Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) and Palo Alto Networks have jointly developed two solutions that aim to help enterprises strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
The first is the Unified Secure Access Service Edge Convergence (Unified SASE Convergence), which leverages Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE and Precision AI solutions.
It combines Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) and SIM-based authentication to help enterprises verify a user’s identity and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to Singtel’s network.
By integrating critical functions into a cloud-native framework, Singtel’s Unified SASE Convergence simplifies management, improves performance, and enhances security posture. This includes enabling secure, identity-based access, regardless of user location. With this, organisations can be assured of an ultra-secure network that connects employees, systems and endpoints to corporate applications and resources.
Secondly, Singtel has expanded its 5G Security-as-a-Slice (SecaaS) capabilities with Palo Alto Networks Next Generation Firewall to protect roaming customers from foreign network vulnerabilities, surveillance risks and hacking attempts.
By employing SecaaS and AI, the telco can identify, analyse and block scam or phishing websites, applications and emails from unsecured sources.
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The 5G SecaaS can also help enterprises strengthen access controls across all IoT devices on the enterprise network while providing deep visibility into IoT assets, communication patterns, and risks. It enables continuous monitoring of IoT internet traffic, real-time threat prevention through signature-based detection, and instant alerts on potential threats, device vulnerabilities, and risks.
According to Singtel, network slicing is particularly valuable for industries such as construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and security, enabling enterprises to run dedicated virtual networks on a shared physical infrastructure. This ensures optimal performance, reliability and security across enterprise systems.
The Unified SASE Convergence solution and SecaaS for roaming and IoT are part of Singtel CUBΣ, a unified suite of AI-powered network solutions and services to modernise enterprises’ digital network infrastructure. The suite aims to help organisations work smarter, more efficiently and cost effectively to grow and scale their business.
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“This partnership with Palo Alto Networks, marks another milestone in enhancing security for businesses and consumers who are increasingly operating in distributed environments. With our strong network and security capabilities, we’re ensuring a zero-trust architecture that offers our customers an unparalleled level of security and performance so they can take advantage of all the opportunities that technology has to offer,” says Ng Tian Chong, chief executive officer of Singtel Singapore.
Anand Oswal, senior vice president and general manager for Network Security at Palo Alto Networks adds: “Our expanded partnership with Singtel marks a significant step forward in delivering AI-powered, zero-trust security that is seamlessly integrated with Singtel connectivity. With Unified SASE Convergence and one of the world’s first 5G Security-as-a-Slice (SecaaS) offerings, businesses can now secure their mobile, branch, and data centre environments with industry-leading threat prevention, ensuring a safer, more resilient digital future.”
