Why should enterprises consider Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager?

I’ve been working in the Network Security space for over 20 years now, and over that time I’ve worked with a plethora of different employers and customers, which means I’ve been exposed to a vast array of network security technologies. When I look back, I remember having lots of operational and design challenges due to the complexity of the customers network, where they had multi-vendor security deployments, so managing and defending the network was incredibly challenging because there were so many tools, UI’s and interfaces that were needed to perform day-to-day operational tasks.

Network Security Today is Overly Complex, and Fragmented

For many enterprises today, managing network security remains overly complex and they have ended up with lots of different security stacks and tools, siloed data, inconsistent security policies across multiple locations that need protection. Which leads to a very manual and intricate operational environment. Network security teams are facing an increasingly challenging threat landscape where attacks are getting more powerful and more sophisticated due to attackers using AI.

 So what was Palo Alto Networks solution brief?

Palo Alto Networks vision was to create one platform, one security stack, one user experience, and one security policy. This is what is meant by an enterprise-wide zero trust platform. That allows Network Security Teams to :

• Get complete view into their network.
• Configure and write consistent policy for all security enforcement points from one place.
• Find gaps in security policies proactively and address them.
• Predict operational disruptions and fix them proactively, before an outage occurs.

Introduction to Strata Cloud Manager

Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager is the industry’s first AI-powered unified management and operations solution. It simplifies network security by unifying the management of all PANW security products into a single interface, strengthening security in real-time across all enforcement points and proactively preventing disruptions

Strata Cloud Manager empowers security teams to:

Gain Complete Visibility Across Your Network Security Estate: Achieve real-time, comprehensive visibility of your entire network security landscape including the most critical threats that need attention through a unified interface.

Enable Simple and Consistent Network Security Lifecycle Management: Manage configurations and policies consistently across all enforcement points - including SASE, hardware and software firewalls - from one interface to ensure consistency with automated processes for onboarding, operations, and device refresh and improve operational efficiency. 

Strengthen Security Posture in Real-Time: Leverage AI-powered analysis to detect, resolve, and optimise policy anomalies. Improve your security posture with integrated best practice recommendations and maintain compliance with industry and infosec standards. 

Proactively Resolve Network Disruptions and Enhance User Experience: Predict, diagnose and resolve network health issues– such as user experience problems, capacity bottlenecks, and service connection issues–up to 7 days in advance with predictive analytics and ensure smooth operations.

Instant Knowledge at Your Fingertips to Resolve Issues Fast: Quickly find, understand, and address security and operational challenges before they escalate, streamlining network security management and operations. Strata Copilot, an AI-powered assistant with a natural language interface, provides immediate access to the full depth of the Strata Network Security platform and insights from your environment at your fingertips

How Does Strata Cloud Manager Work

Strata Cloud manger (SCM) collects rich telemetry from all Palo Alto Security enforcement points including Hardware firewalls, Software firewalls, Cloud NGFW and SASE. As more and more telemetry is collected by SCM it's used to predict and prevent network disruptions and quickly remediates issues, so that you and your users can continue day-to-day business and stay productive.

1. Collection of rich telemetry from all network security enforcement points
2. Predictive analytics to proactively prevent operational disruptions
3. Perform Best practice analysis to strengthen security
4. Manage your entire estate and take action on health and security alerts Write once enforced everywhere