Forrester Names Palo Alto Networks a Leader in XDR

With Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Is Recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Forrester Wave for Extended Detection and Response Platforms

Since our founder, Nir Zuk, first coined the term “extended detection and response” nearly 6 years ago, we have been on a mission to make XDR the foundation of modern security operations. Security operations teams play a vital role in safeguarding their organizations against cyberthreats, yet many fall behind their adversaries in a sea of alerts and complex security products. XDR platforms enable analysts to cut through the noise with automatic attack behavior detection and precise guidance for remediation.

Today, we are excited to announce that Cortex XDR has been recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Platforms, Q2 2024, with several acknowledgments:

• Commitment to Disruption – Evident from our monetary investment in R&D and continuous delivery of quality features.
• Empowering Analysts – To detect and respond effectively.
• Enhancements – Centered on enabling more platform features and analytics for identity and cloud.

Being named a Leader in this Forrester Wave affirms for us the success that security operations teams have achieved with our Cortex platform and our continued commitment to helping customers stay ahead of the cyberthreats they face. To all the customers who have trusted Cortex XDR with their organization's defense, thank you for your commitment and partnership.

Read the Full Report

The Forrester Wave for Extended Detection and Response Platforms

The Forrester Wave is an evaluation intended to help buyers make informed decisions on technology products. The analysts at Forrester assess each vendor for the strength of their offering, strategy and market presence. The evaluation itself is a thorough analysis of each of these areas, coupled with a product demonstration and firsthand testimonials from reference customers.

Each area of the evaluation receives a score, allowing customers to evaluate individual criteria quantitatively and compare these results between vendors. Cortex XDR received the top score possible: 5 out of 5, in a majority of the criteria evaluated. Forrester describes a score of 5 as “Superior relative to others in this evaluation.” A few areas are worth highlighting among the rest:

• Vision (5/5) – Our vision for Cortex XDR is to set the foundation of SecOps transformation, leading with a prevention-first approach to security at the endpoint, owning the accountability for detection and response with AI-driven analytics, and enabling consolidation to a single platform for the SOC.
• AI & Machine Learning (5/5) – Cortex XDR uses thousands of machine learning models for threat prevention, detection, user and entity risk scoring, as well as incident prioritization applied to data from all integrated sources.
• Endpoint Protection (5/5) – Cortex XDR manages prevention, detection and response from a single console, with out-of-the-box prevention profiles that deliver immediate protection against advanced threats.
• Innovation (5/5) – Our approach to innovation for Cortex XDR is grounded in a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of security operations, resulting in continuous advancements that enable customers to outpace their adversaries.
• Additional Detection Surfaces (5/5) – Cortex XDR ingests, normalizes and runs analytics on a wide range of first-party and third-party telemetry for detection, from network security products, cloud providers, identity systems and many others.

Cortex XDR also received a score of 5/5 in the following areas: response, threat hunting, administrative controls, analyst experience, deployment model, training and community.

Why We Believe XDR Is a Foundation for Modern Security Operations

Its company vision – a world where each day is more secure than the one before – aligns with its product vision, a prevention-first approach and empowering analysts to detect and respond effectively.

—The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection And Response Platforms, Q2 2024

For those struggling to keep up with the pace of threats, false positives and product integration in the SOC, we understand how overwhelming the job can be. Practitioners may often feel like they’re always behind, but we're here to offer support. Our vision for Cortex XDR represents a complete paradigm shift from this reality.

First, we take a prevention-first approach to endpoint security, so we can ensure the highest level of protection against every possible attack vector. By relentlessly tracking and anticipating adversary techniques, we build protections that enable customers to thwart the vast majority of attack scenarios before they can gain a foothold in their organization.

The SOC can then use Cortex XDR as a central point of visibility, detection and response, incorporating data from endpoints, network firewalls, cloud security, identity providers and other third-party sources. We take responsibility for tracking attack behavior across the globe and training our machine learning models, so customers can detect attacks at machine speed. Both our prevention and detection analytics were tested in the latest MITRE Engenuity evaluation, where Cortex XDR delivered 100% prevention and detection with no configuration changes.

With XDR, the SOC has a comprehensive view of the entire attack narrative and its root cause for precise remediation. The impact is significant – real-time analysis of data at a scale beyond human capacity, with AI identifying threats. This represents a transformational advancement in security.

Finally, we believe that Cortex XDR is the foundation of the modern SOC, on which customers can add use cases tailored to their organization's requirements. This includes orchestration and automated responses with our XSOAR capabilities, and attack surface management with Xpanse. All of which are fully integrated within our AI-driven platform – Cortex XSIAM.

The Cortex Revolution

Embarking on this journey with Cortex is a proven path for exceptional results – accelerating detection to machine speed and reducing response from days to mere minutes. This is the capability the SOC should possess today, and it's achievable with Cortex XDR as its foundation. Customers who want to augment their teams can call upon our trained XMDR partners or tap into our Unit 42 experts through our managed detection and response (MDR) service.

We are truly honored by the recognition as a Leader in this Forrester Wave for XDR, and our dedication to delivering the utmost security outcomes for our customers remains unwavering.

Download your complimentary copy today and read The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection And Response Platforms, Q2 2024.