Customer impact and integration risks: While Palo Alto is integrating CyberArk’s capabilities into its security ecosystem, the company will continue to offer CyberArk’s identity security solutions as a standalone platform.This signals continuity and roadmap stability for existing customers in the near term. “Standalone CyberArk availability is expected to continue, now backed by Palo Alto’s global scale, expanded support, Unit 42 threat intelligence, and AI-driven analytics for stronger real-time risk detection,” added Jain.However, Devroop Dhar, MD at Primus Partners, says the risk, as with any acquisition, is transition friction. “Product roadmaps may shift, interfaces change, and customers worry that pricing bundles or licensing models will evolve. Some may also worry about vendor lock-in as identity becomes tightly coupled with a single broader platform,” he said.On the other hand, enterprises using Palo Alto had to work with other vendors to get identity governance or privileged access. Now, identity becomes a native part of the platform story, which can simplify Zero Trust programs by linking privileged identity controls to network, cloud, and SecOps enforcement, noted Mehta.The upside is better end-to-end policy and faster response when identity is the initiating signal, Mehta said. “The watch-out is how smoothly Palo Alto integrates the tech and licensing without adding complexity or disrupting existing identity ecosystems.”
Race to own the identity plane: As security platforms continue to converge, vendors are moving away from standalone point solutions toward unified ecosystems that combine network, cloud, endpoint, and identity controls under a single architecture. This shift reflects growing enterprise demand for integrated visibility and policy enforcement rather than fragmented toolsets.”In putting identity deeply into its stack, Palo Alto moves closer to competing with Microsoft’s identity-centric approach and with broader platform players combining endpoint, cloud, and access security,” Dhar said. Jain noted that this acquisition also positions Palo Alto as a full-stack identity player in identity security (PAM, IGA, IdP), challenging Okta and others by combining CyberArk’s depth with superior threat detection and SASE.
First seen on csoonline.com
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