Palo Alto's new PAN-OS 6.1 expands cloud security support for AWS

Palo Alto Networks has updated the PAN-OS – the operating system of its enterprise security platform. The new PAN-OS version 6.1 includes Palo Alto’s VM-Series of virtual next-generation firewalls on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace and functionality for the Palo Alto’s WildFire threat protection offering.

The latest PAN-OS 6.1 updates - specifically to the Palo Alto Networks VM-Series - address cloud security needs and let organisations automatically apply next-generation security policies to new virtual machines as they are created.

In addition to the AWS platform, the Palo Alto Networks VM-Series also supports Kernel-based Virtual machine (KVM), VMWare, Citrix and Ubuntu hypervisors.

“Cloud computing has revolutionised the datacentre, but not without raising concerns about protecting applications and data in a virtual environment. With the recent updates to PAN-OS, Palo Alto Networks has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to bringing the same next-generation security capabilities available from our physical products to customers interested in deploying public, private or hybrid cloud infrastructures,” said Lee Klarich, senior vice president of product management, Palo Alto Networks.

PAN-OS 6.1 also includes new capabilities for WildFire, allowing for on-premise malware signature creation within the WF-500 appliance. This new capability provides a local option for organisations that are unable to send files to a public threat intelligence cloud for policy or regulation purposes. WildFire also now offers faster protection capabilities, delivering protections for newly discovered threats in as little as 15 minutes via the public cloud and five minutes for the WF-500 private cloud.

In addition, the company has announced the availability of the PA-3060, a new hardware model designed for mid-range datacentre environments.