Securing Your Cloud Journey: Palo Alto Networks Solutions for AWS

Table of Contents
Introduction: Enhancing AWS Security with Palo Alto Networks
The migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers organizations unprecedented agility, scalability, and innovation. However, this transition also brings new security challenges and a shared responsibility for protecting data and workloads. While AWS secures the underlying infrastructure of the cloud, customers are responsible for security in the cloud. This includes securing their operating systems, applications, data, and network configurations. The increasing sophistication of cyber threats targeting cloud environments further underscores the necessity for robust, advanced security measures beyond foundational capabilities.
Recognizing this critical need, Palo Alto Networks and AWS have forged a strategic partnership to deliver a broad set of integrated security capabilities. This collaboration is designed to support organizations at every stage of their cloud journey, whether they are just beginning to migrate workloads or are modernizing applications with cloud-native technologies.
Palo Alto Networks is a distinguished AWS partner, holding multiple validated qualifications and competencies. These include the Security ISV Competency, Networking ISV Competency, Containers ISV Competency, DevOps ISV Competency, and Migration and Modernization ISV Competency. Such AWS validations signify a high level of technical proficiency, deep AWS expertise, and proven customer success, offering assurance that these solutions are well-architected for and perform effectively within the AWS ecosystem. This strong alliance aims to empower customers to accelerate their cloud migration initiatives and innovate securely by complementing native AWS security features with advanced, inline, and API-based security offerings.
This page serves as a detailed guide to the comprehensive suite of "Palo Alto AWS" security solutions. It explores how these offerings protect virtual workloads, containers, applications, and data within the AWS environment, directly addressing the needs of organizations looking to fortify their "Palo Alto on AWS" deployments. The focus is on providing clarity and insight into how these advanced security tools can be leveraged to build a resilient and secure cloud presence.
Benefits at a Glance: Palo Alto Networks & AWS Shared Responsibility
Securing your AWS environment is a collaborative effort. While AWS manages the security of the cloud (infrastructure, hardware, software, and facilities), you are responsible for security in the cloud (data, applications, identity, and access management). Palo Alto Networks solutions bridge this gap by offering:
Enhanced Security Automation: Many Palo Alto Networks solutions for AWS are designed with automation at their core, integrating with AWS services to enable "touchless" deployments, dynamic scaling, and automated responses to threats (e.g., via GuardDuty integration or Cortex XSOAR playbooks). This reduces manual effort, ensures consistent security application, and allows security to operate at the speed of the cloud, which is crucial for organizations, especially those with small security teams.
Simplified Shared Responsibility: By providing advanced, application-aware security that complements native AWS tools, Palo Alto Networks helps you fulfill your part of the shared responsibility model more effectively. This includes robust threat prevention, granular visibility, and consistent policy enforcement across your AWS footprint.
Streamlined Operations & Compliance: A unified security portfolio and deep integrations with AWS services (like AWS Firewall Manager, GWLB, TGW) simplify management, reduce complexity, and aid in meeting diverse compliance mandates (PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) within AWS.
Security Tailored to Your Role
Palo Alto Networks solutions on AWS are designed to address the specific needs and pain points of various stakeholders within an organization:
For the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer):
Pain Points: Ensuring comprehensive visibility across a rapidly changing cloud environment, managing a complex threat landscape, demonstrating compliance, controlling costs, and dealing with the "misunderstandings everywhere" regarding shared responsibility and cloud risks.
Palo Alto Networks Value: Provides a unified security platform for consistent policy enforcement, advanced threat prevention to reduce breach risk, tools for achieving and proving compliance (e.g., Prisma Cloud for CSPM), and a clear framework for addressing the customer's side of the shared responsibility model. Solutions help in managing uncontrolled attack surfaces and gaining visibility into potential data loss or exfiltration scenarios.
For the DevOps Lead / Cloud Architect:
Pain Points: Integrating security seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines without slowing down development ("security as a bottleneck"), managing infrastructure as code securely, automating security provisioning and scaling, and dealing with the complexity of hybrid infrastructures and granular security controls across diverse AWS services.
Palo Alto Networks Value: Offers solutions like Cloud NGFW and VM-Series with robust automation capabilities (API, CloudFormation, Terraform support), CN-Series for container security in EKS, and Prisma Cloud for "code-to-cloud" security, embedding security into DevOps workflows (DevSecOps). This helps in addressing challenges like insecure supply chains/pipelines and misconfigurations.
For the Security Architect / Engineer:
Pain Points: Designing and implementing robust security architectures in AWS, ensuring granular control over network traffic (North-South and East-West), managing identity proliferation and excessive entitlements, preventing account hijacking, and responding effectively to incidents.
Palo Alto Networks Value: Provides advanced NGFW capabilities (VM-Series, Cloud NGFW 2) for deep packet inspection and threat prevention, Prisma Cloud for Cloud Workload Protection (CWPP) and Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) 2, and Cortex XSOAR for security orchestration and automated response. These tools help in building a strong defense against data breaches, managing insecure interfaces/APIs, and mitigating insider threats.
Why Palo Alto Networks for Your AWS Security Strategy?
Choosing the right security partner for your AWS environment is crucial. Palo Alto Networks distinguishes itself by offering advanced threat prevention, a unified security portfolio, seamless integration with the AWS ecosystem, and robust support for modern security paradigms like Zero Trust on AWS and compliance mandates. These capabilities are designed not merely to replicate on-premises security in the cloud but to leverage cloud-native functionalities for a more agile, automated, and effective security posture.
Advanced Threat Prevention: Beyond Native AWS Security Capabilities
While AWS provides essential security services such as Security Groups, Network Access Control Lists (NACLs), AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF), and AWS Network Firewall, Palo Alto Networks delivers a more advanced, application-aware security posture.
Native AWS security controls are often port/protocol-centric. In contrast, Palo Alto Networks' platform approach offers granular control through features like App-ID, which identifies thousands of applications irrespective of port, protocol, or encryption, allows the creation of custom application signatures, and enables policy-based management of unknown traffic.
This depth of application visibility and control is a significant step up from traditional network security methods.
Palo Alto Networks solutions are engineered to prevent a wide array of threats, including sophisticated vulnerability exploits, malware, and botnets. This is often achieved through the use of machine learning (ML)-powered engines and inline deep learning capabilities designed to detect and block zero-day threats in real time. The assertion that relying solely on AWS-native security features could be akin to regressing security practices by decades highlights the substantial value addition that Palo Alto Networks brings, particularly for organizations with stringent security requirements or those facing advanced persistent threats.
This advanced protection complements AWS's foundational security, providing a necessary layer of in-depth defense.
A Unified Security Portfolio for Diverse AWS Workloads
Palo Alto Networks offers a comprehensive suite of security solutions tailored for various stages of the cloud journey and diverse types of AWS workloads, including virtual machines (Amazon EC2), containers (Amazon ECR, ECS, EKS), serverless functions (AWS Lambda), and applications. This broad portfolio enables organizations to consolidate their security vendors, resulting in simplified management, reduced complexity, and potentially lower operational costs. This unified approach ensures consistent security policies and visibility across an organization's entire AWS footprint.
Seamless Integration & Automation within the AWS Ecosystem
A hallmark of Palo Alto Networks' AWS strategy is the deep integration of its solutions with a wide array of AWS services. These integrations span services such as AWS Firewall Manager, AWS Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB), AWS Transit Gateway (TGW), AWS Auto Scaling, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Security Hub, and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).
Automation is a cornerstone of this integration, enabling security to be embedded directly into cloud workflows and to scale dynamically in response to changing demands. This supports modern DevSecOps approaches, where security is an integral part of the development and operations lifecycle.
For example, VM-Series virtual firewalls can leverage AWS Auto Scaling for dynamic capacity adjustment and feature automation capabilities that enable "touchless" deployments, adapting security to the speed of the cloud. Similarly, Cloud NGFW for AWS utilizes the AWS Gateway Load Balancer to provide high availability and elasticity, ensuring that security can scale seamlessly with network traffic.
This focus on leveraging AWS-native capabilities allows for a more resilient and agile security posture than simply lifting and shifting traditional security appliances to the cloud.
Achieving Zero Trust on AWS and Meeting Compliance Mandates
Palo Alto Networks solutions are key to implementing Zero Trust security in AWS environments. Built on the principle of “never trust, always verify,” Zero Trust requires strict identity validation, micro-segmentation, and least-privileged access across all workloads and users. Palo Alto’s integrated tools provide the visibility, control, and automation necessary to operationalize this model in dynamic, cloud-native environments, while also helping organizations meet compliance mandates like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR through granular controls and detailed auditability. Enabling Zero Trust in AWS with Palo Alto Networks
Cloud NGFW for AWS enforces least-privileged access and inspects all traffic inline, providing threat prevention and application-aware control aligned to Zero Trust principles.
Prisma Cloud delivers identity- and context-aware workload protection, cloud entitlement management (CIEM), and deep visibility across assets, ensuring access is continuously verified and granted on a need-to-know basis.
The platform supports micro-segmentation and identity-aware policies, allowing teams to move beyond perimeter-based models to secure traffic at every layer within AWS.
Meeting Compliance Requirements in AWS
VM-Series virtual firewalls support segmentation policies using AWS tags, reducing attack surface and aligning with compliance requirements like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR.
Comprehensive logging and audit trail capabilities help organizations satisfy regulator and auditor expectations around traceability, policy enforcement, and incident response.
Data protection and residency controls built into the platform assist in adhering to international data governance standards.
Validated use cases and case studies demonstrate how Palo Alto customers achieve compliance in real-world AWS environments.
Core Palo Alto Networks Security Solutions for AWS
Palo Alto Networks provides a multifaceted suite of security solutions specifically designed for the AWS cloud. These offerings range from advanced Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and managed firewall services to comprehensive cloud-native application protection platforms, catering to diverse security needs across an organization's AWS footprint. Understanding these solutions is key for organizations evaluating "palo alto on aws" or an "aws palo alto firewall."
Table 1: Palo Alto cloud solutions
Solution | Primary function in AWS | Key AWS Integrations | Ideal use Case in AWS |
VM-Series virtual NGFW | Advanced Layer 7 Firewall for VPCs & EC2; Secures North-South & East-West traffic | EC2, VPC, S3, Transit Gateway, Gateway Load Balancer, Auto Scaling, GuardDuty, Security Hub, CloudWatch, IAM, Lambda | Securing VPC perimeters, inter-VPC traffic, hybrid cloud connectivity, and protecting EC2-based applications |
Cloud NGFW for AWS | Managed Layer 7 Firewall service | AWS Firewall Manager, Gateway Load Balancer, VPC, CloudWatch, CloudFormation, Terraform | Simplified NGFW deployment, consistent policy across accounts/VPCs, organizations seeking reduced operational overhead |
Prisma Cloud | Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP): CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, DSPM, App/API Sec | GuardDuty, Inspector, Security Hub, ECR, ECS, EKS, Lambda, CloudTrail, CloudWatch, S3, IAM | Comprehensive code-to-cloud security, posture management, workload protection, vulnerability management, and compliance |
CN-Series Container Firewall | Kubernetes Network Security for Amazon EKS | Amazon EKS, Kubernetes, Panorama | Securing microservices and containerized applications in EKS, Layer 7 visibility within Kubernetes clusters |
Cortex XSOAR | Security Orchestration, Automation & Response (SOAR) | GuardDuty, Security Hub, EC2, S3, IAM, Lambda, and various other AWS services via API | Automating incident response workflows in AWS, streamlining SecOps, and enriching threat intelligence |
VM-Series Virtual Next-Generation Firewall on AWS (The "AWS Palo Alto Firewall")
The VM-Series virtual NGFW is a cornerstone of Palo Alto Networks' offerings for AWS, providing robust security for applications and data hosted in the cloud. It allows organizations to extend their trusted security policies from on-premises environments into AWS, ensuring consistent protection.
Deep Dive: Features and Benefits for Palo Alto on AWS
VM-Series: Granular Control and Threat Prevention for AWS
The VM-Series virtual firewall brings deep visibility and fine-grained control to AWS environments, powered by key Palo Alto Networks technologies:
Key Capabilities
VPC perimeter defense: Deploy at VPC edges to inspect North-South traffic.
Secure inter-VPC traffic: Enable trusted communications between VPCs, often routed through a centralized security VPC.
GlobalProtect gateway: Support secure remote access to AWS-hosted resources.
Flexible Deployment
Key AWS Integrations for the AWS Palo Alto Firewall (VM Series)
The effectiveness of the VM-Series in AWS is significantly enhanced by its deep integration with native AWS services:
AWS Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): This integration allows the VM-Series firewalls to scale dynamically based on traffic load, ensuring that security capacity matches application demand without manual intervention.
AWS Transit Gateway (TGW): The VM-Series can be deployed in a centralized security VPC connected to an AWS Transit Gateway. This architecture allows for the inspection of all traffic flowing between multiple spoke VPCs, as well as between VPCs and on-premises networks, providing scalable and centralized security enforcement. The TGW acts as a network hub, simplifying routing and ensuring that traffic is directed through the VM-Series for inspection.
AWS Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB): Integration with GWLB simplifies the deployment and scaling of VM-Series firewalls by creating a transparent, bump-in-the-wire inspection point for network traffic. This eliminates the need for complex routing changes (like source NAT) on application servers, making it easier to insert security services into the traffic path.
Amazon GuardDuty: The VM-Series can integrate with Amazon GuardDuty, AWS's threat detection service. When GuardDuty identifies potentially malicious activity (e.g., an EC2 instance communicating with a known malicious IP), it can trigger an AWS Lambda function that automatically updates a dynamic address group on the VM-Series firewall. This, in turn, enforces a policy to block traffic from or to the identified malicious entity, streamlining the response from detection to prevention.
AWS Security Hub: Findings from the VM-Series can be aggregated in AWS Security Hub, providing a consolidated view of security alerts from various AWS services and third-party tools in a single pane of glass.
Amazon CloudWatch: VM-Series firewalls can send logs and metrics to Amazon CloudWatch, enabling comprehensive monitoring of firewall health, performance, and traffic patterns.
Panorama: Palo Alto Networks Panorama provides centralized network security management for VM-Series firewalls deployed on AWS, alongside physical and other virtual firewalls. This allows for consistent policy enforcement, configuration management, and reporting across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Common Use Cases
Securing North-South Traffic: Protecting VPCs from internet-borne threats (ingress) and controlling outbound traffic (egress) to prevent data exfiltration and communication with malicious destinations.
Securing East-West Traffic: Inspecting traffic between different VPCs (inter-VPC) or between subnets and applications within the same VPC (intra-VPC), often utilizing TGW or GWLB designs for centralized inspection.
Protecting EC2 Instances and Applications: Applying granular security policies to safeguard applications and data hosted on EC2 instances.
Hybrid Cloud Security: Establishing secure, encrypted connections (e.g., IPSec VPNs) between on-premises data centers and AWS VPCs, with consistent security policy enforcement.
GlobalProtect Remote Access: Deploying VM-Series as GlobalProtect gateways to provide secure network access for remote users connecting to resources within AWS.
Cloud NGFW for AWS: Simplified, Managed Next-Generation Security
Cloud NGFW for AWS is a fully managed, cloud-native firewall service built on Palo Alto Networks’ PAN-OS software. It brings the same trusted security stack from physical and virtual appliances directly into the AWS ecosystem, without the operational overhead.
Core Capabilities
Advanced URL Filtering: Leverages machine learning to detect and block malicious web traffic instantly—even if the threat is previously unknown.
Zero Infrastructure Maintenance: Palo Alto Networks and AWS fully manage deployment, updates, scaling, and availability. No infrastructure to maintain means teams focus on securing, not administering.
Elastic Scalability & High Availability: Integrated with AWS Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) to auto-scale based on demand—ensuring performance resilience without manual intervention.
Deep AWS Integration
Infrastructure as Code & Automation: Supports AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, and REST APIs for full-stack automation. Embed security into CI/CD pipelines and IaC workflows to align with agile DevSecOps practices.
Panorama Integration: Extend centralized management to Cloud NGFW via Panorama, ensuring consistent policy enforcement across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is a comprehensive Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) that secures applications, data, and infrastructure throughout their entire lifecycle on AWS. Built for modern DevSecOps environments, it goes beyond traditional network perimeters to embed security across development, deployment, and runtime—enabling continuous visibility, prevention-first protection, and risk-based decision-making.Core Capabilities: Full-Stack CNAPP Coverage
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
Integrates via AWS onboarding (using CloudFormation Templates) to ingest metadata and activity logs from AWS services like CloudTrail and CloudWatch.
Supports compliance mapping and remediation aligned with frameworks such as CIS Benchmarks, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and custom enterprise policies.
Available as a managed service through AWS Marketplace, offering expert monitoring and posture improvement.
Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)
Secures hosts (EC2), containers (EKS, ECS, ECR), and serverless workloads (Lambda) from build to runtime.
Offers agentless scanning for vulnerabilities, as well as agent-based runtime protection for deep behavioral analysis.
Prioritizes and remediates OS, app, and container image vulnerabilities with risk scoring.
Enforces image trust policies and integrates into CI/CD pipelines for pre-deployment controls.
Delivers runtime detection of malware, exploits, and lateral movement attempts.
Supports continuous compliance checks across environments using prebuilt templates.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)
Deep AWS Integration
Prisma Cloud natively integrates with key AWS services to enhance visibility and contextual threat detection:
CN-Series: Containerized NGFW for Amazon EKS Security
As organizations adopt containers and Kubernetes to modernize application delivery, securing these environments becomes critical. CN-Series by Palo Alto Networks is a containerized Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) purpose-built for Kubernetes platforms, including Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).Key Capabilities: Protecting Kubernetes Workloads on AWS
Granular Traffic Segmentation: Enables enforcement between pods, namespaces, clusters, and across ingress/egress points—without disrupting the dynamic nature of Kubernetes.
Dynamic Security Scaling: Scales protection automatically with application growth and Kubernetes scaling, ensuring consistent coverage in rapidly changing environments.
Flexible Deployment Options: Deploy as either a Kubernetes DaemonSet or service on Amazon EKS, based on your operational model. CN-Series is also available via AWS Marketplace.
Centralized Management with Panorama: Uses a Kubernetes-specific plugin in Panorama to extend consistent security policies across CN-Series, VM-Series, and physical NGFWs in a hybrid or multi-cloud model.
Resource Planning: EKS clusters must allocate sufficient CPU and memory to run CN-NGFW (data plane) and CN-MGMT (control plane) components efficiently.
Configuration Process: Deployment involves applying YAML files via kubectl to create service accounts, ConfigMaps, secrets, and CN-Series pods within the cluster.
Automation Support: Palo Alto Networks offers community-supported Helm charts and Terraform modules to streamline deployment and manage lifecycle updates within IaC pipelines.
Cortex XSOAR: Automating Security Operations and Incident Response in AWS
Automated, Scalable Incident Response
Automates repetitive tasks, like isolating EC2 instances, blocking malicious IPs, or notifying stakeholders—without manual intervention.
Ideal for organizations with small security teams managing large or dynamic AWS workloads.
Consolidates case management, incident tracking, threat intelligence, and response orchestration in a single platform.
Promotes real-time collaboration among analysts and responders with built-in workflows and playbooks.
Integration with AWS Native Services
Example: When GuardDuty detects anomalous behavior on an EC2 instance, XSOAR can automatically enrich the alert, assess impact using threat feeds, and execute a playbook to isolate the instance, update firewall policies, and create a case for analyst review—all within seconds.
The scale and fluidity of AWS environments make manual security response both inefficient and prone to error. Cortex XSOAR reflects Palo Alto Networks’ broader approach to automation across the AWS stack:
Cortex XSOAR: Converts AWS security telemetry into fast, coordinated responses.
Successfully deploying Palo Alto Networks in AWS requires more than standing up firewalls—it demands an intentional architecture that leverages both Palo Alto’s capabilities and AWS-native constructs. From centralized inspection models to infrastructure-as-code automation, a well-architected approach ensures performance, scalability, and security consistency.Key Design Principles
Centralized Security Services VPC
• Deploy VM-Series firewalls in a dedicated Security VPC, integrated with AWS Transit Gateway (TGW).
• Route traffic from application VPCs, on-premises networks, and internet gateways through this security VPC for inline inspection.
• Use Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) to horizontally scale the VM-Series instances behind a single entry point.
• Centralized routing simplifies management and ensures consistent policy enforcement across environments.
Integration with AWS Native Services
• Use GWLB for transparent traffic steering and seamless scale-out.
• Leverage AWS Auto Scaling for performance-based scaling of VM-Series instances.
• Use AWS Firewall Manager for centralized policy orchestration with Cloud NGFW for AWS.
High Availability
• VM-Series: Deploy across multiple Availability Zones with PAN-OS HA or load balancer-based redundancy.
• Cloud NGFW: Delivered as a fully managed service with built-in high availability and resilience.
Least Privilege Access
• Use IAM roles to control access for Palo Alto components. Avoid using root credentials for automation or daily operations.
• Scope permissions to the minimum required for security functions.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
• Use Terraform or AWS CloudFormation to deploy and maintain VM-Series and other Palo Alto assets.
• Palo Alto provides validated Terraform modules and reference architectures to accelerate adoption and standardize deployments.
Logging & Monitoring
• Integrate with:
• AWS CloudTrail (API logging)
• Amazon CloudWatch (metrics, logs)
• Cortex Data Lake or Panorama (centralized visibility and analytics)
• Align logging configurations with compliance, audit, and performance monitoring needs.
Best Practices for Securing AWS VPCs
Segmentation
• Use VM-Series or Cloud NGFW for micro-segmentation (within VPCs) and macro-segmentation (between VPCs).
• Enforce policies using App-ID and User-ID to gain granular control based on application and user context.
Defense in Depth
• Combine Palo Alto NGFW threat prevention with AWS Security Groups and Network ACLs.
• Allow permissive rules at the perimeter for inspection, then apply detailed enforcement policies within the Palo Alto stack.
Route Table Management
• Carefully configure VPC route tables to direct traffic through inspection points (e.g., VM-Series or GWLB endpoints).
• Consider routing for:
• North-South traffic (internet ingress/egress)
• East-West traffic (inter-VPC or intra-VPC communication)
Site-to-Site VPN Configuration
• Use IPSec VPN with IKEv2 and BGP for dynamic, fault-tolerant tunnels between on-prem and AWS.
• Terminate on Transit Gateway or Virtual Private Gateway, depending on design.
Policy Reviews & Continuous Improvement
• Regularly audit firewall rules, IAM policies, and system health using:
• Panorama
• Prisma Cloud
• AWS Config
• Perform scheduled security reviews and update policies based on new threats and business requirements.
Deployment Considerations for VM-Series in AWS
Amazon Machine Image (AMI): Select the appropriate PAN-OS version and model (e.g., VM-300, VM-500) from AWS Marketplace.
Instance Sizing: Match EC2 instance type to traffic throughput and session requirements. Allocate EBS for logs and operating system.
Network Interfaces (ENIs): Plan for multiple interfaces (e.g., mgmt, trust, untrust, HA) across appropriate subnets.
Bootstrapping & Automation: Use Panorama for centralized config and bootstrap S3 buckets for automated VM provisioning.
Reference Architectures
Integration of Palo VM Series with AWS Load Balancer
Summary: Build Securely, Operate Intelligently
A successful AWS deployment using Palo Alto Networks solutions isn’t just about placing firewalls in the cloud—it’s about deeply integrating security into your AWS infrastructure. This means aligning traffic flow, automation, policy management, and visibility into a cohesive architecture designed for scale, performance, and compliance.
When you leverage Palo Alto’s validated designs and tools like Terraform, GWLB, and Panorama—with the expertise to implement them—you create a cloud security framework that is resilient, efficient, and ready for the dynamic nature of modern workloads.
Maximize Your Palo Alto Investment with Intelligent Visibility: Your AWS Security Partner
While Palo Alto Networks provides a powerful and comprehensive suite of security solutions for AWS, unlocking their full potential and ensuring they are optimally configured, managed, and integrated requires deep expertise. Intelligent Visibility (IVI) specializes in helping organizations maximize their Palo Alto Networks investments, extending the value of these deployments specifically within the complex and dynamic AWS environment. As a dedicated AWS security partner, IVI understands the nuances of both Palo Alto Networks technologies and the AWS cloud. The complexity inherent in managing advanced security tools across diverse AWS services and architectures creates a significant need for specialized knowledge, a gap that Intelligent Visibility is expertly positioned to fill.
How Intelligent Visibility Extends the Value of Your Palo Alto Networks Deployment in AWS:
Intelligent Visibility translates the advanced capabilities of Palo Alto Networks solutions into tangible security outcomes and business value for clients operating in AWS. This is achieved by focusing on several key areas, mirroring the broader value propositions of IVI but tailored to the specifics of the AWS cloud:
Optimizing "Palo Alto AWS" Deployments: IVI ensures that your Palo Alto Networks solutions—whether VM-Series, Cloud NGFW for AWS, Prisma Cloud, or CN-Series—are architected and configured according to both Palo Alto Networks and AWS best practices. This focus on optimal configuration maximizes security effectiveness and operational performance.
Expert Management for Palo Alto on AWS Solutions: The day-to-day operational burden of managing sophisticated security infrastructure within AWS can be substantial. IVI's Aegis managed services can offload this responsibility, providing expert monitoring, management, and maintenance of your Palo Alto Networks security components, freeing up your internal teams to focus on core business initiatives.
Seamless Integration of Palo Alto in AWS Environments: Effective cloud security relies on seamless integration. IVI possesses deep expertise in integrating Palo Alto Networks solutions not only with each other but also with the broader AWS ecosystem (including services like AWS Transit Gateway, Gateway Load Balancer, Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon EKS, AWS Security Hub) and your organization's existing security tools and workflows.
Strengthened Security Posture in AWS: By leveraging IVI's specialized knowledge and experience, organizations can achieve a more robust, resilient, and proactive security posture in their AWS environments. This includes better threat detection, faster response times, and a reduced attack surface.
Stronger ROI from AWS Palo Alto Firewalls and Cloud Security: Investments in advanced security tools like those from Palo Alto Networks are significant. IVI helps ensure these investments deliver measurable security outcomes and business value, leading to a stronger return on investment by preventing costly breaches, ensuring compliance, and enabling secure business operations in the cloud. This transforms the engagement from a simple technical implementation to a strategic partnership focused on achieving better security outcomes and maximizing the value of technology investments.
IVI Services Tailored for Palo Alto Networks on AWS:
Intelligent Visibility offers a range of services specifically designed to support organizations utilizing Palo Alto Networks solutions in their AWS environments:
Professional Services:
Architecture & Design: IVI's experts collaborate with your team to design optimal security architectures tailored to your specific AWS environment and business requirements. This includes planning for centralized security VPCs, GWLB integration strategies, Prisma Cloud onboarding and configuration, and secure EKS designs with CN-Series.
Deployment & Migration: IVI provides hands-on assistance with the deployment of new Palo Alto Networks solutions in AWS (VM-Series, Cloud NGFW, Prisma Cloud, CN-Series) or the migration of existing on-premises Palo Alto Networks deployments to the AWS cloud, ensuring a smooth and secure transition.
Optimization: For existing deployments, IVI can conduct thorough reviews and implement optimizations to fine-tune security policies, configurations, and integrations. This ensures your Palo Alto Networks solutions are operating at peak performance and providing maximum security effectiveness.
Health Checks: IVI offers comprehensive health checks to assess the current state of your Palo Alto Networks deployments in AWS, identifying potential misconfigurations, security gaps, or areas for improvement against established best practices.
Co-Managed Services (Aegis PM for AWS)
For organizations that prefer a collaborative approach, IVI's Aegis co-managed services provide ongoing operational support, monitoring, and management for Palo Alto Networks solutions in AWS. This service works as an extension of your internal team, providing specialized expertise and augmenting your existing capabilities.
Ready to enhance your AWS security with Palo Alto Networks, expertly guided by Intelligent Visibility? Learn more about our comprehensive Palo Alto Networks services at Palo Alto + Intelligent Visibility or contact us today for a consultation.
5 Key Questions to Ask Before Deploying Palo Alto Networks Solutions on AWS
Before embarking on your Palo Alto Networks deployment in AWS, consider these critical questions to ensure a successful and secure implementation:
What are our primary security objectives in AWS? (e.g., protecting specific workloads, securing internet ingress/egress, enabling secure remote access, achieving compliance for specific data, securing containerized applications). Clearly defining objectives will guide solution selection and architecture.
Which Palo Alto Networks solution (VM-Series, Cloud NGFW, Prisma Cloud, CN-Series) best aligns with our operational model, technical expertise, and specific use cases? Consider factors like management overhead, desired feature set (e.g., VPN termination, advanced routing), and integration with existing tools like Panorama or AWS Firewall Manager.
How will we integrate Palo Alto Networks security into our existing AWS networking fabric? (e.g., Will we use a centralized security VPC with Transit Gateway and Gateway Load Balancer? How will routing be handled? How will we ensure high availability and scalability?). Planning your AWS cloud security architecture is crucial.
What is our strategy for identity and access management (IAM) and achieving Zero Trust principles within AWS using Palo Alto Networks tools? How will we manage user access, enforce least privilege, and segment workloads effectively?
How will we manage, monitor, and automate our Palo Alto Networks security posture in AWS on an ongoing basis? Consider logging, alerting, integration with SIEM/SOAR (like Cortex XSOAR), and the use of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for consistent deployments and updates.
Answering these questions thoroughly will help you build a robust, effective, and manageable security posture with Palo Alto Networks on AWS.
Secure Your Cloud With Confidence
Cloud security is complex—but with the right technology and expertise, it doesn’t have to be.
Palo Alto Networks offers a comprehensive suite of solutions built to protect every layer of your AWS environment. From network security with VM-Series and Cloud NGFW, to full lifecycle protection with Prisma Cloud and container security with CN-Series, their platform delivers:
• Advanced threat prevention beyond native AWS controls
• Deep visibility across workloads, identities, and data
• Unified policy management and automation
• Seamless integration with AWS services and Zero Trust frameworks
Whether you’re migrating legacy apps or building cloud-native services, Palo Alto Networks equips you with a security foundation that scales with your business.
Intelligent Visibility brings the expertise to make it all work. We help design, deploy, and manage Palo Alto Networks solutions to ensure your AWS cloud is secure, resilient, and ready for what’s next.
Let’s secure your cloud—together.
Contact Intelligent Visibility to build the right strategy for your AWS environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best Palo Alto Networks solutions for securing AWS environments?
Palo Alto Networks offers several purpose-built solutions for AWS security, including VM-Series virtual firewalls, Cloud NGFW (a managed firewall service), Prisma Cloud for full-stack protection, CN-Series for containerized Kubernetes environments, and Cortex XSOAR for automated incident response. These tools provide advanced threat prevention, automation, and deep integration with AWS services to strengthen cloud security
How does Palo Alto Networks enhance the AWS shared responsibility model?
While AWS secures the infrastructure of the cloud, customers are responsible for securing their data, apps, and network configurations. Palo Alto Networks complements native AWS security with advanced features like Layer 7 inspection, automated threat response, and identity-aware segmentation—helping customers meet their responsibilities more effectively.
What’s the difference between VM-Series and Cloud NGFW for AWS?
The VM-Series is ideal for organizations needing full PAN-OS functionality and deep control over routing, VPNs, or advanced customization. Cloud NGFW for AWS, on the other hand, is a fully managed service designed for simplicity, scalability, and rapid deployment—perfect for teams prioritizing ease of use and reduced operational overhead.
How does Prisma Cloud secure AWS applications from code to cloud?
Prisma Cloud provides Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) capabilities, including CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, and DSPM. It integrates with AWS services like CloudTrail, GuardDuty, and Lambda to offer real-time visibility, risk prioritization, and compliance enforcement—securing the entire DevSecOps lifecycle.
Why should I partner with Intelligent Visibility for Palo Alto Networks on AWS?
Intelligent Visibility brings deep AWS and Palo Alto Networks expertise to the table. We help design, deploy, and optimize your cloud security architecture—ensuring best-practice implementation, automation, and long-term resilience. With services from strategic planning to co-managed operations, we help you get the most out of your security investments.