Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

ICS/OT

Palo Alto Networks Releases New Rugged Firewall

Palo Alto Networks on Tuesday announced that it has updated its PAN-OS operating system and released a new next-generation firewall designed for use in industrial and other harsh environments.

Palo Alto Networks on Tuesday announced that it has updated its PAN-OS operating system and released a new next-generation firewall designed for use in industrial and other harsh environments.

The new PA-220R is a ruggedized NGFW that can be used by various types of organizations, including power plants, utility substations, oil and gas facilities, manufacturing plants, and healthcare organizations. During beta testing, the product was also used for railway systems, defense infrastructure, and even amusement parks.

Palo Alto Networks PA-220R rugged firewall

The PA-220R is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, vibration, humidity, dust, and electromagnetic interference.

Palo Alto Networks said the product works with various industrial applications and protocols, including OSIsoft PI, Siemens S7, Modbus, DNP3, and IEC 60870-5-104.

“For early-engagement customers and many of our expected users of the PA-220R, the situation is that they have industrial assets in harsh environments that have been modernized or are being modernized as part of their OT digital transformation initiatives,” explained Del Rodillas, director of industrial cybersecurity product marketing at Palo Alto Networks. “In many of these initiatives, the automation piece is cutting-edge, but the provisions for cybersecurity are lagging, leaving these organizations exposed.”

“As additional motivation for the security upgrade, some harsh-environment remote sites have grown in complexity and require local segmentation to improve visibility and control over local traffic. There are also use cases which require direct site-to-site connectivity instead of requiring users to go up through SCADA first in order to get to other sites,” Rodillas added.

The PA-220R firewall runs Palo Alto Networks’ PAN-OS operating system, which the company updated to version 8.1 this week.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

According to Palo Alto Networks, PAN-OS 8.1 brings many improvements, including simplified implementation of application-based security policies, streamlined decryption of SSL traffic, better performance thanks to new hardware, new management features, and enhanced threat detection and prevention.

Related: Critical Flaws Found in Palo Alto Networks Security Platform

Related: Palo Alto Networks Unveils Big Product Updates, New Firewalls

Related: Palo Alto Networks Acquires Breach Detection Startup LightCyber

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join security experts as they discuss ZTNA’s untapped potential to both reduce cyber risk and empower the business.

Register

Join Microsoft and Finite State for a webinar that will introduce a new strategy for securing the software supply chain.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Identity & Access

Zero trust is not a replacement for identity and access management (IAM), but is the extension of IAM principles from people to everyone and...

Cybersecurity Funding

Network security provider Corsa Security last week announced that it has raised $10 million from Roadmap Capital. To date, the company has raised $50...

Network Security

Attack surface management is nothing short of a complete methodology for providing effective cybersecurity. It doesn’t seek to protect everything, but concentrates on areas...

ICS/OT

The overall effect of current global geopolitical conditions is that nation states have a greater incentive to target the ICS/OT of critical industries, while...

Identity & Access

Hackers rarely hack in anymore. They log in using stolen, weak, default, or otherwise compromised credentials. That’s why it’s so critical to break the...

CISO Strategy

Cybersecurity-related risk is a top concern, so boards need to know they have the proper oversight in place. Even as first-timers, successful CISOs make...

Cyberwarfare

Websites of German airports, administration bodies and banks were hit by DDoS attacks attributed to Russian hacker group Killnet

Network Security

NSA publishes guidance to help system administrators identify and mitigate cyber risks associated with transitioning to IPv6.