The cybersecurity landscape is transforming at breathtaking speed, with consolidation reshaping the industry as companies seek to address the overwhelming complexity of managing dozens of disparate security tools. In this exclusive interview with The Executive Magazine, Alistair Wildman, Managing Director EMEA North at Palo Alto Networks, offers a rare glimpse into how the first cybersecurity company to reach a $100 billion valuation is navigating this shifting terrain. As organisations worldwide grapple with increasingly sophisticated AI-powered threats, Wildman reveals the strategy behind their market-leading position.
The conversation delves into the true impact of platformization – the technical integration of security solutions that promises to revolutionise how businesses approach cybersecurity. Wildman shares insights on Precision AI’s capabilities, the emerging browser security frontier, and the critical cultural shifts required as AI becomes embedded in both business operations and threat vectors. Drawing from his extensive leadership experience at technology giants like Microsoft, Salesforce and Cisco, he delivers a compelling vision of cybersecurity’s future that every executive should understand: one where detection and response speed, rather than breach prevention, becomes the fundamental measure of security success.
Palo Alto Networks recently reached its 20th anniversary. This is a great achievement, especially in the cybersecurity sector. What drove the company to reach the milestone?
“Thanks for the recognition! We’re proud to have reached this landmark and it’s a testament to how the company has evolved in line with customer needs over the years. It all started as a small group of engineers with a passion for solving critical security problems and this drive has remained despite our expansive growth.
“Innovation and disruption have always been key principles of the organisation and I believe they have also played a big part in reaching the milestone. We’re excited for what the future holds!”
If you had to call out one big challenge that customers are currently raising with you, what would it be?
“A major market challenge we are seeing today is tech fragmentation, which is significantly influencing the direction of the industry. Many organisations are picking various ‘best of breed’ solutions that have created a highly complex cybersecurity environment. Attempting to integrate multiple security products into an end-to-end architecture means that they’re fighting a losing battle when it comes to detecting and responding to threats in real-time.
“The solution to this is platformization, which focuses on identifying ways to consolidate security functions to reduce complexity, while improving overall levels of security.
“To give you an idea of the opportunity, Gartner sees 75% of security leaders actively pursuing a vendor consolidation strategy, despite the fact that less than 15% of large enterprise customers have implemented a security platform solution. This shows why platformization will play a big part in the future of Palo Alto Networks and the cybersecurity industry as a whole.”
If business leaders want to make the safest, yet most straightforward security choice, is platformization the best option?
“Most organisations realise that using 30-40 different tools is expensive, complicated, and difficult to manage, but the situation has arisen thanks to both ‘what’s being protected’ and ‘what it’s being protected from’ being in a state of constant flux. The technology trends that have transformed businesses in the past decade also present new weaknesses for bad actors to leverage.
“This landscape will continue to change – of that we can be sure. Platformization – thanks to its ability to combine numerous products and services into unified architecture with a single data store and streamlined management – is the answer for businesses looking to increase productivity, simplify operations and improve security outcomes all at once.”
Offensive vs defensive uses of AI in cybersecurity is another hot topic right now. What impact are you seeing?
“The opportunity that AI provides for driving efficiency and technological innovation is huge, and this has led to enterprises rapidly integrating it in their applications. This is a 5-10 year tech wave, where long-term success hinges not on speed but in thoughtful implementation with good data and processes. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that swift adoption has also expanded the attack surface.
“We are actively helping customers to stop bad actors by using AI to detect and remediate threats efficiently. However, while AI is strengthening organisational defence, attackers are leveraging it too. Their current use of the technology is evolutionary – not revolutionary. They’re using GenAI to generate code and advanced phishing emails using tools like WormGPT and FraudGPT. A game changer could be future agentic AI technology which will greatly enhance their capabilities.
“The impact of breaches is also intensifying – our research shows that in nearly half of cases, attackers exfiltrate customer data within a day. AI is helping adversaries to do this, as well as expand attacks, refine targeting, and scale beyond traditional defences.”
You mentioned that integrating AI into business operations has increased the attack surface. How should organisations approach this if they still want to harness the benefits of using AI?
“Completely blocking access to new AI applications won’t work – it only increases shadow use of AI which is worse. These applications are becoming so widespread that it’s hard to stop their use. My nine-year-old daughter uses ChatGPT for her homework already!
“Organisations need to find ways of allowing people to use these tools and applications in a secure way. That’s exactly what our new suite of solutions provides – we track thousands of AI applications to prevent sensitive data from leaking into larger models.
“The risks are real. We saw this in the Samsung case where an engineer using an early version of ChatGPT unintentionally exposed valuable IP that was then extracted. Companies are rightfully concerned about protecting their IP, but they must also support their workforce with secure AI usage.
“Statistics vary, but around 75% of knowledge workers are now using some form of AI. Organisations need to understand the implications of using these applications and work with security providers to ensure employees can be productive without compromising data integrity.”
How does your Precision AI solution help customers?
“Enterprises are now using hundreds of AI apps and thousands of models, and also generate vast amounts of training data every year. This growth is great, but it also leaves a lot of doors unlocked for security challenges. That’s why businesses need a holistic approach to AI security.
“At Palo Alto Networks, we’re leading the charge with Secure AI By Design, helping businesses protect themselves at every step, from building AI apps to protecting against cloud threats. This also means securing supply chains from AI attacks and staying compliant with workplace AI usage through internal policies.
“We’re using AI to fight AI threats. Precision AI guards your systems against a host of cyber threats — sophisticated web-based threats, zero-day exploits, command-and-control attacks, as well as DNS hijacking. We’ve also added three copilots – Strata, Prisma Cloud, and Cortex – that work with our existing security platforms and simplify daily security operations. This allows security teams to spend less time on routine tasks and more time on what matters most — staying ahead of evolving threats.”
Is there an area of cybersecurity that you feel is overlooked by organisations at the moment, but will soon become a priority?
“The browser now accounts for approximately 85-100% of where the workday takes place. A recent survey that we conducted found a staggering 95% of respondents reported experiencing browser-based attacks in the past 12 months, including account takeovers and malicious extensions.
“In this new world of hybrid work, AI and the cloud, organisations must protect this final frontier with security that extends seamlessly to every device, enabling both companies and end-users to operate with agility. Our secure browser product Prisma Access Browser prevents clicking on phishing links and can block document sharing or printing based on security policies. As so many companies are now cloud-based and access applications through browsers, this approach is increasingly important but overlooked by many.”
How has your experience at Cisco, Salesforce and Microsoft shaped your leadership approach?
“Cybersecurity wasn’t my primary focus until about eight months ago. What drew me to Palo Alto Networks was CEO Nikesh Arora and his passion for the technology.
“At Cisco, I spent six years deeply involved in networking. I led a global team of about 25,000 people which taught me a lot about scaling organisations. During my time at Microsoft I worked alongside Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer which gave me a front-row seat to transformative leadership. Joining Salesforce in 2009 was like stepping onto a rocket ship – it was an incredibly fast-growing company at the time, at the forefront of innovation. With Palo Alto Networks, I see the same energy – rapid growth in a space that’s more critical than ever.
“As a technology leader, I believe it’s critical to invest where the future is headed. If I were a CIO today with an extra dollar to spend, I’d most likely spend it on cyber or AI.
“Over the next five years, I expect organisations to completely transform how their SOCs operate – shifting to AI-driven, semi-autonomous operations rather than people-first approaches. However, the fundamentals of leadership remain constant: customers have challenges, and our role is to listen and align technology with their needs.”
Regulatory requirements are clearly tightening. How are you helping organisations with this?
“We closely monitor regulations that impact our customers be it NIS2, DORA or the AI Act. One of our main focuses is on how heavily regulated sectors like banking, government, and pharmaceuticals can ensure they meet compliance and reporting requirements.
“Beyond compliance, we play an active role in shaping industry regulations. We support governments to set standards by sharing insights that aid policy development and help our customers stay ahead of regulation. If you wait for regulation to take effect, it’s too late – by the time it’s implemented, the market has often already evolved.
“A recent example of this is a major European bank that identified gaps in its technology ahead of a central bank audit. They proactively engaged us to upgrade their network security infrastructure, ensuring compliance before the audit took place.
“Currently, Europe is more heavily regulated than the U.S and our global presence gives us a strategic edge here – we have dedicated teams and a strong legal department collaborating with the EU, UK government, and various policymakers to help shape standards for responsible AI and cybersecurity.”
How important is it for the C-suite to become more directly involved in their organisation’s cybersecurity efforts?
“Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT department issue. Most modern companies use technology in every area of the business so security has already become a board-level conversation and demands direct involvement from the C-suite.
“Security statistics now feature in board reports, and regulations affect not just IT leaders but also CFOs, COOs, and other key executives. When engaging with customers, we’re no longer meeting just security teams – we’re meeting with CFOs, COOs, and even heads of sales.
“The big challenge about cybersecurity is that attackers only need to succeed once. That’s why the right mindset isn’t about preventing every breach but about ensuring rapid detection and response. Some organisations still take weeks to even realise they’ve been compromised, whereas we now have tools to detect and remove threats in minutes. For today’s business leaders, cybersecurity is not just a technical issue – it’s a fundamental part of business resilience.”