Palo Alto Networks, Accenture Team to Secure Generative AI

Palo Alto Networks and Accenture have expanded their longstanding strategic alliance with new offerings for secure AI adoption.

The new offerings will combine Precision AI technology from Palo Alto Networks' and Accenture’s secure generative AI services. The companies are working together to help organizations work toward a secure AI future through intentional design, deployment and use of AI that creates value, while also improving cybersecurity outcomes.

Cross-platform offers will include: securing generative AI builds; discovery and exposure management; proactive threat detection and prevention; and responsible AI practices.

Palo Alto Networks Partners Benefit from Innovation

Kristy Friedrichs, Palo Alto Networks’ senior vice president and chief partnerships officer, said her company’s partners benefit from continued innovation and expansion of capabilities and products, including all of the Precision AI products it recently announced.

Palo Alto Networks' Kristy Friedrichs

“With these announcements, we are better able to protect and defend our customers in an expanded threat landscape,” she said. “The strengthened alliance we are announcing with Accenture will allow us to pair our AI solutions with Accenture services to secure the full environment for our customers and increase the velocity at which AI is adopted in the enterprise. Accenture and Palo Alto Networks often work with channel partners to deliver and finance our offerings, and in these relationships, our partners will benefit from expanded value creation for the customers.”

Most companies are now using generative AI to improve their operations and better serve their customers, Friedrichs said. The use of gen AI creates two main challenges for CIOs and CISOs. Those include understanding the extent of gen AI application usage within the organization; ensuring adherence to policies and managing risk; and securing the building of new generative AI applications throughout the life cycle. 

“Our joint offerings, combining the significant AI and security expertise from both Accenture and Palo Alto Networks, will help customers solve both challenges,” she said. “The discovery and exposure management offering enables organizations to identify the extent of GenAI usage − both sanctioned and unsanctioned − in the existing environment, highlighting risk areas and developing controls to mitigate risk. The threat detection and prevention offering will help secure the client’s environment by identifying and blocking AI-generated attacks, safeguarding data with policy controls across applications and users, and proactively addressing AI-specific threats.  Finally, we will also help secure AI build efforts throughout the data and AI lifecycle - from ingesting, storing and processing data, to model training and deployment leading to data analysis and visualization.”

More to Come from Partnership

Friedrichs touts Palo Alto Networks' platform as having more than 10 years of experience using AI to fight threats. Accenture has deep experience serving its customers across the full data and AI life cycle.

“As rapidly as gen AI has evolved and grown in importance, we will also continue to evolve our approach in serving our customers through this partnership,” she said. “Accenture and Palo Alto Networks will continue to innovate together to meet the evolving needs of our customers in a highly complex world.”

“Gen AI is being adopted by companies across industries as the No. 1 lever for reinvention,” said Karthik Narain, group chief executive of technology at Accenture. “It is also a moment of reinvention for cybersecurity — creating new risks, but also providing new tools. Accenture and Palo Alto Networks are helping clients confidently navigate each phase of their AI journey, ensuring cybersecurity is prioritized right from the outset."