Case Study: Northwest Independent School District strengthens student data protection and secure AI with Palo Alto Networks

Northwest Independent School District cuts median resolution time to under 60 seconds with Palo Alto Networks

Northwest Independent School District, a large public school system in Texas, faced significant cybersecurity challenges including tool sprawl, relentless attacks targeting valuable student data, and a lack of visibility into AI and IoT device usage. Their lean IT team was overwhelmed by manually correlating alerts from multiple disjointed platforms, leaving them vulnerable to sophisticated threats. To address this, they partnered with Palo Alto Networks and deployed a platform including Next-Generation Firewalls managed by Strata Cloud Manager.

The Palo Alto Networks solution provided a unified security platform that consolidated tools and automated processes. Key components included Cortex XSIAM for security operations, which slashed median incident resolution time to under one minute, and AI Access Security with Enterprise DLP to safely enable generative AI use. The implementation discovered 70,000 devices on the network and now automatically mitigates over 5,000 alerts monthly, saving the district operational hours and $100,000 annually while strictly protecting student data.

Northwest Independent School District