Palo Alto Networks: Securing AI Data Centres by Design

AI data centres are the bricks and mortar of the digital economy. But their status as pieces of critical infrastructure makes them an attractive target cyberattacks.

In an effort to combat this, Palo Alto Networks has unveiled a comprehensive security ecosystem aimed at protecting AI infrastructure from the data centre to the distributed edge, marking a strategic response to the evolving threat landscape surrounding AI deployments.

Announced at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, the initiative addresses the kinds of cybersecurity challenges that emerge as organisations build out AI capabilities across hyperscale facilities, telecommunications networks and edge computing environments.

The ecosystem brings together partnerships with Nokia, U Mobile, Aeris and Celerway to deliver integrated protection across the AI technology stack.

"We are establishing the secure foundation for the AI economy through extensive ecosystem collaboration," says Anand Oswal, Executive Vice President at Palo Alto Networks.

"By seamlessly integrating our AI-powered security services directly from the data centre into the most vital fifth-generation (5G) and Internet of Things (IoT) networks globally, we are ensuring the AI Factory is secure by design.

"These partnerships enable us to create a secure digital infrastructure capable of managing the multi-terabit throughput required for training AI models."

Security built into infrastructure 

As AI workloads increasingly become targets for sophisticated cyber attacks, securing the infrastructure that powers machine learning and Gen  AI has become critical.

The initiative reflects growing recognition that traditional security approaches may struggle to address the unique vulnerabilities created by high-throughput AI training environments and distributed inference deployments.

The announcement signals a shift towards embedding security controls directly into AI infrastructure rather than treating protection as a supplementary layer.

With AI deployments spanning multiple environments, from centralised training facilities to distributed edge devices, the partnerships aim to create unified security frameworks that can scale across diverse deployment models whilst maintaining consistent threat protection.

Addressing sovereign AI security requirements

A key element of the announcement centres on a collaboration with Nokia targeting European AI infrastructure deployments.

The partnership combines Nokia's data centre capabilities with Palo Alto Networks' security platforms to address data sovereignty concerns alongside threat protection.

As European organisations build large-scale AI facilities to comply with regional data regulations, the need for security frameworks that extend protection from network infrastructure through to workloads could become increasingly important.

The joint architecture aims to provide validated security controls that address both compliance requirements and cyber resilience.

The collaboration responds to heightened regulatory scrutiny across Europe, where data localisation requirements and sovereignty concerns are shaping AI infrastructure decisions.

By providing security architectures validated for sovereign deployments, the partnership aims to help organisations meet compliance obligations whilst maintaining robust threat protection across their AI environments.

"In the race to build the world's AI Factories, you cannot leave the door open at the infrastructure layer," says Greg Dorai, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IP Networks at Nokia.

"Nokia and Palo Alto Networks jointly envision comprehensive architectural and operational frameworks that expand security solutions from the network layer to workloads.

"The validated architecture will allow our customers to build future-proof, sovereign data centres. We aren't just providing connectivity, we are protecting the physical and digital integrity of industrial digitisation at scale."

Securing AI data pipelines

Beyond core infrastructure, Palo Alto Networks is extending protection to the telecommunications and IoT environments that feed data into AI systems.

New partnerships with U Mobile, Aeris and Celerway Communication address security across 5G networks and connected device deployments.

In Malaysia, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with 5G provider U Mobile to develop network-embedded Security as a Service capabilities.

By integrating next-generation firewalls and AI-driven threat detection into mobile infrastructure, the partnership aims to provide protection for both consumer and enterprise traffic flowing through 4G and 5G networks.

The Aeris collaboration focuses on IoT security at scale. By combining Aeris IoT Watchtower with Prisma SASE 5G, organisations can apply data loss prevention and zero-trust policies to millions of wireless devices from a single management interface.

For sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, retail and utilities, this could reduce the attack surface created by connected devices that supply data to AI platforms.

Celerway Communication extends data centre-grade protection to distributed edge deployments. Integration with Palo Alto Networks VM Series Next Generation Firewalls enables 5G edge devices used by emergency services and remote workforces to maintain encrypted data integrity and consistent security policies, even across high-mobility scenarios.

The combined ecosystem represents a recognition that AI infrastructure creates distinct security challenges.

Training pipelines, inference services and data flows from edge to core all present potential attack vectors that require integrated protection.

By aligning security platforms across data centre, telecommunications and IoT layers, Palo Alto Networks and its partners are positioning embedded security controls as fundamental to AI infrastructure design rather than an additional layer applied after deployment.