Security News
Palo Alto Networks To Tackle Security’s ‘Hard Problems’ With Generative AI: CPO Lee Klarich
Kyle Alspach
In an interview with CRN, Klarich says the cybersecurity giant’s use of the technology will go beyond some of the ‘superficial’ applications of generative AI in security that we’ve seen so far.
Klarich On The Record
Generative AI may be spreading rapidly throughout the cybersecurity industry, but not every AI-focused security vendor has played their hand just yet. Cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, for instance, has not been among those to rush out new capabilities powered by large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 — despite the company’s heavy focus on using AI/ML in its products over the years. And that is very intentional, according to Lee Klarich, the company’s chief product officer. Palo Alto Networks sees a “critical role” for generative AI in cyber defense in the future, and is taking the time it needs to bring the technology into its product portfolio in a way that addresses some of cybersecurity’s toughest problems, Klarich said in an interview with CRN at the RSA Conference 2023.
In other words, Palo Alto Networks’ use of generative AI technology will go far beyond what we’ve seen so far in security, Klarich said. “I think that right now, what you’re seeing is a very superficial application of it — which is interesting for demos, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the real hard problems,” he told CRN. “That is where the real value will come in. What we’re doing is looking at, what are those hard problems we want to go solve? How do we architecturally approach that and leverage these new AI technologies to help us get there?”
Additionally, it’s worth keeping in mind that Palo Alto Networks is “providing security for enterprises, which have very high standards for quality,” Klarich said. “You can’t just take an LLM, out of the box, slap it on something and say, ‘Here you go.’”
During the interview, the Palo Alto Networks CPO also discussed why having abundant data is so essential for generative AI; why product consolidation in cybersecurity will be increasingly critical going forward; and what makes the company’s Cortex XSIAM (extended security intelligence and automation management) offering so different from SIEM (security information and event management) technology.
What follows is an edited portion of CRN’s interview with Klarich during RSAC 2023, which took place in San Francisco in late April.
