesn't come at the cost of integrity. 

 

The Bigger Picture

Throughout the sessions, the reoccurring theme was this: the future of cybersecurity is integrated, intelligent, and adaptive. Point solutions and manual processes can't keep pace with the complexity of modern threats. What customers need, and what WWT and Palo Alto Networks can deliver, is a holistic approach that combines advanced technology with deep expertise. Cybersecurity is a journey, not a destination. As threats evolve and technologies like AI reshape the enterprise, WWT and Palo Alto Networks remain committed to guiding customers through transformation, securely, efficiently, and at scale.

 

The importance of the partnership between WWT and Palo Alto Networks cannot be emphasized enough. WWT's Associate Academy learned a lot through this month-long engagement and sees the value of this relationship. Ryan Strecker and his colleagues at PAN were able to tailor the conversation to the Academy's level of experience and understanding in a way that was digestible without being overwhelming. The Associate Academy appreciates the time and effort Palo Alto Network's put into teaching about the numerous opportunities and offerings available. 

 

"The WWT Academy sets the gold standard for empowering new sales and engineering talent, and playing a role in their development is easily one of the most fulfilling aspects of our partnership. Witnessing their growth firsthand reinforces the critical importance of mentorship and I really enjoy engaging with the graduates as they move on to field roles." 
- Ryan Strecker, Channel Sales Engineer at Palo Alto Networks

 

About the Author:

I'm Lexi Adkins, a Technical Associate with WWT's Associate Academy. I am based in Denver, CO, but grew up in St. Louis, MO. I hold degrees in both Biology, with an emphasis in biodiversity, and Computer Science. I believe deeply in being a lifelong learner. 
I have three amazing dogs that keep my partner and me very active in the mountains. I am passionate about wildlife conservation and habitat preservation. My current technology-based interests revolve around cybersecurity.