IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks recently announced that they will expand their strategic partnership to enable clients to strengthen their end-to-end security postures and navigate evolving security threats. Palo Alto Networks will be in a select group of strategic IBM Consulting partners, and IBM Consulting will be a premier security services partner for Palo Alto Networks.
As part of this relationship, the companies will jointly offer enhanced security solutions delivered by IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Services, integrating Palo Alto Networks security technologies. And the expanded partnership will initially focus on two key areas: helping companies modernize their security operations and securing cloud transformations.
The first new offering will combine IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Services expertise with the Palo Alto Networks Cortex platform to provide clients with autonomous and advanced managed security operations.
This offering will utilize multiple layers of advanced AI and automation from IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks technologies. Specifically, IBM Consulting’s Threat Detection and Response Services will be jointly offered with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSIAM, an AI-driven security operations platform for the modern SOC designed to simplify security operations, help stop threats at scale, and accelerate incident remediation. And Cortex XSIAM’s latest capability allows customers to add their custom AI models on the Cortex data lake and the existing 1,300+ models.
As part of this service, IBM Consulting will provide 24×7 monitoring, investigation, and automated remediation of security alerts along with resources to drive continuous improvement around cyber threat intelligence, threat hunting capabilities, and cyber risk reduction. And IBM will also help clients design, build, and modernize their security operations centers. IBM Consulting has already trained its sales, technical support, and delivery teams on Cortex XSIAM and will continue with additional training over the coming months to further accelerate client success.
These two companies will accelerate clients’ journey to the cloud by leveraging Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks and IBM Consulting services, providing customized services that include holistic security posture assessment, developing secure applications, implementation, and ongoing protection and investigation services. And Prisma Cloud protects the entire cloud-native application lifecycle – from Code to Cloud, helping to identify risks and remediate them before they reach production environments.
Prisma Cloud fosters engineering and security team collaboration with a shared understanding of securing applications and maximizing their performance. This joint offering will build on IBM Consulting’s strong ecosystem approach, working closely with industry-leading partners to help companies secure their hybrid cloud transformation.
Organizations will have access to IBM Consulting’s wide breadth and depth of expertise across cloud and enterprise application security and the option for tailored education and training programs. This news builds on the recent announcement that IBM X-Force partnered with Palo Alto Networks to complement its industry-leading capabilities with the Cortex product portfolio.
KEY QUOTES:
“With cloud, data, and technology serving as the lifeblood of most businesses today, cybersecurity threats now represent an existential risk to organizations’ core operating models – making it crucial for security leaders to work together for the good of our mutual clients. Our relationship with Palo Alto Networks as a select strategic partner is a testament to IBM’s open and collaborative approach to cybersecurity. By bringing together best-of-breed AI, security technology, and consulting expertise from both companies, we can help clients create a strong security program that can adapt and scale with future threats.”
— Mohamad Ali, Chief Operating Officer of IBM Consulting
“The speed and scale of threats are accelerating, with many attackers exfiltrating data in less than 24 hours from the initial compromise of an organization. Organizations today need the right cybersecurity partners to keep up with the pace of the ever-changing threat landscape. We are thrilled to expand our longstanding partnership with IBM to help our joint clients mitigate risk and protect critical data assets with industry-leading, AI-powered solutions, cloud security, and services.”
— BJ Jenkins, President of Palo Alto Networks
