Inside Palo Alto Networks’ Vision: Building AI-Powered Zero Trust for Private 4G/5G Networks

Palo Alto Networks is helping enterprises extend Zero Trust principles from IT to operational networks as they adopt private 4G and 5G. In this interview, Meir Cohen explains how AI-powered security frameworks ensure real-time visibility, strict segmentation, and policy consistency across IT, OT, and private mobile environments—laying the foundation for secure, scalable Industry 4.0 operations.

Hello everyone, my name is Meir Cohen, and I’m from Palo Alto Networks.
Palo Alto Networks is the largest cybersecurity company, and today we serve tens of thousands of customers with our network-security products.

Many of our customers are on a journey toward adopting private mobile networks—specifically private 4G and private 5G networks. Our goal at Palo Alto Networks is to enable them to apply the same security compliance and policies they already use in their IT networks within their private 5G environments.

When an enterprise implements a private 5G network, it typically operates in the operational part of the organization, which is often the most sensitive area. In these environments, we want to apply Zero Trust principles even more strictly than in the IT network. This means identifying, at every stage, which devices and users are connected, which applications they are using, and what content is being accessed.

We also see that in private mobile networks, customers often work with third-party partners hosted on the same network. As a result, strong segmentation becomes critical to ensure proper isolation and protection.

Therefore, when we talk about Zero Trust in private 5G networks, we’re essentially referring to the same Zero Trust framework applied in IT environments—but adapted to the unique identifiers and architecture of private mobile networks. In these networks, we leverage different identifiers to recognize users and devices, and these become foundational elements for enforcing Zero Trust Network Security.

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