Technology giant Accenture, an MSSP Alert Top 250 MSSP, is partnering with threat intelligence specialist Mandiant, part of Google Cloud, on a new cybersecurity initiative.
Accenture will deploy the Mandiant Threat Intelligence platform while tapping Mandiant’s Cyber Resilience services to help customers gain better insights and understanding of cyber threats and vulnerabilities specific to their businesses and recover from incidents more efficiently.
As an expansion of the partnership, Mandiant Threat Intelligence is now embedded in Accenture’s Adaptive Managed Extended Detection and Response (MxDR) service with Google Chronicle Security Operations.
Accenture and Mandiant are currently helping a major public sector organization in the Netherlands to significantly improve its cybersecurity operations. Over the next five years, Accenture and Mandiant will provide the organization’s cybersecurity services, including MxDR, incident response and remediation services and generative AI embedded capabilities.
Palo Alto Networks Partnership Expansion
In an expansion of their strategic alliance, Accenture will combine its secure generative AI (GenAI) services with Palo Alto Networks’ Precision AI technology.
Citing its recent survey, Accenture reports that 97% of organizations expect GenAI to be transformative, but only 31% have invested significantly, as they struggle to scale AI effectively while mitigating risks. In response, Accenture and Palo Alto Networks are helping their joint customers work toward a secure AI future through intentional design, deployment and using AI to create value while improving cybersecurity outcomes.
“Generative AI is being adopted by companies across industries as the number one lever for reinvention,” said Karthik Narain, Accenture’s group chief executive - Technology. “It is also a moment of reinvention for cybersecurity — creating new risks, but also providing new tools. Accenture and Palo Alto Networks are helping clients confidently navigate each phase of their AI journey, ensuring cybersecurity is prioritized right from the outset.”
Palo Alto Networks Secure AI by Design creates a secure AI ecosystem that prioritizes the integrity of AI security frameworks, improves security compliance and minimizes data exposure. Accenture will offer comprehensive AI diagnostic services powered by Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Cloud AI Security Posture Management and AI Access Security to secure clients’ AI environment with AI Runtime Security.
Palo Alto Networks will also collaborate with Accenture Security as a design partner to develop and customize AI Runtime Security to better protect AI-powered business applications, models and enterprise data in real-time from AI-specific and foundational cyberattacks.
Supporting U.S. Navy Cybersecurity
Accenture Federal Services, an Accenture subsidiary, has been awarded a ten-year, $789 million contract to support global U.S. Navy maritime forces. The scope of work provides unified cybersecurity operations across the Navy’s SHARKCAGE environment, a shared set of systems built to protect a single, common and continuous security perimeter.
“The role of cybersecurity in modern maritime military readiness has evolved and expanded,” said Rick Driggers, Accenture Federal Services managing director and cyber practice lead. “Network interconnectedness is essential to protecting critical U.S. defense assets and sensitive military data. Accenture Federal Services will help provide U.S. Navy fleets with the enhanced attack sensing and warning capabilities that these times demand.”
Specifically, Accenture Federal Services will provide the Navy’s Program Executive Office with ashore and afloat SHARKCAGE systems. These systems consist of integrated commercial and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software configured to deliver defensive cyberspace operations analytics across Navy networks.
