PwC and Palo Alto Networks partner, providing 24/7 cybersecurity defence in New Zealand

PwC New Zealand and global cybersecurity company, Palo Alto Networks, have announced an expanded partnership with the aim of strengthening cybersecurity defences for New Zealand businesses.

PwC's Managed Cyber Defence (MCD) service, with Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, is now available to joint customers in New Zealand, across Japan, and Asia-Pacific.

The new partnership is the first of its kind in the region and will bring together New Zealand and UK teams from two global cybersecurity companies, giving joint customers an end-to-end, AI-driven, cybersecurity service helping to minimise and prevent cyber threats.

The service will operate using a true 24/7 'follow the sun' model, which means local enterprises have access to a team of security analysts in New Zealand during the day and the United Kingdom team during New Zealand's overnight shift.

PwC says the local partnership will serve New Zealand businesses and organisations across a range of sectors, including technology, communications, utilities, aviation, government, retail, and law enforcement. And a number of international clients primarily based in Europe and the U.S. will also be supported by PwC teams across Wellington, Auckland, and Edinburgh.

"This region-first partnership is a home-grown Kiwi success story, signalling how some of New Zealand's leading security experts will lead the charge to address significant demand for cybersecurity and threat protection," says Palo Alto Networks country manager for New Zealand, Misti Landtroop.

"This partnership will allow organisations to redeploy their IT teams to other crucial recovery or growth-enabling initiatives while ensuring the business is protected with an automated, enterprise-grade security service delivered in-country.

"With cybersecurity skills at a premium, it means organisations can benefit from 24/7 protection without the hardware investment and challenge of sourcing talent to run this operation," she adds.

PwC director of cybersecurity, Julian Bruce-Miller, says, "PwC is thrilled to expand our partnership with Palo Alto Networks through the delivery of best-in-class managed detection and response services for our high value, joint customers.

"MCD brings together PwC's global threat intelligence, thousands of hours of incident response expertise, and advisory services with Cortex XDR, to provide an unrivalled level of visibility and detection.

"The MCD service enables our customers' in-house security teams to significantly reduce the time taken to detect and respond to attacks down to minutes. It also reduces manual day-to-day operational workloads for their security teams by up to 90%, allowing them to focus on the events that really matter," he says.