The world of corporate cybersecurity is changing faster than ever. As businesses actively deploy cloud services, automate processes, and integrate artificial intelligence, a crucial element of this transformation is coming to the forefront: identity. It is identity that defines the boundaries of trust in the digital environment. And it is identity that is increasingly becoming the starting point for attacks.

This is not about a weakening of security. On the contrary—organizations are investing more in security than ever before. However, the number of digital identities is growing exponentially: human accounts, services, APIs, workloads, autonomous AI agents. All of them operate continuously, at machine speed, often with elevated access privileges. In such an environment, identity becomes the primary attack surface of the modern enterprise.

Today, nearly every major incident begins with compromised credentials. Identity has become the primary threat vector: over the past year, 87% of organizations have experienced at least two incidents directly related to it. The consequences include operational downtime, regulatory penalties, direct financial losses, and long-term reputational risks.

It is at this very moment that a strategically important step is taking place: CyberArk is officially joining Palo Alto Networks. This is more than a corporate deal. It reflects a shared vision: identity security must become not an add-on to infrastructure, but its foundation—an integral part of the cyber defense platform.

When Access Is the New Perimeter

The traditional security model was built around the network. Today, access is becoming the new perimeter.

Enterprises manage thousands of services, integrations, APIs, and autonomous agents. Machine identities already outnumber human ones by a factor of ten, and they operate continuously—faster than any audit can keep up with. At the same time, privileged access models in many companies remain excessive and outdated.

In such an environment, even a single unwarranted privilege can become a point of attack. And the more complex the infrastructure, the less visible the risk becomes. Fragmented management tools only exacerbate the problem: risk accumulates unnoticed until it becomes an incident.

It is this challenge that lies at the heart of CyberArk’s expertise.

Continuity Instead of Formality

In a world where new identities are created every second and permissions change dynamically as systems scale, sporadic checks no longer work. Protection must be continuous, which means:

• Full real-time visibility—who or what has access to critical resources;

• dynamic privileges—access is granted only when needed and automatically revoked;

• management that doesn’t wait for an audit but continuously enforces security policies.

CyberArk has been developing this approach for decades. And that is why the integration with Palo Alto Networks appears to be a logical continuation of this evolution.

Identity as the foundation of the platform

Within Palo Alto Networks, identity security becomes one of the platform’s core elements.

The CyberArk Identity Security platform has proven its effectiveness in global enterprise environments. Its principle is simple yet radical: every identity is potentially privileged and must therefore be controlled.

This approach reduces the attack surface: excessive rights are identified, unjustified privileges are eliminated, and attackers’ lateral movement capabilities are drastically reduced.

Integrating identity security at the platform level ensures deeper synchronization with network security, cloud environment protection, and incident response processes. Security ceases to be a set of isolated tools and transforms into a coordinated ecosystem.

Artificial Intelligence: A New Scale of Responsibility

The deployment of artificial intelligence systems only reinforces the relevance of this approach. Autonomous agents often require constant access to data and infrastructure resources. Without clear control, such access becomes a critical vulnerability.

Most companies do not yet have effective mechanisms for managing machine and AI-oriented identities. The result is excessive privileges and insufficient control.

Applying uniform principles of privileged access to every identity creates a foundation of trust for innovation. Businesses can scale AI without losing control or creating hidden risks.

Practical Benefits for Customers

For customers, this translates into tangible results:

• A clear understanding of the risks to human, machine, and autonomous identities;

• A significant reduction in attacks using stolen credentials;

• Simplification of the operational model through a unified, scalable control system.

And most importantly—confidence. Confidence that you can implement cloud technologies, automation, and AI without fear of losing control. Confidence that security moves in step with the business, rather than playing catch-up after an incident.

Next Steps

CyberArk Identity Security solutions will continue to be available as a standalone platform, maintaining stability and predictability for customers. At the same time, the integration of key CyberArk capabilities into the Palo Alto Networks security ecosystem continues, with a focus on resilience, simplicity, and real business impact.

The era of artificial intelligence is changing not only business but also the very nature of attacks. Protecting every identity is no longer a choice but the foundation of modern cybersecurity.

The merger of CyberArk and Palo Alto Networks is a step toward a new security model, where identity becomes a strategic asset rather than a weak link. And it is on this foundation that a secure digital future will be built.