Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced a broad set of security innovations at RSA Conference 2026, targeting enterprises grappling with the risks that come with rapid AI adoption across distributed environments.

The announcements span three areas: new edge firewalls, enhanced hybrid mesh security capabilities, and built-in resilience features designed to protect workloads in hybrid cloud and air-gapped environments.

New Firewalls for AI-Expanded Edge Environments

HPE introduced the Juniper Networking SRX400 Series Firewalls, which bring carrier-grade security to smaller, space-constrained sites such as retail stores, clinics, and branch offices — locations increasingly exposed to unmanaged AI access and inconsistent policy enforcement. The SRX400 series includes hardware-rooted protections against tampering and supports a standardised security posture from core to edge.

AI Governance Built Into the Hybrid Mesh Firewall

With more than half of organisations now using AI tools internally, HPE has expanded its hybrid mesh firewall with capabilities aimed at governing AI usage without blocking productivity. New features include prompt-level inspection to prevent sensitive data from being sent to external AI tools, visibility and access management for AI applications, and centralized identity-based protection that follows the user and workload — not just the device.

“In the AI era, security can no longer be bolted on or managed in isolation,” said David Hughes, SVP & GM, SASE and Security for Networking at HPE. “HPE helps customers standardize policy and consistently enforce it across distributed environments so they can adopt AI with confidence.”

Post-Quantum and Resilience Enhancements Across the Portfolio

HPE also announced resilience-focused updates across its product lines. These include confidential computing integration in HPE Morpheus Software using AMD and Intel trusted execution environments, and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) support added to Junos OS Evolved, with broader rollout to Junos planned for summer 2026. The updates align with NIST compliance standards.

HPE Zerto Software will receive enhanced cyber and disaster recovery capabilities including support for AI workloads and Microsoft Defender integration, while HPE StoreOnce OS 5.2 — enabling malware scanning and forensics on immutable data — is available now.

HPE Threat Labs Expansion

HPE is also expanding HPE Threat Labs, its threat intelligence group, by incorporating additional networking telemetry to deliver real-time, AI-native threat insights and accelerate response to emerging threats.

Most of the newly announced products — including the SRX400 firewalls and AI governance features — are slated for availability in Q2 2026. Confidential computing in HPE Morpheus Software will follow in Q3 2026.