Palo Alto Networks AutoFocus vs. Recorded Future Intelligence Cloud

Analytics, Threat Hunting and detailed investigations for the security incidents are the main use cases. Automation on the cloud based on the feeds through the minemeld is another use case. When you deploy PAN on perimeter, Autofocus gives you a temendaous value. If you have non PAN firewall/products running Auto focus doe not make sense.

Incentivized

If you want a platform that is covering thousands of sources, and that includes deep, dark web, clear web forums, blogs, newspapers, social media networks, etc. Recorded Future is the most complete solution that I have seen. On the other hand, if you are looking for a really advanced platform with lot of human added value, research papers, advanced investigations, etc. Recorded Future might not be the ideal solution.

Incentivized

• Threat intelligence
• Emerging Threats
• Intelligence feeds

Incentivized

• Gives latest threat reports regarding an artifact (IP, domain or hash).
• Browser extension provides a real-time information about an artifact.
• Accurate in identifying malicious domains and IPs.

Incentivized

• third party product integration
• simplicity of the managment console
• integration to cortex agents directly

Incentivized

• E-Mail reports can show unrelated content, especially sometimes you'll see alerts popping up for articles which have been published years ago but for some reason were just recently discovered by RF.
• Yara rules from their insikt blog sometimes are not syntactically correct and need to be manually edited to actually work. There's some proper QA missing.
• Their global and 3rd party risk reports could be more tailored towards the industries of their client. There is entries for totally unrelated security incidents. Of course a global list aims to find incidents on a global view, but it doesn't add much value at that point.

Incentivized

I've had an issue with their browser-plugin which didn't want to authenticate correctly. RF's support could arrange for a session with me and identify and solve the issue. I was very pleased how serious they took my problems and also how knowledgeable they are.

If I have more general questions they quickly reply and most likely also have a solution at hand.

Incentivized

If you have Palo Alto, autofocus is the selected choice. If you have Checkpoint than the threat cloud. Price of autofocus is much cheaper. Unit42 is the real differentiator. Minemeld is unique to PAN and working perfectly. Search outputs and are detailed and gives lots of data. Integration with SOAR is much easier with autofocus. Indicator list is huge. Tagging works magnificent.

Incentivized

It is the most complete solution of these three, as the others are focused in specific areas and having really detailed analysis about threat actors, APT groups, etc. Recorded Future is not having this level of knowledge in really specific areas but doing a really good work covering thousands of sources and the most relevant forums.

Incentivized

• Cheap for us
• Easy integration
• Easy management

Incentivized

• Recorded Future crashes my web browser in cases I have to open a web page containing hundreds of IPs. A quick disable feature for a particular tab would be beneficial for someone like me.

Incentivized