PA acquires stealth mode startup Morta

[ericgearhart]

"Morta Security is a stealth-mode start-up developing a new paradigm to counter advanced cyber threats. Traditional layered network defense is broken and Morta is poised to turn the tables on advanced attackers. Led by executives and engineers from the National Security Agency, Morta's technology uniquely combats advanced malware. We mix start-up innovation with military-grade technology to solve the world's toughest network security challenges. We’re looking for the best and brightest to join our team and transform cyber security."

(from Morta Security on the wayback machine at archive.org)

It will be interesting to see what this means for WildFire...

[panos]

Palo Alto Networks acquires stealthy start-up with NSA roots - Network World

We will see what will be...

[pulukas]

Thanks for the Network World article.  I really wish they would say more about exactly what the approach will do to recognize or mitigate threats.  But I guess we will see when the product announcement is made.

I must say that I am nervous about the NSA connections.  We don't need more backdoors and snooping in our security appliances.  So I hope the break is complete and clean.

[mikand]

Then you would shit bricks when you read this

http://www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2013/03/27/nir-zuks-palo-alto-networks-is-blowing-up-internet...

"

There was a time when Zuk and Shwed were brothers-in-arms. Three years Zuk’s elder, Shwed began his required service in the Israeli Defense Forces in 1986. He entered into Unit 8200, an elite electronic intelligence arm, at age 18. It was there that he built the world’s first packet-filtering device that screened traffic based on Internet Protocol address.

Zuk was a natural for Unit 8200. He learned to read and write before entering school. He got his first pair of glasses in the third grade after years of fooling school nurses by memorizing the vision chart. In the sixth grade he became chess champion of Israel’s eighth-grade-and-under division. Zuk begged his parents to get him a Dragon 64 computer for his bar mitzvah. He went on to create some of the world’s first computer viruses. “Just for fun,” he insists.

He joined Shwed’s unit in 1990. They worked together closely for a year, until Shwed’s time was up. Shwed went off and founded Check Point in 1993 with fellow military men Shlomo Kramer and Marius Nacht. Zuk served in the IDF through 1994, spending an extra year in officer training, and started overseeing a small group of engineers. He realized he didn’t like managing people. He was recruited by Check Point and helped build its flagship product, Firewall-1.

"

And in case you dont know what Unit 8200 is: Unit 8200 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[pulukas]

I guess we will learn more on January 30th at this webinar:

Join us to hear from Morta Security’s CEO, Raj Shah and Co-Founder, Vishaal Hariprasad who have been a driving force behind Morta’s innovation.

In this 30-minute webinar we’ll discuss:

• Common evasion tactics used by the more advanced cyber criminals and nation states
• The joint mission between Morta and Palo Alto Networks to block this new era of threats
• The benefits Morta and Palo Alto Networks will bring to your business

- See more at: https://events.paloaltonetworks.com/dmVyaXRlMTczOA==#sthash.yD4IJraU.dpuf

Palo Alto Networks Events

[pulukas]

Seems that the technology is all about predictive threats instead of signature based threats.  The intention seems to be to use this as an additional path of blocking in the Wildfire product.

[pulukas]

The webcast is now available in the video portal.

Video Link : 1491