Google Cloud Security Summit: Partnerships with CrowdStrike, Zscaler, Palo Alto on Full Display

At its annual security conference, Google Cloud emphasized the need for simplicity via convergence to improve both cybersecurity and privacy.

Google Cloud announced new solutions aimed at “reimagining” cybersecurity through convergence. The new solutions include:

Sunil Potti, Google Cloud’s general manager and vice president of cloud security, said since Google Cloud Next in April, the threat landscape continues to evolve and become more dangerous.

Google Cloud's Sunil Potti

“We have seen increasing risk from information-stealing malware … credential abuse management, as well as common capabilities across the surface area of security, reaching into even privacy concerns,” he said. “And we've seen continued evidence of how challenging it is to secure widely deployed legacy systems … in a highly reliable fashion. So to truly make a functional impact, as we've covered in previous sessions, we need to reimagine how we deliver as much security as possible while dialing down the level of complexity.”

Google Cloud Focused On Simplicity

There is a “virtuous” connection between security and simplicity that needs to be unlocked, Potti said.

“The simpler things are, the more effective we can manifest security and privacy,” he said. “And so we need to rethink security and simplicity as not distinct things, but as two sides of the same coin. So instead of increasing complexity by adding new products every time a new threat or a new requirement emerges, simplicity comes from… actually adding advanced security, and tools and capabilities into form factors that already exist in a non-invasive fashion.”

At the heart of Google Cloud’s approach to cybersecurity and simplicity is bringing convergence because it “increases simplicity and as a result, enables us to be more secure," Potti said.

“And this principle is the cornerstone of Google's security strategy,” he said. “Starting with security operations, the notion of a modern SecOps platform doesn't just replace a legacy security information and event management (SIEM) with a new SIEM because that would be a lost opportunity. But in fact, our approach significantly uplevels an organization's capability to both reactively and proactively detect and respond to emerging threats via our intentional convergence of SIEM, security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) and attack surface management, all infused with applied threat intelligence and AI.”

Convergence in Cloud Security

Similarly in cloud security, Google Cloud's strategy includes going beyond CNAPP, converging silos across posture and identity, and also leveraging threat intelligence and virtual red-teaming capabilities to take a proactive approach to cloud security, Potti said.

“And of course, on the frontline services where we are best in class, we all know the importance of up-to-date threat intelligence, but some of the strongest and most relevant intelligence comes from … human expertise at the point of incident response alongside red teaming and threat hunting,” he said. “And lastly, we've all been on a journey to look at a new approach to endpoint management because threat vectors continue to emerge there, so an approach that is both non-invasive, leveraging existing real estate globally while providing a level of effectiveness globally.”

Chrome Enterprise Premium activates hundreds of millions of devices to deliver new endpoint threat detection, data protection, data trust and many more capabilities all in place, Potti said.

“In the heart of what I would call the revolution or reimagination of security is net new constructs that power this convergence with structurally different things powered by AI and technology infrastructure (TI) as the two yin-and-yangs at the core kernel of our product strategy,” he said. “Having been on this journey for many years now, we also realize that no vendor can go it alone. And in fact, convergence needs to structurally happen across partner services from the get-go versus as a superficial set of integrations. So working with partners towards the same security outcomes unlocks a significant set of outcomes across a much larger surface area. But we have to do this intentionally… to retain the simplicity aspect because you have to do this across cloud and on-premises deployments, across multiple platforms, endpoints, operating systems, networks and, of course, do it in such a way that the user experience… is preserved in convergence, while still bringing out the best-in-class aspects across these leading security products and services.”

Google Cloud and CrowdStrike

During Google Cloud’s Security Summit, Daniel Bernard, CrowdStrike’s chief business officer, said his company’s customers wanted help in securing their usage of Google Cloud, and “this is where our partnership with Google began, with organizations wanting to deploy Falcon Cloud Security in their Google Cloud environments.”

CrowdStrike's Daniel Bernard

“Today, we support over 10 different Google Cloud products and services, securing them, but also allowing data from the Falcon platform to be ingested into Google SecOps, as well as allowing Google data to come back into the Falcon platform,” he said. “Today, the Falcon platform is the platform of choice for Google's incident responders, helping Mandiant respond to breaches faster using the Falcon platform.”

CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is also a core part of Google's Mandiant Managed Defense managed service to help organizations manage cybersecurity in a “much more seamless way than before,” Bernard said.

“In addition, we work together with customers all around the world on (Google) Marketplace, where all Falcon platform offerings are available for Google customers to purchase,” he said. “Whether they're purchasing for the first time and learning about CrowdStrike through Google Marketplace, or they're upselling new modules or renewing, Google Marketplace is there for them to secure their Google usage.”

Google Cloud and Zscaler

Punit Minocha, Zscaler’s executive vice president of business and corporate development, said his company and Google share a “strong” zero trust vision.

“From both of our perspectives, simplicity is key,” he said. “The way for enterprises to be successful with zero trust security requires convergence. To that point, in today's modern world of work, the endpoint has evolved. Work is happening in the browser, and for hundreds of millions of business users, that browser is Chrome. With that ubiquity, Zscaler and Chrome Enterprise browser are in a unique position to bring the right set of capabilities to customers in a footprint that already exists in their environments.”

The integration with Google Chrome browser allows Zscaler to receive telemetry signals from Chrome to verify a device's security posture, improve threat detection and make informed access control decisions, Minocha said.

“And our integration enables organizations to detect the web browser on the unmanaged device so that only Chrome will be utilized for access to these sensitive private applications,” he said. “That means no need for VPNs and no need to add yet another browser or another security vendor to your security stack. It's simple and based on the technologies that you use today.”

In addition, Google and Zscaler have other areas of collaboration, Minocha said.

“We announced our ability to offer Zscaler's data protection to Google Workspace,” he said. “We are taking security telemetry and insights from Zscaler into our Google SeCops platform.”

Google Cloud and Palo Alto Networks

Also during Google Cloud’s Security Summit, Anand Oswal, Palo Alto Networks’ senior vice president and general manager, said together with Google Cloud, “we’re helping organizations keep a competitive edge by safely adopting AI technology.”

Google Cloud Next Generation Firewall Enterprise powered by Palo Alto Networks can be managed and deployed through the cloud, and includes “extensive threat prevention capabilities essential for securing and doing business in the cloud,” he said.

“Palo Alto Networks’ AI Runtime Security secures the next generation of applications being built by our customers,” Oswal said. “These AI-infused applications come with a brand-new AI stack, which also opens up a new set of AI-specific and foundational threats. [AI Runtime Security] is now available on Google Cloud for our customers using Vertex AI, giving you simple and easy security for your AI application deployments.”

Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud also partner on secure design architectures to help Google Cloud customers adopt AI safely, he said.

“In an increasingly complex world, the role of cybersecurity has never been more important,” Oswal said. “We integrate deeply with Google to give our customers a seamless experience with leading cybersecurity protections, while also staying ahead of the threat landscape.”