Palo Alto Networks 呼吁韩国企业淘汰 VPN、升级 L7 防火墙以应对 AI 攻击

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Park Sang-kyu, country manager of Palo Alto Networks Korea, delivers the opening keynote at Ignite on Tour Seoul 2026 at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Gangnam on Oct. 14. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Palo Alto Networks has called for an urgent overhaul of South Korean companies' cybersecurity systems to prepare for sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI)-powered attacks. The US security company urged businesses to immediately replace vulnerable virtual private networks (VPNs) and outdated firewalls.

Park Sang-kyu, country manager of Palo Alto Networks Korea, questioned whether Korean companies were prepared for hacking attacks powered by frontier AI models such as Mythos during his keynote speech at Ignite on Tour Seoul 2026, held at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Gangnam on Oct. 14. He described a recent banking-sector hacking incident as an example of a basic AI-powered attack.

"Even top-tier banks that would have prepared for vulnerabilities to such AI attacks were hacked," Park said, warning that companies must now prepare for the worst-case scenario involving advanced AI-powered hacking.

Park proposed immediately assessing security vulnerabilities using leading frontier AI models, including Mythos and GPT-5.6.

According to Park, most Korean companies use lower-tier frontier AI models to examine only portions of their IT assets. He said the recent banking-sector breach exploited such weaknesses. "Companies must expand their assessments to cover every internet-exposed entry point and use the most capable AI models available," he said.

Park also called for replacing outdated security infrastructure. "Many companies still use Layer 4 firewalls, but L4 firewalls cannot stop ransomware," he said. "They must immediately upgrade to Layer 7 next-generation firewalls." L4 and L7 refer to the fourth and seventh layers of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Layer 4 determines whether to allow traffic based on addresses and port numbers, while Layer 7 examines the contents of communications, enabling it to identify malicious code disguised as legitimate traffic.

Park recommended discontinuing the use of VPNs and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). "Most hacking incidents in Korea have occurred through VPNs," he said. "If you're using a VPN, you should terminate it immediately." He also warned that a VDI breach could bring corporate operations to a halt.

He stressed the urgency of adopting secure access service edge (SASE) architecture based on zero-trust principles. SASE combines networking and security functions in the cloud to verify users and devices and control access regardless of where connections originate.

Other priorities include strengthening browser security, automating security operations with AI, and integrating identity management across humans, machines and AI agents.

Founded in 2005, Palo Alto Networks is a US cybersecurity company that introduced its first next-generation firewall in 2007 and expanded its core businesses into network and cloud security. It listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 before moving to Nasdaq in 2021. Its Nasdaq market capitalization is approximately 450 trillion won.

Revenue for fiscal 2026 rose 25% to $11.48 billion (approximately 16.5 trillion won), while operating profit under US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) fell 44% to $695 million (approximately 1 trillion won). Palo Alto Networks' Korean subsidiary is in its 14th year of operation and has secured more than 1,000 customers and 300 partners, according to Park.

sung ji on jon@thelec.kr

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