Palo Alto Networks showcased new artificial intelligence–powered innovations aimed at simplifying and strengthening cybersecurity during Ignite on Tour Philippines 2025, held 27 August at New World Makati.

The event gathered government officials, banking executives, IT professionals, and technology leaders to tackle the challenges of securing AI as it becomes central to business operations.

The company also introduced Bernadette Nacario as its new Country Director for the Philippines. A veteran of the technology industry, she previously led Google Philippines and held key roles at IBM, Apple, Microsoft, HP, and Siemens. She succeeds Oscar Visaya and is expected to bolster Palo Alto Networks’ local presence and industry partnerships.

Securing AI deployments

Palo Alto Networks unveiled a new platform built to discover, secure, and protect AI deployments across industries. Designed for accessibility at different adoption levels and price points, the system underscores that AI defense must be part of every digital strategy.

Simon Green, the company’s president for Asia-Pacific and Japan, cautioned that attackers are moving faster than defenders.

“While the enthusiasm in adopting AI for productivity is incredible, security is lagging behind. This has led to adversaries being more empowered than ever before… The truth is, the only real defense against a bad guy with AI is a good guy with AI,” Green said.

Proactive defense and automation

Security teams today face mounting obstacles, from technical debt and skills shortages to tougher regulations and more severe attacks. The banking sector is further challenged by outdated rules on data replication and disaster recovery, slowing modernization.

To address these risks, Palo Alto Networks highlighted its Unit 42 threat intelligence team and a platform capable of automating up to 90 percent of threat responses. In VPN environments, the platform can secure entire workforces within a week. Using Prisma Access Browser technology, it extends zero trust capabilities to the 87 percent of work done online.

Enhanced tools

The company also launched a secure browser based on Chrome, already adopted by Fortune 500 firms and major banks. At the same time, it is integrating AI, machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI into Pi networks to improve analytics and real-time detection.

A collaborative fight

Green warned that cybercriminals collaborate daily, sharing tools and techniques to strike faster and more effectively.

“They share tools, techniques, capabilities, and they use AI, they use cloud, and they use those tools and techniques to get faster and better at attacking organizations,” he said.

Still, he stressed that AI offers optimism for defense.

“While no industry is immune and critical infrastructure is highly vulnerable, we already have the tools, intelligence, and partnerships to fight back… These are also times of great optimism as AI-driven solutions allow us to outsmart AI-powered threats with AI itself,” he added.

Ignite on Tour Philippines 2025 underscored the urgent need for government-industry collaboration, modernized regulations, and AI-powered defenses to secure the country’s digital future.