Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced a set of security updates it says are designed to help organisations manage risk as artificial intelligence use spreads across enterprise environments, from central networks to branch sites and edge locations.
The announcement, made during RSA Conference 2026, includes new HPE Juniper Networking SRX400 Series firewalls, additional controls for HPE’s hybrid mesh firewall architecture focused on AI usage governance, and security and resilience enhancements across parts of its hybrid cloud portfolio.
HPE Networking Australia and New Zealand country manager Andrew Fox said organisations in the region are adopting AI quickly, while “the complexity and sophistication of today’s cyber threats are making security and resilience more critical than ever”. He added that HPE’s recent acquisition of Juniper is being used to build integrated capabilities aimed at managing risk while AI deployments scale.
HPE senior vice president and general manager for SASE and Security for Networking, David Hughes, said that as AI workloads extend across distributed sites, networking and security need to be more tightly integrated to improve visibility and standardise policy enforcement.
One of the headline product updates is the HPE Juniper Networking SRX400 Series, which HPE says is intended to bring “carrier-grade” security to smaller, space-constrained sites. HPE said the platform supports a standardised security posture from core to edge and includes hardware-rooted protections intended to defend against tampering and establish device integrity.
HPE also outlined new capabilities for its hybrid mesh firewall focused on controlling how staff use external AI tools. The company said these updates are aimed at balancing productivity with reducing the risk of sensitive data being unintentionally accessed or shared. The features listed include visibility and access controls for AI websites and applications, prompt-level inspection to filter keywords and manage file uploads, and centralised identity-based policy enforcement across physical, virtual and container environments. HPE also said it has expanded “chatbot” functions in HPE Security Director to assist with configuration guidance and workflows.
Beyond networking and firewalls, HPE said it is enhancing cyber and disaster recovery functions in HPE Zerto Software, including enriched platform support, new recovery runbooks, broader support for AI workloads (including vGPU), and Microsoft Defender integration. It also pointed to “secure direct access” to immutable HPE StoreOnce data for malware scanning and forensics, intended to speed recovery to clean states.
The company also said it is extending confidential computing capabilities through HPE Morpheus Software using hardware-based trusted execution environments from AMD and Intel, and centralised key management via Thales CipherTrust, with the aim of keeping data encrypted while in use to support regulatory and sovereignty requirements, including in air-gapped environments.
HPE said it is adding post-quantum cryptography readiness to Junos OS Evolved and plans to extend it to Junos in summer 2026. The company said the updates align with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) compliance standards and will include upgraded cryptographic libraries supporting FIPS 203/204, FIPS 204-based software signing, and Quantum Buffer for SSH. HPE also referenced broader post-quantum readiness work including HPE ProLiant Compute Gen12 servers with HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) 7.
HPE also announced an expansion of HPE Threat Labs, its threat intelligence group, by incorporating additional networking telemetry and expertise. The company said the goal is to deliver real-time, AI-native threat insights and speed the conversion of intelligence into action.
Availability timelines provided by HPE include Q2 2026 for the SRX400 firewalls and the new AI governance features for the hybrid mesh firewall, an April release plan for HPE Zerto Software 10 U9, and HPE StoreOnce OS 5.2 available now. HPE said confidential computing in HPE Morpheus Software will be available in Q3 2026, while new post-quantum cryptography standards in iLO 7 are scheduled for summer 2026.
