Poland has just committed PLN 3 billion (€692 million) to build a Cyber Shield as cyber-attacks escalate on the country
Polish operator Netia and Palo Alto Networks have established a collaboration aimed at providing what they claim will be the highest level of cybersecurity to companies and institutions operating in Poland. The first solution in the offering of advanced ICT solutions under the NetiaNext brand, which the operator offers in cooperation with Palo Alto Networks, is the Netia Managed Next Generation Firewall.
Netia is enhancing its competencies and solution offerings in cybersecurity with technologies from Palo Alto Networks, including AI, which it says will help protect the digital assets of even more companies and institutions in Poland.
The move comes as Poland faces increased cyber-attacks. Earlier this month, the government announced it will spend more than PLN 3 billion ($760 million) to boost cybersecurity, after state news agency PAP was hit by what authorities say was likely a Russian cyberattack. Reuters reported that the digitalisation minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said Poland is on the frontline of the cyber fight against Russia and has the most attacks. He added that Poland had blocked several cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.
Netia CEO and president Andrzej Abramczuk (above, right) agreed Polish enterprises and institutions are among the most frequently attacked in the global cyberspace. “It can be expected that the intensifying hybrid warfare will exacerbate this phenomenon,” he said. “Netia, as one of the leading telecommunications operators and providers of advanced ICT solutions for the B2B sector, has been effectively responding to these challenges for many years.”
He added: “I am very pleased that our cybersecurity portfolio is expanding with solutions from Palo Alto Networks, another technological powerhouse with whom we have the honor of collaborating to benefit our customers.”
“The goal of our collaboration is to provide effective cybersecurity solutions that meet the challenges faced by Polish companies,” said Palo Alto Networks VP and MD Eastern Europe Wojciech Gołębiowski (above, left). “The support we offer stands out with advanced threat prevention mechanisms that can identify and neutralize even the most complex and hard-to-detect attacks in real-time. Our system integrates intrusion prevention, application control, and malware protection functions, allowing entrepreneurs to significantly increase the security of their networks and corporate devices.”
He added: “I am convinced that thanks to our cooperation, Netia’s customers will be able to more effectively protect their data and resources from modern cyberattacks.”
Managed firewall
The first joint solution from Palo Alto Networks offered by Netia to its customers is the Netia Managed Next Generation Firewall (Netia Managed NGFW). This service provides multi-layered protection of the client’s LAN resources and its users from internet threats. Protection is carried out through managed and monitored devices that Netia provides in a service model, installing them at the client’s site at the LAN network interface along with the provided internet access link.
The wide range of offered functions allows the protection scope to be adapted to any type of business activity. Among these, some of the variants include: Firewall, VPN, Application Control, IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), AntiVirus, AntiMalware, DNS/WWW Traffic Control, and SSL Inspection. The protection scope and security policy can be individually tailored to the needs of a given enterprise.
As part of the service subscription fee, Netia also provides management and constant proactive monitoring of the client’s security status, 24/7 technical support, and configuration tailored to individual requirements. Netia is also one of the larger cloud solution providers in Poland and owns five data centres located in Krakow, Warsaw, and nearby areas. It also offers a full range of cybersecurity solutions, including a Security Operation Centre.