Veracode and Palo Alto Networks: Unify Application Risk from Code to Cloud

Software development has entered a new era. Applications are built and deployed faster than ever, powered by cloud-native architectures, open-source software, and AI-assisted development. But this speed has introduced a new challenge: a dramatically expanded attack surface and a fragmented security model that struggles to keep up.

Today, application risk lives everywhere – inside first-party code, within open-source dependencies, across container images, throughout CI/CD pipelines, and in cloud runtime environments. Yet many organizations still manage this risk through disconnected tools and siloed teams. The result is familiar: blind spots, noisy alerts, slow prioritization, and constant friction between development, security, and operations. That model is no longer effective.

To help security leaders move from fragmented visibility to decisive control, Veracode and Palo Alto Networks have partnered to unify application security intelligence with cloud runtime context. This collaboration creates a single, operational view of application risk from the first line of code to the production environment.

Why This Partnership Matters Now

The timing of this shift is critical. Three compounding forces have rendered legacy security approaches obsolete:

1. AI-Driven Velocity: AI coding assistants enable developers to generate code faster than human security teams can review it. Without automated, embedded security, the backlog of vulnerabilities becomes unmanageable.
2. Cloud-Native Complexity: Applications are now collections of microservices and containers. A vulnerability in code may be harmless in isolation but catastrophic if the host container is misconfigured and internet-facing.
3. The Context Gap: Security teams are drowning in findings but starving for context. They lack the data to distinguish between a theoretical flaw and an active emergency.

By integrating Veracode’s authoritative application security intelligence directly into Cortex® Cloud, we close the context gap. We connect what is vulnerable with what is exposed, allowing you to take action automatically.

From Findings to Decisions: A Unified Application Risk Model

Veracode has long been trusted to deliver high-fidelity application risk intelligence across the entire software supply chain. Our platform provides comprehensive analysis through:

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST): Identify and help developers remediate flaws in first-party code.
• Software Composition Analysis (SCA): Detect vulnerabilities and license risks in open-source dependencies.

On their own, these signals are powerful. Their value multiplies when enriched with real-time cloud and runtime context.

Through this integration, all findings from Veracode scans flow directly into Cortex Cloud. There, they are correlated with workload exposure, internet reachability, identity privileges, and runtime behavior. The result is no longer just a list of alerts—it is decision-grade risk intelligence.

With this unified view, security teams can now:

• Prioritize vulnerabilities based on real-world exploitability.
• Automate security policy enforcement across CI/CD and runtime environments.
• Apply consistent security policies across the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC).

What Unified Security Looks Like in Practice

This integration enables powerful, automated workflows that bridge the gap between development and security teams. Here are three practical use cases that demonstrate the impact of a unified approach.

Prioritize the Risks That Actually Matter

A Veracode SAST scan identifies a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in a newly deployed microservice. In isolation, this finding might sit unresolved in the backlog for weeks.

However, Cortex Cloud correlates that finding with runtime context, revealing that the service is internet-facing and handles sensitive customer data. This added context automatically elevates the risk to critical. A high-priority ticket is then created in the developer’s backlog, complete with Veracode’s precise remediation guidance.

Outcome: Security and development teams focus immediately on the risks that pose a real business impact, without manual triage meetings or guesswork.

Stop Vulnerable Code Before It Reaches Production

During a CI/CD pipeline build, critical vulnerabilities are detected in the software whose finding is instantly shared within the Cortex Cloud, enforcing a predefined policy resulting in the build automatically failing. The vulnerable image is blocked from being promoted to the artifact repository. Developers are notified in Slack with a direct link to the Veracode findings for immediate action.

Outcome: Risk is prevented early in the lifecycle, not remediated after the fact, all without slowing down delivery pipelines.

Neutralize Supply Chain Attacks at the Earliest Stage

A developer unknowingly attempts to install an open-source package that contains malicious code designed to exfiltrate data. Veracode’s malicious package detection flags the threat during the CI/CD pipeline build process.

This critical finding is immediately pushed to Cortex Cloud, which triggers an automated response. The build is halted, the malicious package is quarantined, and the security team is alerted to investigate its origin and scope.

Outcome: A potential software supply chain attack is stopped before it ever becomes a security incident.

Secure Innovation from Code to Cloud

Modern software development demands a modern security model – one that spans development and production, understands context, and acts decisively. The partnership between Veracode and Palo Alto Networks delivers the foundation for that future. By unifying Veracode’s deep application risk intelligence with Palo Alto Networks’ cloud and runtime enforcement, organizations gain a single operating model for application security.

This approach replaces fragmented alerts with correlated risk and manual processes with intelligent automation. Security leaders can move faster, developers receive clearer priorities, and the entire organization can reduce risk without sacrificing innovation.

It is time to stop managing disconnected alerts and start managing application risk with confidence.

To learn more about how Veracode and Cortex Cloud work together, explore the joint solution brief or request a demo today.