https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/feeds/product-insights View for blog content type. Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:37:51 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html RSS 2.0, JSON Feed 1.0, and Atom 1.0 generator for Node.js en https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/it-s-not-too-late-ditch-your-vpn-why-zpa-superior-secure-access-solution https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/it-s-not-too-late-ditch-your-vpn-why-zpa-superior-secure-access-solution Tue, 29 Apr 2025 17:15:01 GMT IntroductionThis is the first of the blog series examining the advantages of Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) architecture. In this post, we'll focus specifically on how ZPA addresses the security limitations of traditional Virtual Private Network (VPN) solutions, which have become increasingly inadequate for securing enterprises.Weaknesses and Limitations of VPNsEncrypted VPN technology was invented over 30 years ago to help organizations provide remote users access to applications hosted on internal networks. While this model worked for decades, its inherent architectural flaws have made it a liability in today’s threat landscape.VPNs are fundamentally built on a castle-and-moat security model, where everything inside the network is treated as trusted and secure. Unfortunately, attackers have learned to exploit inherent VPN vulnerabilities, making the technology an urgent security risk for modern businesses.Below, we’ll explore three primary challenges of VPN and why ZPA solves these problems for enterprise security architects.Why ZPA's Architecture is SuperiorZscaler Private Access (ZPA) was purpose-built on Zero Trust principles to eliminate the security and operational weaknesses of VPNs, providing a more secure and user-friendly solution for modern enterprises.Here’s how ZPA addresses the architectural flaws of VPN:SummaryVPN technology has long outlived its usefulness as a secure remote-access solution. With its inherent architectural flaws—spanning exposed attack surfaces, internal network vulnerabilities, and segmentation challenges—it has become a liability for organizations navigating modern cybersecurity challenges.ZPA, built on Zero Trust principles, offers a fundamentally different and superior approach to secure remote access. By eliminating external attack surfaces, restricting access to specific applications, and simplifying segmentation, ZPA empowers organizations to securely connect users to the resources they need while keeping attackers out.Tune in next week for the second blog post in this series as we dive deeper into ZPA’s capabilities and explore why Zero Trust is essential for securing the modern enterprise.In the meantime, click here to learn more about ZPA. Omar Gani (Principal Technical Product Specialist) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-digital-factory-protecting-ot-systems-automotive-manufacturing https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-digital-factory-protecting-ot-systems-automotive-manufacturing Tue, 29 Apr 2025 11:00:01 GMT Auto manufacturing is undergoing a seismic shift. Production lines are transitioning from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles (EVs), organizations are trying to preserve capital for an uncertain future, and the adoption of smart factories powered by Industry 4.0 technologies is on the rise. While robust cybersecurity strategies are paramount for the entire organization, network, systems, and data, the connected digital vehicle production process brings particular opportunities for innovation to protect operational technology (OT) assets essential for everything from robotic assembly equipment to advanced quality control systems.As Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT, cloud computing, and advanced automation take center stage, OT systems—once isolated from external networks—are now integral to connected, data-driven environments. While these advancements usher in new levels of efficiency and innovation, they also expose OT systems to unprecedented cybersecurity risks. Securing these systems without compromising productivity is a top priority for manufacturers, particularly in complex, distributed environments with legacy devices and unique constraints.This is where Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN comes into play. Just like seatbelts protect the driver and passengers, Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN is designed to secure communication across distributed locations and is a key component of a zero trust architecture for industrial environments. Offering seamless scalability, robust traffic segmentation with access control, and deep visibility, it enables manufacturers to protect their OT assets while ensuring operational continuity.The OT Security ChallengeHistorically, OT systems were isolated, operating in environments without direct access to external networks or the internet. However, Industry 4.0 technologies—such as IoT devices, cloud analytics platforms, and intelligent automation—have led to greater convergence between OT and IT systems. While this connectivity allows manufacturers to improve efficiency and gain valuable insights, it also makes OT systems vulnerable to cyberattacks.Key risks to OT systems include:Legacy devices: With industrial OT devices needing to last 20+ years, many devices lack modern security features, making them prime targets for exploitation.Patch delays: Production schedules often require minimal downtime, delaying critical software updates.Persistent threats: Cybercriminals view manufacturing environments as attractive targets for ransomware attacks, intellectual property theft, and supply chain disruptions.To combat these challenges, automakers need security solutions that provide fine-grained access control, visibility into communication flows, and the ability to maintain uptime without impeding operations.A Unified Zero Trust Approach for Industrial EnvironmentsWith Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN, automakers can ensure the security of mission-critical OT systems—like robotic arms, production monitoring sensors, and conveyor belts—without disrupting uptime. Its seamless cloud-based configuration supports JIT manufacturing workflows, minimizing costly delays typically caused by traditional, hardware-intensive security solutions.By implementing Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN, automakers can achieve secure and efficient OT-IT alignment, ensuring sensitive systems and data are protected against unauthorized access and external threats.Securing OT Assets with Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN1. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)Traditional perimeter-based security models are insufficient for modern, interconnected OT environments. Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN enforces zero trust principles, ensuring that no device, user, or application can access critical OT systems without explicit authentication and authorization. Just like EVs can have different profiles for each driver, a ZTNA architecture provides access specific to each resource, which ensures that OT systems only communicate with authorized resources. This reduces the risk of lateral movement during a cyberattack and protects OT assets from unauthorized access.2. Application-Aware SegmentationLike a line with specific pods and sections for each portion of the vehicle assembly process, Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN can segment SCADA systems managing complex painting or stamping processes separately from corporate IT networks, ensuring resilience in isolated environments. Similarly, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) tied to robotic welders in EV production lines can remain protected from supply chain-related malware, safeguarding precision operations.3. Secure Cloud ConnectivityAs manufacturers increasingly rely on cloud-based analytics and IoT platforms, secure communication between OT devices and the cloud is paramount. Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN establishes encrypted tunnels to the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, ensuring data remains safe during transmission, providing end-to-end protection without requiring on-premises hardware or complex configurations.4. Edge Security with Unified Threat PreventionZscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN connects to the Zero Trust Exchange, which offers security features such as deep packet inspection (DPI), intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and robust firewall capabilities. It scans all traffic for malware, phishing attempts, and data exfiltration risks, minimizing exposure to cyberthreats across OT environments.5. Increased UptimeZscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN helps automakers improve uptime by providing seamless failover, redundancy, and network reliability solutions. It integrates multiple network connections, such as fiber, cellular, or satellite, to automatically switch to a backup connection in case of failure, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity. Features like load balancing distribute traffic across connections to prevent overloads, while real-time monitoring and analytics detect potential issues before they escalate into downtime.Leveraging software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) capabilities, Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN dynamically routes traffic through the best available path, enhancing reliability and performance while minimizing human intervention through automation. Additionally, its centralized management interface simplifies network control and troubleshooting, enabling IT teams to resolve issues quickly and maintain smooth operations.Keeping Automotive Manufacturing on the Cutting EdgeAs the industry embraces EVs, smart factories, and advanced automation, cyberthreats have the potential to derail progress, disrupt production, and jeopardize vehicle safety. Securing OT assets in automotive manufacturing has never been more critical. Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN provides auto manufacturers with a modernized approach to cybersecurity, enabling zero trust controls, precise segmentation, and secure cloud connectivity—all without compromising operational efficiency or uptime.By simplifying OT-IT convergence, protecting critical production environments, and supporting evolving technologies like IoT and digital twins, Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN helps automotive manufacturers stay resilient in an era of rapid change. Protect your production lines, accelerate innovation with confidence, and ensure your OT systems are ready for the future of connected vehicle manufacturing. Todd Brockdorf (Manager, Sales Engineering) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-genai-state-and-local-governments https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-genai-state-and-local-governments Tue, 29 Apr 2025 04:32:07 GMT It’s early February, and a small municipal government is processing an influx of public records requests. The team, overwhelmed and understaffed, begins utilizing ChatGPT to summarize documents, pull relevant data, and expedite responses. By the end of the week, their workflows have improved dramatically; tasks that once took hours are now completed within minutes. However, by March, that same team discovers that sensitive internal data was unintentionally exposed to external servers during document processing, raising concerns about potential misuse—a discovery that prompts panic across the office.This fictional scenario is becoming an increasingly tangible risk in the era of generative AI (GenAI), where the promise of transformational efficiency is tempered by questions about privacy, security, and compliance. For state and local governments, often working with limited budgets and outdated technology, the challenge is amplified. But there’s hope on the horizon: cybersecurity innovators like Zscaler are empowering governments to fully realize the potential of GenAI—without compromising security.The Power and Risks of Generative AI in GovernmentGenerative AI tools, which create text, images, models, and code, are reshaping industries including healthcare and education. For state and local governments, the opportunities are exciting:Enhanced Service Delivery: Chatbots powered by GenAI can handle routine inquiries, such as obtaining licenses, paying taxes, or finding information about services.Predictive Analytics: AI tools can analyze patterns to forecast public safety risks, disease outbreaks, or infrastructure needs.Operational Efficiency: Automating document summarization, data processing, and report generation enables employees to focus on value-added tasks.Yet, the adoption of these AI tools comes with significant risks.According to a survey by Gartner in early 2023, 77% of organizations cited security as the biggest impediment to AI adoption. And with good reason: in Zscaler's ThreatLabz GenAI Report 2025, 60% of organizations reported attempts by bad actors to exploit vulnerabilities in generative AI integrations by targeting sensitive data during transmissions.For governments, the risks are further compounded by compliance mandates and the heightened responsibility to protect citizen data. Prominent risks include:Data Leakage: Sensitive information may be improperly stored, increasing the risk of unauthorized access.Compliance Violations: Agencies processing personal or classified data via unprotected AI systems risk violating frameworks such as HIPAA, CJIS, and PCI DSS.These risks either remain unaddressed (due to unrestricted access to generative AI applications) or result in a loss of productivity by completely banning the use of generative AI.How Zscaler Secures Generative AI for State and Local GovernmentsZscaler is equipping state and local agencies with the tools they need to embrace GenAI securely. Through solutions guided by Zero Trust Principles—a security model that assumes breach and enforces least-privileged access—Zscaler ensures sensitive information stays protected across all interactions with AI platforms.Key Components of Zscaler’s Generative AI SecuritySome of the ways Zscaler leverages its platform to help governments safely adopt GenAI include:Visibility into GenAI Apps: See which AI apps are in use across your users, departments, and organization with interactive dashboards. Gain in-depth visibility into application trends and which data is most at risk.Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Zscaler safeguards data by preventing unauthorized transmission via GenAI applications. By implementing policies to block sensitive data sharing, agencies can keep information secure. For example, an employee drafting a report using generative AI won’t accidentally expose confidential citizen information to the cloud.Visibility Into Prompts: The ability to see what prompts are being put into public GenAI tools helps agencies understand how employees are using these tools and shapes policies for enforcement.Secure AI Access via Isolated Browser: For even stronger protection, render AI and ML applications in Browser Isolation to allow user prompts while restricting clipboard use for uploads and downloads.Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Architecture: Zscaler integrates security into its cloud networking infrastructure, ensuring seamless and scalable protection, even for geographically dispersed agencies.Research-Based InsightsMcKinsey’s 2023 report, The State of Generative AI, predicts that by 2030 productivity improvements from GenAI could add up to $4.4 trillion annually in global economic value—with government operations poised to benefit significantly. Yet, the report cautions that cyber vulnerabilities will rise in tandem. Zscaler’s ThreatLabz GenAI Report 2025 has identified key cybersecurity trends impacting governments:Data Exploitation Trends: The report reveals that 33% of cyberattacks targeting government entities in 2025 will involve exploitation of AI tools, underscoring the need for advanced monitoring and threat prevention policies.Compliance Failures: According to ThreatLabz findings, improper use of generative AI tools without Zero Trust protections has already led to a 47% spike in compliance violations across sectors in 2025.Malware Evolution: Threat actors are now injecting AI-generated code into government networks, leveraging generative AI to bypass traditional security frameworks.These findings emphasize the urgent need to pair advanced AI use cases with cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions, like those offered by Zscaler.Future-Proofing Government for the AI RevolutionGenerative AI has opened an exciting frontier for state and local governments, offering breakthroughs in efficiency, analytics, and citizen-first services. But unlocking these advantages requires robust, scalable security solutions that protect sensitive government data while enabling innovation.Zscaler gives governments the tools they need to innovate boldly—while ensuring every instance of generative AI use remains compliant and secure. Whether automating workflows, improving public services, or enhancing community safety, Zscaler helps governments adopt GenAI responsibly.As governments continue their march into the AI-powered future, one thing is abundantly clear: security isn't just a feature—it’s the foundation. And with Zscaler, state and local agencies can confidently unlock the transformative power of generative AI while safeguarding their data and citizens. Sources:Zscaler, ThreatLabz GenAI Report 2025Gartner, Predicting AI Security Risks in Public Sectors, 2023McKinsey & Company, The State of Generative AI, July 2023 Adam Ford (Chief Technology Officer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/my-cloud-connector-monitoring-stack-part-2-build-it-yourself-aws https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/my-cloud-connector-monitoring-stack-part-2-build-it-yourself-aws Mon, 28 Apr 2025 11:49:07 GMT In Part 1, I showed what a cloud-native monitoring stack for Zscaler Cloud Connectors can look like using AWS CloudWatch — complete with dashboards, metrics, and alerting. In this post, we’ll take the next step: automating the setup. I’ll walk you through a reusable CloudFormation template that builds the dashboard, sets up alarms, and ties in your CloudWatch Network Monitor probes (with a few caveats). Whether you’re experimenting in a lab or looking to accelerate production readiness, this template gives you a head start.Why CloudFormationI get it — many organizations standardize on Terraform, and everything here can absolutely be done with it as well. But for the sake of time (I do have a day job at Zscaler!), it was simply faster — and selfishly, easier — for me to use CloudFormation. It’s not perfect, but what I’ve put together is:Easy to deploy consistently without changesEasy to extend and customize for your needsParameterized to support required inputsAble to optionally create alarms for email alertsThat said, you can always take this base and “translate” it into Terraform — the metrics, math expressions, and logic are identical regardless of how you choose to deploy.Deployment Create CloudWatch Synthetic MonitorIn order to utilize the Network RTT in the Dashboard (and alerts) you will need to manually create a CloudWatch Synthetic Monitor with two probes in order to reference. Please note this is currently a limitation with CloudFormation — it does not currently support the creation of these resource types.note: I currently have this configured for a single AZ so you would need to alter the dashboard and alerts to account for multi-AZ configsNavigate to AWS %26gt; CloudWatch %26gt; Networking Monitoring %26gt; Synthetic monitorsCreate a new Network monitor with settings:Monitor name: something like "zscc-vpc1234-monitor"Subnets: Select the Zscaler Subnet where the Cloud Connectors are deployed AND one subnet that is configured to route to ZscalerDestination 1: Insert the public IP of a trusted destination. This is a bit subjective as the destination servers could be the problem and not related to AWS or Zscaler, but in my lab I took the resolved IP address for the login page of the Zscaler cloud my lab is in, such as login.zscalerthree.netAdvanced Settings:Protocol: TCPPort: 80Packet size: 56Once the monitor is created, navigate to the Monitor details page and take note of the two probe ids that were created along with which one is the Zscaler subnet vs the Workload subnet. You'll need these items for the CloudFormation templateCaveats and NuancesBefore you run with this setup, a few important notes to keep in mind (some of them I'm restating to be clear). This will help you with knowing what is perfect information vs a starting point you can expand on:Single ASG across AZs Assumption. Cloud Connectors can be deployed with CFT or Terraform to be 1 ASG across the AZs or 1 ASG per AZ. For simplicity my lab is 1 ASG across AZs to make it simpler to obtain all the metricsOne NAT Gateway for the VPC. For simplicity even with multiple AZs my lab has 1 NAT Gateway. Realistically most customers will have 1 per AZData Transfer ≠ Exact Science: Metrics like GWLB Processed Bytes, Cloud Connector (custom metric) Data Plane Bytes In/Out, and NAT Gateway Bytes are all helpful - but they don't always align perfectly. That's because:They measure different points in the flowThey may report data at different intervalsThey can miss spikes or larger transfers depending on timingFor example, a 10GB file transfer within a short 5-minute window might not show up in the same way across all of these metrics. There are directional differences to keep in mind so it's best to use these data points as a baseline to further guide tuning and investigation when there are issues or anomaliesClosing: What's NextShort and sweet. This wraps up Part 2. You now have a template to stand up your own monitoring baseline with CloudWatch—alerts, dashboards, and probes included.In Part 3, we’ll do something similar by exploring what's possible in Azure. GCP fans, you’re next! Zoltan Kovacs (Director, Field Specialists - Cloud) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cve-program-uncertainty-preparing-resilient-future https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cve-program-uncertainty-preparing-resilient-future Thu, 24 Apr 2025 18:50:09 GMT Note: Our vulnerability security researcher Yotam Perkal authored this blog.The recent turbulence surrounding MITRE's Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program, a cornerstone of vulnerability management, has sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity community. While an eleventh-hour funding extension from the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has temporarily averted disruption, the situation has underscored the fragility of our collective reliance on a single vulnerability tracking system. At Zscaler, we view this situation as a moment to double down on resilience, innovation, and adaptability. Our focus remains clear: enabling customers to detect, prioritize, and address vulnerabilities with or without reliance on a centralized CVE system.The Backbone of Vulnerability Management: What is the CVE Program?The CVE program, operated by MITRE and funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been a foundational pillar of the cybersecurity ecosystem for more than two decades. By providing standardized, unique identifiers for publicly disclosed software vulnerabilities, CVEs ensure consistency across threat alerts, vulnerability scanners, penetration testing tools, patch management systems, and threat intelligence platforms. Simply put, the CVE system provides a common language for identifying, cataloging, and coordinating responses to cybersecurity risks.Recent Events: Crisis Averted, But Questions RemainOn April 15, 2025, MITRE announced that funding for the CVE program, along with related systems like the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE), was at risk and warned of potential future disruptions to the program. Given the pivotal role CVEs play in vulnerability detection, remediation, and threat intelligence workflows, the announcement sent ripples of concern across the cybersecurity community.On April 16, 2025, just hours before the funding cut was to take effect, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed an 11-month funding extension for the CVE program. While this temporary lifeline has reassured stakeholders in the short term, uncertainties remain about the program's long-term sustainability.For security leaders and practitioners, the crisis served as an unwelcome reminder of how centralized dependencies can create systemic risks, as even a brief disruption in CVE operations could lead to significant challenges in identifying vulnerabilities, coordinating patches, and deploying mitigations.The fragility exposed by this ordeal raises a pivotal question: What happens if the CVE system falters again?A disruption in the CVE program risks:- Delayed disclosures: Vulnerability disclosures could be delayed, leaving organizations exposed to threats for longer periods.- Fragmented coordination: Without a centralized standard, researchers, vendors, and responders may struggle to coordinate effectively.- Automation challenges: Vulnerability scanners, patch management workflows, and other automated systems that rely on CVE identifiers would face significant disruptions.The cybersecurity industry cannot afford a single point of failure in its vulnerability management ecosystem. This moment calls for a shift toward resilient, multi-faceted approaches that lessen dependency on centralized registries and introduce alternative methods of threat detection, prioritization, and response. The Road Ahead: Building a Resilient Vulnerability Management EcosystemThe uncertainty surrounding the CVE program should act as a wake-up call for the entire cybersecurity industry. While the CVE system remains a vital public resource, modern vulnerability management requires a broader, more agile approach to mitigate emerging risks.At Zscaler, we see this crisis as an opportunity to redefine how vulnerabilities are detected, contextualized, and remediated. Here’s how we are preparing for the future:Diversified Threat IntelligenceThe Zscaler platform integrates multiple sources of global threat intelligence, as well as detections from our internal ThreatLabZ research team, allowing customers to pinpoint vulnerabilities and emerging risks even in the absence of a CVE identifier.The Zscaler Data Fabric for Security and broader risk contextOur Data Fabric for Security already integrates security findings and context spanning identity, assets, user behavior, mitigating controls, business processes, organizational hierarchy, and more. We are constantly adding additional sources of vulnerability information and are not dependent on a single database for vulnerability intelligence. By contextualizing signals from a variety of feeds, we ensure that security teams stay informed and actionable.AI-Driven Detection and Prioritization:Leveraging machine learning and behavioral analytics, Zscaler detects vulnerabilities and anomalous activity based on behavior rather than relying exclusively on formal identifiers. This approach accelerates response times and reduces the dependency on single points of failure like the CVE system.In addition, we are also closely monitoring alternative databases and emerging initiatives that could help cope with a future potential disruption to the CVE program. For example:OWASP's Unified Framework for Global Vulnerability Intelligence: OWASP has put forward an ambitious, decentralized model to address current gaps in vulnerability tracking systems. The proposed framework aims to enable transparent, scalable, and open sharing of cybersecurity data in a resilient federated structure.This framework aims to encourage diverse participation, including underrepresented sectors like medical device manufacturers and critical infrastructure industries, and seeks to capture a broader range of cybersecurity issues. While this initiative is in its early stages, it will hopefully lead to a more decentralized, community driven model for vulnerability identification and tracking. European Vulnerability Database (EUVD): Curated by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), the EUVD represents a regional effort to complement and sometimes extend the functionality of the CVE system. ENISA coordinates closely with MITRE and the CVE ecosystem while offering its own vulnerability registry services as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA). Specifically, EUVD focuses on vulnerabilities discovered by or reported to European Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), supporting coordinated disclosure processes to mitigate risks within the EU community. GCVE.EU: The Global CVE Allocation System (GCVE) is another promising effort to decentralize how vulnerability identification and numbering are handled. Unlike the centralized block distribution system used by traditional CVE processes, GCVE introduces GCVE Numbering Authorities (GNAs), independent entities empowered to allocate identifiers autonomously while maintaining compatibility with the existing CVE ecosystem. This approach aims to improve flexibility and scalability while granting more autonomy to participating organizations. The emphasis on decentralization aligns with the growing recognition that a single point of failure in vulnerability tracking can disrupt global coordination. CVE Foundation: A coalition of longtime, active CVE Board members has been working to transition CVE into a dedicated, non-profit foundation. This plan envisions a more focused organization exclusively devoted to maintaining the quality, integrity, and global availability of CVE data. The CVE Foundation aims to continue the mission of delivering accurate, reliable vulnerability identifiers while ensuring the public resource remains accessible to security practitioners worldwide.Zscaler’s Vision for a More Resilient FutureThe recent funding crisis surrounding the CVE program underscores a fundamental truth: cybersecurity resilience hinges on distributed, adaptive systems that are not bound to a single point of failure. At Zscaler, we have always taken this approach.By embracing agility, integrating multiple intelligence sources, and focusing on zero trust principles, we empower customers to stay ahead of vulnerabilities, no matter what changes within the threat landscape. While we remain hopeful for the continued stability of the CVE program, our mission is clear: to protect our customers from known and unknown risks, enabling them to operate confidently in a rapidly evolving digital world.The events of the past few days serve as both a warning and an opportunity to build a more adaptable and collaborative cybersecurity ecosystem. Rest assured, Zscaler will remain at the forefront of this evolution, ensuring that security teams have the tools they need to succeed, no matter what challenges lie ahead. Michelle McLean (Sr. Director, Product Marketing) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/eleven-new-zia-innovations-help-break-silos-without-breaking-security https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/eleven-new-zia-innovations-help-break-silos-without-breaking-security Wed, 23 Apr 2025 21:43:41 GMT Zscaler is committed to helping our customers maximize security and user experience with minimal cost and complexity. We are constantly working to improve our platform to further deliver on this brand promise – and a series of powerful new advancements to Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) that have launched this Spring do just that. These innovations enhance ZIA’s revolutionary approach to delivering robust security at scale while enabling enterprises to achieve greater performance, simplified management, and deeper cross-functional collaboration.Unifying SecOps and NetOps for Better Collaboration In most enterprises, there is an inherent friction between networking and security teams due to their conflicting goals of productivity and security. Zscaler has long helped organizations bridge this gap with tools that reduce this friction, including a cloud-native, single-scan-multi-action architecture that enables full SSL inspection and deep security analysis without performance degradation; our zero trust browser that lets users safely access suspicious files and web content; and centralized management and visibility shared across IT and security teams.Five of our latest innovations further strengthen collaboration between networking and security teams with new levels of shared visibility and accountability:Full-packet visibility and NDR integrations: You can now take forensically complete packet captures every time a policy hits and send this information straight to your SOC. Robust integrations with top NDR and SIEM tools enable precise threat detection while improving incident response workflows for SecOps and NetOps alike.Endpoint-level application visibility: In addition to our deep integrations with top endpoint security providers, the Zscaler agent alone can now provide insights into endpoint applications, including MD5 hashes, to drill down into potential threats quickly.Cloud custom IPS policies and granular DNS/firewall logging: SecOps teams can quickly deploy tailored threat signatures using Cloud Custom IPS to detect and stop targeted attacks, while NetOps teams maintain visibility into how these controls impact traffic and performance. Granular DNS/Firewall logging gives SOC teams deep context across web and non-web traffic, helping identify threats like command-and-control, data exfiltration, lateral movement for faster investigation and response.Customizable HTTP Headers: Admins can now adjust HTTP headers to include additional context and metadata that can be used for better tracking and security purposes.Advanced Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC): Network and security teams can now ensure that each member has right-sized permissions to control and view critical functions within the Zscaler platform to prevent conflicts and improve governance.By enabling cross-team collaboration, ZIA delivers improved operational efficiency while maintaining zero-trust standards for a more secure enterprise. Achieve Total Content and Data Sovereignty While Improving Control and PerformanceWhen users access the internet through Zscaler, their individual device IP addresses are hidden. Instead, requests are routed through shared Zscaler public IP addresses. This setup provides anonymity and prevents websites, advertisers, trackers, and potentially malicious entities from directly identifying users based on their true IP addresses.However, there are corner cases where this has undesired effects. Certain applications and websites will only accept certain IP ranges, causing access issues. Further, in rare cases, users routed through a datacenter in another country might receive geolocalized content in the wrong language due to the associated geography of the public IP address.Zscaler has solved these issues with new capabilities that provide complete control over IP addresses for egress traffic. This enables IT teams to enforce compliance, control content, and optimize user productivity:Zscaler- or Customer-Managed Dedicated IP: Administrators can choose when to use a public IP or a dedicated IP address to provide secure, seamless access to IP-controlled applications and websites. IT can manage connections to restricted resources with precision and ease.Industry-leading granular control over geolocalized content: Organizations can tailor content and language delivery to specific users or regions with unprecedented granularity—ensuring employees are more productive while retaining IT oversight.In-country data logging: Many countries and industries have data residency requirements. Zscaler now offers options for data residency to satisfy the need for data sovereignty.This capability suite gives IT leaders enhanced control over regulatory compliance, content workflows, and operational optimization, making ZIA a critical enabler of secure cloud-first strategies.Embrace AI For Better Productivity and SecurityZscaler thinks about AI from a number of angles: from protecting customers from bad actors leveraging AI, to helping enterprises safely embrace it, and leveraging AI inside our platform to deliver better security outcomes.All three of these areas are heavy areas of innovation across the Zscaler platform, which we will cover in-depth at our upcoming Zenith Live conferences in Las Vegas and Prague. Our latest capabilities within ZIA enable safer use of popular AI tools:WebSockets inspection for AI applications: Inspect and control generative AI traffic within tools like Microsoft Copilot, both in applications and on the web. Along with our DLP capabilities that control sensitive data in these applications, WebSockets inspection can block prompts that would result in policy violations. This allows users to safely benefit from generative AI while ensuring compliance with privacy and security regulations.With integrated protections for AI-powered tools, ZIA enables enterprises to responsibly embrace new technologies, driving innovation while maintaining security confidence.Protect Developer Workflows Without Slowing InnovationModern innovation demands constant iteration, speed, and scale. To secure this rapid pace of development, ZIA introduces features to secure developer workflows without slowing them down:Automated deployment of SSL/TLS inspection for 30+ developer tools: Many developer tools require custom certificates in order to enable SSL inspection. These certificates and policies can now be automated with Zscaler, enabling fast and seamless deployment of inspection of top developer platforms like GitHub, Docker, and Curl.Sandboxing for developer scripts: Zscaler has built libraries in our sandbox for popular developer languages including Python and JavaScript. When these files are downloaded, they can be isolated and rapidly inspected to ensure that they are free of malicious content.These capabilities combine advanced security with scalability, helping enterprises maintain agility and securely drive innovation.The Zscaler Internet Access platform already sets the standard for delivering world-class security, processing over 500 billion daily transactions, blocking more than 9 billion threats per day, and providing unmatched reliability and performance. The newest enhancements build on this legacy by removing operational complexities, speeding security outcomes, and enabling technologies such as AI—all while maintaining precision and compliance for enterprises.Please join us on April 24th as we discuss all of these features and what they mean for your organization. Save your spot! Satish Madiraju (Sr. Director, Product Management) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/reflections-2025-public-sector-summit-zero-trust-ai-and-future-government https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/reflections-2025-public-sector-summit-zero-trust-ai-and-future-government Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:48:03 GMT As the host of the 2025 Public Sector Summit, I had the privilege of witnessing some of the brightest minds in government and industry come together to share insights, strategies, and visions for the future in cyber defense. It was a remarkable event—a gathering where leaders shared how they are tackling the most pressing issues facing the public sector today, from safeguarding critical infrastructure to leveraging artificial intelligence for operational efficiency. The energy, collaboration, and thought leadership on display were nothing short of inspiring.For those who couldn’t join us in person, I wanted to reflect on some of the most impactful moments of the summit and share the themes that you can take immediate action upon. The conversations we had weren’t just about technology—they were about transformation, collaboration, people, policy and the critical work being done to build a safer, more resilient public sector.Zero Trust as the North Star of Cybersecurity TransformationOne of the key topics woven throughout the summit was Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). It was exciting to see how far the public sector has come in adopting this essential cybersecurity model. Zero Trust isn’t just a buzzword—it represents a new approach to security, especially in government agencies where protecting sensitive data and systems is paramount.Zscaler’s mission is to create a Zero Trust Everywhere world - without requiring major infrastructure changes. A new standard that encompasses Users, Branch, Datacenter, Cloud, Applications and B2B by expanding zero trust principles to the entire environment.Several speakers underscored the importance of implementing Zero Trust not as a one-time initiative but as a continuous evolution. A phased approach—beginning with securing identities, devices, and networks—provides a solid foundation for securing applications and data over time. This not only strengthens an organization’s defenses but also breaks down silos between IT and security teams, creating a unified approach to security.As I’ve often said, Zero Trust doesn’t just protect—it’s enabling and it’s a force multiplier. It’s the architecture that allows public sector organizations to confidently embrace cloud technologies, remote work, and digital transformation. Hearing leaders like Vu Nguyen, CISO of the Department of Justice, share their success stories with Zero Trust reinforced how game-changing this model has become. The Double-Edged Sword of Artificial IntelligenceThis year, AI took center stage—not just as a tool for innovation but also as a disruptor. Generative AI, in particular, was a hot topic at the summit. While AI offers transformative potential for public sector operations, it’s also being weaponized by adversaries to launch more sophisticated and scalable cyberattacks.The surge in AI-powered threats has raised the stakes, especially for government agencies tasked with defending critical infrastructure. Malicious actors now have the ability to automate their attacks, making them faster and harder to detect. However, the good news is that we can—and must—fight fire with fire.Several speakers highlighted how public sector organizations are leveraging their own AI tools to detect anomalies, counter breaches, and predict malicious behaviors before they escalate. This fits nicely with Zero Trust Principle of Reducing the Blast Radius. Throughout the day, we heard examples of agencies integrating AI into their Zero Trust framework to build layered defenses that minimize the risk of breaches. AI also helps streamline operations, enabling cybersecurity teams to do more with fewer resources—a critical benefit in an era of ever-tightening budgets.AI is both a challenge and an opportunity. People will find a way to use it because it makes them more productive and more informed. But without understanding that seemingly innocuous queries can leak data to the public domain. And how we integrate it into public sector strategies will define the success of government modernization in the coming years.Leadership at the Heart of TransformationOne of the most inspiring aspects of the summit was hearing from leaders across federal, state, and local governments about how they are navigating transformation. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: transformation isn’t about technology alone. It’s about leadership.Great leaders set the vision, foster collaboration, and ensure that new technologies are implemented in a way that aligns with mission objectives. Whether it’s a state CIO working to improve citizen services or a federal agency transforming its cybersecurity posture, leadership remains the linchpin of success.I was particularly struck by what my boss, Pete Amirkhan, SVP of Worldwide Public Sector at Zscaler, shared during his session: “Transformation requires vision, action, and collaboration.” Those words perfectly capture the spirit of this year’s summit. As we heard from leaders like Vanetta Pledger, CIO of the City of Alexandria, and Derrick Pledger, CDIO of Maximus, it became clear that the most successful transformations are rooted in partnerships and a shared commitment to delivering meaningful outcomes for constituents. Collaboration Is the CatalystThroughout the event, a recurring theme was the power of collaboration. In a world where threats are increasingly sophisticated and the pace of technological change is accelerating, no single entity can go it alone. Protecting our critical infrastructure and modernizing government services requires partnerships between public sector agencies, technology innovators, and industry experts.The summit was a testament to what’s possible when we work together. From Sandia National Laboratories sharing their Zero Trust journey to state governments discussing their modernization efforts, the exchange of ideas, lessons learned, and best practices was invaluable.Collaboration is more than just a strategy—it’s a necessity. Cybersecurity, in particular, is a team sport. The more we share resources, threat intelligence, and proven frameworks, the better equipped we’ll be to address the unique challenges of the public sector.Looking Ahead: Building Resilient, Future-Ready Public Sector ServicesAs I reflect on the summit, one word stands out: resilience. Whether it’s resilience against cyber threats, operational disruptions, or budgetary pressures, public sector organizations are increasingly focused on building systems that can withstand and adapt to change. Zero Trust, AI, and strong leadership are key components of that resilience.My hope is that the conversations we had during the 2025 Public Sector Summit will serve as a spark for continued action and innovation. The strategies, lessons, and success stories shared by speakers are more than just ideas—they’re blueprints for how we can move forward as a community dedicated to serving the public good.If you missed the event or want to revisit the sessions, I encourage you to watch them on demand. Hear directly from the experts and leaders who are charting the future for government transformation. And, of course, my “pro-tips” that I offered in between the sessions - some funny, some not. You tell me! Access the sessions at Zscaler Public Sector Summit On-Demand.Together, we can navigate the complexities of today’s challenges and create a more secure, efficient, and innovative public sector. Hansang Bae (Zscaler) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cracking-cmmc-code-using-zero-trust https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cracking-cmmc-code-using-zero-trust Tue, 22 Apr 2025 19:40:28 GMT The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program has reshaped how the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), consisting of government contractors, service providers, researchers and development organizations validate their cybersecurity profile to secure Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) against data spillage and cyber threat actors. With these multi-faceted requirements e.g. DFARS, CFRs, NIST, etc., many organizations find themselves in a paralysis by analysis doom loop, grappling with where to begin and how to align their security practices to achieve compliance efficiently.The key to unlocking this challenge is straightforward: activate the business’ Zero Trust strategy to implement a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), which aligns with CMMC’s codified approach, seamlessly. Zero Trust doesn’t just expedite and streamline compliance; Zero Trust builds a stronger, more resilient and malleable cybersecurity framework that can be leveraged over and over again to safeguard the other sensitive data outside of CMMC’s core focus.A Paradigm Shift: Moving from Network Perimeter-Based defense to Data-centric Cybersecurity Offense Traditional perimeter-based security relies on the assumption that once a user or entity is inside the network, it can be trusted and can continue to be trusted. This model has become increasingly ineffective against modern cyber threats like lateral attacks, phishing, and insider threats. Enter Zero Trust, a strategy that flips this paradigm upside down by adhering to a mantra that eerily sounds like it came out of the compliance industry: “Never trust, always verify.” Zero Trust focuses on continuous validation of every user, device, and access request without assuming trust simply because of prior authentication or network proximity. Instead of building higher walls i.e., additional complexity and inefficiencies, Zero Trust emphasizes constructing smarter, more context-aware access control policies and security phase gates.Here’s the good news: aligning your organization to the principles of Zero Trust naturally fulfills many of CMMC’s NIST requirements—often at a more quantitative and qualitative value, making Zero Trust not only a cybersecurity framework but also a compliance roadmap for meeting evolving regulatory needs.Linking Zero Trust Principles to CMMC Framework RequirementsFor Organizations Seeking Assessment (OSA), incorporating Zero Trust offers a practical and forward-thinking way to meet security controls across all 14 NIST 800-171 controls families nested within the CMMC framework. Speaking broadly, here's how implementing Zero Trust directly aligns with the core functions of CMMC and CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model:1. Define What You Are ProtectingJust as what gets measured, gets managed, what gets defined, gets protected. Zero Trust begins with identifying assets, users, and data, so that we can fundamentally know what needs to be secured. This best practice maps directly to CMMC's requirements for defining Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and its locations, performing an asset inventory, and scoping security policies and transactional paths.CMMC Impact: By classifying assets and understanding their workflows, you create a baseline for protecting sensitive data and identifying vulnerabilities.Actionable Example: Use Zero Trust technologies to discover and catalog your users, devices, data and applications. 2. Map Transaction FlowsNow that users, data and resources have been identified, security and compliance architects can understand the business’ communication channels. Zero Trust Architectures require understanding how users, devices, and resources interact within the environment to effectively apply Zero Trust principles and tenet requirements.CMMC Impact: Beyond documenting network and system controls to monitor sensitive data access paths, mapping out these transactional flows allow OSAs to more easily codify and “control the flow” of CUI data. Actionable Example: By leveraging a Zero Trust Policy Enforcement Point (PEP), OSAs can create, encrypt, and monitor data communication flows, defined workflows for CUI management.3. Build a Zero Trust ArchitectureAt a high level, Zero Trust tenets align to specific categories: securing user and data access, protecting data from threats, and reducing risk. As such, implementing Zero Trust significantly aids in meeting CMMC's requirements for encrypting data-in-transit, segmenting the network, and monitoring users, data, and the network, continuously.CMMC Impact: While meeting encryption and network segmentation requirements becomes streamlined using a PEP, these protection mechanisms can only be maximized by adopting a platform that performs dynamic and rigorous trust validation coupled by real-time security orchestration.Actionable Example: Implementing Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and software-defined perimeter (SDP) technology as the core part of a Zero Trust Architecture to increase visibility and enforce strict data controls while improving performance and management.4. Create and Enforce Zero Trust PoliciesZero Trust promotes defining clear and enforceable policies that support identity, access, device hygiene, and change management, aligning directly to CMMC’s core purpose—secure access control.CMMC Impact: CMMC’s Identity and access management (IAM) requirements are also critical for Zero Trust, ensuring synergy between frameworks. However, while access management may seem to explicitly call out what can users or process access, in the age of AI, it is the second and third order effect of that access that must be evaluated as well. Actionable Example: Incorporate policy-based least-privilege access solutions and require multifactor authentication (MFA) to reduce attack points across the CMMC users’ workflows. 5. Monitor and Maintain the EnvironmentSecurity and compliance are not “set it and forget it” activities; they are an evolving system of systems that require constant refinement based on situational awareness. Both Zero Trust and CMMC recognize this reality by emphasizing ongoing monitoring and threat mitigation. CMMC Impact: Real-time monitoring and auditing required by CMMC are simplified with Zero Trust’s focus on continuous diagnostics, monitoring, and logging every transaction.Actionable Example: Deploy a Security Service Edge (SSE) integrates with the organization’s ecosystem to directly glean insights and present information via dashboards and reports. A Tautologic Exercise: Zero Trust & CMMC’s ScopePrioritizing Zero Trust migrations creates a path to CMMC compliance. CMMC and Zero Trust’s data-centric approach makes them synonymous with prioritizing protecting users and data by enforcing principles of least privileged access security controls as close to the user and data as possible. Meeting the standards of one cyber-compliant framework organically allows organizations to meet the standards of the other. 1. Identity (Who is Accessing the Data?)Both CMMC and Zero Trust champion robust identity verification measures. Implementing identity solutions like Multifactor Authentication (MFA), Single Sign-On (SSO), and Identity and Access Management (IAM) safeguards ensure that only the right users have access to CUI. While Identity is critical to CMMC and Zero Trust, how the organization leverages and manages the user’s identity attributes to dynamically secure and provide access to data and resources is most important. 2. Device (What Devices are Accessing the Network and Data?)Just as Zero Trust aims to identify entities, person and non-person, CMMC mandates the same amount of visibility on every endpoint in the CMMC environment or enclave, from laptops to mobile devices to processes, enabling an endpoint detection and response (EDR) component supports business objectives and informs the greater threat intelligence apparatus. 3. Network (How is Data Transmitted?)A Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) combines robust and encrypted network segmentation capabilities with the ability to aggregate ABAC and PBAC policies, providing CUI-centric context-based access control, so that organizations can meet CMMC’s technical control and assessment requirements.4. Applications and Workloads (Where is Data Accessed?)In this mobile-first world, cloud-native Zero Trust solutions naturally support secure application delivery and workload segmentation, helping organizations migrate transactionally blind architectures to secure, scalable environments while reducing attack surfaces.5. Data (What is the Target?)Zero Trust enforces data encryption, tagging, and classification — processes that are foundational to effectively manage CUI within a CMMC program. With data-centric administrative and security policies, organizations can tightly control access and track usage without compromising efficiency to business operations or research institutions. 6. Analytics & Visibility (Who is Accessing the Data?)Because Zero Trust Architectures maintains comprehensive insights into all traffic, users, devices, applications, and workloads across the network, organizations leveraging Zero Trust can monitor patterns, behaviors, and trends to identify potential threats or suspicious activity within the CMMC boundary.7. Automation & Orchestration (Streamline Policy Enforcement and Responsiveness)Organizations that align CMMC with Zero Trust can automate repetitive tasks, ensuring consistency and accuracy across systems. This coordination creates harmony in complex environments, particularly in the manufacturing industry. Why Prioritize Zero Trust for CMMC Compliance?By focusing on Zero Trust, organizations tackling CMMC achieve two critical outcomes:Streamlined Compliance: Many Zero Trust controls, such as automated access policies, encryption, and continuous monitoring, overlap directly with CMMC requirements. This strategic duality ensures security and compliance achieve parity in a scalable, manageable way.Adaptive Security Posture: Zero Trust supports a proactive approach to cybersecurity, enabling organizations to defend against emerging threats and maintain readiness for future regulatory requirements.Real-World Benefits from Zscaler’s Zero Trust SolutionsOrganizations Seeking Assessments (OSA) find progress and measurable success with Zscaler’s Zero Trust offerings to achieve CMMC compliance. From secure access and granular policy controls to modernizing network security, Zscaler’s platform simplifies compliance while fortifying defense against cyber threats, even at “alternate work locations.” Through their recent webinar, Zscaler's Sean Connelly and Jeffrey Adorno walked participants through the tangible benefits of combining Zero Trust principles with CMMC compliance initiatives. Whether you’re newly establishing your CMMC enclave or modernizing your current CMMC-cybersecurity strategy, using Zscaler to implement CMMC provides a clear pathway to success.Final Thoughts: Aligning Zero Trust and CMMC for Long-Term ValueAs cybersecurity threats evolve, compliance frameworks like CMMC will also adapt to counterbalance cybersecurity risks. By implementing Zscaler as the foundational Zero Trust solution, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity profiles, streamline compliance processes, and build stronger defenses to protect Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). This approach provides organizations with a practical method to meet regulatory and security requirements. Jeffrey Adorno (Director, Emerging Technology) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-operational-technology-access-automotive-manufacturing-zero-trust https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-operational-technology-access-automotive-manufacturing-zero-trust Tue, 22 Apr 2025 11:00:01 GMT As the automotive industry transitions toward an electric future, automakers face the dual challenge of safeguarding innovation while managing increasing exposure to cyberthreats. With the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and the integration of IoT and operational technology (OT) devices in manufacturing environments, the attack surface has expanded dramatically. In the race for digital transformation, automakers must ask: how can they bolster their security posture, reduce complexity, and realize quick time-to-value with new solutions—especially in their manufacturing environments?Industry 4.0 and the Rise of CyberthreatsThe advent of Industry 4.0 has revolutionized automotive manufacturing, with IoT and OT devices transforming production lines through connectivity and automation. However, this shift comes with a significant caveat: an expanded attack surface. According to Boston Consulting Group, the integration of IoT and OT devices has increased the attack surface by 60%,¹ cementing the need for comprehensive security solutions.The numbers further illuminate this growing risk:The number of interconnected devices in automotive manufacturing has tripled in the past four years, increasing potential access points for cybercriminals.²Cyberattacks targeting OT systems in the automotive sector have surged by 400% over the past three years.³These statistics reveal a harsh reality: traditional security approaches may not be able to safeguard innovation and keep pace with the rapidly increasing complexity of modern automotive manufacturing systems.Reducing Unplanned Downtime: Why IoT Protection MattersUnplanned downtime in automotive manufacturing can lead to significant financial and reputational damage. With global supply chains operating at unprecedented speeds, any disruption could delay production schedules, increase costs, and weaken competitive positioning.Securing IoT devices is the first step to ensuring continuous operation. IoT-enabled predictive maintenance can reduce unplanned downtime by up to 55% and extend machinery lifespan by 25–45%.⁴ By leveraging secure and reliable IoT data, automakers can minimize unexpected equipment failures and maintain uptime while driving efficiency. Accenture research suggests that secure IoT data can reduce unexpected equipment failures by an impressive 35–55%.⁵ In essence, robust security empowers predictive maintenance and operational resilience.Mitigating Complexity Through Zero Trust Access ControlAutomakers must optimize performance and strengthen OT security to reduce risks, improve system reliability, and maintain production schedules. Traditional VPN-based approaches expose networks to unnecessary risks by granting over-privileged access to users and contractors. This model creates an environment where attackers can exploit vulnerabilities and identities and move laterally through the network, compromising mission-critical systems and stealing critical data.Enter zero trust architecture, a transformative approach to security that aligns seamlessly with the demands of automotive manufacturing.Zscaler Private Access: Shrinking the Attack SurfaceZscaler Private AccessTM (ZPATM) eliminates the risks associated with traditional network-level access by employing a zero trust network access (ZTNA) model. With ZPA, users only connect to the specific applications they are authorized to access—without being placed on the broader corporate or OT networks. This approach has key benefits:Direct and secure connectivity: ZPA dynamically establishes secure, direct connections between users and applications, minimizing exposure points and strengthening security posture.Invisibility of applications: Applications are never exposed to the internet, reducing the risk of exploitation. Unauthorized users, including attackers, cannot even detect the applications' existence.Prevention of lateral movement: Attackers can no longer move laterally across the network since users cannot access unnecessary resources.By reducing the attack surface and providing a scalable, quick-to-deploy solution, ZPA helps automakers realize immediate value by reducing risk within their complex manufacturing environments.Zscaler Privileged Remote Access: Least-Privileged Security for ContractorsManaging third-party and contractor access is a critical challenge for automakers, particularly in OT environments. Zscaler Privileged Remote Access (PRA) offers a zero trust-based solution for providing secure, identity-focused access to contractors, without the need to install client software. This solution supports SSH, RDP, and VNC access to OT systems all through a standard web browser. Key benefits include:Least-privileged access: Contractors are granted access only to the specific resources they need, ensuring no unnecessary exposure.No traditional VPNs: PRA eliminates the need for VPNs, which reduces the risk of network-wide exposure where a curious contractor pokes around looking for interesting data and poses an insider risk.Enhanced monitoring: PRA meticulously tracks contractor activity, including session recording, ensuring compliance and reinforcing secure access policies.By enforcing granular, identity-based access without exposing the network, PRA addresses a prominent weak point in automakers' traditional security strategies: contractors being overprovisioned access.Driving Innovation While Reducing RiskAs automakers continue to pioneer EVs and optimize their manufacturing systems, it's also clear that attackers are optimizing and innovating their practice. Cybersecurity is not an optional vehicle feature, but a required safety imperative for digital transformation strategies. Beyond protecting sensitive systems, a robust security posture minimizes downtime, reduces operational risks, and ensures a smooth path toward innovation.Combining zero trust principles with predictive maintenance models, automakers can balance cybersecurity with operational efficiency. By adopting solutions like Zscaler Private Access and Zscaler Privileged Remote Access, manufacturers are empowered to:Minimize downtime: Proactively maintain production schedules through secure IoT and OT environments.Optimize performance: Safeguard critical systems while enabling extraordinary operational agility.Reduce complexity: Simplify compliance and security in a dynamic, interconnected environment.The path toward an all-electric, highly connected future awaits. By prioritizing security, automakers can accelerate their vision while confidently navigating the challenges of today’s evolving threat landscape. 1. The Future of Manufacturing: Industry 4.0, Boston Consulting Group, 2025.2. The Connected Factory: Opportunities and Risks, Forrester, 2024.3. Cybersecurity in the Automotive Industry, KPMG, 2024.4. Mitigating Operational Risks in Automotive Manufacturing, McKinsey & Company, 2024.5. Predictive Maintenance in Automotive Manufacturing, Accenture, 2025. Todd Brockdorf (Manager, Sales Engineering) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cyber-attacks-in-the-healthcare-sector-are-patient-safety-risks-with-real-business-impact https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cyber-attacks-in-the-healthcare-sector-are-patient-safety-risks-with-real-business-impact Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:38:57 GMT Over the past 12 months there have been numerous cyber-related attacks on the NHS and they are always reported as an IT issue. While factually true, a cyber-attack has the potential to be so much more dangerous than an isolated IT issue. Worst case scenario could result in patient safety incidents caused by technology itself. While that may seem extreme, allow me to explain the thinking behind that statement. If an incident happens at work where technology stops working as expected, it may stop normal day-to-day operations for a couple of hours at most with minimal impact on employees. This is certainly not the case for cyber-attacks as history has shown that most cases take months to restore standard operations. A failure of this magnitude in the healthcare sector impacts more than just employees and operations – it causes a wide ranging impact for patients.Wide-ranging ramifications of a cyber attackTo understand the threat of a cyber-attack on an NHS institution, you must map out all the ways that it could impact the organization. The most obvious and immediate damage will be to productivity of staff across the board. For already stretched IT teams, they will be on the front lines trying to deal with the immediate result of such an attack. In order to mitigate as much damage as possible, they would need to get support from other trusts and wider Public Sector IT teams to secure defenses and prevent the attack from reaching further public organizations. While the IT team fights the fires, corporate and clinical staff will be unable to conduct their jobs to full capacity, limiting their productivity immeasurably. From a clinical point of view, the damage could be deadly. Already problematic waiting times will get worse as clinicians will be unable to access test results and patient notes, which will result in appointments and operations cancelled.Alongside the immediate impact there is the long-term damage to the Trust’s reputation that needs to be considered. No Trust wants to be the lead story on the 10 o’clock news, and no one wants to expose patient data to criminal gangs. This can lead to fines from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) due to GDPR breaches and the potential loss of contracts. Alongside fines, Trusts will have to factor in unplanned spend to fix the issue which will have severe impact on budgets that are already under severe pressure. Overconfidence in Traditional Security So now we know the ramifications of a cyber-attack, the next question should be how do they occur and, more importantly, how do we stop it? Many NHS trusts in the UK rely on traditional cybersecurity infrastructures to combat bad actors. Firewalls, VPNs and flat networks are still the norm for most NHS institutions, which means they rely on the concept of preventing attackers from breaching their outer layer of security. The easiest metaphor for this technique is to imagine the organization’s network as a castle and the walls and moat is the cybersecurity architecture. Everything inside the castle walls is perceived to be safe and everything outside is a danger. While that technique worked well in the past, the current shift to working from anywhere and applications being based in the cloud means that company data is no longer safe behind the castle walls. Defenders of the castle are struggling to manage all the disparate entities outside their borders. Older technologies, such as VPNs and firewalls, have been proven to increase a company’s attack surface and eventually allow bad actors to breach the walls and have free reign to move laterally within the network, stealing whatever data they deem appropriate. To get in front of this new wave of attacks, IT teams must reduce the attack surface by implementing new security architectures that are built with the concept of Zero Trust as the standard.The Zero Trust Revolution Zero Trust is a security model that assumes no user, device, or system should be trusted by default, even if they are inside the network. It requires strict verification of identity and permissions before granting access based on policies, ensuring users only get the minimum access needed to applications to complete their tasks. This approach of the least privileged access minimizes the attack surface and helps prevent unauthorized access, lateral movement, and data breaches.The move to a zero trust way of working with a cloud security platform like the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange allows IT teams in the healthcare sector to do more with less resources by enabling cross function working between the security and infrastructure teams and delivers a more secure environment for the medical teams to operate in based on the following five principles to prevent cyber attacks:Zero Trust Security: Verifies users and devices, giving minimum access to reduce risks.Threat Protection: Blocks malware, phishing, ransomware, and zero-day attacks using AI and real-time tools.Data Safeguards: Prevents sensitive data leaks and insider threats.Secure Remote Access: Protects users and apps without needing vulnerable VPNs.Smart AI based Monitoring: Tracks activity, detects threats instantly, and helps respond fast.NHS organisations who want to test how their current defenses might fare in today’s threat landscape, can test it here: https://www.testmydefenses.com/. Mike Culshaw (Sales Engineer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/safeguarding-tribal-organizations-zero-trust-approach-government-healthcare https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/safeguarding-tribal-organizations-zero-trust-approach-government-healthcare Mon, 21 Apr 2025 16:52:13 GMT How can Tribal communities protect essential operations against cybersecurity vulnerabilities? A Michigan-based Tribal Nation faced precisely that scenario in February 2025, when a devastating ransomware attack disrupted healthcare services, forced casino closures, and created operational chaos across government and Tribal businesses.This recent event spotlights cyberattacks targeting Tribal organizations, a threat that puts more than just systems at risk. These attacks jeopardize key aspects of sovereignty, including the protection of sensitive cultural records, the continuity of public services, and the integrity of healthcare operations. When these pillars are compromised, the community’s ability to self-govern is also endangered. Strengthening security through frameworks like zero trust empowers Tribal leaders to safeguard these essential functions—building resilience while reinforcing community trust and long-term self-determination.Why Tribal organizations are at riskAs Tribal communities running gaming or casino operations expand, they often keep outdated infrastructure in place because of limited budgets or vendor constraints. These outdated systems, with unpatched vulnerabilities and hardcoded credentials, create multiple points of entry for attackers.Additionally, many Tribal organizations depend on inadequate security tools that just can’t stand up to modern threats. Traditional virtual private networks (VPNs) grant broad, network-level permissions. Once attackers breach the perimeter, they can easily move laterally across workloads. Learn more about how VPNs create vulnerabilities attackers can exploit in our on-demand webinar.These threats are especially concerning for Tribal casinos, where any downtime or data exposure can have a ripple effect on community funding. A single cyberattack can halt gaming floors, disrupt payment systems, and prevent customers from accessing loyalty programs, which can lead to revenue loss that impedes essential services like healthcare and education.The limitations of traditional cybersecurity measuresTraditional cybersecurity measures leave Tribal organizations vulnerable to today’s sophisticated threats. Here’s how:Expanded attack surface: VPNs and perimeter-based architectures create sprawling attack surfaces because they extend broad, implicit access across the network. These tools struggle in complex environments that combine legacy systems with modern technologies like gaming platforms, IoT devices, and cloud services. This mix increases the likelihood of misconfigurations, unpatched systems, and overlooked vulnerabilities, making it easier for attackers to find and exploit weak points. A “never trust, always verify” approach rooted in least privilege access is essential for reducing this risk.Reactive defenses: Traditional security measures are often one step behind—only kicking in after an attack has already started. These delays carry high costs, as ransomware campaigns exploit outdated systems and poorly segmented networks within Tribal environments. Once inside, attackers can move from one system to another—disrupting casino surveillance, freezing payment processing, taking healthcare portals offline, or halting essential government workflows. Whether it’s casino floors going dark or patients losing access to critical care, the impact can ripple across every part of the community.Operational risks: Without proper segmentation and visibility, a single breach can cascade across departments—compromising surveillance systems in casinos, HR databases in Tribal government, or patient data in health clinics. These lateral movements inflict wide-ranging consequences, including revenue loss, data theft, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage.Zero trust addresses these shortcomings by requiring verification for every interaction. Where traditional security solutions automatically trust users inside the network perimeter, zero trust enforces a least-privileged approach that enforces continuous verification before granting access to any workload or service.Zero trust: The foundation for Tribal resilienceZero trust goes beyond being a security tool; it’s a proactive framework that validates every access request and customizes permissions to suit specific tasks. It brokers one-to-one connections between users and applications based on identity, context, and business policies so Tribal organizations can defend the digital systems that support their governance while keeping sensitive data secure.Implementing zero trust also means incorporating inherently scalable security measures. Tribal casinos and gaming facilities often face variable traffic loads, particularly during high-profile events and tourism peaks. Technology must adapt to these demands without compromising performance or security. Zero trust’s cloud-native approach keeps data and access requests protected during demand fluctuations, whether it’s a payment transaction on the gaming floor or a remote workforce member logging in to a governance portal.Zero trust lowers costs and reduces complexity for Tribal organizations by consolidating security tools and eliminating VPN maintenance. It streamlines IT operations using cloud-native platforms like Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange. Rather than juggling multiple products that each address one aspect of security, zero trust unifies access control, data protection, and visibility within a single framework. This consolidation makes it easier for IT and security teams to address any vulnerabilities in the environment, improving business continuity so casinos can continue funding community programs.Ultimately, Tribal organizations must ask whether their current security systems are built to defend sovereignty in an increasingly cyber-adversarial world. Zero trust delivers future-proof protection by prioritizing continuous verification and direct-to-app connectivity rather than default trust for users or devices. As threats evolve, zero trust provides the ongoing adaptability and resilience needed to protect Tribal prosperity, autonomy, and cultural identity.Safeguard Tribal sovereignty with zero trustDefending Tribal sovereignty starts with understanding the limitations of traditional tools like VPNs in addressing modern threats. As the first of a three-part series, our on-demand webinar dives into the historical context and risks associated with traditional infrastructures in Tribal Nations.Viewers will learn:Why VPNs create a broad surface area that threat actors can easily exploitSpecific cybersecurity gaps that Tribal governments and gaming operations face todayHow zero trust transforms security practices to ensure sovereignty and resilienceSecuring Tribal gaming and casino operations goes beyond preventing financial losses—it safeguards independence and prosperity for future generations. Zero trust architecture gives Tribal organizations a modern, efficient way to enhance traditional IT systems without major disruptions. Watch the webinar today to discover how the Zero Trust Exchange™ modernizes aging technology into resilient digital assets that strengthen self-determination and protect your Tribe's autonomy.You are also invited to register for Part 2 of this webinar series: Zero Trust Journey: Fortifying Tribal Organizations’ Data for Cost Optimization and Security, April 24th at 10:00am Pacific.Sources:The HIPAA Journal, Ransomware Gangs Attack Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians & SimonMed Imaging, February 18, 2025. Dave Faulhaber (Zscaler) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/unstructured-data-silent-threat-enterprise-security https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/unstructured-data-silent-threat-enterprise-security Mon, 21 Apr 2025 16:00:01 GMT It’s easiest to grasp the concept of unstructured data by first defining structured data. IBM defines structured data as data that “has a fixed schema and fits neatly into rows and columns, such as names and phone numbers.”1 Unstructured data “has no fixed scheme” and—when compared to structured data—has a more complex format.1 Unstructured data may include audio files, web pages, emails, social media posts, images files, and more, and its datasets are typically high-volume—comprising “90% of all enterprise-generated data.”1The nature of unstructured data makes it difficult to analyze and even more difficult to secure. Organizations lack visibility into it, and it can sprawl as users generate more of it. It introduces security risks like compliance violations and breaches if a business has no proactive approach to managing it. That’s where data security posture management (DSPM) comes in. Read on to learn how to secure unstructured data across your environment for a stronger security posture.Understanding Core Differences: Structured Data vs Unstructured Data Structured Data Unstructured DataDefinition Data that is organized and formatted in specific way following pre-defined model or schema Data that lacks structure or format, typically unorganized and rawData Format Predefined Variable Storage Database Data stores, data warehouses ExampleCustomer info, financial records or inventory Email, multimedia files, resumes, financial forms, medical reports and social postUsecase Data analytics, BI, reporting, MLSentiment analysis, ML, text mining, NLP, GenAISecurity challengeData schema changes, integrating different structured data sourcesStorage volume. analysis issueComplexity Easy to manipulate and analyzeComplex, requires special tools to analyze What makes unstructured data a security risk?There are four main aspects to unstructured data that organizations need to consider in their security strategies:Unmanaged and invisible data sprawlUnstructured data can sprawl across an organization—containing sensitive information and foiling typical data management practices. Consider a situation where a customer plugs their personally identifiable information (PII) into a chatbot conversation, and that conversation gets saved in the form of textual unstructured data. The business then may store it in a data lake and fail to apply consistent access controls. Now replicate this scenario every hour. It’s a recipe for sprawling unstructured data that puts a business at risk.Overprivileged access and insider threatsIt’s common for organizations to unintentionally give employees more access than they need to unstructured data. Perhaps a business has an open access policy where employees can broadly access data, or maybe there is a lack of proper data governance. The more unstructured data you accrue, the harder it is to apply governance and the right access controls. With loose access controls, organizations risk unauthorized access to unstructured data and compliance violations from the inside out.Compliance challenges and regulatory risksFailure to secure data that contains PII or financial data may lead to regulatory fines from multiple bodies. If your organization has to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or the myriad other applicable regulations, you need strong protections for unstructured data.Data oversharing with AI toolsAI tools are undeniably powerful tools that enhance business productivity. The more high quality data it processes and trains on, the better it performs. But, the risks associated with oversharing of data with AI cannot be overlooked. The consequences of uncontrolled sharing of data with AI ecosystems can be dire, with the risk ranging from data exposure, data breaches to the creation of malicious content and compliance violation leading to financial and reputational damage. To learn more about AI driven data risk, read blog: Uncovering AI Toxic Combinations - How to defend your data from Agentic AI and RAG Common attack vectors targeting unstructured dataCybercriminals are increasingly targeting unstructured data and finding it lucrative to exploit through the following vectors:Ransomware and data exfiltrationsAttackers may steal files stored in cloud drives, emails, or collaboration platforms. They lock you out of your files with ransomware and perform data exfiltration to transfer sensitive data to other servers.Phishing and business email compromise (BEC)Successful phishing schemes trick employees into revealing credentials—granting cybercriminals access to unstructured data. BEC attacks often involve bad actors impersonating trusted contacts or business leaders to get employees to transfer funds or share confidential information.Shadow IT and unauthorized data sharingWhen employees use personal cloud storage or unapproved apps to interact with unstructured data, they put that data at risk. Unauthorized collaboration tools operate outside a company’s security policies and expose unstructured data to potential breaches. How DSPM helps secure unstructured data?DSPM is the modern approach capable of securing unstructured data. Here’s how it works:Unified, automated data discovery, classification and inventoryThe right DSPM solution safeguards both structured and unstructured data across multiple locations, cloud environments, and private applications. It starts by automating the data discovery and classification process—continuously scanning cloud storage, email and collaboration tools to locate unstructured data. Once located, it classifies the data, which reduces blind spots caused by shadow IT and data sprawl. With an automated AI powered data classification DSPM capability, security teams can identify and categorize their unstructured data (What type of data is stored, where it is stored, who has access to the data and how it is managed) with high accuracy and then devise strategies to protect it. Access governance and least privilege enforcementDSPM provides granular, risk-based, user-centric view of all access paths to mission-critical data and configurations. DSPM detects unnecessary permissions, flags high-risk users, and integrates with zero trust to automatically restrict access based on the principle of least-privilege. Only the users who need access to data get that access, and it is not granted in a blanketed way—revoking permissions to limit data exposure.Proactive risk remediationDSPM minimizes risk using advanced risk correlation that determines hidden attack paths and access to data. It helps to filter out the noise and prioritize incidents by risk and severity through in-depth analysis of all risky access to sensitive data. With near to real-time alerts flagging unauthorized access, security teams can take proactive steps to remediate overprivileged users and risky access paths to sensitive data, thus preventing breaches and enforcing compliance. Steps to reduce unstructured data risks in your organizationHere are five sequential steps you can take today to reduce the risk posed by unstructured data in your business:Identify and classify unstructured data: Use DSPM to automate the process of locating sensitive data. In addition leverage AI powered data classification and custom tools to identify and classify specific sensitive data important from your industry perspective across all your environments. Enforce strict access controls: Choose a DSPM offering that integrates with zero trust models to apply least privilege access.Implement real-time monitoring and anomaly detection: Use DSPM to detect suspicious data movement or access attempts.Choose secure collaboration tools and cloud storage: Restrict unauthorized data sharing and shadow IT use by preventing employees from using personal cloud storage and apps.Automate compliance enforcement: Implement policies that align unstructured data security with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and CCPA mandates. Why you should take action to secure unstructured data now?Unstructured data is becoming a more attractive source for exploitation as it sprawls across business environments. Chances are, your business is dealing with significant volumes of unstructured data. Implement DSPM today to get control over this blind spot in your data landscape. DSPM from Zscaler provides a scalable, automated way to identify, secure, and manage unstructured data. Request a demo of our DSPM offering today.Sources:IBM, “Structured vs. unstructured data: What's the difference?,” February 7, 2025, https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/structured-vs-unstructured-data Ofer Yarom (Director, Product Management) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zscaler-digital-experience-simplifies-troubleshooting-during-zoom-outage https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zscaler-digital-experience-simplifies-troubleshooting-during-zoom-outage Fri, 18 Apr 2025 02:17:01 GMT When a Platform Goes Dark, the Cost Adds Up–FastOn April 16, Zoom experienced a nearly two-hour service disruption due to a registry block affecting its core domain. While outages like this can happen to any SaaS provider, the impact on enterprise productivity is immediate and costly. Based on Gartner’s average downtime estimate of $5,600 per minute, a typical organization could lose over $600,000 during a disruption of this scale.This isn’t just a Zoom issue—it’s a visibility issue. Most IT teams don’t have real-time insight into how key applications are performing across their distributed workforce. Without clear data, users are left in the dark, and IT is forced to play catch-up. That’s why it’s critical to have digital experience monitoring in place—not just for one app, but across the suite of tools your teams rely on every day.Seeing the Problem Is One Thing. Solving It Fast Is Another.Digital Experience Monitoring tools like Zscaler Digital Experience (ZDX) go beyond basic uptime checks. When a service like Zoom becomes unavailable—whether globally or just for a specific region or ISP—ZDX uses AI-powered root cause analysis to instantly pinpoint the source of the disruption. Device misconfiguration? Local network degradation? External app outage? ZDX gets to the answer in minutes, not hours.But visibility alone isn’t enough. That’s where Zscaler Copilot changes the game. It enables IT and help desk teams to ask natural language questions—like “Why can’t users in Chicago access Zoom?”—and get immediate, actionable insights. No need to dig through logs or dashboards.This capability is especially powerful at Level 1 support, where most IT tickets begin. Instead of escalating every unknown issue to L2 or L3 teams, L1 support can use Copilot to triage and resolve problems on the spot. Let’s explore how the Zscaler Copilot came to the rescue during this incident.Zscaler Copilot: Instantly Identifying Zoom IssuesImagine you're the IT lead tasked with troubleshooting Zoom for John, an employee reporting issues over the past 4 hours. Instead of digging through logs or manually cross-referencing events, Zscaler Copilot makes the process effortless.Zscaler Copilot instantly identifying the outage through natural languageWith a simple prompt like, “Troubleshoot John’s Zoom issue for the last 4 hours,” Copilot leverages ZDX’s powerful AI capabilities to run an instant check, analyzing all potential factors affecting John’s performance. In seconds, Copilot highlights everything from network health to application-level indicators, pinpointing the root cause of the disruption.This ability to ask natural-language questions reduces troubleshooting time and allows IT teams to proactively address issues before they escalate.The ZDX dashboard provided IT teams with the ability to quickly identify Zoom as the root cause of the disruption, ensuring internal resources were not wasted on misdirected troubleshooting efforts.By issuing a straightforward prompt like “Troubleshoot John’s Zoom issue for the last 4 hours,” Copilot taps into ZDX’s advanced AI capabilities to perform an instant analysis, evaluating all possible factors impacting John’s performance. Within seconds, Copilot identifies key issues ranging from network health to application-level metrics, pinpointing the exact cause of the disruption. This natural-language interface streamlines troubleshooting, significantly reducing resolution time and enabling IT teams to proactively mitigate problems before they escalate. Using the ZDX dashboard, IT teams efficiently determined that Zoom was the source of the issue, ensuring internal resources were not wasted on unnecessary troubleshooting efforts.ZDX dashboard indicating Zoom issuesProactive Monitoring with Intelligent InsightsDiving deeper into the Zoom issue, ZDX quickly pinpointed the root cause as a DNS problem within Zoom's infrastructure. Because this was a DNS-related issue, active Zoom meetings were unaffected and continued to maintain a strong ZDX score. These valuable insights empowered customers to confirm the problem was specific to Zoom, allowing their IT teams to focus on other critical services and avoid wasting time on unnecessary troubleshooting.ZDX DNS analysis identifies the Zoom application issue in minutesZoom meetings that were already in progress continued without interruption.By isolating the Zoom outage, IT teams avoided unnecessary escalations, reduced downtime, and maintained operational efficiency—continuing to ensure a seamless user experience for all other applications.Improving the Confidence and Effectiveness of IT TeamsZDX allows IT teams to quickly and confidently identify the source of an issue, saving valuable time and resources. This reduces mean time to diagnosis (MTTD) and mean time to resolution (MTTR) and allows organizations to minimize disruptions, improve user productivity, and maintain trust with employees and stakeholders.Zoom application outageDon’t Wait for the Next OutageUCaaS disruptions will happen. The question is whether your organization will be ready. Now is the time to invest in AI-powered digital experience monitoring and support automation that keeps your users productive, your support team effective, and your costs under control.The Zoom outage is just one example of how ZDX simplifies IT challenges, turning complex outages into manageable events. Whether it's Zoom, Microsoft Outlook, or another critical application, ZDX ensures IT teams are informed, proactive, and always a step ahead.Get in touch with us today or explore Zscaler Digital Experience via the ZDX Playlist on YouTube or the zscaler.com/zdx page. See how ZDX and Copilot can revolutionize your organization’s approach to performance management and user experience. Rohit Goyal (Sr. Director, Product Marketing - ZDX) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/how-ai-transforming-cybersecurity-practices https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/how-ai-transforming-cybersecurity-practices Fri, 18 Apr 2025 00:09:49 GMT IntroductionThe cyberthreat landscape isn’t just changing—it’s transforming at breakneck speed, faster than most people can imagine. Cybercriminals keep upping their game with eerily sophisticated tools like ransomware-as-a-service and deepfakes— all of which are dangerous, unpredictable, and designed to keep us guessing. Traditional cybersecurity practices, built largely on rule-based security tools and human-in-the-loop approaches, often find themselves playing catch-up in a race they were never equipped to win. As attackers deploy increasingly complex and personalized methods, these traditional tools struggle to detect and respond swiftly enough to keep sensitive data protected and security threats at bay.In response to these escalating challenges, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative powerhouse within cybersecurity. With its unparalleled ability to process massive datasets in real time, AI enables security teams to predict potential threats and automate responses at unprecedented speeds. The promise is clear: AI cybersecurity solutions not only detect threats more accurately but also provide proactive protection, reshaping how organizations defend their systems. In this article, we'll explore AI's role in threat detection, incident management, workplace augmentation, compliance, governance, and the future trends that will define cybersecurity.Why cybersecurity needs AITraditional cybersecurity tools, such as signature-based detection systems and fixed-rule firewalls, were once sufficient defenses against basic viruses and predictable attacks. However, as threats evolved into more dynamic forms, these static defenses proved to be less effective. Rule-based systems, though reliable against known attacks, crumble under the pressure of zero day vulnerabilities, polymorphic malware, and insider threats. Without the sophistication to adapt to new, evolving threats, traditional methods leave security teams scrambling, always reacting rather than preventing.The rise of emerging threats such as zero day exploits—attacks that occur on vulnerabilities previously unknown—highlights the acute need for adaptive, intelligent defenses. Polymorphic malware, which continuously changes its code to evade traditional detection, demands a proactive, behavior-focused defense strategy. Equally challenging, insider threats require meticulous monitoring of human behaviors within an organization, something conventional tools cannot efficiently provide. This is where AI-driven solutions excel, analyzing patterns, behaviors, and anomalies with incredible precision to detect these elusive threats.Core AI applications in cybersecurityAI is reshaping cybersecurity across multiple fronts. Let's delve into the primary ways AI is making a tangible impact:AI in threat detection and preventionThreat detection and response is arguably where AI shines brightest. By leveraging anomaly detection and behavioral analytics, AI cybersecurity tools identify suspicious activities within IT systems—such as unusual network access patterns—to pinpoint potential threats. Rather than relying solely on static signatures, these AI systems learn what normal behavior looks like and alert security teams when something deviates from that baseline. This approach enables swift detection of advanced, previously unseen malware, significantly reducing the risk of a damaging data breach.For instance, AI models can recognize malicious behaviors even when the malware itself is brand new. Instead of waiting for updates to a signature database, AI proactively identifies threats based on their actions. This predictive power stems from integrating machine learning algorithms that continuously adapt and learn from vast amounts of data.Moreover, predictive analytics allows AI cybersecurity solutions to anticipate and mitigate attacks before they execute. Imagine detecting a cyberattack in its infancy—long before sensitive information is compromised or systems disrupted. This ensures critical systems remain secure, protected from threats often well in advance of traditional detection methods.AI and automated incident managementWhen security incidents occur, every second counts. AI brings unmatched speed to incident management, automating response workflows to swiftly isolate infected endpoints and deploying countermeasures or patches immediately. By automating repetitive incident response tasks, AI cybersecurity solutions significantly reduce reaction times and minimize potential damage.Beyond speed, AI-driven automation addresses another critical challenge: security operations center (SOC) fatigue. With the overwhelming volume of security alerts and data, even the most attentive security team can become desensitized, increasing the likelihood of human error. Automating initial phases of incident detection and response frees human analysts to focus on complex problem-solving tasks, substantially reducing burnout and enhancing overall productivity.AI's role in cybersecurity workforce augmentationAs the cybersecurity talent shortage continues to widen, AI steps into the spotlight as an indispensable partner in workforce augmentation. Rather than replacing human expertise, AI complements and enhances the capabilities of cybersecurity professionals. By automating routine tasks and providing deeper insights, AI helps analysts make smarter, faster decisions, amplifying their efficiency and effectiveness.Addressing the cybersecurity talent gapThe global cybersecurity talent shortage poses a serious threat, with organizations struggling to fill critical security roles amid a growing volume of sophisticated cyberattacks. AI-driven tools bridge this gap by assuming repetitive, time-consuming tasks, allowing security professionals to focus on complex, strategic issues. Consequently, AI not only alleviates workforce pressures but also strengthens overall cybersecurity posture within organizations.Enhancing human decision-making with AI insightsAI provides security analysts with richer, data-driven insights to inform their decision-making processes. By rapidly sifting through massive datasets and highlighting subtle anomalies, AI transforms raw data into actionable intelligence. This empowers security teams to swiftly prioritize and respond to threats, dramatically reducing the time between detection and reaction.Training and skill development through AI-powered simulationsAI technologies are increasingly employed to create realistic, adaptive cybersecurity training environments for professionals. Through AI-powered simulations, security teams can engage in immersive, scenario-based exercises that closely mirror real-world attacks. This approach not only improves readiness and response capabilities but also fosters continuous learning and skill development, vital for staying ahead in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.Benefits of leveraging AI in cybersecurityHarnessing AI in cybersecurity not only equips organizations to stay ahead of emerging threats but also offers strategic advantages that extend beyond immediate threat mitigation. These benefits empower enterprises with proactive capabilities, streamlined processes, and robust strategic foresight:Enhanced resource allocation and cost efficiency: AI optimizes cybersecurity spending by intelligently prioritizing threats based on severity and potential impact, enabling organizations to allocate resources effectively and reduce unnecessary investments.Improved scalability and agility: AI-based cybersecurity solutions seamlessly scale alongside organizational growth, instantly adapting to changing network infrastructures and evolving threat environments.Strengthened threat intelligence sharing: AI facilitates rapid, real-time aggregation, analysis, and dissemination of actionable threat intelligence across organizational units and industry peers.Advanced forensic capabilities and post-incident analysis: Leveraging AI for forensic investigations significantly boosts organizations' post-incident analysis capabilities by quickly reconstructing attacks, identifying infiltrations, and pinpointing vulnerabilities exploited.Enhancing compliance and governance with AICompliance and governance are paramount, especially in highly regulated industries. AI offers innovative solutions to simplify complex compliance challenges and streamline governance processes.Ensuring regulatory compliance through AIMaintaining compliance with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and PCI DSS can be arduous, error-prone, and resource-intensive. AI simplifies this process through three core capabilities:Automatic data classification, ensuring sensitive data and personal information are accurately identified and handled appropriatelyEnforcing access control policies automatically, providing continuous protection against unauthorized accessReal-time detection of privacy violations, swiftly alerting administrators and mitigating compliance risksCreating audit-ready systems with AIAI also empowers organizations by automatically generating compliance reports and maintaining auditable workflows across regulated environments such as finance and healthcare. With AI-based tracking and documentation, organizations can confidently produce detailed, accurate audit trails, ensuring transparency and accountability at every step.Current challenges and limitations of AI in cybersecurityDespite its significant advantages, AI is no silver bullet. It does face notable limitations that organizations must recognize:Limitations of AI-driven toolsAI-driven cybersecurity relies heavily on large and high-quality datasets. Without comprehensive training data, AI models may deliver inconsistent or suboptimal results. This over-dependence on data quality and quantity can hinder effectiveness, particularly in smaller or emerging organizations with limited historical data.Additionally, AI systems aren't infallible. Over-sensitive algorithms can produce false positives, flooding security teams with unnecessary alerts. Conversely, poorly tuned AI may overlook subtle yet critical threats—false negatives—that can lead to significant damage. Balancing sensitivity with accuracy remains a crucial challenge in AI cybersecurity.Ethical and adversarial AI risksAs security teams employ AI, cybercriminals adapt by leveraging adversarial AI—using poisoned datasets or reverse-engineering models to evade detection. This "arms race" scenario demands continuous vigilance and innovation.Ethical concerns also arise, particularly regarding transparency. AI's decision-making processes can sometimes feel like a black box, creating challenges when accountability and clarity are required, especially in high-stakes cybersecurity scenarios.The future of AI in cybersecurity: Trends to watchLooking ahead, several exciting trends promise to further enhance AI cybersecurity:Federated learning, which allows AI models to learn collaboratively without sharing sensitive data, will bolster privacy-first threat detection. This decentralized approach enables multiple organizations to benefit from collective intelligence while preserving data privacy and compliance.Next, self-healing systems leveraging predictive maintenance will transform cybersecurity by proactively identifying and fixing vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. These intelligent systems can autonomously patch weaknesses, dramatically reducing response times and attack surfaces.Additionally, AI integration with zero trust architectures will revolutionize security. By continuously monitoring all endpoints, devices, and users in dynamic cloud environments, AI will significantly enhance zero trust's efficacy, creating a truly adaptive, resilient security posture.Moreover, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are poised to develop safe, AI-augmented collaboration tools, enabling security teams to communicate, analyze, and respond faster and more effectively.Zscaler: Combining zero trust + AI to redefine cybersecurityAs AI continues to transform the cybersecurity landscape, Zscaler stands at the forefront, driving innovation through intelligent automation and zero trust security principles. Powered by the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™, the industry's most trusted security service edge (SSE) platform, Zscaler AI delivers unmatched protection by combining cutting-edge machine learning with a proactive approach to threat detection, prevention, and response. By eliminating the risks of legacy network-based security models, Zscaler connects users to applications securely—never exposing them directly to the network.Through Zscaler AI, organizations gain access to powerful capabilities that redefine their security strategies and enhance operational efficiency, including:Adaptive threat prevention: Real-time analysis of billions of signals to detect and contain even the most complex threats before they can cause harm.Automated risk reduction: AI-driven workflows to accelerate response times, minimize human error, and alleviate the burden on security teams.Integrated compliance support: Advanced analytics to simplify governance and ensure alignment with regulatory mandates.Unified visibility and control: End-to-end insights across user activity, applications, and endpoints to optimize security management.See how intelligent security can transform your approach to safeguarding sensitive data and critical systems. Request a demo today to experience the future of AI-driven cybersecurity. Matt McCabe (Web Content Writer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zia-bridge-gap-between-netops-secops-teams https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zia-bridge-gap-between-netops-secops-teams Thu, 17 Apr 2025 17:01:09 GMT “Building the relationship between networking and security teams is the first hurdle I had to navigate…9 months later, I’m still trying.” — A newly appointed CISO“If you want any transformation initiative to be successful – be it digital transformation, network transformation, security transformation, the key is to get the NetOps and SecOps to work together.”— A veteran CTO“The networking team and security team were not on the same page….”— An exasperated CIO If you work in IT, you know the age-old struggle: NetOps and SecOps locked in an epic battle that feels as ancient as the first network cable or the day someone nervously declared, "We should probably secure this!" It’s been a saga of clashing priorities and siloed workflows ever since. Luckily, Zscaler has been rewriting the tale, turning this "oil and water" relationship into a perfect blend through better tools and seamless collaboration. And now, with Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) stepping up its game even more, the gap is closing, and it’s no longer “us vs. them”—just pure IT harmony (and maybe even a joint team outing?). Differing Operational PrioritiesTraditionally, NetOps (Network Operations) and SecOps (Security Operations) have been perceived as two distinct and somewhat siloed entities within the larger IT ecosystem, each with its own distinct mandates and operational priorities. While both are critical to the organization’s functionality and security, they have historically approached their responsibilities with differing—and at times seemingly conflicting—objectives that have made collaboration challenging.The primary focus of NetOps is rooted in ensuring the organization’s network infrastructure operates with maximum speed, efficiency, and reliability. The team’s mission is to maintain a robust, reliable network that allows seamless access to devices, applications, and information. Their ultimate goal is to optimize performance and enable uninterrupted communication and data flow across the organization. They achieve this through network monitoring, troubleshooting, performance tuning, and leveraging technologies such as software-defined networking or frameworks like Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) to enhance agility.In contrast, SecOps is dedicated to safeguarding the organization’s digital assets through stringent security measures. Their focus is on preventing unauthorized access, detecting and mitigating threats, and maintaining the integrity of sensitive data. This involves implementing multi-layered security infrastructures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), endpoint protection platforms, and real-time threat intelligence. Additionally, they are tasked with modernizing incident response protocols, minimizing lateral movement across the network during breaches, and ensuring compliance with industry or regional regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, or CCPA.Siloed Tools and TechnologiesWhile NetOps strives to enable connectivity and ensure accessibility across devices and tools, SecOps aims to limit access and create compartmentalized environments to reduce the risk of breaches. For instance, while NetOps seeks open pathways for optimization, SecOps might advocate for restrictions to minimize vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, this divergence in priorities can lead to significant operational challenges.One of the main issues arises from the use of disparate tools and technologies by the two teams. NetOps often relies on tools designed for performance monitoring or traffic analysis, while SecOps utilizes security solutions focused on endpoint protection, anomaly detection, and compliance oversight. The lack of integration or common platforms between these tools can create dangerous blind spots—areas within the network that neither team has full visibility into or control over. Frameworks like SASE can help, if implemented cohesively on the foundation of Zero Trust principles. But more often than not, they are point solutions stitched under the banner of SASE, failing to deliver seamless integration. And these gaps are prime targets for malicious actors, paving the way for them to move across the network unchecked, leading to a heightened risk of advanced persistent threats, ransomware attacks, or insider threats.Compounding the problem is the lack of streamlined communication and collaboration between the two teams. In many organizations, processes for exchanging information between NetOps and SecOps are inefficient, incomplete, or, in some cases, entirely non-existent. For example, when NetOps detects an abnormal surge in traffic, they may lack the means or protocols to alert SecOps in real-time for further investigation due to complexity of current tools. Conversely, SecOps may identify indicators of compromise (IOCs), such as unusual login attempts, but have to navigate a cumbersome process to relay those insights to NetOps to help isolate and mitigate potential network anomalies. These breakdowns in information sharing not only slow down response times but also allow attackers to exploit the disjointed operations.The Zscaler ApproachIn the face of today’s increasingly sophisticated threat landscape, the traditional separation of these two critical functions is no longer sustainable as attackers exploit vulnerabilities across complex infrastructure. Modern organizations need to foster greater collaboration between NetOps and SecOps by adopting a shared culture, shared objectives, and integrated technologies. Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA), part of the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, continues to lead the charge in simplifying and amplifying collaboration between SecOps and NetOps. By unifying tools, providing deep visibility, enhancing workflows, and enabling shared accountability, ZIA bridges traditional operational silos and creates a unified framework for securing and optimizing enterprise networks. At the same time, ZIA adheres to zero trust principles, ensuring no compromises between performance and security.1) Full-Packet Visibility and Network Detection and Response (NDR) IntegrationsZIA delivers comprehensive packet capture (PCAP), essential for security incident investigations, forensics, and threat detection. Currently, ZIA Traffic Capture was event-triggered based on “block” or “signature hit” events, enabling admins to capture decrypted traffic via specific criteria in Zscaler policy engines. With the upcoming release, admins will have more flexibility to incorporate exclusion decisions spanning user criteria, network services and application groups, source IP, and destination IP. Furthermore, as organizations transition away from traditional on-premises firewalls due to their inherent security risks, ZIA addresses a key challenge by integrating seamlessly with NDR solutions. Unlike legacy setups where NDR solutions relied on a firewall’s Test Access Point (TAP) traffic, ZIA provides easy access to raw, decrypted traffic for efficient security forensics—eliminating the need for additional appliances and simplifying workflows.These capabilities empower both SecOps and NetOps teams to collaborate effectively during incident response workflows. For example:SecOps can pinpoint threats or lateral movement via flow-level analysis and share actionable insights with NetOps.NetOps can successfully isolate compromised assets, reroute traffic dynamically, and ensure uninterrupted operations during mitigation activities.Such visibility and precision reduce the time from detection to remediation, enabling enterprises to address potential risks before they escalate into incidents.2) Deep Endpoint VisibilityOrganizations are increasingly targeted by advanced threats—such as malicious applications, trojanized versions of unsigned installers, and living-off-the-land (LOTL) attacks—that exploit legitimate tools and processes to evade detection. These threats establish command-and-control (C2) channels or exfiltrate data, often hiding within encrypted traffic, making detection even more difficult. To combat these tactics, organizations need unified insights that connect endpoint behaviors with network and cloud activity for real-time detection and mitigation.Achieving this level of integration is challenging. NetOps and SecOps often operate in silos, with NetOps lacking visibility into endpoint activity and SecOps missing the broader network context. This disconnect creates blind spots, delays response, and leaves organizations vulnerable to sophisticated threats.ZIA solves these gaps by unifying endpoint telemetry, network and cloud visibility, and encrypted traffic inspection within the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange (ZTE) platform. By correlating activity across these domains, ZIA enables NetOps and SecOps to collaborate seamlessly, eliminate blind spots, reduce false positives, and proactively stop threats before they spread.New Features Enhancing ZIA’s Endpoint Visibility:ZIA introduces powerful enhancements, including endpoint application inventory and context mapping, detection and alerting for malicious processes such as executables (EXEs) and DLLs, and application code signing validation to identify tampered or untrusted code.These features provide advanced threat detection by identifying suspicious activity, improving threat correlation, and securing endpoint activity with unparalleled precision. By seamlessly integrating endpoint-level insights with network and cloud intelligence, ZIA delivers holistic security and real-time detection, empowering organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats.3) Cloud Custom IPS: Policies for Granular ControlWhile IPS provides robust protection against known and emerging attacks, some organizations require more granular control to address targeted, environment-specific attacks. ZIA’s Cloud Custom IPS gives security teams the ability to define and deploy custom signatures tailored to their organization’s unique threat landscape - helping them stay ahead of sophisticated adversaries. Previously, ZIA’s custom IPS capability was only available on Zscaler Private and Virtual Service Edges, limiting access to organizations running hybrid deployments. But now, that changes.Custom IPS functionality now extends across all ZIA Public Service Edges, enabling customers to create and deploy custom IPS rules globally through Zscaler’s cloud infrastructure.ZIA Cloud Custom IPS empowers SecOps and NetOps teams to operate in lockstep:SecOps teams gain precise control over threats across web and non-web traffic, including HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, RDP, SMB, DNS, Telnet and more.NetOps teams ensure those signatures don’t introduce latency or degrade performance. With visibility into signature behavior, they can make proactive traffic decisions.4) Advanced Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC) for Collaborative GovernanceZIA implements Advanced Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC) to provide granular and tailored permissions for operational teams, ensuring alignment with their specific roles and responsibilities. While SecOps focuses on ensuring strict security enforcement, NetOps prioritizes network optimization—potentially leading to conflicts without appropriate access controls.With ZIA’s RBAC framework, Super Administrators can define roles that define access specific to NetOps and SecOps staff job scope while also enabling information sharing that drives faster outcomes:NetOps Teams can manage network routing, performance monitoring, and operational configurations without inadvertently altering security policies.SecOps Teams retain complete access to threat intelligence data, security policy configurations, and IPS rule enforcement without interfering with routing workflows.Data Protection/DLP team can ensure protection with Data Protection regulations and compliance and make Data Protection Policies and controls to ensure your organization’s Data Protection needs are metOrganizations can deploy tiered governance models, such as separating configuration rights, monitoring privileges, and incident response roles, ensuring that access permissions are strictly aligned with job functions.RBAC also enhances auditing and traceability, which is critical for regulatory compliance. ZIA enables detailed logging and reporting of all administrative actions, whether network adjustments by NetOps or security policy changes by SecOps, ensuring better governance, accountability, and smooth cross-team collaboration.5) Custom HTTP Headers for Granular Policy Control and CollaborationZIA leverages custom HTTP headers to enforce precise policy controls, allowing both NetOps and SecOps to streamline traffic management while bolstering security. By enabling control over attributes like origin headers, referrer URLs, user-agent profiles, and tenant restrictions, ZIA empowers organizations to block, allow, or isolate traffic based on granular rules.Key capabilities include: origin header filtering to block or allow traffic based on domains, referrer-based policies to manage access based on referring URLs or SaaS apps, and granular user-agent control to enforce restrictions based on browser versions or email clients. These features address nuanced use cases such as restricting YouTube access to requests from a school’s learning platform or isolating traffic from newly registered domains.Custom HTTP header policies can be integrated with ZIA’s URL filtering framework to automate policy enforcement with visibility into web activity. For example:SecOps can block traffic from uncategorized websites or suspicious domains using HTTP header rules.NetOps can optimize access to SaaS apps through tenant-based header controls, improving traffic flow for authorized users.With ZIA’s header-based enforcement, organizations achieve granular control over web traffic, enabling seamless collaboration between NetOps and SecOps while maintaining robust security and operational efficiency.The Last WordThe divide between NetOps and SecOps is as legendary in IT as the question, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”. For years, these teams have grappled with clashing priorities, often working at cross purposes despite shared goals. Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) has been rewriting and will continue to rewrite the narrative with innovative solutions that close the gap, fostering seamless collaboration and alignment. ZIA proves that effective teamwork between NetOps and SecOps isn’t just wishful thinking—it’s a reality where both sides can finally work together toward a common goal of secure, efficient operations. And don’t forget to tag us on social media when NetOps and SecOps finally team up for that long-overdue team outing—no silos, just laughs (and maybe a debate over access controls)!We’re tackling how to bridge the gap between NetOps and SecOps head-on (and more) in the Zscaler Internet Access Innovations Launch webinar! Don’t miss your chance to dive into ZIA’s latest product upgrades—reserve your spot now. Satish Madiraju (Sr. Director, Product Management) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/unlocking-new-capabilities-govcloud-deception-and-workflow-automation https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/unlocking-new-capabilities-govcloud-deception-and-workflow-automation Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:56:40 GMT As organizations increasingly adopt hybrid cloud strategies and accelerate digital transformation, the unique needs of government agencies and highly-regulated industries remain front and center. With compliance requirements, stringent security standards, and operational complexities, GovCloud environments demand purpose-built solutions to address their challenges. At Zscaler, we’ve been at the forefront of empowering GovCloud users with innovative tools to enhance security, efficiency, and agility. Today, I’m thrilled to introduce two groundbreaking features tailored for GovCloud: Deception and Workflow Automation.These releases not only demonstrate our continued commitment to innovation in the GovCloud space but also pave the way for agencies to operate more securely and efficiently in an era of rising cyber threats and growing operational demands.Deception in GovCloud: Proactive Defense Against Cyber ThreatsCybersecurity remains a top priority for government agencies, and rightly so. The stakes are high when sensitive data, mission-critical operations, and national security interests are involved. Traditional defenses like firewalls and antivirus solutions, while critical, are no longer sufficient to thwart sophisticated attacks. This is where Deception Technology comes into play—a proactive cybersecurity approach that turns the tables on attackers.Deception is designed to:Detect threats in real-time: By deploying decoys and fake assets across your network, deceptive technologies detect lateral movement and suspicious activities early in an attack lifecycle.Divert attacker strategies: Cybercriminals who attempt to interact with these decoys are sent down a false path, expending resources chasing fake assets while leaving genuine systems untouched.Gather actionable intelligence: By observing attacker behavior within deception environments, security teams can collect insights that inform broader cybersecurity strategies.For GovCloud environments, Deception provides an extra layer of protection, catering to advanced persistent threats (APTs) and insider risks. Whether it’s safeguarding classified data or sensitive citizen records, deploying deceptive technologies ensures that attackers face a maze of misdirection, rather than a straight path to your critical systems.Why This Matters: GovCloud users operate in environments with some of the most stringent regulatory and security requirements. By leveraging Deception, agencies can move from reactive to proactive cybersecurity, effectively creating a safety net for their mission-critical operations.Workflow Automation in GovCloud: Streamlining Operations to Drive AgilityIn today’s fast-paced world, the ability to execute processes efficiently is no longer optional—it’s essential. Government agencies often grapple with complex workflows that involve multiple stakeholders, intricate compliance standards, and unpredictable timelines. Workflow Automation is here to take the operational burden off users and drive improved productivity across the board.With Workflow Automation, agencies can benefit from:Simplified processes: Automate repetitive tasks, approvals, and other manual operations with configurable workflows tailored to agency-specific needs.Improved collaboration: Break down silos across departments with seamless workflows that connect teams, systems, and processes in one unified platform.Regulatory adherence: Ensure compliance with government policies and standards by embedding rules and checks into automated workflows.Time savings: Reduce bottlenecks and manual errors, empowering teams to focus on mission-critical objectives rather than getting stuck in paperwork.For example, consider an agency tasked with procuring mission-critical technology. Instead of manually tracking approval chains or dealing with compliance reviews piece by piece, Workflow Automation can empower the agency to create an end-to-end automated procurement process—from initial requirements gathering and vendor selection to final approvals. This ensures efficiency, transparency, and adherence to all relevant guidelines.Why This Matters: Workflow Automation is a game-changer for GovCloud users, enabling agencies to meet increasing demands with scalable processes that adjust dynamically to changing priorities. By automating cumbersome workflows, agencies free up resources for high-impact tasks.Tackling the Future TogetherBoth Deception and Workflow Automation represent significant advancements for our GovCloud users, reinforcing our commitment to delivering solutions that address their evolving needs. Here’s how these releases fit within the broader landscape:As cyber threats become more sophisticated, the importance of proactive defense mechanisms like Deception cannot be overstated. The ability to detect, divert, and decipher threats in real-time ensures that GovCloud platforms remain resilient against adversaries.Similarly, amid growing workloads and escalating deadlines, Workflow Automation serves as the operational backbone that streamlines tasks, mitigates errors, and accelerates agency objectives.By integrating these capabilities within GovCloud, we’re empowering agencies to thrive in an increasingly complex operational and digital environment. Whether it’s safeguarding the integrity of national data via Deception or driving innovation through Workflow Automation, these updates enable GovCloud users to deliver on their mandates more effectively and securely.Final ThoughtsThe dual release of Deception and Workflow Automation is more than just software updates—it’s an opportunity for agencies to redefine how they operate securely and efficiently, all while meeting the high standards required of GovCloud environments.At Zscaler, we believe that technology should not merely keep pace with challenges—it should anticipate them and drive meaningful solutions. With Deception and Workflow Automation, we’re confident GovCloud users will gain the tools they need to navigate the future with confidence.Let’s make the cloud work harder for government—safer systems, better processes, and greater agility. The possibilities are limitless, and we’re here to help you unlock them. Contact us today to schedule a deep dive on Deception and Workflow Automation. Niraj Gopal ( Head of Product Management, Federal and Sovereign Clouds) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/ai-cybersecurity-navigating-gdpr-privacy-laws-and-risk-management https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/ai-cybersecurity-navigating-gdpr-privacy-laws-and-risk-management Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:02:30 GMT IntroductionArtificial intelligence (AI) in cybersecurity has unmatched potential when it comes to achieving superior solution efficacy, automation, and more. However, with great power comes great responsibility—when leveraging AI, organizations must grapple with both the compliance implications and the ethical dilemmas involved in doing so. In particular, navigating privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) while harnessing AI-powered cybersecurity tools is simultaneously highly complex and incredibly important. As a result, organizations are searching for how they can leverage AI in cybersecurity without compromising compliance.The intersection of AI and cybersecurityArtificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have the potential to transform cybersecurity for any organization. That’s because AI can enhance virtually any aspect of a company’s security efforts, including threat protection and data protection. In terms of cyberthreats, one clear advantage of tools leveraging AI is their capacity to deliver real-time, fine-grained threat detection. Unlike human analysts, AI can process wide varieties of data concurrently. This capability enables user and entity behavioral analytics (UEBA) to identify anomalous user behaviors, and equips AI-powered cloud sandboxing to proactively identify files that are likely malicious. As a result, they are able to pinpoint potential risks before attackers can gain a foothold. Other AI innovations in threat protection include automated threat hunting as well as phishing defenses that use natural language processing (NLP) to parse malicious emails and flag subtle linguistic anomalies. While all of this minimizes cyber risk, it also reduces the prevalence of false positives, empowering cybersecurity teams to focus their energy on legitimate threats.When it comes to keeping sensitive information safe, leading solutions can employ AI/ML to protect data more effectively and efficiently. As an example, AI-powered data discovery can scan an organization’s IT ecosystem (devices, clouds, apps, user sessions, etc.), automatically classify all of the data that it finds, and generate reports for administrators about what data is where. This is done without admins needing to configure any DLP dictionaries, engines, or policies. In other words, AI enables organizations to identify sensitive data everywhere, while simultaneously minimizing admin time requirements and reducing management overhead. Clearly, AI's impact on cybersecurity is tangible and transformative.Understanding GDPR and privacy law challengesDespite its countless benefits, deploying AI within cybersecurity introduces friction with data privacy laws, particularly Europe's GDPR. GDPR's core aim is to protect personal information, and it does so by regulating how organizations handle data. But AI and ML, by their very nature, use vast amounts of training data and are typically trained, at least in part, with sensitive or personally identifiable information (PII). This can enable (and even constitute) a data breach, which leads to regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and customer churn.On top of that, compliance hurdles arise due to the collection of the data that is needed to effectively train AI models (not to mention the data that inline security solutions collect merely as a part of their regular functioning). That’s because GDPR also requires organizations to get explicit consent from individuals in order to collect their data for any purpose. In addition to all of this, there are rigid conditions for data protection, storage, and deletion. Finally, the "black box" dilemma inherent to many AI models complicates compliance further. GDPR emphasizes transparency and accountability, but many advanced AI algorithms are opaque, making it challenging for organizations to explain precisely how personal data is processed and how decisions are reached. Without clear interpretability, demonstrating compliance becomes an arduous legal and technical task.All of this is why organizations must carefully balance the benefits of robust AI-driven protections with stringent GDPR compliance requirements—otherwise, there can be significant repercussions.How to navigate GDPR, privacy laws, and risk management with AISuccessfully incorporating AI into cybersecurity while maintaining compliance requires a strategic approach anchored in privacy-first principles, transparency, purpose-built security tools, and organizational collaboration.Privacy-first AI solutionsBecause AI-based security solutions process sensitive data, organizations must prioritize anonymization, pseudonymization, and encryption capabilities when selecting their tools of choice. By obscuring personal identifiers, cybersecurity teams can protect data privacy while still leveraging AI's analytical power. This approach significantly reduces the risks associated with data breaches and ensures adherence to GDPR's stringent data protection principles.Explainable AI systemsTransparency is critical under GDPR, making explainable AI (XAI) crucial. Organizations should implement AI-based solutions whose decisions and data processing methods can be clearly articulated and demonstrated. Explainability not only fosters regulatory compliance but also builds trust among customers and stakeholders who expect accountability in how their personal data is handled.AI solutions prebuilt for complianceWhen evaluating AI cybersecurity tools, organizations must select solutions that are designed themselves to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. This is because data controllers (the organizations) are required to work with data processors (the security vendors) and implement services (the AI-powered security solutions) that adhere to the standards of GDPR. If a data processor or its services violate GDPR, it can lead to consequences for the data controller. At the same time, organizations should deploy security offerings complete with out-of-the-box functionality that can help them to ensure their own GDPR compliance. For example, they should leverage data loss prevention (DLP) solutions with prebuilt dictionaries that let them identify GDPR-regulated information across their IT ecosystem. These types of capabilities streamline the organization’s ability to control said data, while reducing the potential for human error that can arise during manual configuration. As an additional benefit, this embedding of compliance considerations into the operational core of cybersecurity also helps to simplify risk management over both the short and the long term.Collaboration between departmentsNavigating privacy laws and the risks associated with AI demands cross-functional collaboration. Integrating perspectives from cybersecurity, networking, legal, and compliance teams ensures thorough assessments of potential risks and regulatory complications, as well as comprehensive solutions. Such collaboration enhances an organization's ability to foresee and mitigate problems proactively, rather than reacting after compliance issues or cyber breaches arise.Future outlook: AI and evolving privacy regulationsAs technology advances, privacy regulations like GDPR will undoubtedly continue to evolve and influence how organizations protect data. Likewise, AI’s role in cybersecurity will only expand, and while that will create new opportunities, it will also lead to new complexities. As such, businesses must stay vigilant and adapt as needed if they want to keep pace with advancing laws, technologies, and cyberthreats. Ultimately, doing so will require ongoing investment in education, processes, proactive regulatory oversight, and, critically, leading cybersecurity.In this shifting regulatory landscape, adopting security frameworks built on zero trust becomes increasingly necessary. A zero trust architecture functions based on the principle of least-privileged access. This principle requires that only authorized entities are given access to IT resources and data, and that they are given only the minimum amount of access necessary to do their jobs—at the moment they need it. A platform providing this architecture proxies traffic and serves as an intelligent switchboard that delivers secure any-to-any connectivity, in a one-to-one fashion, without extending the network to anyone or anything (which eliminates the possibility of lateral movement on the network). It governs access based on myriad contextual factors so that it can ensure nothing is exposed to unnecessary risk. In other words, zero trust inspects all traffic, minimizes excessive permissions, controls access to IT resources, monitors the flow of sensitive information, enforces granular data security policies in real time, and provides a wealth of other functionality that aligns seamlessly with GDPR's fundamental principles. As a result, organizations can confidently protect data everywhere, leverage AI-based tools (both for security and otherwise), and maintain compliance with GDPR. Zscaler: Security AI and complianceIf you’re curious how you can find a zero trust offering that will check all the boxes mentioned throughout this blog post, look no further. The Zero Trust Exchange platform delivers everything you need when it comes to security, AI, and regulatory compliance. With Zscaler, organizations can: Deploy airtight architecture provided by the original pioneer and continued innovator in zero trust, enabling systematic cyber risk reductionPartner with a trustworthy data processor whose platform is built to comply with global standards like GDPR, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, SOC 2, and many moreControl the flow of data to any destination (including AI systems built to ingest massive volumes of information), and prevent data breachesAccelerate innovation by gaining visibility into the employee usage of AI tools, like generative AI apps, and enforcing granular policies that control accessLeverage AI-powered capabilities that can further enhance security posture while simultaneously improving automation and productivityStop sophisticated AI-based cyberattacks through a complete suite of protections that identify and block threats at every step of the attack chainMaintain full compliance with global regulations like GDPR, minimizing the risk of penalties, reputational damages, and other consequencesTo learn more about zero trust, join part one of our webinar series, Zero Trust, from Theory to Practice, which is designed to guide you throughout your entire zero trust journey.To learn more about the ways that we combine zero trust and AI to solve modern IT problems, download our white paper, Zero Trust + AI: Secure and Optimize Your Organization. Matt McCabe (Web Content Writer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/boost-security-and-efficiency-automotive-manufacturing-segmentation https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/boost-security-and-efficiency-automotive-manufacturing-segmentation Tue, 15 Apr 2025 11:34:12 GMT As the automotive industry accelerates toward a future of electric vehicles (EVs), automakers face mounting financial and operational pressures. As profits from gasoline-powered vehicles are being funneled into R&D for EV innovation, automakers must grapple with a rapidly evolving and increasingly complex digital landscape. Striking a balance between maintaining profitability and fortifying security has become a critical challenge, especially given the heavy reliance on production uptime and the ever-present threat of sophisticated cyberattacks.For automakers, downtime is more than a technical setback—it’s a financial and reputational crisis, with minutes potentially costing millions of dollars. Add to this the rise of ransomware and targeted attacks aimed at intellectual property theft or operational disruption, and the stakes are exponentially higher. Further complicating the situation, traditional network segmentation strategies like firewalls create bottlenecks and introduce complexities that can lead to extended outages, higher costs, and even compromised security.In this post, we’ll explore how auto manufacturers can rethink their segmentation strategies to address these challenges. By adopting Zscaler’s device segmentation solution, automakers can simplify their network environments, reduce the blast radius of potential breaches, and seamlessly enhance their security posture. All of this can be achieved without costly infrastructure upgrades, extended downtime, or complex, IT-heavy change processes. It’s time for a smarter, more resilient approach to protecting the factories of the future.Firewalls Fall ShortShould an attack succeed, it is critical to minimize the blast radius. In a traditional manufacturing environment, to separate Line 1 from Line 2 from Line 3—not to mention separating the lines from the IT network—the most common approach would be to use firewalls. And in large manufacturing operations, that could mean many firewalls.However, a firewall-based environment creates complexities that increase costs and can inadvertently lead to downtime.Challenge 1: Understanding Traffic FlowsThe first challenge with a firewall-based solution is to understand traffic patterns. What should be the expected traffic flow from Line 1 to Line 2 or between the OT network and the IT network? Does the organization truly have a grasp on what should be talking to what? (Probably not. Even world-class companies struggle with visibility of traffic flows.)If we understand at a high level what should be talking with what, the next challenge for firewalls becomes: on what IPs, ports, and protocols do we allow this communication? This is where organizations typically throw up their hands and begin to rethink their segmentation strategy.Soon, it becomes clear that with complicated rulesets to permit the appropriate traffic to flow between the lines and IT networks, administrators will play a game of perpetual whack-a-mole, trying to identify IPs, ports, or protocols when something breaks. Eventually, they will typically submit to an any-to-any policy that essentially undoes their segmentation efforts.Challenge 2: Changes on the Plant FloorLet's give the organization the benefit of the doubt for a minute and suppose they do manage to implement some segmentation policies. What happens when there is a change needed in the environment? Perhaps a new PLC replaces a broken one. Maybe a new component is added to the line. What if a software update changes some communication protocols?When downtime leads to loss of revenue, identifying the appropriate person with the correct skill set to make the firewall change, then executing that change, can lead to an extended outage window. Complicated change processes coupled with complex user interfaces inevitably cost money.Simplifying Security, Reducing Costs, and Enhancing Admin ExperienceIt’s rare to find a solution that simultaneously enhances user experience, strengthens security, and reduces costs—but Zscaler Zero Trust Device Segmentation achieves exactly that.With Zscaler, automotive manufacturers can effectively segment their manufacturing networks down to the device level without the need for multimillion-dollar capital investments. This approach not only improves security posture, but also provides complete visibility into traffic flows—all through an intuitive, user-friendly interface.One of the key benefits of Zero Trust Device Segmentation is cost efficiency. Unlike other solutions that require expensive new hardware, additional memory, or software upgrades, the Zscaler solution leverages existing switches already deployed in the manufacturing environment. This reduces upfront investment and avoids the need for costly and time-intensive infrastructure overhauls. Since Zscaler’s solution doesn’t require a downtime window during deployment, manufacturers can implement it without disrupting operations. Traditional hardware replacement projects, often requiring years due to limited maintenance windows, could stretch across an entire decade—Zscaler eliminates this extended timeline.By attaching a Zscaler segmentation gateway to the existing network switch and simply redirecting the trunk port, administrators gain complete visibility into all devices communicating within the network. Traffic flows are displayed in a single, easy-to-understand map, providing unparalleled clarity.With this visibility, administrators can quickly create logical, device-specific segmentation policies tailored to their operational needs. The result is a simplified and streamlined process that minimizes configuration complexity and boosts operational efficiency. Zscaler Zero Trust Device Segmentation ensures granular control over the environment while keeping costs low and deployment seamless.Minimizing Downtime During ChangesWith Zscaler's auto-discovery feature, replacing a broken PLC becomes hassle-free. If an onsite technician swaps out a defective PLC, Zscaler uses AI and machine learning algorithms to automatically detect the new device and seamlessly apply the appropriate policy, significantly reducing downtime and ensuring uninterrupted operations.In situations where a technician needs to make adjustments to the segmented network, Zscaler’s intuitive user interface simplifies the process. With minimal training, technicians can independently perform basic policy or device updates without requiring assistance from higher-level administrators, reducing delays and increasing line uptime.ConclusionAs automakers transition to electric vehicles, traditional firewall-based segmentation struggles to meet the demanding needs of modern manufacturing. Zscaler Zero Trust Device Segmentation offers a smarter, more efficient alternative—providing granular, device-level security without costly hardware upgrades or extended downtime. By simplifying deployment, minimizing downtime, and enabling clear traffic visibility, Zscaler strengthens security, reduces complexity, and protects operational uptime. With Zscaler, automakers can safeguard their manufacturing networks while maintaining profitability and preparing for the future of EV innovation. Todd Brockdorf (Manager, Sales Engineering) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/my-cloud-connector-monitoring-stack-aws-part-1 https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/my-cloud-connector-monitoring-stack-aws-part-1 Fri, 11 Apr 2025 19:56:34 GMT Sometimes the best ideas start with a simple “what if”. Over the years, I’ve had countless conversations with customers around how to monitor and alert on Zscaler Cloud Connectors – especially in cloud-native environments. So one night, I challenged myself: could I build a fully cloud-native monitoring stack using just the native tools from AWS, Azure, and GCP?Spoiler: I couldThis blog is Part 1 of that journey, focused entirely on what the outcome looks like – a CloudWatch dashboard with key metrics, visualizations, and alerts I’d want to see in production. Think of it as a preview of what’s possible if you’re running Zscaler Cloud Connectors in AWS with Auto Scaling Groups and Gateway Load BalancerWhile it’s not an official Zscaler solution (or supported by our team), I hope this sparks ideas for your own deployments. And if you’re wondering how to build it – don’t worry, Part 2 will dive into the full configuration, metrics, thresholds, and a CloudFormation template so you can try it out yourselfOf course, Zscaler already offers native integrations with Nanolog Streaming Service (NSS) to stream Cloud Connector Events and Metrics logs to your on-premise or cloud SIEM – I’ll include some links to the official help portal for that below, but this project is all about cloud-native monitoring! Nanolog Streaming Service (NSS)Before we get into this project, please know that Zscaler officially has the ability to stream Cloud Connector Events and Metrics using NSS to your existing SIEM. The key metrics are included and are cloud-agnostic, so you can actually build a beautiful dashboard and alerts in your own SIEM using this method. Here are a few links in case you weren’t aware of this integration:Deploying NSS VMs NSS FeedsCloud NSS FeedsNow when it comes to Cloud Connectors specifically, there are two feeds:Event Logs. These logs are focused on sending status changes for health checks, Zscaler service edge reachability, etcMetrics Logs. These logs are focused on sending Overall CPU, Data Plane CPU, Control Plane CPU, memory, throughput utilization, etcNow back to the fun stuff... What To Monitor (and Why)?Let’s focus on what matters most in Cloud Connector architecture: the Data PlaneCloud Connectors have both a Control Plane and a Data Plane. While the Control Plane handles configuration sync, log forwarding, and updates, traffic keeps flowing even if it’s downThe real question we want to answer:Can Cloud Connectors keep processing workload traffic without impacting performance?That’s the job of the Data Plane. It securely tunnels traffic to the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange (ZTE)—either ZIA, ZPA, or directly to the Internet—depending on your policy.If the Data Plane is healthy, your traffic is safe. That’s why this blog centers around monitoring only the metrics tied to traffic flow and tunnel healthKey Metrics I Focused OnEvery deployment is different, but here’s what I chose to monitor—and why. These are grouped by Zscaler Location, meaning any number of Connectors behind the same GWLB:MetricExplanationEC2 Health and AvailabilityTrack total Cloud Connectors and their status to quickly identify failuresAuto Scaling Group UtilizationGauge how close you are to max capacity and when scaling might be neededData Plane CPU UtilizationCritical for understanding throughput. High CPU = nearing traffic limitsGWLB Target Group Health ChecksDirectly tells you if tunnels are up and traffic is flowingData Plane Bytes (In/Out)Visualize how much data is processed through Connectors—optional, but insightfulGWLB Bytes ProcessedUseful for spotting patterns or changes in workload traffic over timeNAT Gateway Bytes (In vs Out)Helpful for understanding data transfer patterns and potential cost impactsNetwork Latency (RTT in ms)Adds a layer of observability for network impact going out to Internet CloudWatch DashboardThis is what I built in the lab. Everything is visualized in a single CloudWatch dashboard, broken into logical sections:Header Text: Highlights region, VPC ID, ASG usage, and environment labelText Dividers: Split the dashboard by function (Health, CPU, Scaling, etc.)Metric Widgets: Visualize each of the key metrics above using gauges, graphs, and single valuesTip: I used Average over 5-minute periods for most non-network metrics, and Sum for all throughput-related dataAs this is my lab environment I need to be transparent and mention this single dashboard is for a single location (aka a set of Cloud Connectors) behind the same GWLB. We don't want metrics aggregated across different sets of Connectors in different Regions as that wouldn't be useful from an operational perspective. However, that can be a useful Executive view if you think that's important! For large deployments would it make sense to create a different dashboard for each set of Cloud Connectors behind the same GWLB? Maybe. This is where tinkering comes in handy! Alerting StrategyTo keep things manageable, I built four key CloudWatch alarms that notify via SNS (email):AlarmWhat it doesHealthy Targets %26lt; 25%Indicates tunnel or instance issues affecting the Data PlaneASG Utilization %26gt; 90%Warns when scaling limits are near and capacity might be maxedData Plane CPU %26gt; 80%Suggests traffic load may be too high—triggers before packet lossNetwork Latency (Anomaly)Detects spikes in RTT beyond a defined baseline—great for spotting Zscaler path issuesYou can customize these thresholds for your environment, but these gave me solid coverage of health, scale, and latency What’s NextEverything you’ve seen here – from visualizing data plane health to tracking processed traffic and scaling activity – was built entirely from native AWS (and one Zscaler custom) metrics, and a pinch of CloudWatch magic.In Part 2, I’ll break down exactly how I built this: the metrics I used, the math behind the expressions, the alarm logic, and of course, a reusable CloudFormation template to get you startedAnd for those of you running Azure and/or GCP, Parts 3 and 4 are coming soon. Let’s nerd out together! Zoltan Kovacs (Director, Field Specialists - Cloud) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-future-automotive-manufacturing-zero-trust-approach https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-future-automotive-manufacturing-zero-trust-approach Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:01:20 GMT As auto manufacturers transition toward a world of electric vehicles, they are shuffling profits from gasoline-powered vehicles into research and development for EVs. This research generates new digital crown jewels—critical data that must be protected.The question is: knowing that the threat landscape is only becoming more complicated amid the significant R&D expenditures of the EV revolution, how can auto manufacturers effectively manage risk and security while ensuring profitability?In this series, we will explore how automakers can protect their digital crown jewels and more effectively manage cyber risk in their organizations. We’ll look closely at how to strengthen security posture, reduce environmental complexity, and realize faster time to value with Zscaler solutions.The cost of downtimeIndustry studies often estimate that automakers lose anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 per minute during unexpected line stoppages. This includes the costs of lost production, idle labor, wasted materials, repair time, and downstream supply chain disruptions. If you account for contract penalties and potential loss of reputation, those figures can go much higher. For perspective, this translates to upwards of $300,000 to $3 million per hour in losses for automakers, depending on the situation and the severity of the systems impacted.In 2019, a six-week strike that shut down GM plants cost the company approximately $100 million per day in lost profits and production. In past line stoppages, Tesla missed production targets by thousands of vehicles, with disappointing quarterly earnings results linked directly to downtime. In 2022, production interruptions due to semiconductor shortages cost Ford around $600 million in quarterly earnings.What if it’s ransomware?The time to recover from a ransomware attack for an automaker is generally measured in weeks to months for technical recovery, and months to years for full operational, reputational, and legal recovery. The recovery timeline can vary widely depending on factors such as the severity of the attack, the company's preparation and response protocols, the extent of systems compromised, whether backups are available, and whether the ransom is paid and data and/or systems can be recovered.In 2020, a ransomware attack shut down Honda’s global production temporarily, forcing several plants to halt operations for a few days. While some operations resumed within days, restoring all systems and addressing the underlying vulnerabilities likely took weeks or longer.In 2019, a Toyota parts supplier faced a cyberattack that disrupted assembly for several days, causing cascading effects on Toyota’s production lines. Recovery from such supply chain-affecting ransomware incidents often takes weeks, as both upstream and downstream partners are affected.How can Zscaler help?It’s rare to find an offering that offers better user experiences, improved security posture, and reduced costs at the same time. Zscaler delivers just that.Zscaler offers several solutions for automakers to reduce the attack surface, minimize the blast radius of attacks, and realize faster time to value—all without a heavy investment in new equipment or extensive downtime to implement it.Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) reduces the attack surface by providing zero trust network access (ZTNA), ensuring that users only connect to specific applications they are authorized to access without exposing the network to potential threats. Unlike traditional approaches that rely on VPNs, ZPA eliminates the need to place users on the corporate network, which prevents lateral movement by attackers. Applications are hidden behind the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, making them invisible to unauthorized users and reducing the risk of exploitation. By dynamically establishing secure, direct connections between users and applications, ZPA minimizes exposure points and ensures a more resilient security posture.Zscaler Privileged Remote Access (PRA) provides third-party contractors with secure, zero trust access to specific automaker resources without requiring traditional VPNs. With its identity-based access control, contractors are granted least-privileged access to only the applications and systems they need—without exposing the entire network. This prevents lateral movement and reduces the attack surface. Because Zscaler leverages encrypted, direct connectivity instead of network-level access, sensitive resources remain hidden from unauthorized users, and activities are monitored to ensure compliance and security.Zscaler Zero Trust Device Segmentation minimizes the blast radius by enabling organizations to implement logical separation between environments, such as production, development, and third-party access, without relying on traditional network segmentation. By leveraging agentless device segmentation, Zscaler Zero Trust Device Segmentation ensures that communication across environments is tightly controlled and limited to authorized users and workloads. This prevents lateral movement by isolating potential compromises within a single environment, dramatically reducing the scope and impact of breaches. With granular access policies and application-specific connectivity, Zscaler Zero Trust Device Segmentation ensures that a security incident in one environment does not spill over into others, thereby containing threats and safeguarding critical systems. Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN enables operational technology (OT) devices to securely communicate by providing a zero trust-based connectivity solution that eliminates the need for traditional VPNs or complex network configurations. It securely connects OT devices at factories or remote sites directly to applications and resources they need, whether within the automaker's data centers, private instances of public clouds, or SaaS environment, without exposing the devices to the public internet or creating unnecessary lateral movement risks. By segmenting and enforcing identity-based access policies, Zero Trust SD-WAN ensures that communication is encrypted, authorized, and isolated, enabling secure and seamless interactions across OT and IT environments while protecting critical infrastructure from cyberthreats.ConclusionAs the automotive industry shifts toward a future driven by electric vehicles, automakers are navigating a dual challenge: allocating significant resources to R&D while addressing an increasingly complex technological landscape that needs to be secured. The stakes are exceptionally high as downtime caused by cyberattacks like ransomware can be catastrophic, stalling production, disrupting supply chains, and leading to multimillion-dollar losses. Zscaler provides automakers with the tools to not only protect their operations, but also cost-effectively simplify and modernize their environments. By leveraging Zscaler zero trust security solutions, automakers can more effectively manage risk in their organizations. Zscaler enables them to reduce the attack surface, prevent lateral movement, and minimize the blast radius of potential threats. These solutions offer a fast time to value, ensuring stronger security without disrupting ongoing operations or straining existing resources. In an era of rising cyberthreats and evolving production demands, automakers need a security framework that aligns with their vision of innovation and resiliency. Zscaler empowers them to protect critical systems, optimize their operations, and maintain profitability—securing not only their factories and data, but also the future of mobility. Todd Brockdorf (Manager, Sales Engineering) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zero-trust-experience-driving-user-visibility-and-performance-and-out-office https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zero-trust-experience-driving-user-visibility-and-performance-and-out-office Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:07:05 GMT As organizations adapt to hybrid work models, IT teams have to balance user needs for productivity and seamless experience with security. Zero Trust has helped bridge this gap for remote workers and can provide needed continuity for in-office work. In Part 1 of this series, Jose Padin introduced the foundational changes necessary to modernize workplaces using Zero Trust principles with a return-to-office strategy. In Part 2, Matt Moulton explored how to extend Zero Trust access to on-premises environments, breaking free from traditional "trusted network" assumptions.Now, in the final installment of this blog series, we focus on the impact of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) on IT administration. Ironically, returning to the office can introduce entirely new complications for user experience and connectivity.The Shift in Application Hosting: Defining Modern ChallengesWith the proliferation of cloud-based applications, SaaS adoption, and decentralized data centers, the office is no longer the hub for all things IT.This fundamental shift has introduced several challenges:Offices as Connectivity Bottlenecks: Users returning to the office often backhaul cloud-bound traffic through the corporate network, creating unnecessary latency and incidents.Diminished User Experience: Employees may notice degraded application performance when working from the office compared to their remote setups. The issue isn't always the network—it could be anything from slow DNS resolution to poorly optimized Wi-Fi. But without visibility, pinpointing the root cause is a guessing game for IT.Disjointed Monitoring Tools: Legacy monitoring systems often focus on network availability instead of actual user experience metrics like application performance, latency, or endpoint health.To bridge these gaps, organizations need to rethink visibility—not just for the sake of troubleshooting, but for proactive optimization of user experiences in alignment with modern Zero Trust principles.The Case for Unified Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)A robust Zero Trust framework doesn't just focus on security—it ensures that productivity remains unhindered by implicit trust or outdated infrastructure. When employees begin returning to shared offices several scenarios may arise:The Office Wi-Fi Dilemma: An employee returning to the office connects their laptop to the corporate Wi-Fi. Suddenly, they experience high latency while using Microsoft Teams, an application that worked perfectly fine at home over a simple broadband connection. Is it a Wi-Fi coverage issue? A DNS delay? A problem with the Teams server itself?SaaS Latency Over Corporate Backhaul: A user tries to access a SaaS-based CRM like Salesforce from their desk. Cloud traffic is forced through the corporate network, introducing latency due to the backhaul path.Visibility Gaps for Hybrid Workforces: A global organization grapples with consistent visibility into device health as well as SaaS and ISP performance for both remote and on-premises employees, leading to frequent trouble tickets that consume valuable IT cycles.This is where Zscaler Digital Experience (ZDX) becomes a game changer. By integrating DEM capabilities into the Zero Trust framework, ZDX provides critical visibility into users' digital experiences – providing metrics from the end point all the way to the SaaS application – ensuring operational excellence in and out of the office.With ZDX, organizations move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive management with: End-to-End Visibility for Office and Remote UsersIT teams can monitor every interaction between users, devices, networks, and applications, regardless of location or connection type (VPN, MTIPS, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, and more). Whether an employee is at home, on-premises, or working from an airport, ZDX offers consistent visibility into performance bottlenecks.Layer 7 Application InsightsVisibility isn’t just about the network—it’s about understanding real application performance. ZDX focuses on Layer 7 (the app layer) to assess metrics like server response times, DNS latency, and overall app responsiveness, allowing IT to pinpoint issues beyond network connectivity.Proactive User Experience AnalyticsZDX includes advanced diagnostic tools that allow IT to detect user experience problems even before employees file tickets. For example, admins can precisely know the processing latency of every transaction. By analyzing trends and anomalies, IT can address issues like application latency or misconfigured endpoints proactively and plan for needed upgrades to network and wifi to accommodate the growth of on prem users. Seamlessly Connected InsightsZDX integrates seamlessly with Zero Trust Exchange policies. Policy enforcement rules can apply no matter where the user is.The rules you develop for on prem can be the same or different, but they are managed together. No need to worry about competing policies. Visibility is embedded into your existing Zero Trust architecture, offering holistic insights covering identity, application access, and real-time performance feedback.With ZDX and Zero Trust, IT gains clarity, employees gain productivity, and organizations achieve resilience in an ever-changing digital landscape. Unlocking Organizational ROI with ZDXImplementing a solution like ZDX isn’t just about improving user satisfaction—it’s a strategic investment in cost optimization and operational efficiency that impacts several critical areas:Employee Productivity: Every minute of application downtime translates directly into wasted labor costs. For a large enterprise with 45,000 employees, losing just three minutes of productivity per day due to IT or application issues can add up to 585,000 hours annually, equivalent to 281 full-time employees. Zscaler eliminates the need to turn VPNs on or off depending on where they are working, keeping the workflow the same no matter where they work. ZDX’s proactive monitoring can reduce downtime by up to 20%, improving daily workflows across the board.Operational Efficiency for Teams: ZDX automates root cause analysis, decreases Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) and prevents performance issues, providing an early alam and enabling IT teams to resolve incidents faster. Organizations also benefit from fewer escalations, allowing senior IT personnel to focus on proactive initiatives instead of firefighting connectivity issues. Technology Cost Savings: Consolidating fragmented monitoring tools into ZDX eliminates integration challenges and reduces redundant licensing, potentially saving large enterprises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.Epilogue: Why Visibility Completes the Zero Trust StoryTo create an effective Zero Trust Office, visibility must be treated as a core capability alongside identity, device posture, and application control. Visibility enables IT teams to optimize application delivery directly to users as well as reduce downtime and troubleshoot faster by narrowing root causes. Visibility from the endpoint all the way to the destination provides quick resolutions as admins can see if the problem is local to the user, the transport, or the cloud destination itself.As the workplace evolves, the definition of "office" becomes increasingly irrelevant. Whether users work from traditional office spaces, homes, or on the move, their experience must remain seamless and secure. This is the vision of the fully realized Zero Trust Office—one where productivity thrives. Solving for visibility not only enhances the return-to-office experience but future-proofs organizations as they navigate new work patterns and growing employee expectations.Embracing solutions like Zscaler Digital Experience isn’t just about modernizing IT operations—it’s about future-proofing the organization to meet evolving employee expectations and navigate an increasingly dynamic digital landscape. When visibility completes the Zero Trust story, organizations achieve true resilience. Anup Barde (Sr. Systems Engineer, Federal Civilian) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-ai-communication-protocols-websocket-zia https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/securing-ai-communication-protocols-websocket-zia Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:00:01 GMT As organizations adopt generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to increase the velocity of productivity and decision-making, they must address the security challenges to the enterprise: threat actors can leverage AI to execute attacks under the guise of legitimate traffic.Zscaler Internet Access’s (ZIA) new WebSocket inspection ensures that organizations can reap the benefits of GenAI without compromising their security posture with real-time inspection of user prompts submitted to tools like Microsoft Copilot on the web and embedded inside applications.The Challenges of Securing Generative AI The adoption of AI apps using WebSocket for client-server communication demands security tooling that bridges the gap between innovation and threats: WebSocket connections enable continuous, real-time interactions between clients and servers, making them essential for AI applications like chatbots, virtual assistants, and other apps that require dynamic data updates. But they also present unique security challenges that traditional security tools struggle to address.While AI can help organizations be more productive and automate mundane tasks, it presents several challenges from a security perspective:Dynamic communication: AI tools rely on the WebSocket protocol for real-time data streaming. Such persistent connections are difficult to inspect with traditional tools resulting in blindspots that threat actors can exploit.Encrypted channels: Many AI applications encrypt their traffic using HTTPS and other protocols that can create blockers to inspecting traffic for malicious activity.Data leakage risks: Improperly secured AI platforms can become conduits for personally identifiable information (PII) or sensitive data to leave the organization.Hidden exploit delivery: AI-based applications might inadvertently allow malicious payloads disguised as normal activity, delivered through encrypted traffic.Limited security visibility: Traditional security solutions struggle to inspect WebSocket traffic, resulting in blindspots.Differing implementations: Application developers can implement the bursty WebSocket protocol differently.ZIA WebSocket Inspection: Securing Real-Time AI TrafficTo address these vulnerabilities, Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) can now inspect WebSocket traffic in real-time at scale to prevent AI-driven network communications from being exploited.Why is WebSocket Inspection Crucial?Unlike traditional HTTP connections that open and close after each exchange, WebSocket maintain a persistent connection between the client and server. This is ideal for real-time interactions between users and AI-driven applications but also introduces threats like:Evasion risks: Persistent connections evade traditional security tools that focus on transactional requests.Injection attacks: Malicious payloads can be introduced within the continuous data stream.Anomalous behavior: Suspicious behaviors, like unauthorized data downloads, are easier to hide in long-lived WebSocket sessions.By inspecting WebSocket traffic at scale, ZIA ensures that even real-time, low-latency connections are scrutinized for security threats. How ZIA Prevents the Security Risk of Generative AI Zscaler Internet Access takes a layered approach to securing AI-driven environments where the WebSocket protocol is prevalent:SSL/TLS inspection: ZIA decrypts encrypted WebSocket traffic without any performance latency, identifying threats hiding within secure channels. This ensures visibility into the real content of AI data streams, whether from chatbots, APIs, or machine-learning systems.Real-time content inspection: Persistent WebSocket connections are analyzed for both outbound (data exfiltration) and inbound threats (malicious payloads). ZIA enforces strict security rules across a range of use cases, analyzing traffic in real time.Threat intelligence: Augmented by Zscaler’s global threat intelligence gathering and analysis, ZIA continuously updates its database with known threats, identifying behaviors tied to malicious intent within WebSocket and other traffic.DLP (Data Loss Prevention): ZIA integrates robust DLP controls to ensure no sensitive information leaves via AI interactions. From chat-based inputs to file generation requests, ZIA prevents accidental or malicious data sharing.Zero trust architecture: Every AI-related communication is handled by Zscaler’s Zero Trust framework, where no traffic is trusted implicitly. User activity is continuously verified, regardless of location or device.How ZIA’s real-time WebSocket Inspection WorksThere are many tasks end users leverage GenAI apps for, but imagine for a moment a developer sitting at their desk under deadline pressure to commit code for a new feature. Developers often utilize code libraries from third-party repositories not knowing if there's a vulnerability embedded in the provided code. With inspection policy specified within ZIA, the following scenarios can be effectively dealt with: As a developer copy and pastes third-party code into a GenAI prompt and submits it as part of query, ZIA inspects the WebSocket traffic for potential threats or security policy violations and can block the input.With the proper policy in place, ZIA ensures secure usage of AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, allowing users to benefit from GenAI while ensuring policy compliance.When users try to upload or share sensitive data via Microsoft applications like Sharepoint, ZIA blocks the policy violating action—without impacting app performance.How ZIA Helps Protect Organizations' AI AdoptionThe promise of increased productivity and driving faster outcomes is too great for companies to not allow employees to use AI-drive applications. Aside from outright blocking access to GenAI tools, ZIA customers can allow access to these productivity-enhancing applications yet implement safeguards to prevent data breaches or other malicious uses with:Enhancing visibility: ZIA eliminates blind spots in encrypted WebSocket communications, giving organizations comprehensive monitoring of their AI traffic.Proactive threat mitigation: By analyzing traffic at scale, ZIA identifies malware, command-and-control communication, or attempts to exploit AI weaknesses before they manifest.Enforcing and meeting compliance: With stringent DLP and encryption controls, ZIA helps organizations meet regulatory compliance standards, preserving both trust and security.Scalable real-time protection: The cloud-based design of ZIA ensures that even as AI demands grow, security measures scale effortlessly without manual intervention or hardware bottlenecks.Securing AI tools in hybrid work: Whether employees are accessing AI platforms from remote locations or within company networks, ZIA enforces consistent security policies, protecting AI-driven workflows wherever they occur.Stay Secure While Embracing Future AI AdvancementsAs organizations increasingly adopt AI, threats will continue to evolve as attackers leverage the very systems designed to enhance productivity and decision-making. But with its new AI-specific capabilities, Zscaler Internet Access enables organizations to embrace the promise of AI: by integrating WebSocket inspection with developer environments and empowering security teams with a copilot that will provide actionable information in seconds, ZIA provides the foundation of a secure, AI-driven future.Register for our launch webinar on April 24 to learn how ZIA's new innovations safeguard AI platforms from cybersecurity threats! Brendon Macaraeg (Sr. Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/insights-vive-2025-and-himss25-reflections-zero-trust-generative-ai-and https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/insights-vive-2025-and-himss25-reflections-zero-trust-generative-ai-and Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:52:30 GMT ViVE 2025 and HIMSS25 were invigorating reminders of just how dynamic, and challenging, the world of healthcare cybersecurity continues to be. From my speaking sessions to the launch of the Zero Trust Hospital book series, the energy around driving innovation while safeguarding our most critical healthcare systems was palpable. Across both events, I saw renewed focus on proactive strategies like zero trust, a heightened awareness of AI’s potential, and the urgency to outpace sophisticated cybercriminal tactics.Zero Trust as a Healthcare ImperativeOne of the proudest moments for me at ViVE was introducing the Zero Trust Hospital book series. For years, we’ve talked about zero trust as a foundational security principle, but healthcare’s unique challenges—balancing patient safety, operational efficiency, and limited resources—have made universal adoption a slower journey. With this series, our goal is to demonstrate the business value of zero trust while demystifying the concept and providing step-by-step guidance for healthcare organizations to evolve their cybersecurity frameworks. It’s no longer a nebulous “future concept”; it’s a present-day necessity.This wasn’t just theoretical at HIMSS25. In our session, “From Crisis to Resilience: Zero Trust’s Role in Breach Recovery,” we drilled down into the anatomy of a recent ransomware attack on the University of Vermont Health Network. Their story was a powerful testament to why zero trust is critical. Attacks don’t just disrupt business—they impact patient safety and compromise trust. By embracing zero trust, they not only navigated recovery but built resilience to prevent future breaches. It was a compelling case study that reminded me of why we need to move healthcare beyond the reactive band-aid approach and toward proactive, breach-prevention-first strategies.Proactive Cybersecurity in the Age of Generative AIOne of the hottest topics at both conferences was generative AI (GenAI). There’s no doubt about its transformative potential in healthcare—diagnostics, virtual care, operational efficiencies—but with that promise comes real risk. In the Zscaler session, “Guarding Healthcare's AI Revolution: Innovate Boldly, Protect Relentlessly,” we delved into the questions every healthcare leader should be asking their security teams right now.How do we protect creative AI strategies while safeguarding patient trust? How do we ensure data stays secured and compliant with regulations like HIPAA? Technologies like advanced isolation and data loss prevention are invaluable here, but they’re just part of the solution. What struck me most was how much healthcare leaders are embracing the idea that innovation and security don’t stand in opposition. They’re two sides of the same coin. We can—and must—unlock AI’s potential while protecting the very patients it’s designed to help.That theme carried through to my discussions around vulnerability management. In “Vulnerability Management: Ending the Spreadsheet Nightmare,” we reframed how healthcare organizations measure and act on their security posture. Spreadsheets and siloed tools just don’t cut it anymore. Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is what’s allowing some of the most innovative health systems to move beyond overwhelmed IT teams chasing endless to-do lists. By identifying and automating fixes for top exposures, coupled with better data fabric approaches, hospitals are finally seeing measurable security improvements.Learning from Evolving ThreatsOne important takeaway from the events is the increasing sophistication of cybercriminal organizations, particularly those targeting critical industries like healthcare. Reflecting on how these groups operate reveals the importance of staying vigilant and proactive. They demonstrate relentless determination, constantly evolving techniques to bypass traditional security measures. They operate like structured organizations, collaborating, troubleshooting technical issues, and demonstrating a business-like approach to achieving their illicit goals.Despite progress in disrupting malicious efforts, the adversaries’ innovative practices serve as a reminder that cybersecurity is a continual battle. Staying ahead requires persistent innovation, collaboration, and investment in robust defenses to meet the threats of tomorrow. In this ever-changing landscape, the challenges are great, but so too is the potential to safeguard organizations from harm.Generative AI: The Double-Edged ScalpelIn another session, “The Double-Edged Scalpel of GenAI,” we further explored how AI is both the future and a potential nightmare. The partnership discussion with AWS highlighted how we can align innovation with secure technologies that protect privacy and compliance. AI will revolutionize healthcare, but without the guardrails to control it, we risk eroding the trust that binds patients to providers.From deep-learning diagnostics to personalized telemedicine, the advancements being dreamed up are astounding. But cybercriminals are also eyeing AI—from embedding malicious prompts into generative tools to leveraging AI-powered reconnaissance for phishing attacks. And let’s not ignore the challenges of integrating secure AI into healthcare systems already struggling with legacy infrastructure. At the end of the day, successful and safe AI adoption in healthcare will depend on our collective ability to weave together security, compliance, and innovation in seamless ways.Addressing Cyber Workforce and Human VulnerabilitiesAnother theme I saw surface across both conferences was the talent shortage in healthcare cybersecurity. It’s an issue I’m passionate about because as great as our tools and technologies are, they still need skilled people to drive and manage them. From cybersecurity upskilling programs to automated workflows that relieve overburdened teams, we need systemic solutions to the workforce crisis.On the human element, I also emphasized the importance of strengthening the “human firewall.” Social engineering continues to dominate as the leading cause of breaches, and phishing and “smishing” (SMS phishing) attacks are only growing more sophisticated. Training employees to recognize and respond to these threats isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s as critical as installing the latest patch or firewall update.A Holistic Approach to CybersecurityIf I were to summarize my key takeaway from ViVE and HIMSS in one sentence, it would be this: cybersecurity in healthcare doesn’t exist in a silo. We can’t treat it as a standalone line item or afterthought. Patient safety, trust, operational resilience, and financial stability are all inextricably tied to how well we protect our systems.As technological advancements like generative AI accelerate, so too must our ability to secure that innovation. As ransomware groups evolve—and trust me, they are evolving—our defenses must outpace them. And as hospitals and health systems integrate zero trust principles, we need collaborative efforts to guide them through that journey.The cybersecurity challenges ahead are daunting, but they’re not insurmountable. With zero trust as a guiding principle, proactive measures like AI-driven threat detection, and continuous learning from the successes and failures of others, we can build resilient, secure healthcare systems that thrive in the face of change.For me, ViVE 2025 and HIMSS25 were more than just conferences. They were reminders of why I’m so passionate about this work—because the future of healthcare depends on us getting it right. Let’s not just react to the threats. Let’s stay ahead of them. Tamer Baker (Healthcare CTO) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/granular-control-and-flexibility-cloud-traffic-forwarding https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/granular-control-and-flexibility-cloud-traffic-forwarding Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:23:30 GMT IntroductionZero Trust Cloud, our product under the Zscaler Zero Trust Networking portfolio helps securely connect workloads in the public cloud. The solution uses purpose built gateways deployed into Cloud Service Providers (CSP), such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. Cloud Connectors securely forward traffic to the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, for both Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). Enabling customers to secure cloud workload traffic and enable zero trust connectivity. To learn more about Zscaler ZeroTrust Networking for Cloud, see here In this blog, we will discuss Forwarding Rules with Zscaler Zero Trust Cloud, specifically the forwarding type of Direct.Cloud Connectors receive traffic from load balancers via the service network interface. They then determine where to send the traffic. There are currently four types of traffic forwarding rule types that you can configure to send traffic to different destinations.ZIA: Forwards internet-bound traffic that matches a ZIA rule to ZIA gateways over a configurable encrypted or unencrypted tunnel.ZPA: Forwards the private application traffic that matches a ZPA rule to ZPA over an encrypted tunnel.Direct: Bypasses ZIA/ZPA and forwards traffic directly to the destination server using the Zscaler service IP address.Drop: Discards packets matching the Drop rule.See this article, and figure 1 below for more details on Networking Flows for Cloud Connector. Benefits of leveraging Forwarding Rules with Zscaler Zero Trust CloudCentralized Policy ManagementEnsures consistent forwarding policies are applied across all traffic, regardless of location or workload typeSimplifies policy enforcement and management across different cloud environments. Ability to bypass Zscaler for certain trafficProvides flexibility to exclude specific traffic from Zscaler inspection, if needed.Granular Control and FlexibilityTraffic forwarding based on specific criteria. Allows you to selectively forward traffic to Zscaler based on factors like application,IP address FQDNEnables fine-grained control over traffic forwarding policiesBy effectively utilizing Zscaler Cloud Connector traffic forwarding options, organizations can achieve a higher level of security, improved network performance, and greater control over their cloud-based applications.Customers can apply ZIA Cyberthreat protection at scale for workloads, leveraging the same platform they have been utilizing to protect their user traffic. Example Use case for forwarding traffic Direct to the InternetBy default, there is a rule which will forward all egress traffic to Zscaler Internet Access. See Figure 2.However, there may be situations where customers want to send traffic directly to the Internet, and not to Zscaler Internet Access.In this example, a customer is sending backup data from workloads to an AWS S3 bucket on the internet. In this case, the customer does not want to protect this traffic with ZIA but rather send traffic directly to the internet.Figure 3 depicts all Internet egress traffic being forwarded to ZIA, including to the S3 bucket.We can see traffic being sent to ZIA in the Cloud Connector Sessions Logs. See Figure 4, where the Forwarding Type is ZIA Forwarding Rule with forwarding method of DirectThis is where forwarding rules come into play. Customers can create forwarding rules to send certain traffic direct, where traffic matching the rule will be sent out of the Cloud Connectors Service Interface and follow the VPC’s route tables out to the internet. Note that this traffic will be Source NAT’d to the Service Interface IP Address.NOTE: Traffic that is not tunneled to ZIA or ZPA (e.g. Direct or Drop traffic) does not utilize the workload licensing bandwidth (GB/month) allocated to your entitlement.In this example we have a S3 bucket with an FQDN of daves-s3-backup-bucket-042025.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.comCreated a Forwarding Rule, as shown in Figure 5, where any traffic sent to the FQDN daves-s3-backup-bucket-042025.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com will be sent DIRECT to the Internet, and not via ZIA. The forwarding rule can also be configured with additional granularity. Based on criteria such as;Location/SublocationCloud Connector GroupServiceSource IP Groups/Source IPDestination IP Groups, IP Address or Wildcard FQDNFor more details see Configuring Traffic Forwarding Rules The result of this rule is depicted in Figure 6. Where traffic bound for this S3 Bucket will now be sent direct to the Internet. There is also potential for this DNS to resolve to a private IP if using private endpoints, instead of to the public internet.Reviewing the Session Logs, can verify that traffic to this S3 Bucket is now being sent direct, as opposed to ZIA. See Figure 7Summary & Next StepsIn summary, this blog provides an overview of Cloud Traffic Forwarding rules. A powerful, yet simple to use capability to ensure consistent forwarding policies are applied across all traffic, regardless of location or workload type.We used the example of sending backup traffic directly to the Internet.There are other example use cases for this feature too.For example, Data Locality & Sovereignty. Forwarding rules can be used to ensure certain traffic is always forwarded to a specific Zscaler Location and ensure compliance. This is achieved by configuring specific ZIA Gateways and applying this to specific forwarding rules. E.g. Send all traffic for a particular destination to a ZIA Gateway located in Frankfurt. See here for more details. To learn more about this capability, or Zscaler’s Zero Trust Networking portfolio in general, contact your Zscaler account team, or click here to request a demo. David Glading (Principal Product Specialist - Cloud) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/data-loss-prevention-dlp-explained-essential-strategies-tools-and-best https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/data-loss-prevention-dlp-explained-essential-strategies-tools-and-best Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:04:09 GMT While data protection is all the rage, it's important to understand one key aspect of it: DLP. Short for data loss prevention, this often gets confused with the broader concept of data protection as a whole. When discussing data protection, most focus on a platform built and integrated to secure data everywhere. When talking of DLP, the focus is on the underlying technology that finds and classifies data files as sensitive or not. It’s an important distinction, with the key factor being that DLP is a core building block of a larger data protection platform. Why is DLP as a technology so important? With the average cost of a data breach having been $4.88 million in 2024 (IBM), the stakes have never been higher when it comes to protecting data. What’s more, not all data breaches come externally. Protecting your data from users within our own network is just as important as over 60% of data breaches are caused by insider threats or accidental exposure (Verizon DBIR).With that said, let's dive into all things DLP, from strategies to best practices. What Is Data Loss Prevention (DLP)?Data loss prevention is a set of strategies, tools, and practices designed to detect, monitor, and protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, misuse, or accidental exposure. It classifies and safeguards confidential information—such as financial records, intellectual property, or personal data—by ensuring it remains secure both within and outside an organization. DLP helps you classify data as sensitive or not sensitive. If you had to find and catalog all your data by hand across your organization, you’d have an impossible job. DLP uses a combination of dictionaries and engines to quickly identify if a piece of data has names and addresses (PII), or credit card numbers (PCI), or medical information (HIPAA). Most DLP engines will come with tons of predefined dictionaries that focus on all the most common types of sensitive data categories. Since these engines use regular expression (regex) signatures and are customizable, many organizations can iterate on these dictionaries to make additional new custom dictionaries that can identify pretty much any type of customer data needed. As it happens, we’re also starting to see the introduction of AI into this classification process. Faster and often more accurate than DLP regex signatures, AI- and ML-based models can quickly find the same data faster and with less administrative setup or DLP expertise.An important aspect of DLP is where it is deployed—typically, this is done where the data is. Commonly data is in use on the endpoint, in motion leaving an organization, and at rest within a cloud. For this reason, many organizations have embraced endpoint DLP, network DLP, and CASB (which has a DLP engine). Having said that, having three point products for these areas is not recommended, as it raises all kinds of challenges, which we’ll talk about in the Key Components section. What Is Driving DLP Adoption?There are three primary driving factors for DLP adoption. The first (and scariest) is the increasing efficacy of external forces and adversaries targeting your data. When this type of data loss happens, the impact can be catastrophic. Ransomware and other targeted malware, for example, can scoop up massive amounts of data outside the organization and expose it publicly. Most ransomware now focuses on double extortion, which not only encrypts data, but exfiltrates it as well..Insider threats are the second factor, and while they often cause smaller, bite-sized incidents, they can be just as damaging. Since your users are primarily working with your data, it stands to reason that they have lots of opportunities to accidentally put data in harm’s way. They want to get their job done, but they may not realize that the sensitive data they are emailing or sharing in a link shouldn’t leave the company. According to Verizon’s DBIR, 34% of data breaches involve internal actors. The third driver for DLP is compliance. This is crucial if you are in an industry that requires adherence to regulations for sensitive data. The regulations aren’t there to make your life difficult—rather, they ensure that you’re thinking carefully about the sensitive data you have. Maintaining compliance seems like a lot of work, but the cost of not doing so is often more painful. According to the Ponemon institute, non-compliance is 2.7x as expensive as compliance itself.In the next section, we’ll cover what makes a proper DLP program.Key Components of a Robust DLP StrategyWhat do you need to build a robust protection strategy for data loss prevention? It starts with architecture, but mixes in a healthy dose of innovation.Many organizations have historically used point products to implement DLP. From endpoint DLP to network DLP to CASB/DLP, organizations tend to pivot from one problem solving approach to another. This presents challenges as data moves through your organization, potentially leaving you with three different DLP engines detecting the same data in different ways. How do you respond to an incident if you don’t know which detection is correct? Consider also having to create a custom DLP rule for a piece of data. In order to do so, you’d need to touch multiple DLP policies, potentially including additional channels that use DLP such as data security posture management or browser isolation. Adding these channels individually only serves to introduce more complexity, and thus, more headaches for you and your teams.For this reason, Gartner has depreciated the DLP Magic Quadrant and moved data protection over to Security Service Edge (SSE), which consolidates services around an inline SSL proxy. This is now the industry-recognized standard from where data protection should be consumed. The advantage SSE provides is in that it centralizes DLP inspection and policy, therefore allowing for consistent alerting across all channels. Via an endpoint agent and an API accessing clouds, you can expertly inspect devices, networks, and clouds with one DLP platform. You get consistent alerting, unified policy creation, unlimited SSL inspection, and added flexibility to easily add channels as you grow.When seeking out an SSE platform, you must also ensure that it supports most data loss channels, so that your data protection platform may grow with you.. We’ve already talked about endpoint, inline, and CASB, but it’s important to use the same DLP to secure email, BYOD, public, and private clouds as well.Best Practices for Effective DLP ImplementationHere are a few best practices that can help you along your data protection journey. Focus on AI: According to Gartner, 56% of companies plan to integrate AI into their DLP systems by 2025. The power of AI is undeniable, which is why AI should be in your future plans as both a security accelerator and a productivity tool for users. Solutions like Zscaler’s can enable far faster data discovery with AI-powered classification. Additionally, robust controls around GenAI applications give you granular control and visibility over what data should be placed in a GenAI platform. Deliver user coaching: Many data protection programs fail because of a lack of adequate focus on user training. If users aren’t bought into your data protection program, or are unaware of their risky actions, the data protection program can’t grow. With Zscaler Workflow Automation, you can assign incidents to users for justification. Making users aware of the incident they created will help them understand risks and learn which data should be treated carefully. Maintain a strong posture: Delivering great data hygiene requires that you understand the impact posture has on your SaaS and public clouds. Many cloud breaches are due to misconfigurations that allow adversaries to walk right and steal data. Additionally, DevOps professionals that often set up cloud instances are not security experts, which compounds the problem. With SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) and Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) from Zscaler, organizations can continuously monitor these platforms for exposure and close them. When these approaches are integrated into a security service dge, your centralized DLP enables consistent classification and inspection across data in clouds.Bringing it All TogetherBuilding a data protection strategy and program requires a strong understanding of architecture and protection goals. Gartner’s Security Service Edge should be considered the default approach needed to secure all data loss channels. A centralized DLP approach to data classification offers clear advantages such as increased visibility and consistent alerting.Our innovations around AI-powered discovery, unified channel protection, and posture management will ensure your company's data remains secure, no matter where it resides. Steve Grossenbacher (Senior Director, Product Marketing) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/ai-driven-malware https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/ai-driven-malware Wed, 02 Apr 2025 18:02:00 GMT Cybercrime continues to escalate—with global costs projected to hit $10.5 trillion annually this year¹—as attackers use advanced technologies to bypass traditional defenses. Among these advancements is AI-driven malware that can use self-learning capabilities, adaptive behavior, and sophisticated obfuscation techniques. Combined with the growth of malware-as-a-service, the barrier to entry for attackers is now lower than ever, and their attacks more difficult to defend against.It has become a common refrain: we need to fight AI with AI. Faced with the threat of AI-driven malware, cybersecurity professionals must respond in kind with AI-powered cybersecurity. Unlike conventional reactive security, proactive AI-powered security enables organizations to quickly and precisely detect, identify, and respond to threats in real time.In this blog, we’ll explore the evolution of AI-driven malware, how AI enhances cybersecurity, and actionable threat prevention strategies.Understanding the Threat Landscape: How Malware Has EvolvedDecades ago, traditional malware—like basic viruses and worms—was largely static in its code and behavior. This made it fairly easy for traditional security tools, such as signature-based antivirus, to detect and block the malware.There’s a gulf of history between traditional malware and today’s advanced threats that we won’t cover here (you can learn more in this article). The important point is that now, the threat landscape looks quite different. Leveraging AI, attackers can design malware capable of evading traditional security like signature-based detection, rendering it almost useless.We haven’t reached the singularity just yet, but as AI capabilities evolve, here are some key attributes of AI-driven malware we should prepare to face in the near future:Evasion and adaptability: AI-driven malware may be able to rapidly modify its code (polymorphism) or even rewrite itself completely (metamorphism) to evade static detection. By continuously learning from its environment in real time, it may find ways to bypass legacy intrusion detection and firewalls. And when it’s being watched or analyzed, it might simply change its behavior to look benign or mimic legitimate processes.Scalability and automation: AI-driven malware will find ways to self-replicate across systems far more quickly than traditional malware. With the continued development of agentic AI, we're likely to see an uptick in malware that can act and make complex decisions autonomously, such as identifying targets and vulnerabilities, escalating privileges, and moving laterally across networks.Context-aware targeting: AI-driven malware will learn to evaluate target systems' configurations, defenses, and vulnerabilities before taking the optimal action. This means it will be able to choose the most exploitable, profitable, or damaging targets for the greatest impact. By tailoring its behavior according to its target, it will drastically increase the likelihood its attack will succeed.The Power of Artificial Intelligence in CybersecurityContinuing to rely on traditional defenses to combat AI-driven malware is like using a spoon to dig a swimming pool. That’s why cybersecurity professionals are turning to AI-powered solutions, leveraging machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), behavioral analysis, and more to not only meet AI-driven attacks where they are, but stay a step ahead.Unlike traditional cybersecurity methods, AI-powered solutions can:Analyze massive datasets from network traffic, activity logs, and endpoints in real time, identifying patterns and potential indicators of compromise (IOCs) that legacy solutions would otherwise miss.Enable faster detection and response times to detect abnormal activity and block detected threats without human input, reducing attacker dwell time while freeing up security teams to put their focus elsewhere.Support a zero trust security architecture by continuously monitoring behavior and patterns in real time, dynamically enforcing policies, rapidly detecting lateral movement attempts, and more to stop AI-driven malware and other threats.On average, organizations receive more than 22,000 security alerts every week, of which AI can already handle 51% without human intervention,² automating threat triage, investigation, and response. The implications are staggering, delivering greater efficiency and productivity, reduced human error, and fewer breaches.Strengths and Weaknesses: Is AI Perfect Against Malware?Is AI the end all, be all of malware defense? The short answer is no: AI has incredible potential, but it has limitations, too. Simply put, AI isn’t always right, and can produce both false positives and false negatives. There are two main potential reasons for this.AI depends heavily on data quality. If trained on insufficient, outdated, or inaccurate data, it can make flawed inferences that lead to incorrect decisions. By that same token, AI is susceptible to data poisoning attacks, where a threat actor feeds the AI bad data to “poison” its decision-making.AI is vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Closely related to data poisoning, threat actors can lead AI models to misclassify or overlook malware by changing input data. For instance, they might teach the AI to ignore a particular pattern of network activity, leaving malware free to conduct that activity undetected.The key is to ensure we don't over-rely on AI alone. Human experts remain vital for refining algorithms, making decisions in ambiguous instances, and developing countermeasures for adversarial AI attacks.Detecting Cyberthreats: How AI Identifies AI-Driven MalwareBecause it can analyze massive datasets and intelligently adapt, AI empowers security to move beyond static tools to uncover anomalies and stealthy IOCs. Just as AI-driven malware will use self-learning and adaptive techniques to stay undetected, AI-powered security tools can leverage ML and advanced analytics to detect subtle deviations from normal behavior that may indicate compromise.For instance, an AI-driven malware attack might infiltrate a network through a phishing email and subsequently mimic the compromised employee’s login patterns, file access, and so on to evade detection. AI-powered security can spot anomalies such as unusual data access or initiation of large file transfers, and instantly isolate the threat before it can spread and do further harm.In a case of something like polymorphic ransomware, AI-powered security can identify telling patterns of behavior, such as unauthorized attempts to encrypt critical files across multiple systems or unusual spikes in CPU usage tied to unapproved processes.When integrated into defense at every stage of an attack—from infiltration to execution—AI enables smarter, faster, and more proactive protection, giving defenders back the high ground.Mitigating Cyberthreats: Using AI for Proactive DefenseAn ounce of predictive analytics and automation is worth a pound of manual remediation after the attack has already happened (as the classic saying goes). Prevention beats a cure, and that’s another major area where AI excels, giving defenders the ability to anticipate threats, respond in real time, and outmaneuver attackers at every turn.AI excels at threat detection and prediction, using ML and real-time data analysis to identify evolving threats and vulnerabilities. It also facilitates rapid, automated incident response, reducing damage and minimizing reliance on human intervention. Additionally, AI can conduct 24/7 behavioral analysis to detect insider threats, phishing, advanced persistent threats, and more. Human security analysts, meanwhile, get more time to thoughtfully follow up on the 49% of alerts AI can’t handle autonomously.³The data indicates a promising future: already, organizations that extensively use AI and automation for preventive security save an average of US$2.22 million per year compared to those that don’t.⁴ Meanwhile, the most effective zero trust solutions can save organizations up to $1.75 million per year in infrastructure costs alone.⁵ Together, AI and zero trust are even more than the sum of their parts.The Future of AI in CybersecurityAI represents a generational shift for cybersecurity, enabling smarter, faster, and more adaptive defenses against evolving threats. Combining it with the most effective modern cybersecurity framework—zero trust—draws a clear path forward, delivering dynamic, context-aware protection to face and overcome threats like AI-driven malware.The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, the world's largest inline security cloud, is built to meet the demands of the AI-driven threat landscape. Processing more than 500 trillion daily signals from the platform and 150+ third-party integrations, it fuels intelligent security copilots, automated policy enforcement, advanced data classification, zero-day detection, malware identification, and more.By combining zero trust and AI, the platform is able to rapidly and globally enforce adaptive, AI-enhanced policies to block AI-enabled attacks. Our approach enables organizations to:Securely embrace public and private AIFights malicious AI with trusted AI Radically simplify and automate securityReduce costs and complexitySecurely unlock the power of AI and thrive in the AI era with Zscaler. Click here to learn more. 1. Cybersecurity Ventures, 2020.2. Ponemon Institute, 2024.3. Ibid.4. IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, 2023.5. The Total Economic Impact™ Of Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), 2024. Ben Powell (Sr. Web Content Writer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/how-dspm-helps-prevent-data-exposure-overprivileged-access https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/how-dspm-helps-prevent-data-exposure-overprivileged-access Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:00:02 GMT The Rise of Data and Identities The explosion of data across enterprises, coupled with the adoption of public cloud environments and AI-driven innovations, has dramatically increased the complexity of managing and securing access to sensitive data. Agile cloud delivery methodologies allow for faster development while (in many cases) driving more liberal entitlements granting. Nearly 99% of granted permissions are unused, and more than half of those permissions are high-risk. Controlling who accesses sensitive data—and from where—grows more complicated as enterprises onboard apps, move services to the cloud, and make progress along its digital transformation. The Risk of Overprivileged Access Overprivileged access occurs when users or systems are granted permissions exceeding their operational needs. While it may seem convenient, this practice introduces serious risks to data security and organizational compliance. Key risks include:Insider Threats: Excessive access may be misused intentionally or accidentally, exposing sensitive data that can further lead to data breaches or security incidents.Exploitation by bad actors: Attackers targeting overprivileged accounts can gain unauthorized control, move laterally and take over systems, network, data and deeper infrastructure to disrupt critical processes and interfere with essential business services escalating breaches. They can also bring operations to a halt resulting in prolonged downtime.Accidental Data Exposure: Users with excessive access may inadvertently access, modify, or share sensitive information, leading to reputational damage.Regulatory Non-Compliance: Overprivileged access to sensitive data increases the likelihood of failing audits or violating privacy standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA.Delayed investigation and incident response: Excessive permissions make it harder to trace incidents, complicating response times and recovery from security breaches.As per the study, in 2025, identity-related breaches are expected to continue as a major threat, with 80% of cyberattacks using identity-based methods and 99% of security decision-makers believing they will face an identity-related compromise within the year. As environments grow, so does the sheer volume of data, identities and permissions that makes it hard for the security teams to manage and visualize exactly Where is the sensitive data? Who can access the sensitive data?What are the identity risks associated with critical data? It’s difficult for security teams to get a complete picture of data, access and data usage across complex environment creating blind spots that threat actors or insiders may exploit. Traditional legacy methods are no longer enough to provide security teams with the kind of flexibility and coverage needed to effectively safeguard sensitive data against risk of data exposure and overly permissive user access controls that create significant vulnerabilities and make organizations prime targets for malicious actors or increase the risk of accidental data breaches. Leverage Modern Tools Like DSPMBusinesses need a strategy that unifies data discovery, access profiling, and risk remediation to address this problem. Enter data security posture management (DSPM). Rather than focusing on network perimeters or identity verification, DSPM puts the spotlight directly on sensitive data and who can access it. This data-centric approach represents a fundamental shift in security thinking by prioritizing your organization's most valuable asset—the Data and the primary target for potential attackers. With DSPM, organizations can effectively address risk of data exposure and over-permissioned users.What DSPM DoesDSPM starts with answering the toughest question: what data we have, where is it located, who has access to it, which is at risk and which data needs protection for regulatory compliance? This is where building an inventory of all data and access across the enterprise comes into play. Data classification and inventory from a data access perspective enables security teams to understand data as well as who and what has access to the data. This enables teams to identify where data may be at risk based on the severity of access permissions and communicate to security teams where to focus. Here’s how it works:Data discovery, classification, and inventoryEffective data protection begins with knowing what sensitive information exists across your organization and where it’s stored. DSPM addresses this need by examining the entire data landscape to create a comprehensive understanding of data assets. DSPM solutions like Zscaler’s provide agentless, comprehensive data discovery. Then DSPM solution helps with precise AI powered classification of sensitive data such as PCI, PII, PHI, and create full inventory of data assets across a multicloud environment. DSPM help security teams in identifying sensitive data stores, critical to the organization, and focus on the business critical crown jewels rather than trying to protect the entire data estate. Fig: Zscaler DSPM dashboard Data access risk assessmentSecurity teams need to continuously monitor data environments to uncover and eliminate unnecessary access privileges by spotting overexposure violations. DSPM helps to map and track data access exposure risk. DSPM automated this flow by continuously tracking and analyzing resources identities and entitlements changes, determining all available permissions, and making these easily accessible. Using the data inventory graph and data access path that includes details of identity and access management (IAM) entities i.e. Who can access the data? what permissions do they have? what type of identity are they? what other risks are associated with this identity, and so on. Fig: Zscaler DSPM - Data inventory graphIt also helps to determine public exposure, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities for data stores and services. This plays a vital role in: 1. Accurate and actionable risk prioritization: Prioritization might be the biggest challenge in modern cloud security due to the thousands of data resources, services, and identities organizations could have in place. DSPM enables security teams to focus on combinations of risk factors such as identities, permissions, data exposure, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities that create dangerous openings for threat actors. It helps to prioritize risk with ML powered risk and threat correlation, determine hidden attack paths, reduce alert noise, and help the focus on risk that matters the most. 2. In-depth investigation: DSPM helps in investigating potential insider threats or potential data misuse incidents, highlight potential breach path allowing security teams to take appropriate remediation action. Data access risk managementDSPM streamlines risk management with context-based guided remediation, enabling security teams to easily fix issues and violations at the source. Security teams can address data exposure, misconfigurations, and security risk by leveraging step-by-step guidance with complete context. DSPM also allows security teams to configure near to real-time alerts on any misconfigurations and risky identities such as those with excessive or high privileges and provides remediation guidance to scope down permissions. This ensures all identities have least-privileged access and that the attack surface is minimized. Fig: Zscaler DSPM investigation Access governance and control policiesDSPM helps security teams to enforce granular access controls by evaluating each data view or modification request against zero trust principles. This prevents excessive or outdated privileges from persisting. Security teams can also define data access policies and it can ensure these policies are enforced. Compliance management and audit readinessDSPM eases the burden of compliance management by mapping data to applicable standards and enforcing necessary security measures from the outset. Many regulations and standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS, require organizations to implement access controls that align with the principle of least privilege. Failing to align with regulations and standards can impact the organization’s credibility and attract penalties and fines down the line. DSPM automatically compares data security posture to compliance benchmarks and best practices. This helps assess gaps, prioritize remediation and track progress for different stakeholders, including executives, risk managers, and auditors while reducing manual effort and errors. Securing Data Access in AI modelsAccess to diverse, high-quality datasets is crucial for developing effective AI models. As AI models learn and adapt over time, maintaining consistent data access controls becomes more challenging. Security teams need to account for the context in which AI systems are used and their impact on sensitive data exposure, effective access, and regulatory compliance. Traditional techniques have proven insufficient to effectively manage these challenges. Fig: Zscaler DSPM - Securing AI modelsDSPM provides visibility into direct and indirect AI access to sensitive data and through which access paths. It helps ensure that sensitive data is only accessible to authorized personnel and that AI models are trained and operated on appropriate datasets. It also provides out-of-the-box policies that correlate the exposure of sensitive data. Zscaler DSPM: Build Robust Foundation for Data Access ManagementZscaler's DSPM (Data Security Posture Management) effectively addresses overprivileged access by continuously monitoring access rights and ensuring adherence to least-privileged principles. It identifies unnecessary or excessive permissions, mitigates risks of unauthorized data exposure, and remediation processes, enabling organizations to tighten security while ensuring compliance across diverse data environments.Ready to experience how DSPM can transform your organization's approach to data access? Request a custom demo today to see Zscaler DSPM in action.Sources:IBM, “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024,” February 26, 2025, https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breachCybersecurity Insiders, “2024 Insider Threat Report,” February 26, 2025, https://go1.gurucul.com/2024-insider-threat-reportITRC, “2023 Annual Data Breach Report,” February 27, 2025, https://www.idtheftcenter.org/publication/2023-data-breach-reportCDW, “2024 CDW Cybersecurity Report,” February 27, 2025, https://www.cdw.com/content/cdw/en/services/amplified-services/security-services/2024-cdw-cybersecurity-report.htmlDark Reading, “80% of Firms Suffered Identity-Related Breaches in Last 12 Months,” June 22, 2022, https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-operations/identity-related-breaches-last-12-months Mahesh Nawale (Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/secure-developer-workflows-zia-automated-tls-ssl-inspection-code-sandboxing https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/secure-developer-workflows-zia-automated-tls-ssl-inspection-code-sandboxing Tue, 01 Apr 2025 14:00:01 GMT The Developer's Dilemma: Innovate Rapidly without CompromiseDevelopers use cloud-based code repositories, CI/CD pipelines, and tools to build and deploy applications faster than ever before. While this transformation fuels innovation, it also introduces new attack vectors that can compromise your organization’s infrastructure, valuable data, and intellectual property.Zscaler Internet Access can now help security and IT teams secure development workflows with two new capabilities: automated TLS/SSL inspection and code sandboxing.Automate TLS/SSL Inspection for 30+ Popular Developer ToolsDevelopers rely on dozens of tools and languages like GitHub, Docker, and Python to streamline their workflows and release rapidly. These tools—and the sensitive data transported through them—are frequent targets of attacks hiding in encrypted traffic. To mitigate risk without adding friction, Zscaler can help your security team automate TLS/SSL inspection for encrypted traffic across 30+ popular developer tools and frameworks.Traditionally, TLS/SSL inspection has been fraught with challenges, including slowing down workflows and frustrating developers. Zscaler changes that narrative by easily integrating its scalable architecture with developer tools and frameworks.Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) includes TLS/SSL inspection to identify threats hidden in encrypted traffic without compromising speed or performance—and now, we’re extending this protection to developer environments: whether it’s inspecting upload activity to repositories, monitoring API calls from microservices, or filtering potentially harmful web traffic in third-party tools, Zscaler empowers security teams to safeguard every node in the developer pipeline. Integration Made SimpleZscaler TLS/SSL inspection integrates effortlessly into developer workflows, requiring minimal adjustments to existing tools or frameworks. Developers can continue using their preferred platforms while Zscaler handles the heavy lifting in the background. Security teams can even customize policy enforcement based on developer tool usage, ensuring security without introducing inefficiencies. Learn more with the following resources:Read this blog to learn the steps to build a custom CA store needed to inspect encrypted traffic with ZIA, and integrate it with various developer tools and frameworks.Watch this on-demand webinar for an expert-led discussion of the challenges and methods to inspect encrypted traffic in developer workflows.Sandboxing Developer Scripts to Reduce RiskThreat actors constantly change their attack tactics and strategies, including how they use malicious files with uncommon or new file types. Attackers also attempt to use oversized files to bypass security tool analysis. Zscaler addresses this critical challenge by using advanced sandboxing technology to inspect and analyze scripts before they can be released to customer environments. ZIA’s Cloud Sandbox now supports additional file types in addition to larger files overall based on our signal telemetry from the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange.Scripts and Python related files are key in the developer ecosystem as developers often download and use code from online repositories or other external sources. These code libraries and files require examination to ensure no malicious, hidden code can be introduced into production environments.Malware can also be embedded into images, and in a future release Zscaler will add image file support for ZIA’s Cloud Sandbox. While still a low percentage overall of malicious detections, images with malignant malware are increasing and becoming more commonplace. Key Benefits of Inspecting Code with Zscaler Cloud SandboxReal-time analysis: Unlike traditional review processes that require manual intervention, Zscaler’s sandboxing happens in real time, inspecting scripts at the speed developers need.Deep observability: Zscaler’s architecture analyzes scripts to detect malicious function calls, suspicious outbound communications, or anomalous behavior—without impacting the developer workflow.Seamless collaboration: Security teams can share sandbox findings with developers who need to tweak their code, fostering collaboration while maintaining robust protection standards.Integrating the sandboxing capabilities of Zscaler Internet Access is straightforward thanks to its cloud native scalability and zero trust foundation. Whether securing mid-market organizations or Fortune 500 enterprises, Zscaler adapts to ensure security teams can confidently support their developers at scale.Secure Developer Workflows Without Compromise or Blocking InnovationInnovation shouldn’t come at the expense of security, nor should security compromise agility. By automating TLS/SSL inspection across popular developer tools and sandboxing developer scripts, Zscaler ensures continuous protection for your entire development pipeline. These advanced features enable security teams to mitigate risks while developers focus on what they do best: building software that drives your business forward.Securing your developer workflows at scale while enabling growth is one of several topics we’ll cover during our Zscaler Internet Access Innovations webinar on April 23, 2025. We’ll take a look at the latest ZIA enhancements and show you how they can break silos without compromising on security. RSVP now and take the first step toward secure, scalable developer ecosystems! Brendon Macaraeg (Sr. Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/global-access-local-control-breaking-geo-restrictions-zscaler-internet https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/global-access-local-control-breaking-geo-restrictions-zscaler-internet Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:18:01 GMT Built upon the core tenet of unrestricted access to global resources, the internet was hailed as an open gateway that fostered a borderless digital economy where businesses could operate, collaborate, and expand freely. Fast forward to 2025—it’s a tangled web of geo-restrictions, compliance hurdles, and access roadblocks that’s turning that dream into a logistical headache.I’ll let data back that claim. A European Commission study found that 89% of consumers and organizations hit a geo-blocking wall when trying to access digital content or services. Meanwhile, 38% of consumer goods retailers and almost 68% of online content providers actively restrict access based on location.For enterprises with a global footprint, this digital red tape isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a business bottleneck. Critical applications become inaccessible, employees struggle with regional content limitations, and compliance teams are stuck playing a never-ending game of regulatory whack-a-mole.The result? Delays, inefficiencies, and security blind spots.The Invisible Walls of the Internet: How Geo-Restrictions Are Holding Businesses BackGovernments, financial institutions, and SaaS providers implement IP-based restrictions for various reasons, ranging from enforcing regulatory compliance to honoring licensing agreements and addressing an array of cybersecurity concerns. However, these restrictions can create three primary challenges:1. Access Denied: The SaaS Lockout ProblemAlmost 95% of businesses globally rely on third-party SaaS applications for critical workflows, yet many of these cloud services and third-party SaaS applications enforce IP allowlisting—using the source IP address of incoming traffic as a filtering mechanism, restricting access based on predefined IP allowlists. These applications require traffic to originate from a preregistered, unique IP address, typically associated with the organization. If user traffic originates from an unregistered IP address—whether within or outside the organization—access is denied.In some cases, applications enforce geographic restrictions as well—allowing access only if the traffic originates from specific countries. Without a consistent, dedicated IP, businesses find themselves locked out—struggling with blocked integrations, broken workflows, and frustrated teams left stranded at the door.2. Lost in Translation: The Content Localization DilemmaCloud services often determine language settings and access permissions based on the user’s IP address.But when traffic is routed through an international data center, things can go sideways—users might be served content in the wrong language or, worse, blocked from accessing region-specific services altogether.The result? A frustrating experience filled with misaligned language and unnecessary workarounds.Read this blog for a deeper context.3. Regulatory Compliance: A High-Stakes Balancing ActWith over 130 countries implementing data localization laws—including GDPR in the EU, the Personal Data Protection Act in India, and Australia’s Privacy Act—organizations are under immense pressure to store, process, and log data within national borders. However, managing data residency across multiple jurisdictions is like juggling knives. One wrong move, and businesses risk non-compliance penalties, legal repercussions, loss of customer trust, disrupted operations, and weakened security posture.If businesses don’t solve these challenges, they risk reduced productivity, compliance violations, and increased security vulnerabilities.The Cascading EffectGeo-restrictions aren’t just an IT headache. They ripple across security, operations, customer experience, and revenue growth, creating roadblocks that many businesses don’t see until they hit them head-on.Enterprises relying on third-party integrations often struggle with unpredictable IP changes that disrupt SaaS authentication, break API connections, and force manual reconfigurations, leading to service downtime and operational inefficiencies. And the financial impact isn’t trivial—maintaining extensive allowlists, deploying VPNs or proxy servers, and managing cross-border data transfer fees can quickly add up, turning compliance into a costly burden.The cascading effect further continues as employees, frustrated by access limitations, resort to consumer-grade VPNs, unapproved proxies, and shadow IT solutions—bypassing corporate security controls and increasing exposure to data leaks, malware, and account lockouts. These restrictions also directly impact business expansion by limiting access to regional SaaS platforms, complicating market entry, and creating roadblocks in regulatory reporting. Even customer experience takes a hit—misconfigured content localization can serve the wrong language, pricing, or regional products, while authentication failures tied to IP-based security policies frustrate remote workers and global teams.Data and Content Sovereignty with Zscaler Internet AccessZscaler can now help you overcome geo-restriction challenges. Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA)™ offers flexible and scalable options to deliver secure and fast access to local content, facilitate in-country data logging, and enable access to source IP restricted content with zero operational overhead. 1. Dedicated IPs: A Stable Foundation for Secure AccessFor businesses relying on applications with strict IP allow-listing requirements, maintaining a consistent and trusted network identity is essential. This is enabled at scale by Zscaler Managed Dedicated IPs which can either be Zscaler or customer owned.Zscaler Managed Dedicated IPs: A designated pool of IP addresses assigned specifically to the organization, ensuring seamless access to SaaS applications without the disruptions caused by changing or shared IPBring Your Own IP (BYOIP): Allows businesses to use their own IP addresses via Zscaler, maintaining full control over their network identity while integrating smoothly with security policies and compliance frameworks.With a dedicated IP strategy in place, organizations eliminate access disruptions, simplify security configurations, and ensure seamless integration with third-party services—keeping workflows uninterrupted and security posture intact.2. Country-Based Geolocalization: Keeping Traffic Where It BelongsInstead of routing traffic through distant, non-local data centers, Zscaler can map outbound traffic to a country-specific IP. This ensures users receive the right content, correct language settings, and unrestricted access—all while staying compliant with regional regulations.With a country-based geolocation strategy, businesses get:Seamless access to geo-restricted content: Users can reach region-specific SaaS platforms, government portals, and compliance-restricted applications without any roadblocks.A truly localized experience: Content, services, and security settings align with the user’s actual location, reducing friction and improving usability.Stronger regulatory adherence: Data residency requirements are met by ensuring traffic remains within the appropriate geographic boundaries, mitigating compliance risks.By aligning traffic routing with geographic policies, organizations eliminate unnecessary restrictions, improve user experience, and maintain compliance—without sacrificing security or performance.Read this blog to learn more about Zscaler’s geolocalization capabilities.3. Country-Based Logging: Ensuring Compliance Without CompromiseTo comply with stringent data localization laws, businesses often need to store sensitive logs within designated geographic boundaries. A country-based logging approach allows enterprises to:Meet regulatory requirements: Store and process logs within specific regions to comply with frameworks like GDPR, India’s Data Protection Act, and Australia’s Privacy Act.Maintain control over sensitive data: Ensure visibility and governance by keeping security logs within approved jurisdictions.Reduce cross-border data transfer risks: Minimize exposure to legal and compliance complexities by aligning logging practices with local mandates.By adopting country-based logging, businesses can confidently adhere to regional regulations while maintaining full control over their security and compliance posture.Why It Matters: Secure, Compliant, and Unrestricted Access = Unlocked Business PotentialOvercoming geo-restrictions goes beyond resource access—it’s about empowering global operations, ensuring compliance, and strengthening security. With the right approach, businesses can:Enhance operational efficiency: Ensure uninterrupted access to critical SaaS applications and integrations, eliminating delays and inefficiencies.Achieve seamless compliance: Meet global data localization laws effortlessly with country-based logging and regulatory alignment, avoiding legal risks and audit failures.Strengthen security posture: Eliminate the need for unapproved VPNs and workarounds, reducing exposure to data breaches, cyberthreats, and unauthorized access.Reduce IT overhead and costs: Say goodbye to constant IP reconfigurations, allow-list updates, and expensive cross-border data transfers, freeing up IT resources.Enable global expansion: Unlock new markets with unrestricted access to regional SaaS platforms, regulatory portals, and customer engagement tools, driving business growth.With Zscaler Internet Access, enterprises gain seamless, secure, and compliant access—unlocking the full potential of a truly borderless digital economy.Conclusion: A Borderless Future Starts NowIn a world where business knows no borders, your digital infrastructure shouldn’t either. Zscaler can help you achieve a smarter, more seamless approach to data and content sovereignty.Want to learn more? Join us for our upcoming ZIA Innovations launch webinar, where we’ll dive deep into the latest advancements in data and content sovereignty, along with 10 more new features and capabilities. Reserve your spot today. Nishant Kumar (Senior Manager, Product Marketing) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/ai-driven-threat-detection-revolutionizing-cyber-defense https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/ai-driven-threat-detection-revolutionizing-cyber-defense Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:58:55 GMT Introduction Cyberthreats have evolved at an unprecedented pace, growing in both complexity and scale. Ransomware, phishing campaigns, and supply chain attacks have become more sophisticated, making traditional security measures feel sluggish and outdated. In today's digital landscape, where businesses operate across hybrid environments, real-time threat detection is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Enter artificial intelligence (AI)-powered threat detection: a transformative approach to cybersecurity that enables organizations to stay ahead of attackers. By leveraging AI, security teams can detect anomalies, automate response mechanisms, and enhance threat detection across vast amounts of data. But while AI cybersecurity offers immense promise, it also comes with its challenges. This article will explore AI’s role in modern security solutions, diving into its real-world applications, the challenges it presents, and what the future holds.The Role of AI in Cybersecurity AI in Cybersecurity is revolutionizing the way organizations approach security. Traditional defenses, which rely on static rules and signature-based methods, struggle to keep up with ever-changing attack vectors.Why Traditional Approaches Are Failing Cybercriminals have outpaced conventional security measures, exploiting gaps that traditional defenses fail to address. The limitations of outdated methods are clear: Signature-based detection systems can’t recognize novel threats like cyberthreat exploits or polymorphic malwareSecurity teams face alert fatigue, drowning in false positives from rigid, rule-based monitoring toolsThreat actors are more sophisticated than ever, with nation-state groups and ransomware-as-a-service operations deploying attacks that evade legacy defensesPhishing attacks are using GenAI to create more realistic, personalized lures that can easily evade traditional filtersPerimeter-based security that assumes internal trust fails to monitor lateral movement or detect threats once an attack gains accessCore AI Technologies Powering Threat Detection AI-powered security solutions rely on a suite of advanced technologies to identify and mitigate risks effectively: Machine learning (ML): Detecting anomalies by analyzing vast amounts of data to uncover hidden patternsNatural language processing (NLP): Examining phishing emails and threat intelligence sources in real timeDeep learning: Profiling malware behavior to recognize subtle indicators of compromiseAdaptive AI: Continuously learning from new attack tactics and adjusting defenses without manual updatesThese technologies are embedded into modern security tools, enabling organizations to detect threats in real time and respond with unprecedented speed. Applications of AI in Cyber Defense AI has moved beyond theoretical discussions—it is actively reshaping cybersecurity strategies worldwide. Here are some of the ways AI is changing how cybersecurity and threat protection in particular work fundamentally.Real-Time Threat Detection Cybercriminals don’t wait, and neither should security teams. AI excels in processing massive data streams and identifying threats faster than any human analyst could with preemptive detection and response. By rapidly detecting anomalies, AI enhances threat detection across networks, reducing response times and mitigating attacks before they cause significant damage. Some of AI’s most powerful real-world applications include: Identifying zero day exploits through behavioral analyticsPreventing advanced persistent threats (APTs) before they infiltrate critical systemsStopping lateral movement within enterprise networks by dynamically segmenting users and devicesInsider Threat Detection While external threats dominate headlines, internal risks pose an equally dangerous challenge. Whether it’s a disgruntled employee stealing sensitive data or an accidental misconfiguration exposing critical systems, insider threats require a nuanced approach. AI helps security teams monitor behavioral shifts across cloud environments, flagging unauthorized access and unusual data transfers. AI-powered security solutions can analyze patterns to detect and prevent insider threats—without disrupting productivity. AI for Phishing and Social Engineering Detection Phishing is becoming more targeted, with threat actors exploiting human voice, video and even using human psychology to craft personalized emails that appear legitimate to steal credentials or deploy malware. AI models combat phishing by analyzing email structures, language nuances, voice, video and embedded links. NLP-powered AI reduces false positives, ensuring security teams respond to genuine threats rather than chasing down benign alerts. By automating response mechanisms, AI threat prevention minimizes the damage caused by phishing campaigns.Supporting Zero Trust Security with AI A zero trust architecture (ZTA) is built on the principle that no entity—inside or outside the network—should be inherently trusted. AI plays a crucial role in enforcing this model by:Continuously verifying users and devices based on real-time behavioral analysis Blocking unauthorized access and lateral movementDynamically adjusting access controls based on evolving risk scoresBy integrating AI with zero trust, organizations can analyze user behavior, identify anomalies, and enhance real-time security decisions to ensure secure, dynamic access to applications. This helps minimize the attack surface, prevent lateral movement, and stop threats before they can cause harm.Challenges and Ethical Concerns in AI-Driven Threat Detection While AI has transformed cybersecurity, it’s not without its hurdles. Below, we cover some of the greatest challenges that can hinder organizations from effectively detecting threats with AI. Technical Limitations of AI AI models require extensive, high-quality data to operate effectively—something smaller organizations may struggle to provide. Additionally, immature models can produce false positives or, worse, false negatives, leading to missed threats or unnecessary alerts.AI-Powered Threats: The Double-Edged SwordAI isn’t just a tool for defenders—it’s also being weaponized by cybercriminals. Attackers are harnessing the power of AI to amplify the sophistication and effectiveness of their tactics, including manipulating AI systems and leveraging generative technologies for deception.Some emerging threats include:Adversarial AI: Techniques targeting AI/ML models directly to manipulate outputs, disrupt functionality, or evade detection. For example, attackers may poison training data or exploit vulnerabilities in algorithms.Polymorphic malware: Malware that evolves in real time, adapting its code patterns to evade AI-driven security analytics.AI-powered social engineering: Using AI to enhance social engineering tactics, including:Deepfake phishing attacks: Generative AI mimics voices or images to deceive and manipulate targets.Voice phishing/vishing: AI-driven voice synthesis creates convincing impersonations to exploit victims via phone calls or audio media.Organizations must remain vigilant, ensuring their AI defenses stay ahead of both adversarial AI manipulations and AI-powered cyberattack tactics.Privacy and Ethical Concerns in AI Security AI-powered security solutions rely on analyzing vast amounts of sensitive data, raising concerns about data privacy and ethical AI usage. While AI enhances threat detection, it also introduces risks:Overreach in data collection: AI systems may process more user data than necessary, creating compliance challengesBias in AI models: AI algorithms, if not carefully trained, can generate biased security decisions, leading to unintended gaps or over-policing certain behaviorsTransparency issues: Many AI-driven decisions lack explainability, making it difficult for security teams to audit or validate automated responsesOrganizations must balance AI’s security advantages with responsible data governance to maintain trust and compliance.Best Practices for AI-Driven Cybersecurity To overcome challenges in AI cybersecurity, organizations must take a thoughtful and strategic approach to deployment. Ensure AI transparency and explainability by implementing auditable decision-making, incorporating human-in-the-loop validation, and regularly assessing models for bias.Strengthen AI defenses against adversarial attacks through adversarial testing, AI-powered deception techniques, and continuous model updates to counter evolving threats. Align AI with regulatory and ethical standards by ensuring compliance with privacy laws, auditing AI-driven security policies, and educating teams on responsible AI usage. Establish clear AI governance policies by defining guidelines for responsible AI use, addressing security, ethics, compliance, and risk management.Perform due diligence before implementation by conducting comprehensive security and ethical reviews to ensure tools align with corporate policies and risk tolerance.Ensure human oversight in AI-driven processes by requiring human intervention and review to prevent AI from making autonomous critical business decisions.By implementing these best practices, organizations can maximize AI’s cybersecurity benefits while mitigating risks, ensuring a more secure and ethical approach to AI-driven threat detection. For more AI best practices, read our ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report.The Future of AI in Cyber Defense AI cybersecurity is still evolving, but its trajectory suggests even greater advancements ahead. Key trends to watch include: Federated learning, enabling decentralized, privacy-compliant intelligence sharing across organizationsPredictive threat analysis, stopping attacks before they materializeSelf-healing networks, where AI automatically detects, isolates, and remediates vulnerabilities without human interventionAs AI continues to mature, security teams will gain even more powerful tools to combat cyberthreats. Conclusion Cybersecurity is no longer just about defending against known threats—it’s about proactively stopping emerging attacks before they strike. With AI-driven security and a zero trust approach, organizations can move beyond outdated, reactive defenses and embrace a dynamic, intelligent security posture. Zscaler AI and the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ provide a comprehensive solution to modern cyberthreats. By integrating AI-powered threat protection, full TLS/SSL inspection at scale, and zero trust segmentation, Zscaler minimizes attack surfaces, prevents compromises, and eliminates lateral movement. Whether securing AI-powered applications, detecting zero day threats, or protecting against data loss, Zscaler enables enterprises to operate with confidence in an increasingly complex threat landscape. With Zscaler’s cyberthreat protection, organizations gain: Preemptive threat detection and response with AI-driven threat insightsProactive AI-driven threat prevention to stop ransomware, phishing, and AI-powered attacks before they cause harmComprehensive zero trust security, ensuring users, devices, and applications remain invisible to attackersSeamless cloud native protection, eliminating legacy hardware and reducing operational complexityAdvanced data security, safeguarding sensitive information against AI-driven exfiltration, prompt injections, and unauthorized accessZscaler delivers the future of cybersecurity today—helping enterprises embrace AI safely, reduce cyber risk, and optimize security outcomes. Ready to see how AI-powered security can transform your organization? Request a demo. Matt McCabe (Web Content Writer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/announcing-new-innovations-govclouds-enhancing-security-compliance-and https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/announcing-new-innovations-govclouds-enhancing-security-compliance-and Tue, 25 Mar 2025 16:47:53 GMT In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, government agencies and defense organizations face unprecedented challenges. From safeguarding classified information to ensuring uninterrupted mission-critical operations, protecting the nation’s most sensitive systems requires more than just technology—it requires trust. At the heart of this trust lie GovClouds, a set of platforms designed to empower public sector and DoD leaders with the tools they need to stay one step ahead of cyber adversaries while simplifying compliance with some of the world’s most stringent regulatory standards.We are proud to announce the launch of several groundbreaking products and features for Zscaler’s GovCloud, specifically designed to empower government agencies and defense organizations to protect sensitive data, combat cyber threats, adhere to stringent compliance standards, and embrace zero trust security principles. With these new capabilities, GovCloud users can unlock higher levels of operational efficiency, scalability, and security—delivering services with the confidence needed to support missions of national importance.New ProductsGenAI DLP Protection: Safeguards sensitive information used within generative AI tools, ensuring compliance and preventing accidental data exposure.Endpoint DLP: Prevents unauthorized data transfers from endpoints such as laptop and desktop devices.Workflow Automation: Streamlines security operations through automated workflows that support incident response and zero trust deployment, saving time and improving accuracy.Email DLP: Protects outbound communication by identifying and preventing leaks of sensitive or classified information via email systems.Deception: Leverages cutting-edge deception technology to confuse and slow attackers, enabling agencies to maintain high availability and respond to threats effectively.Cloud Connector Multi-session VDI: Facilitates secure access to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) for multiple concurrent sessions, enabling productivity for remote teams while adhering to security principles.Privileged Remote Access (PRA): Allows Employees and Third-Parties to connect securely and with full visibility to OT/IoT/IT assets without needing to install any agents.Platform and ComplianceFedRAMP Mod International Expansion: Expands FedRAMP Moderate certification to international markets, allowing government organizations worldwide to benefit from enhanced compliance and operational readiness.DDIL in IL5 thru Customer-hosted Private Environments: Ensures connectivity in Disconnected, Degraded, Intermittent, or Limited (DDIL) environments within Impact Level 5 (IL5) defense systems, supporting mission-critical operations in challenging conditions.IPv6 Native Support: Enables seamless transition and adoption of IPv6 protocols, addressing both modern internet standards and compliance mandates with ease for additional services.CMMC: In addition to enabling our customers to comply with Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and protect the supply chain against cyber threats, Zscaler will get CMMC certification and build a dedicated IT enclave to support the processing, transmission, and storage of CUI. TLS 1.3: Deliver state-of-the-art encryption with TLS 1.3 support, improving data security and ensuring compliance with the latest standards shortly.Enhancements to Existing ProductsZIA: End user notifications in ZCC and granular policy based captures on Allow & Block Action are not available. Customer defined IPS signatures will secure web and non-web in Zero Trust Exchange.ZPA: Adds Kubernetes integrations, configuration management, and advanced traffic inspection capabilities to bolster zero trust application access. ZDX: Optimizes call quality for critical collaboration tools (Zoom Gov, Microsoft Teams) by monitoring connection health, ensuring seamless communication for government stakeholders. ML Engine for automated root cause analysis is now available and customers can have custom analytics with Query Builder.ZCC: Cross-cloud partner login enables Federal Systems Integrators to better support their government customers by securely accessing private applications. ZTunnel 2.0 for Android and iOS provides a secure, modern tunneling solution for iOS and Android devices.ConclusionModernizing Federal cybersecurity is no longer an option—it’s a necessity. With zero trust principles and innovations like those offered through GovClouds, agencies can overcome legacy challenges to create more secure, adaptive, and resilient operations. The stakes are high, but by embracing these strategies, agencies can ensure continuity, compliance, and protection in an era of rapidly evolving cyber threats.Going forward, we’ve got an impressive roadmap of innovations for our federal customers and several ways to stay informed including:GovCloud Innovations deep dive webinar on April 24th at 1:00pm ETRegular blogs with details on GovCloud updates. Follow us on LinkedIn and look for a social post when our next blog is live. Visit our Federal page.Read the details of our September release. Niraj Gopal ( Head of Product Management, Federal and Sovereign Clouds) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/shadow-ai-growing-threat-corporate-data-security https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/shadow-ai-growing-threat-corporate-data-security Tue, 25 Mar 2025 14:38:34 GMT Welcome to a rapidly evolving landscape of opportunity—and risk. The corporate embrace of today's AI tools has revolutionized efficiency, creativity, and collaboration. But lurking in the shadows is a hidden menace that is rapidly gaining ground: shadow AI. Unlike officially sanctioned AI tools with robust IT oversight, shadow AI apps are unsanctioned and often risky, bypassing corporate governance.Shadow AI is different from your typical IT security challenges. It isn't just a rogue app or unvetted code—it’s a clandestine phenomenon, where the same innovative tools driving workplace productivity turn into information security risks across the board.Organizations trying to master this generative AI challenge must tread carefully. Embracing AI can spur unprecedented progress and productivity, but ignoring or outright blocking AI can hold a company back. So, how do you walk this tightrope—enforcing safe AI governance without stifling innovation? Let’s take a closer look.Hide and Seek: Why Users Go Rogue with "Shadow AI"The truth about shadow AI isn't pretty. Employees are using unsanctioned AI technologies like DeepSeek or public GenAI platforms to solve problems faster, create enticing presentations, or automate data assessments—all under IT's radar. Unfortunately, much of this usage bypasses enterprise controls, leaving gaping holes in your organization's security defenses.Why exactly are users taking this route? For one thing, corporate-approved AI systems can sometimes seem restrictive, bogged down by internal security roadblocks and inefficiencies. Employees, often well-meaning and desperate for faster solutions, sidestep IT restrictions to try "just one app" that promises results in hours, instead of days.Take the rise of DeepSeek as a cautionary example. The hype around it promises speedy content curation and analysis, but it can be used outside corporate-approved channels. Then, the race is on to control this shadow AI app across the company to ensure sensitive data doesn’t leak. DeepSeek made headlines worldwide, but for every highly publicized shadow AI app, there are hundreds more that users can stumble upon and embrace.The reality is this: shadow AI isn’t malevolence; it’s ingenuity unchecked. Employees often take these risks unconsciously, failing to factor in the consequences of their actions. This rising spontaneity needs a controlled, proactive IT response, not blanket block rules that alienate users.To Block or Not to Block? How IT Can ChooseWhich brings us to the golden question: should IT embrace or block shadow AI? The answer is, it depends. Ultimately, it's a matter of understanding your organization’s priorities and the immediate implications of shadow AI within your operations.Imagine a corporate marketing department uploading valuable campaign strategies to an unsanctioned AI platform. Is it a data-sharing risk, or a clear productivity win? Before clamping down with rules and restrictions, IT teams need visibility into two things: what is being shared and why.Tools like Zscaler make this decision easier. By leveraging input prompt visibility through inline data loss prevention (DLP), organizations can audit user-level interactions with AI tools. This means you can more clearly understand what users are feeding into GenAI. For instance, are they uploading sensitive customer data, or simply asking for help visualizing routine analytics?Seeing GenAI interactions in context gives IT more concrete insight into whether a tool should be embraced or blocked. Armed with this visibility, IT can engage users in meaningful dialogue, aligning AI tool adoption with corporate data safeguards and business logic.Hard Stops: Blocking Shadow AI OutrightWhen the potential risks outweigh the innovation, sometimes there's no alternative to blocking shadow AI outright. Thankfully, cloud app control tools like Zscaler give organizations the ultimate veto power. With Zscaler, you can enforce blanket "deny lists" for persistent shadow AI perpetrators like ChatGPT or DeepSeek.Thanks to cloud-delivered approaches like security service edge, IT teams are not just playing cat-and-mouse with unsanctioned apps. They maintain control across every user, device, and office location. Even off-network connections can be subject to the scrutiny of cloud-delivered inspection policies, permanently sealing data leaks from shadow AI channels.While this can sound heavy-handed, organizations prone to breaches or highly sensitive sectors benefit most here. Finance companies dealing with regulatory oversight or healthcare providers safeguarding medical data can justify creating uncompromising data fortresses.Masterful Control: Playing the Block-and-Allow GameInnovation doesn’t thrive in environments with too many restrictions. Enter Browser Isolation, another Zscaler specialty that offers an elegant alternative to wholly blocking shadow AI, enabling users to safely interact with AI apps in an isolated browser. With control over cut, paste, print, and download, you can enable an organic experience with that AI app. This enables a level of risk control over certain AI apps, handing IT back the reins of data governance.Take it a step further with inline DLP. This tool micromanages what data can, or cannot, be entered into prompts for unsanctioned apps. Never again will credit card numbers make their way into ChatGPT prompts. Inline DLP intercepts at the moment of input with real-time content governance strategies that restrict sensitive data flow—all without killing the app.This balanced approach—controlling but not outright blocking—empowers IT to protect data against leaks while still allowing teams to enjoy what shadow AI contributes to productivity.The Final Curtain: A Call to Act on Shadow AIAccepting the inevitability of shadow AI doesn’t mean giving in to chaos. It means recalibrating your defenses, learning what to allow, blocking where needed, and using in-between strategies for a secure-yet-flexible enterprise.Shadow AI is risky, but it’s not the villain of this story: stubborn resistance is. Organizations need to actively foster collaboration between IT and employees, balancing innovation with data governance. Tools like Zscaler Data Protection enable the finesse needed to skillfully manage the shadow AI landscape.Ready to stop juggling this double-edged sword and regain clarity over your corporate application landscape? Schedule a call with Zscaler today or learn more about our Unified Data Protection platform. Together, we can ensure shadow AI’s shadows never encroach on your data security. Steve Grossenbacher (Senior Director, Product Marketing) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/can-ai-detect-and-mitigate-zero-day-vulnerabilities https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/can-ai-detect-and-mitigate-zero-day-vulnerabilities Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:54:42 GMT IntroductionCybersecurity is a never-ending arms race. Every time security analysts develop a new defense, threat actors find a way to circumvent it. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of zero day vulnerabilities—security flaws that developers are unaware of until they are exploited. These vulnerabilities pose a unique challenge because, by definition, there are no predefined detection methods to identify them. However, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in security is transforming the way we approach cyberthreat detection. With its ability to analyze vast amounts of data in real time, AI offers a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating security risks before they cause harm. This article explores how AI security solutions are reshaping threat detection and response, making it possible to combat zero day vulnerabilities more effectively than ever before.What Are Zero Day Vulnerabilities?A zero day vulnerability is a security flaw in software or hardware that is unknown to the vendor and, therefore, lacks a patch or fix. These vulnerabilities are highly sought after by threat actors because they offer a direct path to gaining access to sensitive systems without triggering traditional alarms.The most dangerous aspect of zero day vulnerabilities is how difficult they are to detect. Unlike known exploits that security teams can track through signatures or behavior patterns, zero day attacks operate in the shadows, often going unnoticed until a security incident occurs. By the time they are discovered, they have often already caused significant damage—ranging from data breaches to financial losses and reputational harm.Organizations across the globe are at risk, from small businesses to government agencies. The damage from a zero day exploit can be catastrophic, exposing sensitive information and leading to widespread disruption. The question is no longer if an organization will face a zero day attack, but when.Zero Day Vulnerability ExamplesHistory has shown us just how devastating zero day vulnerabilities can be. Here are three prominent incidents that highlight their impact:ProxyLogon (2021): This attack exploited critical zero day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, resulting in widespread data breaches impacting businesses and government institutions.MOVEit Transfer Vulnerability (2023): A zero day exploit targeting the MOVEit file transfer software was leveraged by hackers to exfiltrate sensitive data from thousands of organizations worldwide.Log4Shell (2021): A critical vulnerability in the widely used Log4j software allowed attackers to execute remote code on affected systems, leading to widespread exploitation.These cases demonstrate the urgency of developing cutting-edge AI cybersecurity defenses to stay ahead of malicious activity before it wreaks havoc.The Role of AI in CybersecuritySo, how does AI fit into this picture?With machine learning algorithms capable of processing massive amounts of data in real time, AI provides a revolutionary approach to zero day threat intelligence. Unlike traditional security systems that rely on predefined rules, AI adapts to new potential threats, identifying patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.AI CapabilitiesAI enhances cyberthreat detection through several key capabilities:Pattern recognition: AI detects anomalies in system behavior, flagging unusual activity that could indicate an attack.Natural language processing (NLP): AI scans threat intelligence reports, identifying trends and emerging vulnerabilities before they are exploited.Predictive analytics: AI anticipates potential threats, allowing organizations to implement proactive security measures rather than relying on reactive defenses.AI TechniquesAI-driven security isn’t just about recognizing patterns—it’s about learning and evolving alongside attackers. Two essential techniques make this possible:Machine learning (Supervised and unsupervised models): These models continuously refine their understanding of normal system behavior, allowing them to spot deviations that may indicate a zero day exploit.Deep learning: Neural networks enhance endpoint detection and response (EDR) by identifying subtle signs of malicious activity that human analysts might miss.AI also plays a crucial role in ongoing defense. As attackers refine their techniques, AI systems evolve, ensuring detection methods remain effective even as threat landscapes shift.Can AI Detect Zero Day Vulnerabilities in Real Time?Detecting zero day vulnerabilities in real time presents a significant challenge. Since these threats don’t have predefined signatures, traditional security solutions struggle to identify them.However, AI overcomes this hurdle by analyzing behavioral analytics rather than relying on known attack patterns. By monitoring how applications and networks behave, AI can spot security risks that deviate from normal activity, even if the exploit itself is brand new.Several AI-driven security tools already demonstrate this capability. For example, EDR solutions use behavioral analytics to identify anomalies, preventing attacks before they escalate. Similarly, cloud-delivered AI solutions analyze vast amounts of data across multiple organizations, reducing the time it takes to spot and counteract zero day threats.AI’s Role in Mitigating Zero Day VulnerabilitiesThreat detection and response is only half the battle. Once a zero day vulnerability is identified, AI-powered systems can take swift action to mitigate its impact.Automated patching and vulnerability management: AI prioritizes and applies patches, closing security gaps before attackers can exploit them.Segmentation of compromised systems: AI isolates affected devices, preventing attackers from moving laterally across networks.Machine-speed response: Unlike human analysts, AI reacts instantly, limiting damage and reducing downtime.By integrating AI into incident response, organizations can significantly reduce the time between detection and mitigation, keeping their systems secure.Advantages and Limitations of Using AI to Detect and Mitigate Zero Day ThreatsAdvantagesReal-time analysis and response: AI processes information faster than any human security team.Scalability: AI adapts to large and complex networks, ensuring comprehensive protection.Reduced human fatigue: By automating threat detection, AI allows security teams to focus on strategic defense rather than endless alerts.LimitationsFalse positives: Overly sensitive AI systems may flag benign activity as suspicious, leading to unnecessary disruptions.Data dependency: AI requires vast amounts of training data, which can be challenging to acquire for new and evolving threats.Adversarial AI: Attackers are already developing techniques to evade AI detection, highlighting the need for continuous advancements in AI-driven security.Future Implications for AI in Zero Day Vulnerability ManagementThe fusion of AI and cybersecurity is still in its early stages, but its potential is undeniable. As AI continues to evolve, we can expect even greater advancements, including:Deeper integration with zero trust policies: AI will play a central role in enforcing zero trust architecture, ensuring that no entity is trusted by default.Predictive cybersecurity as the norm: AI will shift security from reactive to preventive, stopping threats before they materialize.AI-augmented threat hunting teams: Human analysts will collaborate with AI, combining human intuition with machine precision to create the most effective defense strategies.The reality is that zero day vulnerabilities aren’t going away. But with AI leading the charge, we have a fighting chance to stay ahead of attackers, protect sensitive data, and build a more resilient digital future.ConclusionZscaler is redefining cybersecurity by integrating AI-driven threat protection with a zero trust architecture to combat evolving cyber risks. With cloud-delivered security, Zscaler eliminates attack surfaces, prevents lateral movement, and stops AI-powered threats before they infiltrate critical systems. By leveraging real-time threat intelligence, full TLS/SSL inspection, and AI-enhanced policy enforcement, Zscaler ensures that organizations can securely embrace emerging technologies without compromising data integrity. As cyberattacks grow more sophisticated, Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange™ provides the comprehensive visibility, automation, and protection needed to stay ahead of modern threats.With Zscaler, enterprises can strengthen their security posture and accelerate digital transformation:Stop threats before they become attacks with inline AI-powered threat prevention that blocks malicious activity at the source.Eliminate complexity and reduce costs by replacing outdated VPNs and firewalls with a cloud-native security platform.Protect sensitive data with advanced data loss prevention (DLP) and AI-driven security policies that prevent unauthorized access.Enhance operational efficiency with automated threat response, allowing security teams to focus on strategic initiatives.Take the next step in securing your enterprise with Zscaler’s AI-powered cybersecurity solutions. Request a personalized demo today and see how zero trust and AI can transform your security strategy. Matt McCabe (Web Content Writer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/lessons-learned-eye-storm-rebuilding-healthcare-resilience-zero-trust https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/lessons-learned-eye-storm-rebuilding-healthcare-resilience-zero-trust Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:25:04 GMT Through the Looking Glass: Reflecting on Ransomware Reality and Healthcare ResilienceLet me take you back to a dark moment in healthcare cybersecurity. It’s the middle of a crisp October night. A peaceful lull. Then, suddenly, the silence is flooded by panic. Phones stop ringing. Emails won’t send. Servers refuse to heed commands. Systems that once worked harmoniously are now handcuffed by a silent, invisible intruder. A hospital’s heartbeat has stopped—not due to a biological crisis, but a digital one. This was the vivid scenario Nate Couture, CISO of UVM Health, and I unpacked during our session, “From Crisis to Resilience: Zero Trust’s Role in Breach Recovery,” at HIMSS25. What ensued wasn’t just an analysis of a ransomware event but a call-to-action for healthcare leaders: if you don’t think it will happen to you, think again. Here’s the truth: the healthcare industry is under siege. Cyber attackers have evolved into cunning opportunists who mask themselves in legitimacy, weaponizing vulnerabilities to disrupt critical care delivery without a second thought. During our talk, Nate and I dissected a ransomware attack that infiltrated a health system’s entire lifeblood—phones, emails, records, and a staggering 600+ applications. This wasn’t just a systems issue. It was a care crisis, a communication nightmare, a revenue standoff, and, above all, a wake-up call for everyone in the room. A Silent Epidemic: The Anatomy of Ransomware in Healthcare Ransomware attacks are no longer the anomaly—they’ve become the expectation. Attackers no longer “just” encrypt data for ransom—they steal it, doubling-down to extort you twice. They weaponize legitimate tools, exploiting poorly configured systems and overexposed networks. In the case we discussed, the attackers bypassed legacy security configurations using a compromised email account and a VPN vulnerability. Within minutes, access was lost to all on-prem security tools, over 5,500 devices were infected, pieces of malware gliding silently through the system like a Trojan horse on autopilot. Systems collapsed, and patient care ground to a near halt. By the time the dust settled, it wasn’t a matter of “how to stop” the attack—it became “how do we crawl out of this crater?” Zero Trust Isn’t a Buzzword—It’s Survival in 2030 and Beyond Months of recovery revealed a singular, glaring reality: legacy security no longer works in a healthcare sector primed for hyper-digitalization. How many times have we heard, “We’ll just patch that tomorrow?” Or worse, the phrase, “We’ve been doing it this way for years”? That’s a ticking time bomb in today’s attack landscape. Zero Trust isn’t a product or a static solution—it’s a philosophical shift in everything we thought we knew about security. "Assume breach and verify everything" isn’t just a tagline; it’s the ethos of resilience. Here’s why Nate and I emphasized Zero Trust as the frontline defense for breach recovery and a proactive security posture: Reducing the Attack Surface: By rendering internal systems and assets invisible, Zero Trust makes your organization a digital needle in a haystack of hackers’ targets. If attackers can’t see it, they can’t exploit it. Role-Based Access Controls: Every request to access systems is evaluated in context, ensuring that a compromised credential doesn’t equate to a system-wide key. Microsegmentation Saves Lives: Had UVM been able to isolate infected devices during the breach, many systems could have remained operational. Dynamic Monitoring: The Zero Trust model thrives on continuous authentication and live visibility, flagging adversarial movements before real damage occurs. This isn’t theory—it’s operational necessity. Zero Trust isn’t just reactive. It’s revolutionary. Every Ransom Breach is an Atlas Stone Recovery isn’t about flipping a switch. For UVM Health, recovery meant three painstaking months of clawing systems back online—often manually and piece-by-piece. Communication reverted to the basics—the face-to-face sneakernet. Eventually phones came back. The priority decision-making framework became one of life-and-death triage: Which systems needed to come online to restore care at its most critical points? One hard truth surfaced during this ordeal: Your recovery plan IS your business continuity plan. If one fails, the other goes with it.Executives, board members, and technology leaders must collectively align on this reality. Cultivating cyber resilience post-breach is an admittance that—yes—your systems could fail, but your organization can’t afford to.Resilience Isn’t a Destination—It’s Iterative Evolution Several golden lessons emerged from our session: Prevention Is Expensive; Recovery Is Priceless: Post-disruption, budget approvals come through significantly faster—but at what cost? Are you prepared to negotiate cybersecurity investments in the aftermath of a breach? Nate and his team shifted from envisioning security to business resilience, redrawing IT roadmaps for aftershocks they hope never come but know could. Build Relationships Now, Not During Chaos: Partnerships with law enforcement, federal agencies, and cybersecurity vendors should be pre-built—not frantically stitched together mid-crisis. Operational Hierarchies are Dead During Recovery: Recovery is a war room, not a boardroom. When crisis strikes, throw out your organizational silos and lean on cross-functional teams to act decisively. Rehearse, Fail, Repeat: The power of rehearsing disaster recovery plans can’t be overstated. Dusting off binders gathering dust isn’t enough—practice those scenarios with real-life implications. Walking Away Wiser “If you’re reachable, you’re breachable.” It’s a haunting phrase we left attendees with. The network perimeters of old are increasingly obsolete, migration to modern infrastructure can no longer be a “tomorrow” problem, and leadership alignment must extend beyond IT teams. As I looked out into that crowd of executives, CIOs, CTOs, and fellow CISOs, I hoped the story of UVM’s battle underscored one inarguable takeaway: Recovery is not resilience, and survival hinges not on avoiding breaches but on mitigating their inevitability. So, ask yourself, what would your first 24 hours look like if this happened? And more provocatively—what are you doing today to prepare? Tamer Baker (Healthcare CTO) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/extending-zero-trust-principles-prem-next-step-return-office-journey https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/extending-zero-trust-principles-prem-next-step-return-office-journey Wed, 19 Mar 2025 04:35:19 GMT In Part 1 of our Zero Trust Office blog series, Jose Padin discussed how and why organizations should use Zero Trust to support their return-to-office strategies, replacing legacy network trust models with future-ready architectures. Building on those insights, this post shifts the focus to a specific challenge: adapting Zero Trust principles for on-premises environments to create a unified security framework for hybrid workforces.When the pandemic made remote work the norm, organizations everywhere embraced Zero Trust to secure remote access. Now, as employees return to physical offices, many organizations risk falling back into outdated practices such as network-based security policies, where the local office network is treated as inherently trustworthy.It’s time to rethink the traditional on-premises paradigm—not by reinventing the wheel, but by extending the proven principles of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to in-office operations.Traditional Perimeter Based SecurityIn the traditional perimeter-based network security model, connecting to the agency office put the workstation device on the trusted network:Connecting to the network provides a presumption of access - that is if you are on the network, you have access to all the applications, resources, and data that the network provides. To help mitigate the concerns of an unauthorized user or device connecting to the trusted network, you might implement a tool like Network Access Control (NAC) to control admission to the network - don’t let an untrusted device connect unless it has a certificate issued by the agency PKI for example. This is a good step, but it leaves a lot to be desired from a segmentation and least privilege access security model, mainly that the Trusted Network provides:Excessively Broad Access: Once on the network, devices gain access to any resource on the network. There might be firewall access control lists to prevent a general user VLAN from accessing a HVA network, but nothing to prevent a user administering grants from also connecting to the front door of a finance application. The network needs to provide transport and reachability to anyone who might need to access anything and isn’t necessarily aware of a user job role in relation to the applications they access.Lack of Granularity: Traditional tools work well for broad allow/deny decisions but don’t adapt well based on context. For example, if a device is behind on OS updates when it connects to the network, it might be put in a quarantine VLAN that only has access to SCCM. But what if the device’s security risk changes? - the EDR like CrowdStrike or Defender reports a drop in the device health score because of a recent threat seen? The device has already been admitted to the network, but now has a risk that should result in less access to internal apps and resources. Segmentation works for broad categories (e.g., isolating high-value assets), but fine-grained user or device-based controls are difficult to implement.Discoverability of Internal Network: Most importantly, since the user network is considered trusted, a device can discover the topology and layout of the network. The device can find the internal network addressing of services versus workstations, discover and enumerate queries against DNS servers, internal Active Directory resources, and if that device was compromised by an attacker, the attacker would be able to conduct reconnaissance as a normal user to identify attack vectors. A network’s currency is IP addresses - it’s not users, it’s not applications - the network simply isn’t aware because the network is Layer 3, not Layer 7. Trying to use the network as a Layer 7 access engine will always be challenging because ultimately network security rules are based on IP addresses and just aren’t aware of the Layer 7 context that’s needed for ZTNA.ZTNA offers a modern, scalable alternative that:Narrows access scope with granular app specific connectionsIntroduces dynamic policy enforcement based on identity and device postureEnables ongoing assessment with continuous, per-access evaluationBringing Zero Trust On-PremisesWith telework, agencies proved that users could securely access their applications through the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a cloud-based policy enforcement point that evaluates the context of a connection request against the application being accessed and grants access based on need-to-know using least privileged access:Access to an internal application is only granted if a user has been granted access based on their role and the context of the connection. For example, a user in grants management won’t be able to access a finance application because there is an access policy in the Zero Trust Exchange that says only grants users can access grants applications. The GFE desktop is not on the agency internal network, knows nothing of the internal network addressing or DNS because it has no need to. The user can safely access their applications from their home ISP because all connections are encrypted end-to-end with TLS.Always-On Protection for UsersWhen coming into the office, that same security access model can be provided. Instead of considering the user access network at the field offices as part of the trusted network, in the ZTNA approach, the user access network is untrusted and provides nothing more than filtered and protected Internet access, similar to an Internet cafe. There is no presumption of trust by connecting to the network. As a result, the user workstations are no longer considered trusted, have moved out of the trusted network zone, and are protected the exact same way as a user working from home, using the same ZTNA access policies.Afterall, why should coming into a field office provide any difference in security from a user working from home? Coming into an agency office and connecting to the network shouldn’t give you any more access to applications and service than a user working from home on their Home ISP. The network should be transport-only without any presumptive privilege a.k.a. Cafe-style Internet access. Access and authorization is based on identity, device, and the application (not IP address) being accessed. A policy enforcement point arbitrates every access decision and makes a need-to-know access decision based on access policies, not network firewall ACLs, on which applications which users should access, from what devices.A question I often get - does this mean that users at a field office would have to go out to the Internet to access an application that might be sitting next to them - for instance in HQ offices that have data centers? Of course not! The technical solution that enables users in the field office to access their private applications without adding additional latency is called a Zscaler Private Service Edge which sits on the agency network and provides a local broker for stitching connections together between users and application connectors. The Private Service Edge is a VM or Linux RPM, just like the App Connector. To explain: with telework, a user connects to the closest Zscaler Public Service Edge of our FedRAMP cloud, that acts as a broker that stitches a connection together from of the App Connectors in the agency datacenter and hosting environments:When the user comes on prem to the Cafe-style untrusted network, the Zscaler Client Connector on their workstation will automatically find the local Private Service Edge and broker the data connection to a private application through the agency network without going out to the Internet and back:The only thing needed to implement is a simple ACL from the cafe-style Internet-only network to the Private service edge like so:SourceDestinationPort/ProtocolCafe User NetworkPrivate Service Edgetcp/443, outboundApp ConnectorPrivate Service Edgetcp/443, outboundThis enables secure access to private applications without any compromise to latency or performance for the end user. User’s Internet traffic continues to get protected against a Zscaler Public Service Edge, just like it would be for a user working remotely:In this architecture, ZCC is always-on regardless of whether the user is off-prem or on-prem, there is one policy engine protecting and securing all the traffic, Internet and Private.Zero-Trust for On-PremJust as it revolutionized remote work, Zero Trust can overhaul office access by eliminating misplaced trust in the network and focusing on user, device, and application policies. This shift in architecture requires a shift in thinking. Extend ZTNA Access Policies to On-Prem Users: Access policy follows the user, not the network they are connected to. Access is ubiquitous regardless of where a user is connecting from with the same policy enforcement for all connection forms.Move from Network Access to Resource Access: Traditionally, employees connect to the network first, then access resources. With Zero Trust, users jump straight to applications through policy-based, identity-driven connections. This eliminates the need to grant broad access to the network itself.Treat the Office Network Like the Internet: Think of your office Wi-Fi as "cafe-style internet." It simply connects users to the Zero Trust Exchange, where security policies take over. No inbound traffic. No implicit trust. Just secure, conditional connections between users and their specific resources.Continuous Trust Validation: Zero Trust evaluates each access request dynamically, monitoring device posture, context, and risk signals. This guarantees that no connection remains static—a cornerstone of modern security.The beauty of Zero Trust is its ability to deliver consistency. Employees don’t need to worry about whether they’re "on-prem" or "remote." They are accessing applications the same way no matter where they are working. This unified experience not only ensures users remain productive it also simplifies IT administration.The Road ForwardThe Zero Trust Office is readily achievable today. By applying the same principles used for telework to in-office operations, organizations can significantly reduce risk, improve user experience, and create a future-ready security architecture.In Part 3 of this blog series, we’ll examine how Zero Trust comes full circle with enhanced visibility and user experience, ensuring IT teams can continuously monitor and optimize connections no matter the location.Read Part 1: The Return-to-Office Blueprint: Modernizing the Workplace with Zero Trust Matt Moulton (Federal Sales Engineer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/why-zero-trust-architecture-superior-traditional-security-models https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/why-zero-trust-architecture-superior-traditional-security-models Wed, 19 Mar 2025 01:54:20 GMT Today’s threat landscape is marked by increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Ransomware incidents grew by 18% in 2024, while the Dark Angels cybercrime group walked away from a single attack with a payout of $75 million. Ransomware-as-a-service is growing in popularity and zero-day attacks continue to be unleashed at a rapid pace. There is a clear rise in phishing, and the malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI) is bypassing traditional security measures. All of this sets a hazardous stage for any organization trying to keep itself safe.Business decision-makers and IT leaders are now well aware of the effects of these risks. From disrupted operations and regulatory non-compliance to legal fees and customer churn, the impact of falling prey to any cyberattack is significant. Security teams are under immense pressure to adopt strategies and systems that stave off evolving risks. The successful ones choose zero trust architecture rather than the network-centric, perimeter-based security models that are unequipped to face the threats of the digital era.Traditional security models: What’s the risk?With a perimeter-based architecture, security and connectivity revolve around a trusted network that is extended to users, devices, sites, clouds, and applications. This network extension is done in order to provide users and other entities with access to the IT r sources connected to that network. Naturally, this produces a sprawling flat network that is vulnerable to cyberattacks. So, to protect it, organizations deploy appliances like firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs) in an attempt to establish a security perimeter that keeps bad things out and good things in.This network-centric architecture was designed for a simpler, on-premises-only, bygone era. It is not well suited to our digital world with its work-from-anywhere users and its countless cloud applications hosted off-premises. In fact, when organizations cling to this old-school architecture while embracing remote work and the cloud, it creates significant problems. And even when tools like firewalls and VPNs are deployed as virtual appliances in the cloud, the underlying methodology and its fundamental flaws remain the same. By nature, perimeter-based architectures:Expand your attack surface: Endlessly extending your network to users, apps, devices, clouds, and locations, and using tools with public IP addresses, like firewalls, results in a ballooning network with countless entry points ripe for exploitation.Fail to prevent compromise: Perimeter-based security solutions like firewall appliances struggle to inspect encrypted web traffic at scale, perform cursory traffic scanning ratherthan full inspection, and ultimately enable threats to pass through defenses.Enable lateral threat movement: Once malicious entities have made it past your defenses and accessed your network, they can move laterally throughout it and accessthe resources connected to it, expanding the reach of their breaches.Are unable to stop data loss: As mentioned above, network-centric tools struggle to inspect encrypted traffic; additionally, they are not designed to secure data leakagepaths like SaaS apps, endpoints, private apps, and more. As such, they are often unable to stop data loss.In addition to these four major weaknesses, network-centric models have other challenges. First, they increase IT complexity through stacks of networking and security appliances, which, regardless of whether they are deployed as hardware or virtual appliances, contribute to convoluted IT infrastructure. Next, managing a complex fleet of point products and appliances requires a significant amount of time from administrators. This, when combined with the technologies’ purchase prices and the expensive private connections needed for traditional networking, leads to significant costs. Finally, when traffic has to be backhauled to a distant data center or virtual appliance for security and connectivity, the added latency harms user experience and, as a result, impedes productivity.Zero trust architecture: Why it’s the modern security standardZero trust represents a stark departure from the perimeter based model and is a fundamentally distinct architecture. It successfully decouples security and connectivity from your network through a cloud native platform that acts as an intelligent switchboard and delivers secure any-to-any connectivity as a service at the edge—without extending network access to anyone or anything. As such, zero trust avoids the excessive permissions and implicit trust of traditional models that connect entities to the network. Granular, least-privileged access directly to IT resources is enforced through context-based policies that assess risk and respond accordingly. It’s a more intelligent approach to security that lacks the manifold weaknesses of firewalls and VPNs.Zero trust architecture enables you to:Minimize your attack surface: Direct-to-app connectivity circumvents the need for endless network extension, while firewalls and their public IPs are eliminated. Instead of inbound connections, zero trust uses inside-out connections (a connector sitting in front of the app reaches out to the zero trust cloud, which then stitches the connection together). All of this shrinks your attack surface and, as a result, the potential for a breach to ever begin.Prevent compromise: Zero trust is delivered through a proxy-based architecture that performs full traffic inspection in order to stop attacks in real time. With a cloud native platform that boasts a high degree of performance, it can even inspect encrypted traffic at scale; this is critical because more than 95% of web traffic today is encrypted, and more threats are hiding within said traffic than ever before.Eliminate lateral threat movement: As mentioned previously, zero trust provides least-privileged access through direct-to-app connectivity. When no entities areconnected to your corporate network as a whole, no one (and no thing) can move laterally within it, access its various connected resources, or expand the blast radius of a cyber breach.Stop data loss: When zero trust is delivered through a high-performance, cloud native platform, you can fully inspect all of your traffic, including encrypted traffic at scale, and prevent data loss therein. Additionally, comprehensively securing any-to-any connectivity while ensuring granular, least-privileged access to data means that a zero trust platform can secure sensitive information and any possible leakage path.Beyond these four core benefits of zero trust, the architecture provides additional advantages that eliminate other issues inherent to perimeter-based architectures. First, zero trust secures any-to-any connectivity with a breadth of functionality, circumvents the need to backhaul traffic and extend network access, and, as a cloud-delivered service, minimizes the need for appliance maintenance and change implementation. In other words, it drastically reduces complexity. Next, this reduction in complexity leads to lower costs through fewer technology purchases, decreased private bandwidth requirements, and lower management overhead. Finally, edge-delivered, direct-to-app connectivity means no traffic backhauling and no added latency, giving users the best possible experience and maximizing productivity. A zero trust approach cannot be replicated with traditional tools, like firewalls and VPNs, which intrinsically entail the presence of a network-centric, perimeter-based architecture. Any security model that operates by securing your network perimeter will not be able to adhere to zero trust principles or morph into a zero trust architecture—it’s like fitting a square peg into a round hole. And even if network segmentation can help alleviate some lateral threat movement, the other weaknesses of the traditional model remain. Zero trust requires a shift in mindset and a reframing of your approach to security. With the right technology partner, you can implement zero trust architecture, capture its many benefits, and gain secure, any-to-any connectivity that will position your organization to adapt to whatever the future may bring.Zscaler: The original pioneer and continued innovator in zero trustOnly the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform offers true, cloud native zero trust. Zscaler is the industry leader in zero trust and the continuous driver of innovation in the space. We are committed to moving this critical technology forward—as we always have been.There’s a reason 40% of Fortune 500 companies are Zscaler customers. Time and again, the Zero Trust Exchange™ has proven its ability to transform security and connectivity for the cloud-first, hybrid-work organization. With over 160 full-compute points of presence (PoPs) processing over 500 billion transactions daily (that’s more than 50x the number of daily Google searches), our platform boasts unprecedented scale. Every day, the Zero Trust Exchange™ prevents over 9 billion incidents and policy violations, and stops 150 million cyber threats.We have nearly 15 years of experience operating the world’s largest inline security cloud, and we are proud to share that our customers experience results such as:A 70% reduction in infrastructure costs35x fewer infected machinesAn 80% faster user experienceAs the original pioneer and continued innovator in zero trust, we are forever focused on refining our ability to minimize the attack surface, prevent compromise, eliminate lateral threat movement, and protect data. Zscaler customers consistently see these results while simultaneously decreasing complexity, reducing costs, and improving user experiences and productivity. This demonstrates our commitment to our mission of securing, simplifying, and transforming businesses.Real-world case study: How Guaranteed Rate blocked 2.5 million threats in three monthsGuaranteed Rate is the second-largest retail mortgage provider in the US. The company knew that its perimeter-based security architecture was making it more vulnerable to cyber risks—notless. Its infrastructure consisted of three on-premises data centers packed with a myriad of appliances like legacy VPNs and firewalls. As the company embraced hybrid work and three different cloud platforms, it realized that it could not adequately protect its users or data with status-quo security.With the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform, Guaranteed Rate took a phased journey to zero trust implementation and slowly retired its legacy point products. It started with securing the web and SaaS, moved on to securing private applications, and then began optimizing employees’ digital experiences (and more). Ultimately, the deployment resulted in:A minimized attack surface due to the removal of firewalls, public IPs, and inbound connections in favor of inside-out connectionsA reduced risk of compromise and data loss via inline TLS/SSL traffic monitoring and AI-powered advanced threat protectionThe elimination of lateral movement through direct-to-app connectivity as well as Zscaler Deception technology, which lures attackers with decoysOverall, the company blocked 2.5 million cyberthreats in three months. It now inspects 97% of its encrypted web traffic, and its users access apps three times more quickly.Guaranteed Rate and countless others are already reaping the many benefits of this modern architecture. You, too, can join them and confidently walk the well-traveled path toward a complete zero trust implementation. Jacob Serpa (Sr. Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/business-interruption-what-it-means-and-how-stop-it https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/business-interruption-what-it-means-and-how-stop-it Mon, 17 Mar 2025 18:49:42 GMT A business interruption is any unexpected event that halts an organization’s operations. In the ever-increasing competitive pressure of today’s business environment, such interruptions can prove disastrous for any company. That’s because they lead to a virtually limitless list of negative repercussions. Business interruptions can disrupt customer service, break down sales processes, create long-term brand damage, slow public relations activities, erode consumer trust, and more.As such, organizations go to great lengths to assess the potential risk and damage of business interruptions. Downtime frequency and average downtime duration are common metrics used to do so. The cost of downtime is also assessed by calculating the overall financial impact of variables like lost sales, wasted labor costs, and more. Rather than merely anticipating downtime’s effects or responding after business interruptions occur, however, organizations need to be proactive.In other words, organizations need to be resilient and prevent business interruptions from happening in the first place. To that end, cybersecurity is a crucial part of the conversation.Two challenges to business continuityFor our security-oriented purposes here, there are essentially two primary categories of issues that can disrupt business operations.CyberattacksCyberattacks are constantly increasing in both sophistication and prevalence, and when one succeeds, plenty can go wrong. This is particularly true of ransomware, which is designed to lock down enterprise data and devices through encryption, grind productivity to a halt, and pressure victims to pay a ransom for decryption. With double-extortion ransomware, cybercriminals also steal data and threaten to leak it if a ransom isn’t paid, applying even more pressure. Countless smaller schemes can add up to waste significant sums of time and money as well, such as when malicious actors secretly siphon off IT resources to perform cryptomining.Regardless of the specific breed of the threat, when a breach occurs, some level of business interruption occurs with it. For example, beyond the debilitating lockdown effects of many threats, there are also issues with data privacy law noncompliance, prolonged legal battles, and breach detection and remediation efforts—not to mention customer churn. All of these disrupt operations, require employee time to address, and waste money through fines, fees, and increased overhead. Consider a case from 2017, in which a global shipping giant suffered a NotPetya ransomware attack. The breach locked down operations and disrupted productivity for two weeks, ultimately costing the company over US$300 million. Since then, threats have become even more common, automated, sophisticated, and effective, unleashing chaos on modern organizations at an unprecedented scale. (You can read more about today’s threats in the ThreatLabz 2024 Ransomware Report).Poor security solution resilienceThe second type of business interruption pertaining to cybersecurity has to do with the performance of security solutions themselves. In particular, the reliability of inline security solutions like proxies is paramount. That’s because they are built to intermediate organizations’ traffic in real time. They sit in the flow of traffic, enforce inline security policies, and forward said traffic to where it needs to go. If something were to go wrong with such a solution (e.g., slow performance or a complete outage), it could have a dramatic effect on enterprise productivity, wasting both time and money.This challenge is even more noteworthy in our cloud-first world. IT tools and resources are increasingly hosted off-premises in the cloud, rather than in their traditional on-premises location, where admins can put their hands on hardware and more directly control their tools and remediation processes. As such, security teams need to know that they can trust their security vendors and that their services provide the necessary performance, reliability, and functionality to ensure uninterrupted business continuity.Zero trust architectureZero trust is the solution to both of the aforementioned categories of business interruption. So, then, what is zero trust?Zero trust is a unique architecture, delivered via proxy, that cannot be replicated with network-centric tools like firewalls and VPNs. Rather than taking a castle-and-moat approach to security that focuses on securing access to the network as a whole, zero trust is based on the principle of least-privileged access, which states that authorized users should only be granted access to the resource they need, at the moment they need it, and nothing more. This access is governed by context and risk rather than identity alone because identities can be stolen.In other words, users and other entities (like cloud workloads) are securely connected directly to applications in a one-to-one fashion—not to the network. This is accomplished through a global security cloud that serves as an intelligent switchboard and delivers zero trust connectivity as a service (along with a plethora of other data and threat protection functionality). So, instead of backhauling traffic to your data center for network-centric security rife with excessive permissions, zero trust is delivered at the edge—as close to the end user as possible. Cyber resilience with zero trustBecause of its unique functionality, zero trust can minimize cyber risk, stop data breaches, and prevent the associated business interruptions. It enhances cyber resilience in four key ways:Zero trust minimizes the attack surface. Tools like firewalls have public IP addresses that cybercriminals can find and exploit on the web, enabling risky inbound connections to your environment. Zero trust uses inside-out connections to eliminate these public IPs. When a user attempts app access, a connector that sits in front of the app reaches out to the zero trust cloud, which then stitches the connection together. This effectively hides IT resources from attackers.Zero trust stops compromise. 87.2% of threats now hide in encrypted traffic. But inspecting and securing this traffic requires a high degree of performance that firewalls struggle to provide. That’s because, whether they are rolled out as hardware or as virtual appliances, firewalls have fixed capacities to scale. In contrast, zero trust is delivered through a global, high-performance cloud with the scalability needed to inspect encrypted traffic and stop the threats therein.Zero trust prevents lateral threat movement. As mentioned earlier, network-centric tools like VPNs give users excessive permissions. They extend “secure” access to the network, but this allows threats to traverse that network and access its connected resources, enabling larger breaches. Zero trust decouples security and connectivity from the network through direct-to-app access. Instead of connecting anyone to a network where they can move laterally, zero trust connects them only to authorized apps.Zero trust blocks data loss. Preventing malicious and accidental data leakage requires inspecting encrypted traffic. That’s because more than 95% of today’s web traffic is encrypted. Again, traditional appliance-based tools struggle to inspect this traffic at scale, but a highly scalable zero trust cloud can inspect it and protect data within it. Additionally, as part of securing any-to-any connectivity, a zero trust platform can secure modern data leakage paths that conventional tools cannot, such as SaaS apps.Operational resilience with zero trustZero trust is an inline architecture delivered as a service from a security cloud. As such, zero trust offerings must avoid service disruptions and ensure that they maintain business continuity for their customers. Fortunately, a leading zero trust platform can meet the three key criteria to accomplish this.1. A purpose-built, resilient cloudA zero trust vendor’s cloud must be built from the very beginning to be resilient. That means that it is global and multitenant (see more about that here), and that it boasts the capacity, availability, and performance required to give customers of all sizes (and in all locations) the experiences that they need for their businesses to stay secure and productive. Similarly, the cloud itself needs to be secure by design so that the underlying infrastructure cannot be compromised by cybercriminals (which could lead to cyber risk and business disruption for customers). 2. Resilient cloud lifecycle managementThe zero trust vendor must constantly perform their due diligence to ensure customers can avoid business interruption even as changes are implemented to the zero trust cloud. To that end, software development and Q&A, cloud deployments and upgrades, incident management, and 24/7 cloud monitoring must all prioritize resilience. 3. Solutions for all failure scenariosBeyond solving the minor failures that often go unnoticed, a zero trust cloud must also be able to solve brownouts, blackouts, and catastrophic failures, no matter how rare they may be. Only then can customers maintain business continuity around the clock and despite any unusual contingency. Brownouts include connectivity-related issues that affect the flow of traffic through the zero trust cloud and to its destination. Naturally, this can slow down (or perhaps halt) user productivity and cybersecurity. When such issues occur, the zero trust platform needs to intelligently identify the problem and route traffic through the next best path to avoid both business and security disruption. Platforms with built-in digital experience monitoring provide extra help for addressing these issues.Blackouts are more debilitating than brownouts. Consider a scenario in which one of a vendor’s data centers or points of presence (PoPs) stops functioning properly and becomes unable to provide services to customers. During such a blackout, the vendor’s offering must automatically failover to a different nearby data center—customer traffic needs to flow through the next PoP closest to them.Catastrophic failures involve all of a vendor's data centers—and thus their entire cloud—going offline. These incredibly rare, cloud-wide failures may occur due to events like natural disasters and nation-state attacks. In the event of such circumstances, the platform needs to fail over not to a different PoP (since they are all offline), but to a separate private cloud or a virtual machine hosted in the customer’s cloud or data center. The Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeZscaler is the original pioneer and continued innovator in zero trust architecture. Our Zero Trust Exchange platform boasts the ever-increasing sophistication needed to stop threats and deliver unparalleled cloud resilience, ensuring uninterrupted business continuity. We check all the boxes described throughout this blog. To learn more about the power of our threat prevention, take a look at the “AAA” result we received in this CyberRatings SSE Report.To learn more about the resilience of our purpose-built cloud, watch this webinar about our business continuity solutions.If you’re new to zero trust architecture and want an introduction to the topic, sign up for part one of our three-part webinar series, Zero Trust, from Theory to Practice. Jacob Serpa (Sr. Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cracking-code-himss-2025-takeaways-ai-cybersecurity-and-clinician-burnout https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/cracking-code-himss-2025-takeaways-ai-cybersecurity-and-clinician-burnout Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:08:57 GMT If you wandered through the packed halls of HIMSS 2025, you probably heard familiar buzzwords—AI, cybersecurity, interoperability—but this year, attendees wanted more than just flashy demos. They demanded actual proof that these shiny new toys improve patient outcomes and streamline clinical workflows. Shocking, I know.Let’s dive a bit deeper into the biggest trends, shifts, and why they matter more than ever.AI Grows Up (Finally)Remember when everyone went nuts over ChatGPT at HIMSS23? Vendors promised AI solutions for everything from scheduling appointments to curing headaches caused by, ironically, bad AI. But this year, the hype cooled into a refreshing demand for real-world results. Healthcare organizations now want measurable outcomes—think fewer clinical errors, tangible ROI, and happier clinicians (imagine that!).Speakers openly asked tough questions, demanding AI vendors to demonstrate how their technology actually reduces clinical burnout and boosts productivity. No more vague promises—this year, attendees wanted proof, statistics, and real stories.Cybersecurity Steps Out of the ShadowsIf there’s one thing that’ll ruin a healthcare IT executive’s sleep faster than too much caffeine, it’s cybersecurity—or more accurately, the lack thereof. With recent data breaches impacting a jaw-dropping 75% of Americans, cybersecurity moved from a side-session snoozefest to center-stage urgency.At HIMSS 2025, it wasn’t just a technical discussion. It became a strategic imperative, with organizations investing heavily in advanced solutions like zero trust architectures and real-time threat monitoring. Cybersecurity experts and former government officials underscored the urgency and strategic importance of strengthening healthcare's cybersecurity posture—highlighting the industry's shift from passive awareness to proactive defense.Interoperability Finally Gets RealInteroperability used to be healthcare’s unicorn: beautiful, desirable, and completely mythical. But thanks to regulations like the 21st Century Cures Act and the push from TEFCA, data exchange is finally happening at scale. It’s no longer just a wish list item—it's mandatory infrastructure.Of course, getting systems to play nicely is still complicated (no surprises there). HIMSS 2025 conversations were packed with stories about successes, failures, and ongoing struggles of safely connecting disparate systems. The good news? It’s less about why interoperability matters and more about how to make it smoother and secure.Regulatory Spotlight Gets HotterRegulatory discussions at HIMSS25 were intense, highlighting a growing industry emphasis on compliance and ethical responsibility. Conversations revolved around the importance of preparing for tighter AI governance rules from agencies like the FDA, the need for stronger data privacy measures potentially mirroring Europe's GDPR standards, and increased cybersecurity mandates driven by ongoing cyberthreats. The prevailing sentiment was clear: compliance isn’t optional—it’s survival. Ethical AI use, patient privacy protection, and proactive cybersecurity strategies were critical points of focus as the industry navigates an evolving regulatory landscape.Clinician and Nurse Burnout: The Never-Ending BattleBurnout discussions aren’t new, but this year the topic had extra urgency. Nearly half of doctors and over half of nurses still feel the strain, and attendees at HIMSS 2025 recognized that tech is either part of the solution or part of the problem.Vendors and healthcare providers showcased practical tools to ease burnout, including AI-powered ambient documentation (less paperwork, more patient face-time), smarter scheduling, and workflow automation. Everyone finally seems to agree: if technology isn’t reducing clinician headaches, it’s simply not good enough.Zscaler: The Healthcare IT Sanity Check Here’s the part where Zscaler makes a cameo to solve the very problems keeping HIMSS attendees up at night:Bulletproof cybersecurity: Zscaler’s zero trust architecture keeps patient data secure, dramatically reducing ransomware risks and making your cybersecurity nightmares a thing of the past.Effortless interoperability: Say goodbye to juggling dozens of VPNs, direct connections, and private circuits. Zscaler simplifies third-party connectivity, allowing secure, seamless data exchange without endless complexity.Happy clinicians (no joke): By integrating seamlessly with everyday clinical tools (looking at you, Imprivata), Zscaler eliminates login fatigue, improves workflow efficiency, and boosts clinician satisfaction. Fewer clicks, fewer headaches, and happier staff—who knew cybersecurity could actually improve your day?Final ThoughtsHIMSS 2025 made one thing clear: healthcare tech is finally growing up. Attendees demanded practical results over flashy promises, stronger cybersecurity to protect against relentless threats, smoother interoperability to power healthcare delivery, and technology that actually reduces clinician burnout.As healthcare navigates these challenges, Zscaler supports the industry in keeping data secure, workflows efficient, and clinicians happy. Because, let's face it: in healthcare, sanity counts as innovation too. Steven Hajny (Healthcare Principal Sales Engineer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zero-trust-begin-your-journey-these-first-steps https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zero-trust-begin-your-journey-these-first-steps Mon, 10 Mar 2025 22:38:29 GMT If you’ve ever wished someone would explain zero trust to you in plain English, you're not alone. It can be hard to cut through the noise and understand what it really means. Widespread overuse and misuse of the term often leave IT professionals searching for clear explanations and actionable guidance. The good news is: Zscaler is here to help. Zero trust is critically important for the future of IT security. We at Zscaler are passionate about demystifying the phrase, and we’re always looking to train the next wave of zero trust ambassadors who can help their organizations understand and implement the architecture. Our new, three-part webinar series, Zero Trust, from Theory to Practice, is designed to explain what zero trust is really all about. We’re breaking down complex concepts and removing the jargon with an approachable, entry-level path to zero trust. The series focuses on both basic education as well as action. Participants progressively evolve from zero trust learners to zero trust implementers through structured sessions that guide them every step of the way. For those who make it through the entire series, there are special “Zero Trust Ambassador” rewards, including exclusive swag, a LinkedIn badge customized with their names on it, and a unique badge on Zenith Community. Be sure to start with part one and move sequentially through the series so that you don’t miss out on any of the content or the rewards.Zero Trust, from Theory to PracticeHere’s a look at what you can expect to see in each installment in the series. Zero Trust 101: Start Your Journey HereAn entry-level conversation that assumes no prior knowledge of zero trustWhy the modern IT ecosystem requires a new security architectureExplanations of the key differences between traditional security and zero trustZero Trust 201: Next Steps on Your Zero Trust JourneyA discussion on the zero trust use cases that you vote for when you registerThe quantitative benefits achieved by customers who address those use cases with ZscalerAn explanation of SSE and SASE, as well as how they relate to zero trustZero Trust 301: Preparing for ActionA conversation with seasoned experts that is geared towards live audience participationA technical discussion that explores the use cases for which you vote when you registerWhiteboarding sessions and live demos that prepare learners for real-world implementation Why Zscaler Is the Ideal Partner for Your JourneyZscaler is your trusted guide with the expertise needed to help you navigate the entirety of your zero trust journey. That’s because we have:A proven track record of success✔ We have been a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for 13 consecutive years—first in secure web gateway (SWG) and now in security service edge (SSE)✔ 45% of the Fortune 500 are Zscaler customers, demonstrating that the world’s leading organizations trust Zscaler year after yearA history of innovation✔ Zscaler is the original creator of zero trust architecture and its core components, including cloud native SWG and zero trust network access (ZTNA)✔ We invest heavily in innovation, with $499 million dedicated to R&D in our most recent fiscal yearUnmatched scale and impact✔ Zscaler owns and operates the Zero Trust Exchange, the world’s largest inline security cloud comprising over 160 points of presence globally✔ Our cloud platform processes more than 500 billion transactions and blocks more than 9 billion threats every dayFinancial stability ✔ Zscaler is a publicly traded company that you can count on and a proud Nasdaq-100 Index member✔ We generate more than $2.5 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and are well positioned to protect you throughout the future of your businessSign up for the webinar series todayJoin us for Zero Trust, from Theory to Practice to get the knowledge and support you need on your zero trust journey. Sign up for Zero Trust 101 to get started—we look forward to seeing you there! Jacob Serpa (Sr. Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/return-office-blueprint-modernizing-workplace-zero-trust https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/return-office-blueprint-modernizing-workplace-zero-trust Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:03:50 GMT It started with a ping in the quiet stillness of your home office—the all-too-familiar sound of a calendar invite updating your week. The subject line read: "Return-to-Office Transition Plan." For many, this moment marked more than a logistical update. It signaled the challenge of reintegration: new workflows, shifting security concerns, and the delicate balance of retaining some component of remote access while rediscovering the rhythm of in-office collaboration.Employees may be returning to offices, but applications and data are not. The migration of applications and data to the cloud is here to stay, and as employees return to offices, IT teams face a central dilemma: how to ensure the security and productivity that hybrid work has unlocked, without reinstating the rigid, outdated systems of the past. Enter zero trust—a modern strategy changing the way organizations approach both security and workplace modernization.In this first installment of our three-part series, we explore how zero trust can transform the return-to-office process by addressing IT modernization, designing future-ready offices, and eliminating the outdated reliance on network perimeters.The Evolution of Security: From Fixed Perimeters to Zero TrustFor decades, corporate networks resembled fortresses. Trust was assumed for any user or device operating within physical office walls—inside the "perimeter." This model worked when office systems were static, and everyone plugged into the same infrastructure. But the rise of hybrid work shattered those boundaries. Employees began working from everywhere, applications shifted to the cloud, and traditional assumptions about trust fell apart.Enter zero trust, a modern security strategy that replaces “assume trust” with “always verify.” It doesn’t matter whether an employee is working remotely or at their desk in the office—every connection is evaluated based on identity, device posture, and granular access policies. Trusted IP addresses and legacy VLAN segments are relics of the past.In the context of returning to the office, zero trust takes on new urgency. Over the past five years, the majority of applications and IT services have migrated to the cloud, facilitating productivity and efficiency for remote employees. Trying to force a return to pre-cloud, perimeter-based practices would be counterproductive. Gartner reports that global cloud adoption by government organizations is driving 9.2% annual growth in areas like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). These platforms are leading the way in delivering agility for disaster recovery, analytics, and citizen services.So how do organizations ensure the same seamless and secure experience on-premises that employees came to expect during remote work?Building the Office of Tomorrow - Zero Trust is EverywhereZero trust isn’t just about enhancing security—it's an opportunity to reimagine the modern office itself. Today, most work happens via cloud-based applications, even for employees sitting in a company’s headquarters. In truth, modern office workers are no different from remote employees in how they access resources.This shift calls for a radical rethinking of office networks. Imagine a "café-style" internet model, where employees connect to the internet just as they would from home. Security is enforced via zero trust policies that grant secure, context-based access to internal resources without the complexity of legacy network designs.This approach unlocks agility, scalability, and cost savings for organizations. Whether setting up a new branch, building temporary collaboration hubs, or managing hybrid teams, zero trust eliminates the need for expensive network installations like MPLS or telco-managed solutions. It also reduces unnecessary dependence on intricate on-premises security infrastructure.Most importantly, zero trust ensures relevance. As tools and workflows continue to evolve, organizations with a zero trust foundation can seamlessly integrate new technologies without being held back by outdated network configurations. They can free themselves from firewalls and other legacy appliances forever and future-proof their security strategy.A Layered Approach to Return-to-Office SuccessCreating a Zero Trust Office requires more than technology upgrades—it demands a shift in mindset. Organizations must abandon outdated assumptions about trusted network zones and embrace granular, policy-based access controls.Solutions like the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange enable organizations to enforce secure, dynamic access without friction. However, security isn’t the only goal. Organizations must also prioritize productivity and consistency. Employees deserve the same fast, secure experience no matter where they’re working—from home, on the road, or in the office. Zero trust ensures this consistency, delivering a seamless experience for accessing applications, collaborating, and monitoring performance.In fact, the fundamental requirements that once shaped on-premises network designs (e.g., protecting crown-jewel data inside the office) no longer apply. Data and applications have moved to the cloud, and so must security practices. This shift ensures that only authenticated users gain access to sensitive resources, regardless of where the data or user is located.For organizations implementing zero trust. The use of Zero Trust Everywhere strategies can layer into existing legacy networks immediately. When using zero trust strategies, the data provided with data-driven insights allows an organization to refine policies as they scale. Iterative improvement allows organizations to continuously adapt and improve their zero trust strategy.The Road AheadThe workplace is no longer just a physical space—it’s a dynamic, hybrid ecosystem. As employees return to the office, organizations have a unique opportunity to modernize their workplace infrastructure on a zero trust foundation, ensuring security, scalability, and agility for the future. The future of Zero Trust Everywhere is built on true zero trust architecture, which eliminates lateral propagation of threats and dramatically reduces attack surface.In Part 2 of this series as we take a closer look at how zero trust principles apply specifically to on-premises environments—bringing the lessons of telework back to the office. We’ll explore practical solutions for addressing the challenges of legacy network access controls (NAC) and other perimeter-based policies, empowering employees to work more securely and efficiently. Read Extending Zero Trust Premises On-Prem. Jose Padin (VP, Solutions Consulting, US Public Sector) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zscaler-copilot-simplifies-troubleshooting-during-slack-outage-february-26 https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zscaler-copilot-simplifies-troubleshooting-during-slack-outage-february-26 Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:10:27 GMT On February 26, 2025, organizations using Slack faced significant disruptions, causing frustration and productivity challenges across many businesses. During this widespread Slack outage, Zscaler Digital Experience (ZDX) and Zscaler Copilot proved invaluable for IT teams scrambling to troubleshoot issues and restore services quickly. By combining advanced analytics with conversational AI, Zscaler empowers IT teams to resolve problems faster than ever before.Let’s explore how the Zscaler Copilot came to the rescue during this incident.Zscaler Copilot: Instantly Identifying Slack IssuesImagine you're the IT lead tasked with troubleshooting Slack for Barry, an employee reporting issues over the past six hours. Instead of digging through logs or manually cross-referencing events, Zscaler Copilot makes the process effortless.Zscaler Copilot instantly identifying the outage through natural languageWith a simple prompt like, “Troubleshoot Slack issues for Barry in the last 6 hours,” Copilot leverages ZDX’s powerful AI capabilities to run an instant check, analyzing all potential factors affecting Slack’s performance. In seconds, Copilot highlights everything from network health to application-level indicators, pinpointing the root cause of the disruption.This ability to ask natural-language questions reduces troubleshooting time and allows IT teams to proactively address issues before they escalate.Visibility Into the Slack OutageZDX also played a pivotal role during this Slack outage by quickly detecting a significant decline in user experience scores for Slack services. Leveraging the ZDX heatmap, IT teams could instantly see the geographic concentration of the impact. This level of visibility allowed service desks to determine that the problem was external—centered on Slack itself—rather than an internal network or device issue.ZDX dashboard showing the Slack outageAdditionally, according to insights from Zscaler Hosted Monitoring, Slack experienced a global outage, with all locations across Europe and Americas reporting 500 errors when attempting to connect to the service. Zscaler Hosted Monitoring is a proactive monitoring solution that continuously measures the performance and availability of critical applications by running synthetic transactions from Zscaler locations around the globe.Zscaler Hosted Monitoring identifies 500 errors globallyThe ZDX dashboard provided IT teams with the ability to quickly identify Slack as the root cause of the disruption, ensuring internal resources were not wasted on misdirected troubleshooting efforts.ZDX dashboard indicating Slack issuesProactive Monitoring with AI-Powered Root-Cause AnalysisLike every major incident, time and resources are critical when application outages occur. ZDX’s AI-powered root-cause analysis simplifies this process by automatically detecting and correlating potential issues across the entire data path—from the user to the application.ZDX automated root cause analysis identifies slack application issues in minutesBy isolating the Slack outage, IT teams avoided unnecessary escalations, reduced downtime, and maintained operational efficiency—continuing to ensure a seamless user experience for all other applications.Why Quick, Targeted Insights MatterThe value of tools like ZDX lies in their ability to deliver:Proactive monitoring: ZDX automatically sets smart alerts for performance changes, ensuring problems are identified before users are significantly impacted.Streamlined troubleshooting: Zscaler Copilot removes the guesswork, allowing IT teams to quickly troubleshoot and resolve issues in seconds by simply asking questions.Clear root cause identification: Advanced analytics identify whether outages are related to applications, networks, endpoints, or intermediate providers.When users began reporting Slack disruptions on February 26, ZDX monitored performance trends, providing actionable insights into metrics like HTTP response codes and application reachability. Simultaneously, Copilot offered human-like assistance, enabling IT to drill into specific incidents without wading through raw data.Making IT Teams Confident and EfficientZDX's capabilities empower IT teams with the visibility and confidence needed to differentiate external issues (like the Slack outage) from internal problems, saving valuable time and resources. By reducing mean time to diagnosis (MTTD) and mean time to resolution (MTTR), organizations can focus their energy on what matters—minimizing disruptions, improving user productivity, and maintaining trust with employees and stakeholders.Slack application outageWant to See ZDX in Action?The Slack outage is just one example of how ZDX simplifies IT challenges, turning complex outages into manageable events. Whether it's Slack, Microsoft Outlook, or another critical application, ZDX ensures IT teams are informed, proactive, and always a step ahead.Get in touch with us today or explore Zscaler Digital Experience via the ZDX Playlist on YouTube or the zscaler.com/zdx page. See how ZDX and Copilot can revolutionize your organization’s approach to performance management and user experience.Be prepared for the next outage—ensure your IT team is powered by ZDX to handle whatever comes next. Rohit Goyal (Sr. Director, Product Marketing - ZDX) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zero-trust-hospital-new-approach-securing-healthcare https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/zero-trust-hospital-new-approach-securing-healthcare Thu, 27 Feb 2025 19:42:28 GMT The healthcare industry is undergoing a major digital transformation. AI-assisted diagnostics, electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine, and wearable health devices are revolutionizing patient care, improving efficiency, and enhancing the overall healthcare experience. Just take EHRs, for example—adoption has skyrocketed from 22% in 2009 to 78% in 2021 among U.S. office-based physicians. Meanwhile, telemedicine visits surged by 85.9% between 2019 and 2021, largely driven by the pandemic.But with innovation comes risk, and in healthcare, cybersecurity risks are particularly high-stakes. The treasure trove of sensitive data held by hospitals—patient records, financial details, research data—is an absolute goldmine for cybercriminals. According to Trustwave, healthcare records can fetch up to $250 per record on the dark web—47 times more valuable than payment card information. That’s right, your credit card? Five bucks. Your full medical history? A small fortune.The Rising Threat of Cyberattacks in HealthcareHealthcare has become a full-blown battleground for cybercriminals, and 2024 has been one of the worst years yet. The numbers don’t lie—181 confirmed ransomware attacks hit healthcare providers, exposing a staggering 25.6 million patient records. And if that wasn’t bad enough, February brought us the largest healthcare data breach to date: the Change Healthcare attack. Hackers infiltrated the system, encrypted critical files, and made off with the protected health information of an estimated 100 million individuals. Let that sink in.But this isn’t just about data theft. It’s about patient safety. A 2024 survey found that 36% of healthcare facilities reported increased medical complications due to ransomware attacks. When hospitals go offline, the fallout is immediate—appointments canceled, emergency services rerouted, and life-saving procedures delayed. In critical care, minutes matter. Cyberattacks don’t just disrupt operations; they endanger lives.Let’s talk about money. The financial toll of these attacks is brutal. In 2024, the average ransom demand in healthcare hit $5.7 million, with organizations actually paying an average of $900,000 to get their systems back. But the real cost isn’t just the ransom—it’s the recovery. The average expense to bounce back from an attack climbed to $2.57 million, up from $2.2 million in 2023.The takeaway? Cybersecurity in healthcare isn’t just an IT problem—it’s a patient care problem. Security architects have to strike the right balance: strong enough defenses to keep threats out but seamless enough that clinicians can still do their jobs. Because if security slows down patient care, it won’t be followed—and that’s a risk no one can afford.Zero Trust: The Path Forward (But Not a Magic Fix)When we set out to write The Zero Trust Hospital for the Architects, it wasn’t just because zero trust is the industry’s latest buzzword. It was because healthcare desperately needs guidance on how to make it work.Zero trust in healthcare isn’t impossible, but it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. If you ask a hospital CIO, “Are you zero trust?”, you’ll get wildly different answers. The most common response I hear is:“It’s really freaking hard to do zero trust in a clinical setting. Our clinicians won’t stand for anything that impacts their workflow. It could affect patient care!”While I understand that perspective, it’s not entirely true. The real problem? Many just don’t know where to start. Before writing the book, I was at a healthcare event where a CIO described how their hospital responded to a ransomware attack.Their solution? Turning off the internet. But first, they had to give the stroke unit a one-minute heads-up.That moment floored me. Why wasn’t there a better plan to contain the blast radius? Why was the nuclear option—shutting everything down—the only available response?That’s when I knew: hospitals need a practical, step-by-step guide to zero trust.The Zero Trust Hospital: A Playbook for Healthcare SecurityThe Zero Trust Hospital: An Architect’s Guide isn’t a magical step-by-step manual that instantly makes your hospital zero trust overnight. Instead, it’s a jump start—a practical approach to moving healthcare organizations toward a more secure future. We cover:Least-privileged access, because too many people have too many permissions they don’t need.Microsegmentation to keep bad actors from spreading through your network like wildfire.Identity verification best practices, because stolen credentials are still the #1 attack vector.Sample policies and practical examples, because theory without execution is useless.A phased approach to implementation, because nobody goes from zero to fully zero trust overnight.The challenge with zero trust is figuring out where to start and what’s actually achievable. Can you ever reach true zero trust by NIST standards? Technically, yes. Realistically? Probably not—especially with legacy applications and internet of medical things (IoMT) devices that simply can’t be fully locked down.Security architects face a unique balancing act—protecting sensitive patient data while ensuring clinicians can still do their jobs effectively. It’s a daunting task, but here’s the thing:In today’s digital healthcare world, it’s not a question of if you’ll be breached—it’s a question of when.The best thing we can do is make those breaches as difficult, costly, and limited in scope as possible. That’s the goal of zero trust. Not perfection, but practical, achievable security improvements.In the next post in our Zero Trust Hospital series, we’ll break down exactly where healthcare organizations should start their zero trust journey—starting with securing the workforce. Stay tuned.Zero Trust Hospital eBooksGet your free copies of the Zero Trust Hospital eBooks today by clicking here. Steven Hajny (Healthcare Principal Sales Engineer) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/how-zero-trust-architecture-drives-cost-efficiency-and-modernization https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/how-zero-trust-architecture-drives-cost-efficiency-and-modernization Wed, 26 Feb 2025 19:44:55 GMT Government agencies are under increasing pressure to modernize IT systems, deliver cost savings, and enhance cybersecurity—all while navigating and maintaining legacy networks that slow operations and strain budgets. Legacy infrastructures, including MPLS circuits and hardware-heavy solutions, are proving to be not only expensive but also ill-suited for cloud-agile missions.To overcome these challenges, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is emerging as a transformative solution, enabling agencies to reduce costs, improve security, and embrace the digital demands of modern government. Here's how ZTA is helping agencies align with the modernization goals set by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and why it’s a critical step forward.The High Costs and Risks of Legacy NetworksTraditional network architectures like MPLS and telco-managed security solutions (e.g., MTIPS) are increasingly incompatible with meeting cloud-first missions. This legacy approach to networking impedes workforce productivity with slow, outdated pathways to applications and data. Additionally, legacy solutions expose agencies to cybersecurity risks, most recently the Salt Typhoon attacks, by failing to adequately inspect encrypted traffic or address sophisticated threats.The financial impact is significant. Agencies are forced to pour resources into maintaining expensive circuits and aging hardware instead of modernizing. Consider the financial impact agencies are currently facing:$90 million annually in MPLS circuit costs (and rising).$306 million over 12 years for outdated enterprise infrastructure.$50 billion over 15 years on traditional government-wide connectivity solutions.These inefficiencies represent a critical opportunity for transformation. By phasing out obsolete systems, agencies can deliver on their mission goals faster and cheaper, while at the same time bolstering cybersecurity.. Zscaler excels in these areas and is ready to make the Government more secure and more efficient. How Zscaler Transforms Government NetworksZscaler’s zero trust architecture eliminates the need for expensive legacy hardware and private circuits, enabling agencies to transition seamlessly to scalable, cloud-based solutions. A zero trust architecture delivers: Significant Cost Savings: Replace expensive private MPLS circuits with high-speed ISP connections for drastic reductions in IT spend.Zero Trust Cybersecurity at Scale: Protect agency data with real-time encrypted traffic inspection that blocks visibility from compromised ISPs and neutralizes emerging threats, while maintaining privacy and control.Cloud-Optimized Scalability: Move away from rigid telco-managed hardware and embrace flexible, software-defined solutions that scale with evolving mission needs. Our partnerships with industry leaders like CrowdStrike and Okta further extend security and operational capabilities.Zscaler’s Zero Trust architecture is already delivering measurable results for government agencies. Here are some highlights:85% reduction in security gaps through advanced threat detection and encrypted traffic inspection.50% faster onboarding, enabling secure access to mission-critical systems in half the time.50% reduction in labor support costs by simplifying operations and decommissioning legacy hardware.Increased workforce productivity through enhanced connectivity with faster, more reliable network performance.Savings of $306 million over 12 years by implementing scalable zero trust solutions.Tens of millions saved annually by eliminating MPLS circuits in favor of cost-efficient ISP connections.To learn more about how zero trust architecture supports DOGE goals while improving your security posture and speeding your time to mission download our whitepaper, “Efficiency in Government Delivered with Zero Trust Network Architecture.” You can contact our team to learn how we can help modernize agency connectivity, eliminate legacy infrastructure costs, and deliver better outcomes for citizens and your workforce. About Rob BairRobert (Rob) Bair is CISO in Residence at Zscaler. Prior to Zscaler, he served twenty years as an officer in the United States Navy. He served as a Director on the National Security Council / Executive Office of the President under two Administrations, including President Trump’s first term. Photo Credit: Airman 1st Class Philip Bryant Robert Bair (Zscaler) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/unlocking-secure-business-transformation-zero-trust-rise-sap https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/unlocking-secure-business-transformation-zero-trust-rise-sap Wed, 26 Feb 2025 16:30:02 GMT The global push toward cloud-first strategies is changing the way we think about business systems, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions are no exception. Recognizing this seismic shift, RISE with SAP and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) have formed a powerhouse duo, redefining secure and efficient access to SAP’s modern cloud-based ERP applications.In this blog, we’ll dive into how organizations can leverage a Zero Trust approach to supercharge their RISE with SAP migration, solving the challenges of outdated network-based access systems and unlocking the path to streamlined, secure access to SAP’s cloud ERP platform. Transitioning to Cloud-Based ERP is a Strategic NecessityThe evolution of ERP platforms into the cloud marks a significant shift in the way businesses operate. Modern cloud ERP platforms bring a massively simplified data structure, better reporting capabilities, enhanced user experience, improved productivity, and an agile, composable architecture that supports complete business transformation as compared to traditional on-premises counterparts. For businesses operating in dynamic, global environments, these capabilities are game-changing, enabling data-driven decision-making and rapid innovation. For SAP customers in particular, transitioning to SAP's S/4HANA cloud ERP has become an essential next step, not just an option.Organizations currently using SAP’s legacy ERP systems (SAP ECC) are facing an impending deadline. SAP has announced that ECC will no longer be supported after 2027, effectively placing enterprises at a crossroads. Recognizing this, SAP’s RISE initiative goes beyond being just a cloud migration service—it’s a full service business transformation solution designed to comprehensively support the migration to SAP S/4HANA.Challenges in Migrating to RISE with SAP When migrating to RISE with SAP, it is common for SAP applications to be situated across various cloud environments, including on-premises, managed clouds, and private clouds. Depending on the organization's specific needs and existing infrastructure, this allows for a hybrid approach during the migration process. The same applies to SAP users, especially with hybrid work becoming the new norm. Like many businesses, SAP customers were compelled by the pandemic to adopt significant cultural shifts, enabling employees and partners to access SAP applications from anywhere.Amid these two transformative trends, enterprises often encounter a significant challenge: legacy network access solutions. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), once the go-to standard for remote access, now struggle to meet the demands of providing secure and efficient access to business-critical SAP applications.Traditional user-based VPNs come with inherent drawbacks, including heightened access complexity, performance bottlenecks caused by centralized traffic routing, and an expanded attack surface that opens the door to unauthorized access and lateral movement. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is Redefining SAP Access with Zero TrustZscaler Private Access (ZPA) is natively integrated within RISE with SAP environments to provide secure, seamless connectivity to modern SAP apps. Its deployment involves provisioning ZPA App Connectors directly inside the SAP-managed environment, creating encrypted outbound connections to the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ (ZTE). This eliminates the need for hardware dependencies, legacy VPNs, inbound connections, or public IPs while enabling zero trust access for users.The integration is fully managed within SAP’s infrastructure, supporting hybrid cloud environments with dynamic scalability and high reliability. Through SAP-managed Kubernetes clusters and cloud-native architecture, ZPA allows for direct access without OS-level dependencies or hardware virtualization, ensuring efficient resource utilization, consistent SLAs, and lower overheads.Let's explore the key advantages of the ZPA integration with RISE with SAP:VPN-Free Secure Access: ZPA ensures safe, consistent connectivity to SAP apps from any location, eliminating VPN inefficiencies.Zero Trust Security: Grants access only to authorized apps, minimizing risks and attack surfaces.Seamless Cloud Migration: Simplifies transitions to S/4HANA with secure access during and after migration.Operational Efficiency: Native cloud deployment streamlines provisioning and reduces complexity.High Performance & Compliance: Adheres to SLAs and ensures data protection aligned with regulations like GDPR.Scalability & Continuity: Dynamically scales to workforce needs and ensures connectivity in low-internet regions.Better User Experience: Fast, reliable access enhances productivity, regardless of infrastructure changes.Embrace SAP’s Cloud ERP Future with ConfidenceAs the end-of-life deadline for SAP ECC looms closer, transitioning to S/4HANA and RISE is an inevitable step for forward-thinking enterprises. However, the journey to the cloud isn’t just about lifting and shifting applications—it’s about fortifying IT environments with cutting-edge security.By adopting Zscaler Private Access and its Zero Trust framework, organizations ensure that their SAP investments are secure, scalable, and built for the demands of the digital future. The result? A never-seen-before combination of innovation, resiliency, and performance—key ingredients for thriving in today’s business landscape.Your Next StepIs your organization ready to embrace the RISE with SAP journey? Learn how ZPA can transform your SAP environment and protect your most critical assets in this era of cloud-driven business transformation. For exclusive insights from a distinguished panel of industry experts on the transformative value of this business integration, watch our on-demand webinar, “RISE with SAP and Zscaler: Native Zero Trust Access for Employees and Partners”. Prateeksha Nagar (Sr. Product Marketing Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/asset-exposures https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/asset-exposures Tue, 25 Feb 2025 02:04:12 GMT Zscaler – it’s not just for zero trust anymore. Today, we launch our Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) platform, bringing you unparalleled capabilities in posture management. Zscaler addresses this age-old problem with a combination of unique datasets and unique data transformation.Organizations of all sizes and levels of sophistication have struggled for years to learn and manage their attack surfaces, challenged by questions such as:How many assets do we have? What are our biggest security gaps? Has that vulnerability actually been patched?Why has it been so hard to understand exposures? Companies run dozens of security tools, each of which provides helpful risk insights for a given domain, but all these findings sit in silos, leaving customers wrangling with spreadsheets and stale data as they try to synthesize information. Zscaler leverages its Data Fabric for Security to resolve this decades-old challenge. Connect to your identity, cloud, endpoint, vulnerability scanner, application development, and other security and business systems, and our Data Fabric ingests, transforms, and correlates that data to provide unique insights into your security posture.That Data Fabric powers three key areas of exposure management – in assets, with our brand new Asset Exposure Management application; in vulnerability prioritization, with our Unified Vulnerability Management application; and in Zscaler exposure insights and risk quantification, with our Risk360 application.Our CTEM PlatformCTEM provides organizations with a powerful five-step framework for identifying and addressing their vulnerabilities and other security gaps. Designed to be iterated over time, CTEM enables companies to mature their approach to resolving security gaps. (You can learn more about CTEM in this eBook.)Zscaler already provides posture insights across a wide array of digital elements. In many ways, the launch of this new cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) offering is the realization of our vision when we started these developments as Avalor, before our acquisition into Zscaler. We developed the Data Fabric for Security with the express idea that it would power a number of security solutions, and it’s gratifying to be here, less than a year post acquisition, introducing the third application onto the fabric. (The Unified Vulnerability Management application came in with our acquisition, and we ported Risk360 onto the Data Fabric a few months ago.)Our new Asset Exposure Management solutionOur latest application to run on the Data Fabric leverages many of the same pre-built integrations that drive our Unified Vulnerability Management application. Insights from your cloud security tools, your app dev tools, and your endpoint protection tools will also help you create a superset of all the assets running in your environment.Any organization, whether it leverages Zscaler for zero trust or not, can now use these collective insights to find and close asset security gaps before bad actors can exploit them. Our new application, our Asset Exposure Management solution, helps you:Create a holistic and accurate asset inventory: Integrate hundreds of data sources and the Data Fabric deduplicates the findings for increased accuracyIdentify coverage gaps: Correlate asset details to pinpoint misconfigurations and missing controls and ensure complianceMitigate risk: Automate workflows to address asset risk, by adjusting access policies for example, and enable data hygiene with auto updates of CMDBA powerful platform, without the typical platform trade-offsCustomers are drawn to a platform approach to security for a number of presumed advantages, including simpler implementation, consolidated purchasing, and cost savings.However, these platforms often come with downsides that can obliterate those advantages, such as:Mediocre functionality: Platforms often provide broad but not deep capabilities, so customers sacrifice best-of-breed featuresClosed architectures: Platforms typically integrate only with systems from the same providerSlow innovation: It takes a sizable company to support a platform approach to security, and big vendors tend to innovate much less quickly than startupsThe Zscaler CTEM platform defies these tradeoffs. Thanks to the unique architecture of the Data Fabric for Security, Zscaler customers get: Best-of-breed functionality: Our Asset Exposure Management and Unified Management applications offer industry-leading functionality, routinely edging out the competition in head-to-head bakeoffs with superior exposure insights, customizable risk calculations, and dynamic and customizable reports and dashboards.An open architecture: Our Data Fabric for Security already supports nearly 200 pre-built connections to third-party providers, and the data model at the heart of the fabric is extensible to support any custom data point or metric a customer wants to add.Rapid innovation: Because many key features run at the Data Fabric layer, we can build new applications quickly, since they need only those capabilities unique to the app. We’ve demonstrated this fast pace by rolling out our third application running on the Fabric today, just 10 months following our acquisition.Let us help you in your CTEM journeyWherever you are in your CTEM journey, and whether or not you use Zscaler for zero trust, we can help you improve your security posture. We put the power of risk insights, unique to your environment and continuously updated, in your hands, with robust workflows for mitigating such risk.We invite you to watch our launch, learn more about CTEM, and request a custom demo to see the power of our exposure management platform in action. Michelle McLean (Sr. Director, Product Marketing) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/uncovering-ai-toxic-combinations-how-defend-your-data-agentic-ai-and-rag https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/uncovering-ai-toxic-combinations-how-defend-your-data-agentic-ai-and-rag Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:13:56 GMT OverviewData is the lifeblood of modern enterprise applications. Large volumes of data have enabled modern businesses to generate business insights, improve ROI and deliver customer excellence. However, these insights and ROI benefits heavily rely on business sensitive information. In fact, according to a survey conducted by the Cloud Security Alliance, 89% organizations store business sensitive data or workloads in the public cloud. So far, most of these insights and analytics were powered via machine learning and well labelled data that was part of a strictly controlled data set, with a reasonable understanding of entity relationships in the data.That was until we got large language models (LLMs). One of the challenges LLMs have is they can be unpredictable. In most cases, their responses are designed to be non-deterministic, making responses from LLMs more interesting and, dare I say, human-like. Some of the side effects of these non-deterministic responses is that they can be factually incorrect and unpredictable. In the world of LLMs, these are known as hallucinations. To mitigate hallucinations, LLMs are effectively told to fact check their responses from a known data set (also known as a knowledgebase). This fact-checking process is known as retrieval augmented generation, or RAG. RAG works by retrieving search results from a vector database based on keywords and artifacts detected in the user prompt. The results/chunks of texts extracted from the RAG database helps the LLM to improve the accuracy of its responses and acts as a bounding parameter for the LLM. Figure 1: GenAI application integrated with RAG (Image Source: AWS) A RAG database is typically built on top of unstructured or structured enterprise data, such as a PDF, Word document, Excel sheet, etc. Figure 2: Sensitive data transactions to Azure AI FoundrySensitive data is rapidly moving into these services. Zscaler’s inline GenAI DLP capabilities detected over 53.7M sensitive data transactions to Azure AI Foundry within the last three months alone. Key Security Challenges of RAGAccidental Data Exposure Improper sanitation of data when feeding it into a RAG database can result in complete exposure of sensitive data. Our research detected that depending on the foundational model chosen and the type of vector database, the CSP provided guardrails is largely susceptible to prompt injection and manipulation. Here is a real-world example of what happens when you attach sensitive data to a RAG database:To test this, we created our RAG database about a fictitious persona “Johnson White”, including a significant amount of PII and highly confidential personal information and attached it our Azure AI search instance and then mapped it to our Open AI GPT-4o deployment in Azure AI Foundry.Depending on the content filter (guardrails) chosen, we got mixed results:Default out-of-the-box content filter – Figure 3: Response from GPT-4o with default content filter In the above scenario, the PII is requested initially by directly querying about the credit card data. The guardrails kick in and following some mild changespersuasion to the prompt, god’s data starts to trickle, exposing key sensitive information including PII and PCI data.After increasing the sensitivity thresholds for the guardrails: Figure 4: Response from GPT-4o with enhanced guardrailsWhile we barely had to manipulate the prompts with the default content filter, we had to get slightly more creative for the v2 filter, which did block data such as credit card numbers from getting revealed. However, in both cases, a significant amount of PII leaked out. 💡Key Takeaway - The best way to protect your GenAI data is to make sure it does not reach the AI services in the first place! Prompt filters and guardrails are not bullet-proof.Data authorisation issues: Cloud provides significant granular IAM access control mechanisms when it comes to controlling access to data stores. Enterprise security workflows are usually targeted around access governance of their data stores. However, the above scenario raises additional data authorization headaches for organizations as the same LLM could be leveraged by a person who does not have direct access to the data to obtain transient access via the LLM’s inference endpoints.Figure 5: Indirect data exposure and authorization bypass Data poisoning: If the source data embedded as part of the LLM knowledgebase is injected with malicious content, the results produced will most likely be malicious and could result in further AI supply-chain-related attacks and risks.Data boundary: The RAG data is not limited to your public cloud data stores. For example, AWS Bedrock allows you to connect multiple enterprise SaaS applications as the data source for your knowledge base. Figure 6: Cross-exposure of sensitive data via third-party integrations Cross exposure of sensitive data via the RAG knowledge bases can result in unintended exposure of sensitive data without realizing where the data is leaking from.In conclusion, RAG introduces several challenges that introduce several weaknesses that can completely compromise the integrity of an AI system. Combining RAG with AI AgentsAs we navigate the AI landscape, the attack primitives get even more interesting with the introduction of AI agents. Gartner predicts that by 2028, one-third, of GenAI interactions will use action models and agents to complete tasks and introduce actionability beyond the traditional chatbot. AI agents add the ability to extend its core capabilities by introducing additional toolsets that the LLM can leverage to perform actionable tasks. We are not only introducing the ability for the LLM’s to reach enterprise data, but also providing the ability to take user input and execute code! With AI agents, all roads lead to potential sensitive data!With AWS Bedrock, for example, agents can execute Lambda functions to perform additional tasks and while executing such tasks, parameters can be passed back and forth between the Agent and the Lambda function. This potentially can result in code injection and execution if proper care has not been taken. The threat model highlights potential risks associated with the various entities that are part of the AI Agent Figure 7: Threat model for agentic RAG systems Defending Against AI-Driven Data Risks Using Zscaler DSPMZscaler’s DSPM solution helps customers understand the reach of AI services into your cloud data stores that might contain sensitive data. Visibility into and control over AI data in motion Zscaler customers can discover and enforce control on the usage of private instances of GenAI cloud services in real time via leveraging the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™. Figure 8: GenAI dashboard to track sensitive AI data flowsCustomers can eradicate the source of sensitive data into the AI services by applying effective inline controls to block and isolate attempts of uploading sensitive data into the AI workloads in the public cloud. Visibility and Risk Assessment of Sensitive Data Exposed to GenAI at Rest in the Public CloudAI dashboards help customers understand the various AI services that have been deployed in the customer's cloud environment and what data can be accessed. The dashboard also provides visibility into the type of sensitive data that is potentially exposed to these services. Figure 9: AI Data Exposure Dashboard in the public cloud Out of-the box policies correlating AI posture and data exposureOut-of-the-box policies correlate the exposure of sensitive data to AI agents, the usage of foundation models and their knowledge bases and knowledge base data sources.Figure 10: AI Data Exposure and risk correlation policies Drill down to understand the AI access path and identify overprivileged accessZscaler’s robust data entitlement capabilities give you visibility into direct and indirect AI access. Customers can easily drill down to their cloud data stores to visualize what sensitive data the AI services can access and through which paths. Figure 11: AI data access path for intuitive investigations In conclusion, data security for IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS for both data at rest and data in motion are critical enablers for adoption of secure GenAI capabilities. For a deeper understanding on how Zscaler can help and empower your organization to navigate AI security challenges as well as elevate cloud data security, we invite you to schedule a comprehensive and tailored 1-on-1 demonstration of our solutions that deliver real, actionable results. Arnab Roy (Principal Product Manager) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/new-healthcare-triad-safety-cybersecurity-and-profitability-diagnostics https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/new-healthcare-triad-safety-cybersecurity-and-profitability-diagnostics Wed, 19 Feb 2025 17:47:35 GMT Let’s talk about numbers. Without diagnostic devices, the $4 trillion U.S. healthcare industry crumbles. These tools are the compass guiding clinicians toward accurate treatments and life-saving interventions. But in 2025, diagnostics face twin challenges: cyber threats that creep in like unchecked weather systems and cost pressures that ever-tighten the margins. At the same time, there’s no margin for error when patient safety is on the line. That's the tightrope we explored together at today’s session—"Remember Those Walls We Built? Well, Diagnostics Can Tumble Them Down."Under my moderation (Tamer Baker, CTO for Healthcare at Zscaler), three highly accomplished healthcare leaders shared their experiences navigating this razor’s edge. Naomi Lenane, CIO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, relentlessly digs toward safety without sacrificing innovation. Nayan Patel, CIO at Upson Regional Medical Center, balances rural healthcare access with cybersecurity on a lean budget. Robert Posner, CTO of AbsoluteCare, champions technological agility while managing high-risk, high-cost populations.Safety & Innovation: Strange Bedfellows or Cooperative Agents?One insight stood out early in our discussion: safety and innovation are not opposing forces; they’re collaborators. Robert explained how AbsoluteCare uses an AI-enabled fundus camera to detect diabetic retinopathy among its Medicaid population. The innovation wasn’t just an upgrade—it significantly increased adoption by delivering instant diagnoses, improving patient follow-through. In this scenario, innovation reinforced safety by addressing barriers to access and time-to-treatment.Naomi, managing the intricate web of oncology care at Dana-Farber, brought a contrasting perspective. While safety and innovation align conceptually, execution in oncology tends toward caution. This tension showed in her example of deploying an ovarian cancer risk assessment tool. Building the algorithm took a year of rigorous validation by nine specialists, prioritizing precision over speed. The lesson? In highly critical or experimental spaces, "rapid" innovation isn’t always viable; knowing when to slow down matters as much as knowing when to sprint.The Triple Threat of Diagnostic Devices: Cost, Compliance, and CyberIf innovation is about the what, cybersecurity and cost are often the how. Nayan highlighted the complexities stemming from loosely enforced procurement processes at his rural hospital. Vendors frequently appeared with shiny new solutions—often without looping in IT early enough. While his IT steering committee now brings critical governance, the real “aha” moment came when he framed this reality with a strong metaphor: If it plugs into the wall, it needs to pass IT oversight.Robert, however, warned that auditing devices is merely the baseline. At AbsoluteCare, all diagnostic technology must meet the organization's HITRUST certification standards—no exceptions. This proactive risk assessment protects patient safety and blocks any degradation of the clinical workflow. Leaning into system-wide cybersecurity frameworks ensures that tactical gaps don’t open wider strategic vulnerabilities.Still, cybersecurity alone doesn’t pay bills. Our conversation naturally gravitated towards profitability. Both Naomi and Nayan zeroed in on the importance of viewing diagnostic tools through the lens of total cost of ownership (TCO). It’s not just the upfront price of a device—it’s the downstream resource requirements, workforce impacts, and ongoing needs (e.g., cyber risk scans). Fascinatingly, Nayan referred to digital health leaders as “technology CFOs,” distilling how every decision we make balances budgets, business, and life-saving technology. It’s a title that captures where we stand—on the boundary of care delivery and financial stewardship.Regulating Innovation: AI & Diagnostics in the CrosshairsAll panelists agreed: Regulation hovers ominously over innovation, particularly as diagnostic tools incorporate AI. Naomi illustrated this beautifully with her cancer center’s internal AI tools, explaining how a newly established AI governance process hasn’t just become routine—it’s also intended to be rewritten annually. “[Unlike] our standard policies, AI governance isn’t static. It has to flex as standards and risks evolve,” she noted.For Robert, the approach is preemptive. By default, his team evaluates potential regulatory impact before rolling out new cybersecurity products, often relying on frameworks like HITRUST as proxies for future compliance shifts. Other panelists, however, reflected more frustration. Across the session, one theme emerged: rural hospitals suffer disproportionately when "one-size-fits-all" compliance regulations push baseline equipment and staffing levels out of reach. Naomi highlighted the need for inclusive policy-making, warning against assuming major academic health systems can represent the spectrum of American healthcare needs.But here's where our collective action plan emerged: Regulatory scrutiny and digital tools need simplification. Nayan closed out this section with a call to KISS (Keep It Simple and Sustainable) methodologies. While steering committees and oversight are essential, over-complexifying compliance processes only drives fragmentation and widens inequity.Final Takeaways: Building a Future That WorksSo, what’s actionable from this whirlwind discussion?Align All Stakeholders: Governance is baseline—not optional. Diagnostics should be treated as critical core systems, not add-ons exempt from IT processes.Measure Beyond ROI. Use not just financial metrics, but also clinical and workflow indicators, to refine and justify innovations over time.Invest in Education. Foster robust engagement with regulatory bodies and partners while building internal expertise. CHIME, ViVE, and local networks are invaluable here.Push for Transparency. Whether it’s AI models or simple data-sharing protocols, both vendors and organizations need to double down on openness. Transparency boosts trust—which is the currency of adoption.Diagnostic tools hold the power to revolutionize care, but only if we dismantle legacy siloes and replace them with frameworks that prioritize collaboration. In an industry as dynamic—and precarious—as healthcare, balancing safety, innovation, and profitability is more than a checklist. It’s how we shape the future.To my fellow technology CFOs, let’s keep building it. Together. Tamer Baker (Healthcare CTO) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/maximize-your-saas-investments-contract-management-feature-zscaler-business https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/maximize-your-saas-investments-contract-management-feature-zscaler-business Tue, 18 Feb 2025 17:59:07 GMT Zscaler is excited to announce the release of the Contract Management feature within Zscaler Business Insights. This new feature is designed to help customers effectively manage their SaaS application contracts, ensuring they are right-sized according to their usage levels and avoiding unnecessary costs. Customers can also leverage this feature to negotiate with their SaaS vendors for lower costs based on actual usage data. By providing detailed insights into usage patterns and contract terms, this new feature of Business Insights empowers customers to make informed decisions and potentially secure better pricing from their vendors. This can lead to significant cost savings and more efficient SaaS management. Why we built thisContracts are the single key resource when it comes to identifying what you have purchased as an organization. The challenges come with scale and managing this data in a way that makes it easy to find. Several solutions on the market address this need, like Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools. However, while CLMs make it easy to store and search this data, they do not pull out the important usage data that allows customers to make use of it for right-sizing.Many providers on the market have tried to go into this space, leveraging Humans in the Loop (HIL) to pull out the relevant data, but this approach results in an over engineered solution that is still prone to errors when it comes to pulling out important data, such as end dates and line items. Our customers have been vocal about their frustrations with the complexity and inefficiency of current contract management tools. They wanted a solution that could provide clear insights into their SaaS usage and help them make informed decisions. With Contract Management, we are delivering a powerful tool that not only simplifies contract management by automating the extraction and analysis of contracts but also provides actionable data to strengthen vendor negotiations and help reduce SaaS spend. This is a game-changer for businesses looking to streamline their SaaS management and maximize their investments. Some key features of Contract Management are:Diverse Licensing Models: Many SaaS providers offer various licensing and pricing structures, such as user-based licensing, pricing per GB of data, pricing per endpoint/device, etc. The new feature supports these diverse models, allowing customers to map different types of licensing into the ZBI UI. Centralized Contract Data: This feature provides a centralized location to store all relevant SaaS contract information, including order forms and purchase details. This centralization helps in right-sizing recommendations and soon, notifications for upcoming renewals.High-Level Metrics and Insights: Users can access high-level metrics such as Annual Contract Value (ACV), Total Contract Value (TCV), vendors, and upcoming end dates. This information is crucial for making informed decisions about contract renewals and adjustments.Detailed Contract Drill-Down: The feature offers a detailed drill-down experience for each contract, displaying important details such as buyer, seller, billing frequency, and more. This helps users understand the specifics of each contract and make necessary adjustments.Automated Processing and Mapping: The feature includes automated processing of contract data, with workflows to map contracts to applications and identity provider (IDP) data. This automation reduces manual effort and ensures that contract data is accurately reflected in ZBI.Cost Savings Calculations: By utilizing purchase order data, the feature can estimate cost savings based on average license costs and actual usage. This helps customers identify potential savings and avoid over-purchasing licenses.Audit Logs and Data Retention: The feature includes audit logs to track changes and a retention policy to manage contract data over time. This ensures transparency and compliance with data management policies.To get started with the new Contract Management feature in Zscaler Business Insights (ZBI), customers can follow these steps:Accessing the FeatureThis feature is available to all customers today from the ZBI dashboard. No additional plugins or integrations are needed. This is provided at no additional cost to existing Business Insights customers.Uploading Contract DataUsers can upload their SaaS application contracts directly into ZBI. The system supports various licensing and pricing structures, including user-based licensing, pricing per GB of data, and flexible license models.Mapping Contracts to ApplicationsThe Contract Management feature includes automated workflows to map contracts to applications and identity provider (IDP) data and via connectors. This automation reduces manual effort and ensures accurate reflection of contract data in ZBI.Viewing and Managing ContractsUsers can view high-level metrics such as Annual Contract Value (ACV), Total Contract Value (TCV), vendors, and upcoming end dates. This information is crucial for making informed decisions about contract renewals and adjustments.The feature offers a detailed drill-down experience for each contract, displaying important details such as buyer, seller, billing frequency, and more.Cost Savings and NotificationsBy utilizing purchase order data, the feature can estimate cost savings based on average license costs and actual usage. This helps customers identify potential savings and avoid over-purchasing licenses.The system also provides notifications for upcoming renewals, helping users stay on top of their contract management.Audit Logs and Data RetentionThe feature includes audit logs to track changes and a retention policy to manage contract data over time. This ensures transparency and compliance with data management policies. Get started today!Contract Management is a significant addition to Zscaler Business Insights, providing customers with the tools they need to manage their SaaS contracts effectively, optimize their licensing costs, and make data-driven decisions. With this release, Zscaler continues to enhance its platform, helping customers achieve greater efficiency and cost savings in their SaaS management. You can turn this feature on today if you are an existing Business Insights customer, and if you would like to learn more, please reach out to us here! Vivek Ganti (Director of Product Marketing) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/welcome-zero-trust-hospital https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/welcome-zero-trust-hospital Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:59:41 GMT In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare IT, the need for robust cybersecurity measures has never been more critical. Healthcare facilities continue to be high value targets for cyber criminals with ransomware attacks becoming regular occurrences. The impact of these attacks range from substantial financial cost to compromising patient care and eroding public trust. However, the need to modernize IT goes beyond cyberthreat protection. Zero trust as a security framework is becoming an operational imperative to protect data and deliver efficiencies without sacrificing user experience.The success of implementing a zero trust culture in healthcare organizations hinges on the collaboration between C-level executives and operational teams. This collaboration is essential for aligning strategic vision with practical implementation. Fostering a zero trust culture requires a strategic vision that aligns with the hospital's goals, such as enhancing patient care and safeguarding the hospital's reputation, and practical implementation, including deploying technologies like multifactor authentication and network segmentation. Leadership must address common challenges, such as resistance to change and concerns about increased complexity, through clear communication, comprehensive training, and a phased approach.To address this, we are proud to introduce the Zero Trust Hospital series, a two-book collection designed to guide healthcare organizations through the transition to a zero trust architecture. Each book is tailored to a specific audience, ensuring that both strategic and technical aspects are thoroughly covered.Zero Trust Hospital: The CXO VisionFor healthcare executives and CXOs, Zero Trust Hospital: The CXO Vision is an essential read. This book delves into the strategic, financial, and risk mitigation benefits of adopting a zero trust architecture. It emphasizes the importance of identity management as the foundation of zero trust and provides a roadmap for internally promoting the zero trust concept to the board and other stakeholders. Key topics include:Strategic Alignment: How zero trust aligns with the hospital's long-term goals and enhances its competitive edge.Financial Benefits: The economic value of reducing risks and improving operational efficiency.Risk Mitigation: Addressing stakeholder concerns and the anatomy of a breach.Enhanced User Experience: Improving productivity and user satisfaction through secure access.The book also dispels common myths about zero trust and highlights its transformative potential in healthcare IT, making it a must-read for any healthcare leader looking to secure their organization's future. Zero Trust Hospital: An Architect's Approach to Achieving Zero Trust in a Clinical SettingFor IT architects and technical teams, Zero Trust Hospital: An Architect's Approach to Achieving Zero Trust in a Clinical Setting offers a detailed blueprint for implementing a zero trust strategy. This book provides actionable steps and best practices to secure the workforce, sensitive data, workloads, and B2B relationships. Key strategies and practices include:Securing the Workforce: Implementing multifactor authentication and strong access controls.Data Security: Identifying and securing sensitive data, including healthcare research and clinical trial information.Workload Security: Ensuring robust security for all applications and services.B2B Relationships: Securing interactions with third-party applications and partners.Continuous Monitoring and Logging: Maintaining real-time visibility and control over network activities.Dynamic Policy Adjustments: Adapting security policies based on user and device context.DNS Encryption and Traffic Monitoring: Protecting DNS traffic and ensuring data integrity.Endpoint DLP Policies: Implementing data loss prevention measures at the endpoint.Proxy Architectures: Using proxies to enhance security and compliance.The book also addresses the significant risks associated with healthcare data breaches, such as financial losses, competitive disadvantages, and disruptions in patient care. By following the detailed blueprints and best practices outlined in this book, technical teams can effectively deploy and maintain a zero trust architecture, ensuring the highest level of security for their organization. ConclusionTogether, these two books provide a comprehensive approach to transitioning to a zero trust architecture in healthcare. While the CXO book focuses on the strategic and financial benefits, the architect's book offers the technical guidance needed for successful implementation. Whether you are a healthcare executive or an IT architect, the Zero Trust Hospital series is your go-to resource for securing your organization's future in an increasingly complex digital landscape.Pick up physical copies of our Zero Trust Hospital books, signed by the authors, at two premier healthcare events: VIVE and HIMSS. Or pre-order a copy of the eBook, dropping on February 16th. Tamer Baker (Healthcare CTO) https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/fortifying-federal-data-zscaler-s-endpoint-dlp-now-govcloud https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/fortifying-federal-data-zscaler-s-endpoint-dlp-now-govcloud Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:00:00 GMT In an era marked by rapid digital transformation and escalating cyber threats, safeguarding sensitive and classified information is more critical than ever for federal agencies. The relentless evolution of cyber threats necessitates advanced data protection strategies to ensure national security and public trust. Today, we are excited to unveil the availability of our cutting-edge Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution in GovCloud, setting a new benchmark for data security within the federal sector.Why Endpoint DLP Matters for Federal AgenciesFederal agencies are entrusted with safeguarding vast amounts of sensitive data, ranging from personally identifiable information (PII) to confidential government communications. The consequences of data breaches in the public sector can be severe, potentially compromising national security and eroding public trust. Endpoint DLP is a crucial tool in the fight against data loss, offering comprehensive protection by monitoring and controlling data at the endpoint level.What is Endpoint DLP?Endpoint DLP is a security technology designed to prevent unauthorized data transfers from endpoints such as laptop and desktop devices. It identifies and monitors sensitive data, enforcing policies to prevent data leakage or theft. By deploying Endpoint DLP, federal agencies can ensure that sensitive information remains protected, regardless of where it resides or how it is accessed.Key Features of Zscaler's Endpoint DLP in GovCloudComprehensive Data Protection: Zscaler’s Endpoint DLP provides robust protection for sensitive data across all endpoints. It uses advanced content inspection and contextual analysis to detect and prevent unauthorized data transfers.Policy Enforcement: With customizable policies, agencies can define and enforce rules tailored to their specific data protection needs. This ensures that sensitive data is handled appropriately, in compliance with federal regulations.Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts: Endpoint DLP offers real-time monitoring of data activities, with instant alerts for any suspicious behavior. This enables swift response to potential threats, minimizing the risk of data breaches.Seamless Integration: Our Endpoint DLP integrates seamlessly with existing security infrastructure, ensuring a smooth implementation process without disrupting daily operations.Scalability and Flexibility: Designed to meet the needs of federal agencies of all sizes, our Endpoint DLP solution is scalable and flexible, adapting to the evolving security landscape.Use Cases for Endpoint DLP in Federal AgenciesProtection of Classified Information: Federal agencies often handle classified information that, if leaked, could have serious national security implications. Endpoint DLP helps prevent unauthorized sharing of classified documents, ensuring they remain secure.Compliance with Federal Regulations: Compliance with regulations such as FISMA, NIST, and CUI is critical for federal agencies. Endpoint DLP helps enforce compliance by monitoring and controlling the flow of sensitive data, ensuring it is handled according to regulatory requirements.Insider Threat Mitigation: Insider threats, whether malicious or accidental, pose a significant risk to federal agencies. Endpoint DLP detects and prevents unauthorized data transfers by insiders, protecting sensitive information from being leaked or stolen.Data Protection During Remote Work: The shift to remote work has increased the risk of data breaches. Endpoint DLP ensures that sensitive data remains protected even when accessed from remote locations, providing continuous security across all endpoints.Incident Response and Forensics: In the event of a data breach, Endpoint DLP provides detailed logs and reports, aiding in incident response and forensic investigations. This helps agencies quickly identify the source of the breach and take corrective action.Benefits of Endpoint DLP in GovCloudEnhanced Security Posture: By leveraging Endpoint DLP, federal agencies can significantly enhance their security posture, protecting sensitive data from internal and external threats.Unified policy and visibility: With a centralized DLP engine, you get consistent, actionable visibility across endpoint, inline, and cloud.Faster incident management: Respond to incidents faster with workflow automation and in-depth dashboards and forensics.Lightweight agent: Endpoint DLP is a module in Zscaler Agent Zscaler Client Connector, reducing the number of agents required on your endpoint.Quick deployment: Get up and running quickly by leveraging your existing Zscaler DLP policies and controls.ConclusionAs cyber threats continue to escalate, the need for advanced data security measures in the federal sector has never been more pressing. Zscaler's Endpoint DLP in GovCloud equips federal agencies with a robust solution to protect their sensitive information. By offering comprehensive data protection, real-time monitoring, and seamless integration, our Endpoint DLP solution empowers agencies to secure their data and maintain public trust.Recognizing the unique challenges faced by federal customers, Zscaler remains dedicated to delivering tailored solutions that address specific needs. The deployment of Endpoint DLP in GovCloud underscores our commitment to enhancing data security for federal agencies. Together, we can forge a more secure digital future for our nation.For more information on Zscaler's Endpoint DLP and how it can benefit your agency, download the At A Glance or contact us today. Niraj Gopal ( Head of Product Management, Federal and Sovereign Clouds)