DOD Impact Level 5 Status Granted to Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Access

California-based cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks has received Department of Defense Impact Level 5 Provisional Authorization for Prisma Access.

Palo Alto’s platform is a collection of security service edge applications intended for DOD agencies that rely on the cloud. According to the company website, Prisma Access’ capabilities include zero-trust network access, gateway protections and firewall-as-a-service.

Lee Klarich, executive vice president and chief product officer, noted that the IL5 PA designation allows the DOD to access Palo Alto’s “best-in-class security” and provides it with the minimum access level needed to handle specific types of sensitive data, including controlled unclassified information.

IL5 is the highest security clearance tier for handling the DOD’s unclassified information, Palo Alto said Wednesday. Attaining it requires cloud service providers to take different steps than they would for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, the Moderate authorization for which is roughly equivalent to DOD’s IL2.

According to Patrick Perry, senior director of federal strategic initiatives at Zscaler, IL5 allows such CSPs to store and process CUI.