Spark User Summit Past Events

Spark User Summits are dedicated to bringing you top education and networking opportunities. Fuel virtual events include sessions about challenges in the industry, the latest products and updates from Palo Alto Networks and opportunities to connect with peers from across the globe.

Connect with Palo Alto Networks experts and Fuel members virtually at a Spark User Summit.

Presented in coordination with local Fuel chapters, Spark User Summits are events where you’ll:

  • Connect with fellow Palo Alto Networks users in your area

  • Hear exclusive updates and the latest threat research from Palo Alto Networks

  • Learn new skills integral to your job in hands-on workshops and collaborative sessions

  • Equip yourself against the constant flow of cybersecurity threats and challenges with new and enhanced strategies and solutions

These highly anticipated events feature presentations and workshops on topics such as new updates to the PAN-OS , AI, CI/CD options, user protection and security, and much more!

Past Spark User Summits

Clustering and Advanced Routing Engine (ARE)

October 24, 2024

Clustering and the Advanced Routing Engine - both very necessary tools for larger environments and we are lucky to be introduced to each of them by one of the leading experts on both platforms, Patrick Warichet. One of the leading experts on both of these topics, Patrick will give is an overview of how to enable clustering in our environments, what requirements need to be taken into consideration, and what functionality that clustering will offer us. With the ARE, we learn about a new capability availed to us starting in PAN-OS version 10.2 and how we can use this functionality.

Securing an AI-First Future

September 26, 2024

For this month's Spark User Summit, we had Rob Rachwald returning to visit us about the upcoming innovations that Palo Alto Networks has coming around AI-driven tools. Discussing briefly about how threat actors are leveraging AI in their own attacks, we then go into the suite of options that customers have available to them for improving their own security posture.


Quantum Security and Identity Management/Zero Trust

August 22, 2024

Identity Management/Zero Trust - 

Identity is the foundation of a robust cybersecurity strategy and the keystone to your Zero Trust journey. In this session, you will learn about modern attacks that exploit weaknesses in traditional identity paradigms and how the shifting cybersecurity landscape is enabling these attacks. You will learn how Palo Alto Networks addresses these challenges through innovation and strategic partnerships. You will leave the session with an understanding of how Zero Trust principles offer guidance on creating a robust identity deployment.

Quantum Security - 

Philip will be presenting the latest Quantum Security Overview from Palo Alto Networks. This will be an introduction to the topic and what PANW's role is within the industry. We will talk about our PQ VPN solutions that have been made generally available.


Web Proxy and SD-WAN

July 25, 2024

This month, we will be looking at the Next Gen Firewall (NGFW) and two of the capabilities that we have available to us on them: Web Proxy and SD-WAN.  We will have subject matter experts from Palo Alto Networks speaking with us for each session.

Web Proxy - 
This session will focus on an introduction to PANOS Web Proxy giving an overview of the capability and the deployment modes and how it lends itself to platform consolidation. The session will also include a live demonstration of the Explicit Proxy feature.

SD-WAN - 
This session will provide an overview of the capabilities and deployment modes of Secure PAN-OS SD-WAN for NGFW w/ Strata Cloud Manager, with a demo showcasing how easy it is to bring up an SD-WAN fabric by leveraging PAN-OS SD-WAN Automation.


Prisma Cloud and Terraform

June 20, 2024

This demo aims to showcase the seamless interoperability between HashiCorp Terraform and Prisma Cloud, emphasizing how Prisma Cloud secures infrastructure as code (IaC) deployments managed by Terraform. Attendees will learn how to integrate these tools to enhance cloud security posture and automate compliance checks throughout the CI/CD pipeline.


AI in the Age of Cybersecurity

May 23, 2024

Join us for an insightful session with Rob Rachwald, Palo Alto Networks Director of Product Marketing, as he sheds light on the transformative impact of AI in the enterprise. Discover how threat actors are harnessing AI, gain practical insights on how security teams can proactively prepare for this new era, and learn how Palo Alto Networks is at the forefront of protecting customers in this rapidly evolving landscape.


Dealing with Threats

March 19, 2024

Session 1: XSOAR TIM Fundamentals

This talk will cover how XSOAR TIM works, why it works the way that it does, and will cover the entire lifecycle of an IOC (Incident Of Compromise).  The presentation will go through the moment it enters the system through to the point it is exported or shared as well as explain why everything happens the way that it does.

Session 2: The role of automation in rapid breach response

Organizations with even the most robust security defenses will still encounter new, sophisticated forms of cyber attacks. This is why threat detection and response become so critical. Speed is of the essence in the event of a wide-scale and critical zero-day vulnerability. Automation can play a crucial role in short-cutting the response process to minimize the risk of a breach.

In this session, we will walk you through a zero-day vulnerability scenario and how automation can be a great partner in helping your team speed the process from discovery to remediation.


The evolving aspects of attack surfaces and identity threat detection

November 30, 2023

In these sessions first learn about how the attack surfaces are changing and what companies need to do to adapt as they face more system separation, rouge IT and cloud adoption. Then learn about identity-based threats, what the risk is to your company and how Cortex can help you to mitigate these threats.


XSOAR 8 and Cortex Xpanse - Expander 2.3 moving you to the next steps…

October 26, 2023

In these sessions we are taking a deeper dive into updates and what XSOAR 8 and Cortex Xpanse - Expander 2.3 can do for your organization. XSOAR 8 is a key automation platform can help take your manual workflows into the automation world speeding up your incident and actions on events. And with the power of AI and machine learning in your Cortex playbooks you can improve surface attack remediation.


Virtual Firewalls and the Cloud, how they are different and the same…

September 28, 2023

In these sessions we are taking a deeper dive into virtual firewalls and how they can help safe guard your environments on premise and then how security challenges can change when you move your workloads into the cloud. These are sessions you won’t want to miss!


Ransomware: The solution, not just a product

July 25, 2023

As the security landscape continues to evolve and new threats emerge, companies need defense in depth to safe guard against these. Cortex Xpanse and Cortex XSOAR can help give you that defense in depth you’re looking for today. Cortex Xpanse is an active attack surface management solution that will help you discover, learn and respond to unknown risks for your organization. Cortex XSOAR helps you centralize and orchestrate incident responses. The two together can help you to discover and automatically remediate attack surface exposures to help keep your company safe and eliminate any possible repetitive or time-consuming tasks from your already over worked staff.


PAN-OS 11.0 Nova, the upgrade and features you need to know about!

June 27, 2023

As the security threats continue to surface, it’s critical your environments stay at least several steps ahead instead of just one step ahead. PAN-OS 11.0 Nova isn’t a single step ahead, it’s a big leap forward in dealing with zero day threats and infection attacks. But it’s not just what Nova does for you it also works to simplify your security architecture so you can more easily adopt best security practices. Couple this with cloud-delivered security services and it’s easy to see why Nova is such a game changer. Now that you know why you need it it’s time to talk about how to update your existing environments to this latest generation of the PAN-OS 11.0 Nova and what key technical and critical features do you need to know about to get the most out of the Nova update!


The Who: Panorama & Cortex, The Why: We're going to tell you that, The When: This May!

May 30, 2023

In today’s current world, threats exist almost everywhere, it’s not just about security products but how you use them. Insight to why these products can make an impact to your business is critical, almost as much as how these products are configured for your business.  In these sessions, we will be taking a look as firewall configuration management and end point protection to help keep your company safe from malicious actors and threats.


Stay One Step Ahead of Adversaries with PAN-OS 11.0 Nova

April 19, 2023

Cyber threats continue to increase in volume and complexity, with threat actors developing new ways to avoid detection — including highly evasive malware. To help organizations outpace these evolving threats, Palo Alto Networks announces PAN-OS® 11.0 Nova, the latest version of its Industry-leading PAN-OS software, unleashing 50+ product updates and innovations.


All the Firewall features you need to know, and wanted to ask!

March 28, 2023

As we look to secure our environments we often talk about firewalls. They are critical to the protection of our environments and we often put them on the top of our security shopping list. The challenge with them isn’t getting the setup, it’s making sure you get them setup and operational in the best setup you can for your organization. 


Automate for Security / Zero Trust and You

February 21, 2023

Learn how to automate and deploy responses and assets across your infrastructure as code along with best practices in zero trust with key and common practices and techniques that you might not have known you had access to!


Threat Hunting with Unit 42

October 25, 2022

An introduction of the threat landscape and how to be breech ready.


SaaS Solved

August 2, 2022

In this event, we will pull back the curtain of SaaS solutions where we are taking a look at key SaaS Security API's, strategies, insight and automation for your SaaS solutions.


Firewall Focused!

June 28, 2022

In this Spark, learn what is and why you need a next generation firewall. Also, how to upgrade your firewall with key steps from technical support and personal. And Aviatrix will be on hand to talk about embedding security in your cloud network. Don't miss this firewall and security event!


SD-WAN Demystified

May 24, 2022

Join Fuel on May 24th for our "SD-WAN Demystified" Spark User Summit event. Hear from Palo Alto Networks technical experts on the strategy behind SD-WAN, followed by deep-dive sessions on PANOS SD-WAN and Prisma SD-WAN and the use cases for each. These sessions will feature key technical insights and practical tips you can apply.


Implementing Zero Trust

Feb 22, 2022

Zero Trust is a security model designed specifically to protect the security of sensitive data and critical applications by leveraging network and user segmentation, preventing lateral movement, providing Layer 7 threat prevention, and simplifying granular user-access controls. Where traditional security models operate under the assumption that everything inside an organization’s perimeter can be trusted, the Zero Trust model recognizes that trust is a vulnerability.