Ep. 85 Cyber Security is National Security

Most listeners have heard of Palo Alto Networks. Today, we bring in Eric Trexler to give us an overview of what the venerable Palo Alto Networks has developed to help federal agencies reach their goals.

Eric started his career as a U.S. Ranger and has held leadership positions in many companies. He has chosen to work for Palo Alto Networks because he views it as the largest cybersecurity company in the world. From Eric’s perspective, he views it as the one company that can make a significant difference in protecting federal assets.

He reflects on the thousands of point solution vendors he saw at the last RSA conference. Each one may have a valid solution to a specific challenge. The problem is that most large organizations may have between 40 and 120 products, all trying to work together. If you must add constant updates to these point solutions, it makes integration almost impossible.

The same problem was faced by the information technology community with platforms; Eric suggests that there is a strategic advantage to having integration baked in before ever seeing a system.

Automation is key in managing the challenges of running a safe Security Operations Center (SOC). Eric gives an example of the efficiency that can be accomplished with SOC management by referencing Palo Alto Networks. By using a platform approach, Palo Alto Networks SOC can be managed by ten people. This is amazing when you realize that Palo Alto Networks has acquired seventeen companies in the last four years – remarkable consolidation.

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