Palo Alto Networks Launches Frontier AI Critical Defense Program to Shield Infrastructure at AI Speed

A collaboration of leading technology providers to protect critical infrastructure against the rapid rise of AI-discovered vulnerabilities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) today announced the Frontier AI Critical Defense Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to protect critical infrastructure from AI-driven exploits. Through the program, leaders across operational technology (OT), healthcare, commercial software and open-source communities coordinate with Palo Alto Networks to deploy proactive "virtual patches,” neutralizing vulnerabilities at the network-level before attackers can exploit them.

Palo Alto Networks recently used Frontier AI models to uncover more than 14,000 previously unknown vulnerabilities in open source software, underscoring how AI could enable threat actors to automate cyberattacks and shrink attack timelines. Yet, critical infrastructure operators, constrained by strict uptime and safety testing, cannot patch at AI speed. This mismatch creates a significant exposure gap, leaving essential systems vulnerable long before software fixes can be safely deployed.

​​True defense at AI speed requires joint action. This program builds on our existing collaborations with IBM and Red Hat (as part of Lightwell), Microsoft (as part of MAPP) and OT leaders like Siemens and the Idaho National Laboratory (as part of the OT Threat Research Lab).

Today, the collaboration is expanding to include Anthropic, OpenAI, OT leaders like Mitsubishi and Axis Communications, industry consortiums for sharing risk information like Analysis and Resilience Center for Systemic Risk and Health-ISAC, OT research organizations like the independent, non-profit Energy R&D Institute (EPRI) and OSS initiatives like Akrites (an initiative from the Linux Foundation).

Palo Alto Networks Frontier Virtual Patching puts these insights into action to deliver proactive protection for joint customers. By combining Frontier AI threat discovery with trusted vulnerability intelligence, it delivers rapid network-level patches while safeguarding sensitive vulnerability details from attackers.

Lee Klarich, Chief Product Officer, Palo Alto Networks, “In the age of Frontier AI, the traditional, reactive race to build and deploy software patches before adversaries exploit a flaw is a losing battle. Protecting critical infrastructure requires a structural shift from isolated patching to collective, proactive intelligence. Through initiatives like our Frontier AI Critical Defense Program, we can neutralize threats at the network layer before they are weaponized.”

Help safeguard critical infrastructure by joining the expanding Frontier AI Critical Defense Program, today. Visit the website to learn more on how to get involved, or explore Palo Alto Networks broader Frontier AI Defense Initiative.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global AI cybersecurity leader, protects our digital way of life with a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity solutions and platforms across Network, Cloud, Security Operations, AI and Identity. Trusted by 70,000+ customers and powered by Unit 42 threat intelligence, our AI-driven platforms eliminate complexity, empowering enterprises to modernize with confidence and securing the speed of innovation. Explore the future of security at www.paloaltonetworks.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to Palo Alto Networks that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation, statements regarding the benefits, impact, or performance or potential benefits, impact or performance of Palo Alto Networks products, technologies, and integrations or future products, technologies, and integrations. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and there are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this release. Palo Alto Networks identifies certain important risks and uncertainties that could affect its results and performance in its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time-to-time, each of which are available on Palo Alto Networks' website at investors.paloaltonetworks.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements in this release regarding Palo Alto Networks are based on information available to Palo Alto Networks as of the date hereof, and Palo Alto Networks does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

IBM, Red Hat, and Palo Alto Networks Expand Project Lightwell to Help Organizations Respond to Software Vulnerabilities

• Collaboration combines vulnerability discovery, virtual patching and software remediation to help organizations reduce the time between vulnerability discovery and protection.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Red Hat today announced a collaboration to help organizations identify vulnerabilities early and deploy protections fast across open source software, commercial applications, operational technology (OT) and healthcare technologies. By integrating Palo Alto Networks Virtual Patching capability with Project Lightwell from IBM and Red Hat, the collaboration combines rapid network-level protection with software remediation to help organizations reduce exposure to emerging threats.

AI has supercharged vulnerability discovery, enabling flaws to be identified at unprecedented speed and scale. AI-driven threats can uncover security gaps across codebases far faster than defenders can patch them, exposing organizations to systemic supply-chain risks.

Nikesh Arora, CEO and Chairman of Palo Alto Networks

AI has compressed the window between vulnerability discovery and exploit from weeks to minutes. Traditional patching cannot keep pace. By collaborating with IBM and Red Hat, we are shifting the advantage back to defenders. This powerful combination allows us to neutralize threats in the network while providing uninterrupted business continuity for our global clients.

Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM

IBM established Project Lightwell to secure the open-source software foundation that enterprises rely on every day. By collaborating with Palo Alto Networks, we are extending that security from the source code directly to the network front lines. This joint solution gives our clients exactly what they need to thrive in the AI era: immediate, automated resilience against emerging threats, combined with the rigorous validation required to safely update their core systems.

A Seamless "Shield-and-Fix" Workflow

The collaboration connects IBM and Red Hat’s $5 billion commitment to open-source security via Project Lightwell with Palo Alto Networks’ security platform. This creates a dual-action defense: Palo Alto Networks rapidly deploys a virtual patch at the network layer to block exploit attempts, while IBM and Red Hat’s Project Lightwell offer remediation software for open-source software that customers can test and deploy in their environment.

The collaboration combines vulnerability intelligence, software remediation and network-based protection to help organizations respond quickly to newly discovered vulnerabilities. Key capabilities include:

• Broader Vulnerability Coverage: Protection across open-source software, commercial applications, operational technology (OT) environments and connected devices.
• Preemptive Coverage: Organizations can receive virtual patch protection before official software patches become available, helping reduce exposure while remediation is underway.
• Rapid Protection: When a new vulnerability is discovered, network-level protections can be deployed the same day, with a long-term goal of reducing the time from validated discovery to protection.

The companies also plan to establish secure processes for sharing vulnerability information across participating software vendors, technology providers and security teams. This collaboration is expected to support coordinated vulnerability disclosure, accelerate protection development and provide anonymized telemetry on real-world exploitation attempts.

Expert Deployment via IBM Consulting

To help organizations respond more effectively to newly discovered vulnerabilities, IBM Security Services can also provide advisory and deployment services that help customers identify which vulnerabilities pose the greatest risk to their business and determine the best path to remediation. Working alongside Palo Alto Networks' virtual patching capabilities and Project Lightwell's software remediation capabilities, IBM Security Services can help customers prioritize, deploy and validate protections and fixes across complex environments.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global AI cybersecurity leader, protects our digital way of life with a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity solutions and platforms across Network, Cloud, Security Operations, AI and Identity. Trusted by 70,000+ customers and powered by Unit 42 threat intelligence, our AI-driven platforms eliminate complexity, empowering enterprises to modernize with confidence and securing the speed of innovation. Explore the future of security at www.paloaltonetworks.com.

Palo Alto Networks, Prisma, Prisma AIRS, Idira and the Palo Alto Networks logo are trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names, or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. Any unreleased services or features (and any services or features not generally available to customers) referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available (or are not yet generally available to customers) and may not be delivered when expected or at all. Customers who purchase Palo Alto Networks applications should make their purchase decisions based on services and features currently generally available.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

About Red Hat

Red Hat is the open hybrid cloud technology leader, delivering a trusted, consistent, and comprehensive foundation for transformative IT innovation and AI applications. Its portfolio of cloud, developer, AI, Linux, automation and application platform technologies enables any application, anywhere—from the datacenter to the edge. As the world's leading provider of enterprise open-source software solutions, Red Hat invests in open ecosystems and communities to solve tomorrow's IT challenges. Collaborating with partners and customers, Red Hat helps them build, connect, automate, secure, and manage their IT environments, supported by consulting services and award-winning training and certification offerings.

Wipro Expands Palo Alto Networks Partnership With Cortex XSIAM and CybershieldSM to Deliver AI‑powered Cyber Defense

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading AI-powered technology services and consulting company, announced the expansion of its partnership with Palo Alto Networks, the global AI cybersecurity leader, to offer AI-driven Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services.

The partnership brings together Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XSIAM with CyberShieldSM, Wipro’s managed security services capabilities in a more focused offering for modern security operations. The new offering will deliver proactive cyber defense with simplified workflows using machine learning, AI, and automation to predict and protect against future attacks. It will enable faster detection and response across complex environments, while filtering signals from noise, improving analyst efficiency, and increasing focus on critical, high-impact threats.

This offering is supported by Wipro’s WEGA and WINGS, AI delivery platforms that are a part of Wipro Intelligence™, suite of AI-powered platforms, solutions, and transformative offerings for workflow orchestration, service transition, and automation at scale across security operations.

“As organizations navigate a rapidly evolving landscape marked by accelerated AI adoption, the need for robust governance and strategic cost management has never been greater,” said Satish Yadavalli, Global Business Head - Cloud, Infrastructure, and Security Services, Wipro Limited. “Together with Palo Alto Networks, we are able to transform security operations through AI, automation, and platform consolidation, strengthening organizations’ security environments while optimizing costs and improving outputs.”

The expanded relationship builds on an existing foundation with Palo Alto Networks across cloud, network and security transformation, and reflects growing demand from clients for more integrated, AI-led security operations.

“AI-manufactured attacks require an AI-powered defense, and our partnership with Wipro helps deliver just that,” said Simone Gammeri, Senior Vice President and Chief Partnership Officer at Palo Alto Networks. “Our combined capabilities empower mutual customers to consolidate tools, eliminate data silos, and leverage AI and automation to reduce noise, accelerate response from days to minutes, and ultimately stop even the most sophisticated threats.”

The MDR services are delivered through Wipro’s eight Cyber Defense Centers (CDCs), anchored by the proprietary SOC GURU (Grand Unified Runbook Unleashed) framework—a unique IP that drives SOC transformation through attack- and alert-agnostic analysis. This unified, adaptive approach is designed to strengthen threat detection and response while supporting more resilient security operations.

This approach is already reflected in a recent engagement with a European gaming and entertainment leader, where Wipro and Palo Alto Networks helped transform security operations in a complex enterprise environment to deliver improved productivity, accelerated response, and reduced costs.





About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading AI-powered technology services and consulting company focused on building innovative solutions that address clients’ most complex digital transformation needs. Leveraging our consulting-led approach and the Wipro Intelligence™ unified suite of AI-powered platforms, solutions and transformative offerings, we help clients realize their boldest ambitions to build intelligent and sustainable businesses. The Wipro Innovation Network–part of the Wipro Intelligence™ suite–underpins our commitment to client-centric co-innovation and co-creation by bringing together capabilities from the innovation labs and partner labs, academia, and global tech communities. With over 240,000 employees and business partners across 65 countries, we deliver on the promise of helping our customers, colleagues, and communities thrive in an ever-changing world. For additional information, visit us at www.wipro.com.

Palo Alto Networks Completes Acquisition of Koi to Secure the Agentic Endpoint

Palo Alto Networks® (NASDAQ: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Koi. With this acquisition, Palo Alto Networks defines a new category of protection: Agentic Endpoint Security (AES). Koi's unique solution to securing vibe coding agents and autonomous endpoint tools comes as the industry reaches an inflection point of agentic adoption.

The rapid adoption of tools like Claude Code and OpenClaw are driving incredible productivity gains, which will be critical to countering the security challenges posed by the latest AI models. But these agentic tools themselves have also greatly expanded the endpoint attack surface. By integrating Koi’s technology with Prisma® AIRS™, Palo Alto Networks will extend visibility and security to agentic AI on the endpoint, offering a single control plane to secure enterprise-wide AI adoption with AES. In addition, this acquisition enables Palo Alto Networks to introduce a new module for Cortex XDR® to identify and remediate risks within the AI software ecosystem. Koi’s capabilities will also remain available as a standalone offering, allowing every customer to benefit from industry leading agentic endpoint security capabilities alongside their existing EDR solutions.

Lee Klarich, Chief Product & Technology Officer of Palo Alto Networks, said:

Agentic AI presents tremendous opportunity for the enterprise, yet they create a new attack surface that traditional security tools were not built to detect. These agents operate with access to critical systems and sensitive data, creating the ultimate insider threat. With the acquisition of Koi, we are delivering the only solution I’ve seen to secure vibe coding and agentic AI at the endpoint, so our customers don’t have to choose between innovation and security.

Amit Assaraf, CEO and Co-Founder of Koi, said:

By joining Palo Alto Networks, we will be able to provide our customers with the most comprehensive solution for securing all AI and software on the endpoint, and across the enterprise. Together, we are establishing Agentic Endpoint Security as the new imperative, giving our customers the secure foundation they need to lead in an AI-native world.

Learn more about how Palo Alto Networks will integrate Koi into its solutions. 

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global AI cybersecurity leader, protects our digital way of life with a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity solutions and platforms across Network, Cloud, Security Operations, AI and Identity. Trusted by 70,000+ customers and powered by Unit 42 threat intelligence, our AI-driven platforms eliminate complexity, empowering enterprises to modernize with confidence and securing the speed of innovation. Explore the future of security at www.paloaltonetworks.com.

Palo Alto Networks, Cortex, Cortex XDR, Prisma AIRS and the Palo Alto Networks logo are trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names, or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

Palo Alto Networks Buys Cybersecurity Company LightCyber for $105M in Cash

Palo Alto Networks® (NYSE: PANW), the next-generation security company, today announced its acquisition of LightCyber®, a privately held cybersecurity company that has developed award-winning, highly automated and accurate behavioral analytics technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Palo Alto Networks has acquired LightCyber for $105 million in cash.

Recognized by Gartner in two recent market guides, LightCyber has been leading the industry in the development of automated behavioral analytics capabilities, using sophisticated machine learning to quickly, efficiently and accurately identify attacks based on identifying behavioral anomalies inside the network.

Palo Alto Networks will continue to offer the LightCyber products and support existing customer implementations while it engineers the technology into the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform by the end of the calendar year. Bringing behavioral analytics to the platform will enhance its automated threat prevention capabilities and the ability for customer organizations to prevent cyber breaches throughout the entire attack life cycle.

“The LightCyber team’s vision to bring automation and machine learning to bear in addressing the very difficult task of identifying otherwise undetected and often very sophisticated attacks inside the network is well-aligned with our platform approach. This technology will complement the existing automated threat prevention capabilities of our platform to help organizations not only improve but also scale their security protections to prevent cyber breaches,” said Mark McLaughlin, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks.

“Palo Alto Networks has been driving a paradigm shift in the security industry with its natively engineered and highly automated Next-Generation Security Platform designed to change the equation in how organizations prevent cyber breaches. We are pleased to join the Palo Alto Networks team, combining our technology innovations and accelerating adoption of behavioral analytics to help organizations bolster their defenses against the advanced and sophisticated adversaries they are facing today," said Gonen Fink, CEO of LightCyber

Automated Attack Behavior Analytics Enhances Breach Prevention

According to a report by the Ponemon Institute**, when attackers successfully find their way into a network, there is an industry average dwell time of approximately five months to discover their activity. During that time, an advanced attacker can initiate command and control, lateral movement, and data exfiltration. This kind of dwell time and advancement in the attack lifecycle can lead to extensive damage and loss of confidential data.

Common approaches to this problem include third-party, log-based collection and analysis tools that are often error-prone, limited in visibility, lack important context, are labor- intensive, require a data scientist to investigate false positives and tune for accurate outcomes, and lack enforcement capabilities.

To address these challenges, reduce attacker dwell time, minimize damage done and prevent breaches, the LightCyber technology employs highly accurate and automated machine learning techniques to analyze user and entity activity and then identifies and protects against anomalous activities that are indicative of an active attack.

This behavioral attack detection capability complements the existing protections delivered by the Palo Alto Networks platform to help security team members focus on only the most meaningful alerts and improve the time to breach response and prevention.

Image : Mark McLaughlin, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks