Palo Alto Networks has unveiled Okyo Garde, an enterprise-grade cybersecurity solution delivered through a premium mesh-enabled Wi-Fi 6 system and aimed at work-from-home employees and small businesses. The solution combines hardware, software, and security services into one seamless, simple subscription.
“As the world moved to remote work a year and a half ago, it became clear that cybersecurity would need to follow workers home,” said Mario Queiroz, executive vice president, Palo Alto Networks in a statement. “We quickly and quietly assembled a team of some of the best consumer tech engineers and put them together with the exceptional teams who built Palo Alto Networks top security products. The result is Okyo Garde. It shows up as beautiful hardware and an easy app. But under the hood, it’s pure world-class security with constantly updated threat intelligence — the same technology that secures some of the world’s largest companies, banks, hospitals and the rest of our 85,000 worldwide customers.”
Emphasizing WFH Security
Acknowledging the cybersecurity challenges faced by a dispersed workforce that often works from home, Palo Alto Networks seeks to address the threat landscape that exists on these home networks, where cybercriminals can access vulnerable entry points into the corporate network. Okyo Garde integrates with Prisma Access, the company’s cloud-delivered security platform, allowing corporations to extend their corporate networks and bring unified security policy management and SASE (secure access service edge) to work-from-home employees.
WFH employees can also use Okyo Garde to enable an additional separate, private Wi-Fi network for the rest of their home and family’s needs. This network will also have advanced security capabilities designed for consumers and will be solely under the control of the employee or other family members.
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Addressing the Needs of Small Businesses
For small businesses, Okyo Garde offers malware and ransomware prevention, phishing protection, infected device detection, along and suspicious activity monitoring and control — all while delivering ultra-fast Wi-Fi.
The Okyo Garde mobile app makes it easy for businesses to have comprehensive control and visibility over their digital security and Wi-Fi network activity, and it helps make setup simple. The solution can be ordered with the Okyo Concierge service, which provides 24/7 support or on-site troubleshooting.
“The changing nature of work from home is transforming the home network into a new, unmanaged enterprise edge,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK Research. “Securing and managing the home as a branch extension of the enterprise network, at scale requires a new security, networking, and management paradigm. An approach that delivers enterprise-grade cybersecurity with consumer simplicity and is built upon the principles of Zero Trust.”
Pricing and Availability
Okyo Garde subscriptions for small businesses start at $349/year and include a mesh-enabled Wi-Fi 6 system. Pre-orders have begun with shipments expected to begin this fall. Expanded distribution is expected from Palo Alto Networks NextWave partners later this year. Okyo Garde Enterprise Edition, with Prisma Access integration, is expected to be available from Palo Alto Networks and Palo Alto Networks NextWave partners in the U.S. in early 2022.
More information about Okyo Garde for small business is available at okyo.com and for enterprises at paloaltonetworks.com/okyo.
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