Zero Trust Automation: Streamlining Reporting with Zscaler OneAPI

IT teams are increasingly relying on automation to streamline their workflows as they manage ever-growing numbers of solutions. Acutely aware of this need, Zscaler developed OneAPI (a single programming interface for the entire Zero Trust Exchange platform) to enable its Zero Trust Automation solution. As a result, customers can manage their Zscaler deployments programmatically (via code) without manually logging in to Zscaler’s admin interface. Thousands of security and network practitioners around the globe are already doing this, and are automating tasks like policy management so they can save time and focus on higher-value projects. 

Zscaler is constantly listening to customers’ requests and expanding OneAPI’s capabilities in order to address evolving needs. That’s why the company recently announced new functionality that automates the retrieval of Zscaler analytics data for third-party and homegrown tools. 

Why organizations need to automate their reporting

Building reports and dashboards is a significant undertaking for today’s network and security teams. That’s because they manage numerous tools that generate and process overwhelming volumes of data. 

All too often, retrieving analytics is a manual process that requires admins to log in to multiple interfaces, hunt down what they need, and copy and paste information by hand. Naturally, that makes it laborious to compile accurate, usable reports. Not only does this inefficiency consume valuable time that could be better spent elsewhere, but it also invites human errors that can compromise report integrity.

The fragmented nature of these workflows slows down critical reporting processes, making it harder for organizations to identify trends, address issues proactively, and make informed decisions. And with every new platform or solution added to an organization’s tech stack, the burden of managing analytics becomes more pronounced, and strains limited IT resources even more.

OneAPI for analytics

Zscaler’s Zero Trust Automation solution now features a powerful new innovation that enables organizations to programmatically retrieve Zscaler analytics data. In other words, customers can use OneAPI for analytics and automate their reporting; they can build the dashboards they need in the tools they want—without having to log in to the Zscaler admin interface. 

Designed for flexibility, OneAPI for analytics will allow security and networking teams to pull data from any Zscaler solution (whether ZIA, ZPA, ZDX, a connector, or something else) and into any API client (whether third-party or homegrown). In terms of supported data domains, it will enable the retrieval of analytics from categories like:

• Web traffic
• Cybersecurity
• SaaS security
• Zero Trust Firewall
• IoT
• Shadow IT

When using the solution, admins can take advantage of the same role-based access control (RBAC) that they leverage when using OneAPI for configurations. This ensures that analytics data can only be retrieved by the appropriate API clients. Similarly, every analytics-related API call is still logged and assigned a request ID to ensure visibility, control, and compliance. Additional functionality includes query caching that provides faster response times when performing repeated or related queries, as well as built-in data transformation capabilities that convert raw data into more consistent, readable formats. 

Overall, the above functionality allows admins to customize how data is collected and presented. This empowers them to automate the creation of regularly scheduled reports and dashboards, streamline the building of widgets that monitor their Zscaler deployments, query specific data for visibility or compliance purposes, and more. 

Wrap-up

OneAPI for analytics enables IT teams to simplify and accelerate reporting processes, making it easier to draw insights from Zscaler analytics data. By automating workflows that previously required manual effort, organizations can reduce complexity, save time and money, enable admins to focus on more strategic initiatives, reduce the likelihood of human error, and take an important step toward automating the full Zscaler life cycle. 

To learn more about Zscaler OneAPI and how it can automate your analytics, sign up for our upcoming webinar, Zero Trust Automation: Streamlining Reporting with Zscaler OneAPI.