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SANTA CLARA, Calif., February 28, 2012 — Palo Alto Networks™, the network security company, today announced that it has earned the NSS Labs 'recommended' rating in inaugural Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Group Test. Of the seven participating vendors, only two vendors achieved 'recommended' ratings.

NSS Labs, a leader in independent security product testing and research, is known to conduct the most comprehensive third-party testing in the industry, providing real-world research and analysis to enterprises, government agencies and organizations of all sizes. NSS Labs tested Palo Alto Networks PA-5020 and PAN-OS 4.0.5 against its fourth version of its Next-Generation Firewall test methodology, comprised of 1,486 live exploits and across a wide variety of traffic, payload sizes and protocols. Palo Alto Networks also blocked 95% of attacks against client applications within the test bed.

According to the report, "A NGFW must provide granular control based upon applications, not just ports." The report continues: "Our testing found that Palo Alto Networks PA-5020 PAN-OS 4.0.5 correctly enforced complex outbound and inbound policies consisting of many rules, objects and applications. We verified that the device successfully determined the correct application and took the appropriate action based upon the policy. For example, the NGFW allowed instant messaging text communications while blocking IM file transfers."

"Because of the continuous changing application landscape, the firewall has to provide greater contextual awareness around applications, users and threats," said Vikram Phatak, CTO at NSS Labs. "In our tests, we take the same approach that today's cybercriminals would in attempting to breach the firewall. The NSS Labs Next-Generation Firewall Group Test is unique in that it provides a rigorous and truly independent analysis."

"Palo Alto Networks is the one and only firewall vendor that is a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Network Firewalls and recommended as an NGFW by NSS Labs," said Rene Bonvanie, CMO at Palo Alto Networks. "It is an honor to be recognized by both of these organizations and a testament that we truly have built something that deserves to be called 'next-generation'."