Xpertex

Palo Alto Cloud NGFW and VM-Series Next Generation Firewall

Virtualized ML-Powered NGFWs match best-in-class security with cloud speed, agility and scale. Get simple and best-in-class network security for public clouds, private clouds, virtual branches, and critical infrastructure.
We use unique approaches that combine dynamic/static analysis, innovative machine learning (AI) and advanced analysis techniquest to detect and prevent cyber threats.

Features

• Next-Generation Firewall with Advanced Threat Prevention
• App-ID: Comprehensive application visibility across all network ports.
• Device/User-ID: Identify devices, users, and groups for policy enforcement.
• Automated Cloud NGFW for AWS dynamically scales with network traffic
• Content-ID: Detect and manage files traversing the network.
• Advanced URL Filtering: ML-powered URL filtering with malware detection.
• DNS Security: Detect threats and anomalies in DNS traffic.
• GlobalProtect: Extend NGFW policies to remote endpoints securely.
• Deployable in any public or private cloud environment.
• SD-WAN capabilities

Benefits

• Proactively detect and block zero-day malware, reducing security risks.
• Consolidate diverse security services into one cost-effective, scalable platform.
• Economical solution suitable for environments of any size.
• Flexible, policy-based access control tailored to diverse user needs.
• Detect and prevent cyber-attacks with proactive security measures.
• Detailed threat analysis and reporting for informed decision-making.
• Monitor application usage, users, and data for enhanced security.
• Optimise productivity by enabling appropriate applications during work hours.
• Prevent unauthorised data transfer, reducing the risk of data breaches.
• Automated protection shields against evolving cyber threats.

£2,000 an instance

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at louise.carter@xpertex.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

420877458362782

Contact

Louise Carter
08450341412
louise.carter@xpertex.com

Service scope

• Service constraints: N/A
• System requirements:
  • VMware ESXi, NSX Orchestration with vRealize Orchestrator and OpenStack.
  • KVM (Centos, Ubuntu)
  • Orchestration with vRealize Orchestrator and OpenStack
  • For Hardware: Racking, Power, Cabling etc.
  • Panorama/Strata Cloud Manager Data Lake instance

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Our support is available round-the-clock, every day of the year (24/7/365), ensuring assistance whenever you need it most. We pride ourselves on our swift response times, tailored to the urgency of your issues:; ; Critical Priority: Guaranteed response time of less than one hour.; High Priority: Issues addressed within two hours to ensure prompt resolution.; Medium Priority: Attention within four hours, balancing urgency and efficiency.; Low Priority: Response within eight business hours, demonstrating our commitment to comprehensive support.; Our service level agreements (SLAs) remain consistent throughout the week, including weekends and public holidays, ensuring reliable assistance whenever you require it.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 A
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 A
• Web chat accessibility testing: No the opportunity has not come up to at time of writing.
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: We provide a technical account manager and a support engineer depending on the incident. ; ; Priority 1 (Critical) Issue: Complete system/service outage. All or multiple systems inoperable or overall service not available or severely impaired. Business Impact: Immediate – Customer’s ability to perform business activity critically impaired for all users. ; Target Response: 60 mins ; Target Recovery: 4 hours; ; Priority 2 (Urgent); ; Issue: Partial system/service outage. Performance of systems/service degraded.; ; Business Impact: Immediate - Customer’s ability to perform; ; business activity impaired or reduced for multiple users.; ; Target Response: 60 mins ; Target Recovery: 8 hours; ; Priority 3 (Normal) Issue: Non-system/service affecting incident. Loss of resilience/redundancy. Single user issues. Business Impact: Immediate impact limited to one user – Customer able to perform business activity, performance via unaffected users. Target Response: 60 mins ; Target Recovery: 16 hours; ; Priority 4 (Routine); ; Issue: Single user issue. General enhancements/changes to the system(s)/Services. Routine system administration activities.; ; Business Impact: No immediate impact – Customer’s ability to; ; perform business activity unaffected.; ; Target Response: 60 mins ; Target Recovery: No fixed term
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Palo Alto Networks offers comprehensive support to help users start using our service efficiently. We provide both on-site and online training sessions tailored to the specific needs of our users, ensuring they have the knowledge and skills necessary to leverage our offerings effectively.; ; In addition to training sessions, we offer publicly accessible user documentation covering everything from initial setup to ongoing maintenance and usage, including detailed guides on how to utilize the API for advanced configuration and automation.; ; For organisations seeking rapid onboarding, we offer Professional Services in the form of "Quickstart" packages. These packages are designed to expedite the onboarding process, providing expert guidance and support to ensure a smooth transition to our service.; ; Furthermore, our Strata Cloud Manager offering provides operational health and configuration health analysis, ensuring that operators are deploying correctly against best practices and extracting maximum value from our service. This feature enhances operational efficiency and helps users maintain a healthy and optimised environment.; ; Overall, our goal is to empower users with the resources and support they need to start using our service confidently and efficiently, whether through training, comprehensive documentation, or personalised professional services
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Users have the ability to extract their data when the contract ends to ensure compliance and continuity. Palo Alto Networks facilitates the export of all customer data, allowing users to retain ownership and control over their information.; ; For cloud data held by Palo Alto Networks on an organisation/tenant, users can initiate the export and deletion process by contacting Palo Alto Networks support. Our support team will assist users in securely exporting their data, ensuring a smooth transition and compliance with data protection regulations.; ; In the event that users do not initiate the export process, Palo Alto Networks automatically purges the data after 90 days following the cessation of the contract(s). This automated process helps to ensure data security and privacy, mitigating the risk of unauthorized access or retention of sensitive information.
• End-of-contract process: At the conclusion of the contract, the organisation retains ownership of the VM-Series firewall licences along with the data stored on them. They have the autonomy to manage the disposal of these licences in alignment with their internal policies and procedures.; ; For hardware appliances, the organisation holds the authority to determine the disposal method. Palo Alto Networks does not intervene in this decision-making process, allowing organisations to choose the most suitable disposal approach based on their specific needs and requirements.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: The web interface serves as the primary tool for accessing and managing our service. Users can set up the service through the web interface by accessing either the dedicated management interface or enabling web management capabilities on a traffic-processing (dataplane) interface. This interface facilitates various tasks, including initial setup, system and network configuration, supporting objects configuration, security policy creation, and monitoring/reporting.; ; Users can make changes seamlessly through the web interface, enabling them to adapt configurations as needed. Additionally, a role-based access control mechanism is available for administrators to tailor access permissions, restricting certain users or roles to specific configuration functions or views. Overall, our web interface provides a user-friendly platform for efficient setup, configuration, and management of our service, with the flexibility to adapt to diverse user requirements.
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 A
• Web interface accessibility testing: The opportunity has not arisen yet.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: The XML API offers extensive functionality for configuring, operating, and monitoring the platform programmatically. The management CLI and Web UI are clients of the XML API itself, this design approach ensures that any action or function available in those modes are also available in the XML API.; ; Users can fully configure every aspect of the platform, including network and security policies, using the XML API. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) ensures that only authorised keys can be used for specific functions, enhancing security and access control.; ; Additionally, the XML API seamlessly integrates with external libraries, such as Terraform and Ansible. This integration allows users to automate platform management tasks within existing workflows, streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency.; ; In summary, the XML API provides a powerful mechanism for users to programmatically configure, operate, and monitor the platform, offering extensive capabilities for automation and integration into existing workflows.
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • OpenStack
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
  • Other
• Other API automation tools:
  • Cortex XSIAM: Integrates XDR (endpoint, NTA) and SOAR functionalities.
  • Python Libraries: Standardised libraries for custom project automation.
  • Go Libraries: Published libraries supporting custom project automation.
  • Ansible: Automates configuration management and deployment tasks seamlessly.
  • Terraform: Enables infrastructure as code automation for efficient deployment.
  • Puppet: Automates IT infrastructure provisioning and configuration management.
  • Chef: Streamlines infrastructure automation and continuous delivery processes.
  • Kubernetes: Automates container orchestration and management for scalable deployments
  • ServiceNow: Integrates with ServiceNow for streamlined IT service management processes.
  • Generic CI/CD Tool: Any CI/CD tool with API automation.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
  • Other
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Other
• Using the command line interface: The CLI provides extensive functionality for configuring, managing, and monitoring the platform. Users can perform various tasks, including but not limited to:; ; Configuration: Configure network and security policies, system settings, and supporting objects.; Management: Manage user authentication settings, system status, and device administration.; Monitoring: Monitor system performance, network traffic, and security events.; Troubleshooting: Diagnose issues, troubleshoot connectivity problems, and debug configurations.; Testing Command Hierarchy: Utilise the testing command hierarchy to perform diagnostic tests, verify configurations, and assist with troubleshooting.; The CLI offers a robust set of commands to accomplish these tasks efficiently. However, it's essential to note that certain administrative actions may require elevated privileges or authentication. Additionally, complex configurations or specialized tasks may be more efficiently handled through other interfaces, such as the web interface or API.; ; Overall, the CLI provides a powerful and flexible tool for administrators to configure and manage the platform, offering extensive capabilities for efficient administration and troubleshooting.

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Deployment models (Private or Public Cloud) the VM-Series platform offers suitable horizontal scaling with a clustering capability (external load balancing/distribution required) for hot-running instances. Additionally, organisations can leverage the health metrics to automate provision and insertion of new VM-Series instances to scale the service as required.; ; Where the VM-Series is delivered as a service on public clouds (e.g. Google Cloud Firewall Plus) each user receives dedicated resources, eliminating shared tenancy. This ensures users are unaffected by others' demands on the service. Dynamic scaling mechanisms further optimise performance and reliability, guaranteeing uninterrupted service availability and performance, even during peak demand periods.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email
  • SMS
  • Other
• Other usage reporting: Syslog and/or HTTP Event Forwarding

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
  • Number of active instances
  • Other
• Other metrics:
  • Network Traffic Analysis: Inspects incoming and outgoing traffic pattern anomalies.
  • Threat Intelligence Updates: Real-time alerts on emerging security threats.
  • Endpoint Security Status: Monitors malware, activity, and compliance on endpoints.
  • Network Health Monitoring: Tracks network latency, packet-loss, and overall performance.
  • Application Performance Metrics: Measures response time, throughput, and error rates.
  • User Behaviour Analytics: Detects anomalies and monitors user activity.
  • Compliance Status Monitoring: Ensures adherence to security policies and regulations.
  • DNS Traffic Analysis: Identifies malicious domains and DNS-based attacks.
  • Cloud Security Monitoring: Assesses environment security posture and compliance
  • Insider Threat Detection: Detects insider threats through behaviour analysis, monitoring.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Palo Alto Networks

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: If deployed in a public cloud environment, using the cloud providers encryption capabilities.
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
  • Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • Firewall configuration and inventory
  • Firewall policies,
  • Network configurations
  • Security profiles
• Backup controls: Users can initiate backups of the service configuration via API on demand or through the CLI or web interface. Additionally, the central managed platform (Panorama) allows scheduling of backups, enabling automatic export of configuration data from managed devices to an external storage repository using SCP or FTP. This flexibility empowers users to tailor backup schedules according to their specific requirements and ensures the timely preservation of critical configuration data.
• Datacentre setup:
  • Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
  • Multiple datacentres
  • Single datacentre with multiple copies
  • Single datacentre
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Bonded fibre optic connections
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Custom TLS certificates unique per customer.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Custom mTLS overlays etc within Palo Alto Networks

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: N/A - This is the responsibility of the cloud provider and/or customer if deployed within a private cloud environment.
• Approach to resilience: N/A - Responsibility of the cloud provider and/or customer if deployed within a private cloud environment as this is configuration dependant. For additional information, contact Palo Alto Networks as more specific information is available on request.
• Outage reporting: In a typical scenario this is not-applicable, however customers can leverage the API & Email functionality of the VM-Series NGFW in order to attain a similar experience within their own tooling infrastructure.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Users predominately authenticate using a username and password combination, a role-based access control (RBAC) system is in place to specify what each user has access too.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: Restrictions can be implemented by restricting IP addresses able to access the management interface(s). In addition a role-based access control (RBAC) system is in place to further restrict users to user definable configuration views and modes.
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated device over multiple services or networks
  • Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: IASME
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 23/06/2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: 27001 covers the entire organisation
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: Cyber Essentials, NIST, SOC2, etc.
• Information security policies and processes: ISO/IEC 27001: Ensuring robust information security management systems.; GDPR: Upholding data privacy and protection regulations.; CIS Controls: Implementing cybersecurity best practices for effective protection.; Cyber Essentials Plus: Adhering to UK government-backed scheme for cybersecurity basics.; CSA STAR: Demonstrating commitment to cloud security and transparency.; NIST Cybersecurity Framework: Aligning with comprehensive cybersecurity guidelines.; COBIT: Following governance and control objectives for IT processes and systems.; Telecom Security Act Code of Practice

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: We follow an internal change management process including weekly change boards that asses and feed back after every change and documented. The change documents are regularly measured by our quality control group.; For Palo Alto Cloud Services, both Palo Alto Networks and the end-user organisation are in full control of their relevant and respective change control processes.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Applications and software that collect, transmit or display, or process End User Data, Palo Alto Networks conducts an application security assessment review to identify common security vulnerabilities as identified by industry recognized organizations annually or for all major releases, whichever occurs first. The scope of the security assessment will primarily focus on application security, including, but not limited to, a penetration test of the application, as well as a code review.; ; Palo Alto Networks utilizes a qualified third party to conduct the application security assessments. Palo Alto Networks may conduct the security assessment review directly, following industry standard best practices.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Applications and software that collect, transmit or display, or process End User Data, Palo Alto Networks conducts an application security assessment review to identify common security vulnerabilities as identified by industry recognized organizations annually or for all major releases, whichever occurs first. The scope of the security assessment will primarily focus on application security, including, but not limited to, a penetration test of the application, as well as a code review.; ; Palo Alto Networks utilizes a qualified third party to conduct the application security assessments. Palo Alto Networks may conduct the security assessment review directly, following industry standard best practices.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: This information is available upon request from Palo Alto Networks.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: No

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Governed by 3rd party, Palo Alto Networks.

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Xpertex is committed to continually improving our environmental performance and monitoring. Xpertex has started the process to gain the following two environmental ISO accreditations:; ; ISO 14001 Environmental Management System; ISO 50001 Energy Management System; This is on top of our existing ISO9001, ISO27001 and Cyber Essentials PLUS accreditations.; ; Critical to our core operation is our IT infrastructure and Data Centre, which house our IT equipment, along with connectivity to our cloud Infrastructure. Xpertex recognises that energy efficient practices, and reducing our carbon footprint, are paramount in achieving our corporate sustainability goals.; ; Xpertex also works with its customers to help them reduce their carbon footprint where appropriate.; ; Full social value statement https://xpertex.com/social-values/

  Tackling economic inequality

  We are committed to equal pay for our workforce. To address our gender pay gap, we have several initiatives in place, to not only attract more talent, but to encourage a more balanced, and rewarding workplace.; ; Working with educational institutions to help attract more women into STEM focused roles.; We have a mentoring programme available for all, to encourage progression into senior roles.; Training is available to cover areas like Equality & Diversity, Unconscious Bias, etc.; We have established a Women’s Working Group who assist in supporting the attraction, retention and promotion of our female talent across the business.; ; Full social value statement https://xpertex.com/social-values/

  Equal opportunity

  Xpertex is committed to developing, supporting and sustaining a diverse workforce. It strives to create a working environment where everyone can to do their job, to the best of their ability, without having to face discrimination, harassment or victimisation. Xpertex avoids unlawful discrimination in all aspects of employment including recruitment, promotion, training opportunities, pay and benefits, discipline and selection for redundancy. Any decisions concerning employment, promotion and training will be based on objective, job-related criteria and merit. Disability and personal/home commitments will not form the basis of employment decisions except where absolutely reasonable and permissible within anti-discrimination law.; ; Xpertex monitors the ethnic, gender, age composition of our existing workforce as well as the number of people with disabilities within these groups and will consider and take any appropriate action to address any problems that may be identified by the monitoring process.; ; Full social value statement https://xpertex.com/social-values/

  Wellbeing

  Xpertex has an Employee Assistance Programme available to all staff which provides access to advice, counselling and support. Workplace mental health is especially important to the company with information and advice issued on a regular basis. We give every employee a day off on their birthday and additional holiday allowances are in place to recognise length of service milestones. We conduct an annual staff survey which provides opportunity for any issues to be raised to the senior management. Processes exist where concerns can be raised without fear of negative consequences for the individual raising the concerns. Flexible working practises developed during the Covid pandemic are in place giving all staff the ability to work from home where possible. We are continuing to provide these flexible working practices post-pandemic. Flexible working hours are encouraged and were invaluable during the pandemic and enabled parents with school age children to home-school their children, and those with responsibilities to the elderly to provide the support they wish to give. Staff are also encouraged to volunteer to continue to volunteer in the community. Xpertex participated in a local initiative to offer IT equipment to under-privileged children in the local community allowing them to conduct their schooling from home. When staff started to return to the office, all sensible precautions have been maintained. A cycle to work and an electric car salary sacrifice scheme are also available to all employees.; ; Full social value statement https://xpertex.com/social-values/

Pricing

• Price: £2,000 an instance
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: A free PoC can be setup when using bespoke Professional Services.

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at louise.carter@xpertex.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.