Cortex: Understanding the Security Analytics Platform and Use Cases

Shrishthi Dixit -

As organizations navigate the ever-evolving threat landscape, it’s necessary to have the right tools to empower their teams to proactively detect and respond to cyber threats with confidence and agility.

Palo Alto Networks is one of the most well-known cybersecurity protection providers in their industry. One of their core products is Cortex, an AI-powered security platform with numerous products bundled under its larger suite.

In the following post, we’ll introduce you to the Cortex offerings and provide you with a better understanding of how each component could potentially play a game-changing role in your security ecosystem.

Introduction to Palo Alto Networks Cortex

Palo Alto Networks Cortex is an industry-leading platform that offers increased visibility, powerful automation, and robust threat intelligence capabilities. This comprehensive guide delves into the transformative features and benefits of Palo Alto Networks Cortex, highlighting its role in enhancing organizational security posture and mitigating cyber risks effectively.

Diagram: Palo Alto Networks Cortex Architecture

Understanding the Core Components of Cortex

1. Cortex XDR

At the heart of Palo Alto Networks Cortex lies Cortex XDR, an extended detection and response platform designed to unify security data from across the network, endpoint, and cloud environments. By correlating and analyzing this vast dataset in real time, Cortex XDR provides organizations with holistic visibility into their security posture, enabling proactive threat detection and rapid response to emerging threats.

Use Cases

  1. Avoid, recognize, Research Into, and Address Every Threat: In the cybersecurity domain, Cortex® XDR™ stands out as a pioneer, integrating endpoint, network, and cloud data to combat advanced cyber threats. This unified platform streamlines prevention, detection, investigation, and response, ensuring unparalleled security and efficiency. Paired with their Managed Threat Hunting service, Cortex XDR offers continuous protection and comprehensive coverage of MITRE ATT&CK techniques.
  2. Prevent Most Endpoint Attacks with the Best-in-Class Methodology: The Cortex XDR agent employs top AI-driven analysis and behaviour-based security to defend endpoints from malware, exploits, and file-less attacks. Organizations can thwart unseen threats with a single cloud-based agent for endpoint security, detection, and response. Leveraging Palo Alto Networks' cloud security solutions and network protections, the agent ensures consistent security across the entire organization.
  3. Use Analytics and Machine Learning to Spot Stealthy Threats: Cortex XDR uses analytics to continually profile endpoints and user behaviour, allowing it to identify evasive threats with unparalleled precision. To identify covert assaults that target both managed and unmanaged devices, machine learning models examine data from Palo Alto Networks and external sources.
  4. Examine and Act Quickly: By giving investigators a comprehensive understanding of each danger and instantly identifying its underlying cause, Cortex XDR expedites investigations. Triage is made simpler, and less experience is needed at every step of security operations with the help of intelligent alert grouping and alert deduplication. Strong connectivity with enforcement points enables analysts to react swiftly to risks.

2. Cortex XSIAM

Extended Security Intelligence and Automation Management, or Cortex XSIAM, is a comprehensive security solution that combines sophisticated threat detection and response features with access management capabilities. It provides organizations with centralized control and visibility over their entire network infrastructure, enabling them to proactively identify and mitigate potential security risks.

Use Cases

  1. Establish a Foundation for Intelligent Data: With Cortex XSIAM, you can use data at half the cost of conventional systems and transform broad telemetry into an intelligent data foundation ready to enable sophisticated analytics.
  2. Speed Up Response Time: With self-learning cloud-delivered AI, Cortex XSIAM uses the data foundation to identify new enemy techniques and natively automates critical incident investigation procedures.
  3. Surpass Threats: Using native attack surface management and integrated threat intelligence from 57,000 Palo Alto Networks customers, Cortex XSIAM continually finds vulnerabilities.

3. Cortex Xpanse

Cortex Xpanse redefines network security by providing organizations with comprehensive visibility into their entire network infrastructure, including assets, devices, and vulnerabilities. Leveraging advanced algorithms and expansive data sets, Cortex Xpanse enables proactive threat identification and mitigation, empowering organizations to stay ahead of cyber adversaries.

Use Cases

  1. Manage Attack Surfaces: To guarantee comprehensive network coverage, create a single source of truth for all visible assets and synchronize that data with other currently available tools, including VM scanners, SIEMs, SOARs, and ITSMs.
  2. Cloud Defence: Find every cloud asset on your own to control asset sprawl. To get control over unmanaged cloud assets, take advantage of Prisma® Cloud integration.
  3. Authorities: Know your whole internet attack surface to protect mission goals. Use one platform to satisfy your demands for internet operations management.
  4. Compliance, risk, and governance: Compliance dashboards provide a comprehensive, real-time picture of your external attack surface, allowing you to shorten audit times and decrease frequency.
  5. Acquisitions and mergers: Conduct due diligence in cybersecurity for recent and past acquisitions. Either monitor the effective decommissioning of relinquished assets or expedite the integration of purchased assets.
  6. Chain of supply: By bringing to light possible vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, you may assess the security risks that important suppliers are facing to gain visibility and contract leverage.

4. Cortex XSOAR

Cortex XSOAR is a security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform that empowers security teams to collaborate effectively, automate repetitive tasks, and respond to security incidents rapidly. By integrating with existing security tools and harnessing the power of automation, Cortex XSOAR enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of security operations, enabling organizations to mitigate threats swiftly and minimize the impact of security incidents.

Use Cases

  1. Security Operations Automation
    1. Pre-made connections and automated content packages accelerate deployment.
    2. Automation features and a graphical playbook editor enable customization without coding.
    3. Continuous innovation from the largest ecosystem of Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) in the industry.
  2. Incident Management
    1. Handle alerts using security-oriented case management systems.
    2. Enhance Security Operations (SecOps) productivity through live collaboration.
    3. Accelerate investigations with centralized access to incidents, indicators, and threat intelligence.
  3. Phishing Response
    Phishing involves deceptive emails aimed at tricking recipients into taking harmful actions like clicking links or providing sensitive information. Responding to phishing attacks is time-consuming and manual, involving steps such as verifying email authenticity and scanning attachments for malware. Security analysts face challenges like managing high attack volumes and avoiding errors. Cortex XSOAR streamlines this process by automating tasks, providing centralized management, improving efficiency, and reducing the risk of human error.
  4. Cloud Security
    1. Comprehensive connections with leading cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, and Azure).
    2. Coordinate activities across multiple cloud and hybrid setups.
    3. Automate the management of attack surfaces.
  5. Vulnerability Management
    1. Identification and visualization of corporate resources through repetitive discovery procedures across on-premises setups, hosted platforms, public clouds, and container infrastructures.
    2. Detection and visualization of vulnerabilities within deployed resources via automated vulnerability scans conducted at regular intervals.
    3. Categorization of flagged anomalies with appropriate risk levels assigned to facilitate potential remedial measures.
  6. Threat Hunting
    1. Discover, recognize, verify, and examine potential security risks, intrusions, malicious actors, and signs of compromise.
    2. Comprehend the wider context and consequences of security threats and intrusions.
    3. Consistently furnishes threat-related data to security, incident response, risk management, executive, and other relevant teams.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the threat landscape facing organizations today requires a proactive and adaptive approach to cybersecurity. By leveraging artificial intelligence technologies, such as the Cortex Cybersecurity Platform, organizations can effectively defend against advanced cyber threats and mitigate potential risks to their digital assets.

At Metron Security, we are committed to empowering organizations with the tools and expertise needed to stay ahead of cyber adversaries and safeguard their critical infrastructure.

About Metron:

Metron Security is a leading provider of custom-built and on-demand third-party integrations for security ecosystems and a trusted development partner for many top security companies, ranging from the fastest-growing to the largest enterprises. The team has worked on over 200 security applications and continues to develop new applications each month. 

Metron is also the creator of the Security Exchange & Automation (SEA) platform, which allows end users to rapidly set up data exchange pipelines between security platforms. 

For more information, visit www.metronlabs.com or reach out directly at connect@metronlabs.com.