Palo Alto Networks: Remote working is here to stay, and so is cloud

Accept that some things are going to change and are going to change permanently. This was a key takeaway from a virtual event titled Resilient Leadership in Challenging Times, organised as part of the Trans-Tasman Business Circle Series.

There should be short, medium and long-term scenario planning for resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic affecting countries around the world, said the Right Honourable Sir John Key, Director, Palo Alto Networks, putting the timeframes at around four weeks, six months and 18 months respectively.

“Every business has to make decisions about what's unprofitable,” said Sir John, who is a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and former Leader of the New Zealand National Party. “We're never going to operate like this forever, this is not sustainable.”

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora said secure remote working is becoming the norm, with Palo Alto Networks setting up enabling infrastructure in 48 hours for customers in some cases. “We're all going to learn this new way of working, which is remote working,” he said.

Sir John agreed, saying that more traditional companies which may be “resistant to using technology to the full extent” are discovering that online calls can be hugely productive. Such companies would have flown people to a specific destination for face-to-face meetings in the past.

“For some of these really traditional companies, we're not going to see a wholesale change, (but there is a lot that they) could be doing through Zoom calls...it's more efficient,” he said.

Arora shared two trends in security, the first being that companies are going to the cloud. “We expect that the cloud transformation will accelerate as people are realising they can't scale their business right now... We think they are going to consolidate their spend on better brands and platforms.”

More consolidated platform-like solutions are going to be in demand, he predicted. “We see ourselves as a consolidated platform company so hopefully we should weather the storm,” he said. “We are doubling down on product development. We are planning more money and more resources to deliver on these trends.”

“Once you don't innovate, there will be a new generation of companies which innovate and take your place,” he warned.

Remote working is the second trend, he said. “We expect people won't be coming into the office five days a week any more,” Arora said. “We are going to be videoconferencing for a long time. Thankfully the world has enough bandwidth to make that happen."

“The biggest thing you can do is to have a remote security capability that allows you to scale to the size of your organisation. Make sure you have a solution that is robust, that will pass the test of time and the test of hackers,” he added.

The hacker threat is high when some 100,000 domain names have been registered with 'coronavirus', 'cure', or 'vaccine' in their names, he warned. “These are phishing scams. They're trying to steal your credentials.”

Ongoing COVID-related threats uncovered by the Palo Alto Networks threat intelligence team, Unit 42, include ransomware and infostealers that are targeting healthcare and research organisations as well as manufacturers.

In the short term, Arora suggested that businesses make sure employees have a secure way of being able to access applications and data. “Make sure you get a solution that is easy to deploy and maintain,” he said. “Don't try to jerry-rig your way into this. Hackers have been hacking remote access for a long time.”

Features to look for include a reputable vendor, scalability, high availability, and low latency, he advised.

In the medium term, businesses have to rearchitect themselves. They are used to high-bandwidth networks at the office, but homes lack the same high-speed connections. “In the medium term, rethink your architecture. Go with a simple solution that solves the problem for you,” he suggested.

Decision-makers need to know that security is key, and should not be added after the fact. “The knowledge of executives goes up exponentially when you get breached,” he observed. “Please don't wait for that, that's not a good way to find the answer.

“Cybersecurity always feels like a cost, like insurance, unless you have an accident - then you are happy that you have insurance and you're protected. And I will say this, you will have an accident.

"Cybersecurity has gone from a hobby to a profession. We will all get hacked, I have been hacked multiple times personally despite being careful...just make sure you have the right insurance in place, just be proactive about it, because finding out the wrong way is expensive.”