Enabling SMEs to have better browser security

Michelle Saw, Vice President of GTM Shared Services at JAPAC for Palo Alto Networks explains how the cybersecurity vendor’s partner ecosystem is driving the adoption of the Prisma Browser for businesses in the region.

For Palo Alto Networks, the Asia Pacific region represents a unique opportunity as it has the most diverse type of businesses in various industries. With a young and growing ecosystem, cybersecurity threats are also increasing in the region, with small businesses being heavily targeted by cybercriminals.

While organizations in the region continue to invest in cybersecurity solutions, remote and hybrid working remains a major challenge. At the same time, shadow AI is becoming a huge problem, with employees using office devices to access AI apps. This is why Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Browser was made available in the region.

Prisma Browser is a security-focused, Chromium-based enterprise browser that is designed for the modern AI and remote work era. Functioning just like a standard browser (like Chrome or Edge) it embeds deep, enterprise-grade cybersecurity directly into the workspace. Prisma Browser Beyond, one of the latest improvements of Prisma Browser, eliminates the blind spot that browsers have to strengthen organizations' security posture.

Enabling this browser for businesses in the region is the cybersecurity vendor’s partner ecosystem. Michelle Saw, Vice President of GTM Shared Services at JAPAC for Palo Alto Networks explains how the cybersecurity vendor’s partner ecosystem is driving the adoption of the Prisma Browser for businesses in the region.

“The reason why we launched Prisma Browser for business is because we see a need across the region, whether it be enterprise or commercial, small, or medium-sized businesses. Because today, 85% or even more of all work is done in the browser. And today, you can work anywhere, any place. So you need to be secured. Also, from the experience we see that 90% of the security incidents happen in the browser. So definitely it needs to be secured,” Saw said.

While the Prima Browser has been popular among larger enterprises, Saw pointed out that cyber attackers are now increasing their attacks towards the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region.

“If you look at our economy across Asia-Pacific, SMEs are the backbone of our economy, right? So that's where we see a need. And we have been also in the commercial space. That's why we see attacks getting very frequent. That's where, as a company, we say we want to help the big enterprise. At the same time, we want to also bring it available to the SMEs. So that is the reason why we think that we want to benefit and we want to contribute to secure the business across and not just targeted at one segment,” Saw added.

The role of partners

According to Saw, partners in the region are excited about the Prisma Browser not only because they see the opportunity to offer the solution to the midmarket and SMB customers but also because they feel that the gap in the industry for that segment is finally being addressed.

“We are 100% channel driven and what we’re hearing from our partners is that there is a demand not only on network security. We are already driving the momentum and good growth there. And now with the Prisma Browser Enterprise, our partners can actually bring in an end-to-end from a network security to secure their customers,” she said.

Saw also highlighted that Palo Alto Networks has made it easier for partners to deploy the solution.

“Instead of taking days, they take hours to get it done. So, they find that it's really enabling them to move fast and move from one customer to a customer to roll it out. And they love it because it's easy. They don't have to attend weeks of training. We just give them two days of training, an hour to be tested or two, and then they are very good. So, it's very simple to use,” Saw added.

Saw also pointed out that the service can be deployed as a managed security service offering, which is something they are seeing an increasing demand for the region.

“So, that's where partners are also excited because that helps them to create recurring revenue to be able to build and grow their business. To me, there's two approaches. We want to empower our partners to be able to build, operate, or transfer. There are customers who, like most SMEs, prefer the MSSP model because they don't have that skill set and the resources. So that's where we see a lot of demand for the MSSP offering. But we also give an option if customers choose to want to manage themselves, which is also very simple. And they can have the option to do that,” Saw explained.