Google Cloud this week made Cloud IDS generally available with several additional features compared to when it first announced the network-based threat detection with Palo Alto Networks in July.

The managed service, built on Google Cloud infrastructure, uses Palo Alto Networks’ threat-detection technologies to helps organizations detect network-based threats and meet compliance standards that require an intrusion detection system.

Specifically, it uses Palo Alto Networks’ VM-Series firewalls, backed by its Unit 42 security research team. The vendor’s threat-analysis engine continually updates the catalog of known threats and uses anomaly detection for unknown threats.

Palo Alto Networks’ threat-analysis engine processes about 15 trillion transactions per day, Muninder Singh Sambi, SVP of product management, said in an earlier interview with SDxCentral.

“We also have the industry’s best threat intel team,” he added, referring to the vendor’s 200-plus-member Unit 42 organization. “You can think of them as the threat ninjas that look at all of these transactions that we see and are able to provide valuable insights as to whether these are threats or benign requests.”

Additionally, the general availability release includes:

The new product also integrates with Google's Chronicle security analytics platform, which the cloud giant says helps companies investigate threats surfaced by Cloud IDS.

Deep Set of Current Users

When the partners first announced Cloud IDS, Shailesh Shukla, VP and GM of networking at Google Cloud, told SDxCentral that Cloud IDS provides visibility into traffic to and from the internet, and it also monitors east-west traffic.

“It is able to detect malware, spyware, and command and control attacks, both coming in from the internet and within the infrastructure, and other network-based threats,” Shukla said.

At the time, he said customers using Cloud IDS in private preview included Bitly and digital banking service Dave.com.

Cloud communications provider Avaya, customer data platform vendor Lytics, and electronic health record provider MEDITECH also use the product, according to a blog post. “"We are using Palo Alto Networks IDS and IPS in our on-premises network, and we look forward to leveraging the same advantages in our cloud hosted environment," said said Tom Moriarty, manager of information security at MEDITECH.