Cortex XDR: Simpler and More Powerful

Palo Alto Networks have announced some of the highlights of their upcoming Cortex XDR 2.9 and Cortex XDR Agent 7.4 release. With this release they focused on improving the customizability and flexibility of the platform while also improving the ease of use and onboarding process.

Here are some of the highlights of the upcoming release:

Simplified onboarding and configuration

With the Cortex XDR 2.9 release, Palo Alto Networks are introducing the Cortex XDR Gateway, a standalone web application designed to ease onboarding and tenant management.

The Cortex XDR gateway will streamline onboarding for new customers by providing them a single location to activate their Cortex XDR tenant and set up Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC).

In addition, the Cortex XDR Gateway will simplify the process of tenant management and tenant switching for MSSP and MDR partners, or customers who have more than one tenant.

Additional enhancements in Cortex XDR 2.9

Significantly improved granularity in RBAC settings, auditing, and security settings.

In addition to the RBAC enhancements, Palo Alto Networks are introducing Scope-based Access Controls (SBAC) which will allow an XDR user’s scope to be limited to a specified set of endpoints. Note that SBAC impact is limited to endpoint administration, the Action Center as well as reports and dashboards.

The Cortex XDR Agent installer and content updates can now be cached by the Cortex XDR Broker VM, optimizing external bandwidth usage, installation time, and content updates.

The Cortex XDR API has been extended to provide programmatic interfaces for the Cortex XDR XQL as well as for endpoint management functions.

For a complete list of new features, please see the Cortex XDR 2.9 and Cortex XDR Agent 7.4 release notes. If you have any questions, please reach out to your Exclusive Networks Account Manager.