Zenith Live Encore Highlights Resilience and the secure Future of AI

It was a privilege to join my colleagues on stage for Zenith Live Encore in London earlier this month at the Vision Hall in King’s Cross. Alongside Lee Langley we welcomed over 400 security leaders and innovators to discuss the convergence of AI and Zero Trust. The energy was palpable, and if you couldn’t join us, here is a summary of the key themes and discussions that defined the day. 

A year of bold transformation

The pace of transformation across EMEA over the last 12 months has been remarkable. We are proud to having been able to help a growing number of organizations fully embrace Zero Trust, consolidate their platforms, and effectively counter real-world threats. 

However, as we move forward, the lines between internal networks and the public cloud have become increasingly blurred. To navigate this evolution, organizations must shift their mindset. I am continually inspired by the boldness and innovation demonstrated by our customers, but we must all recognize that we aren’t just deploying technology for technology’s sake, we are deploying it to solve critical business challenges. 

Value over enforcement

In a session on Secure AI Innovations led by James Tucker, Head of CISO at Zscaler, we dug into the reality of AI adoption. There was a clear consensus: the implementation of AI is fundamentally a business process discussion. We need to move from application to finding genuine value. This means focusing on what brings the most time back to employees and identifying where the biggest vulnerabilities lie. Often, the simplest problems to identify are the most complex to solve, which is why bringing employees into the conversation is vital to understand what AI tools they are using to bridge these gaps. This insight is critical for mapping the true flow of data across an organization is a necessary step when we accept that the AI universe is in fact a data security challenge. 

Speed vs. security – can we have both? 

One of the day’s standout moments was our industry panel, “The Need for Speed (And Security): Enabling Agentic AI Innovation Without Hitting the Brakes”. Featuring insights from Zeki Turedi, Field CTO at CrowdStrike, Rob Hale, Principal EMEA Security Leader at AWS, and Yaroslav Rosomakho as Zscaler Chief Scientist. The discussion underscored that we are in the midst of the Agentic era and shifting from where AI simply automates tasks but actively executes them on our behalf. This means that we will face more adversaries and more threats than ever before, requiring our defenses to keep pace. 

As AI agents become more autonomous, the attack surface expands, making it even more of a challenge to enable innovation without wanting to take pause. For security leaders, this means we now need to find that delicate balance and apply a slight break to ensure that we can move at the speed of AI, while still maintaining robust Zero Trust principles. 

Zero Trust Everywhere

From disrupting new cyberthreats online, to hearing the real-world stories shared on stage, I feel even more assured that security must be woven into the very fabric of our digital future. And our mission – Zero Trust Everywhere, Powered by AI – is the blueprint for that future. 

But we cannot do it alone and none of this is possible without the trust of our customers and the dedication of our partners. Thank you for your continued faith in us and I look forward to seeing you all at our next event in January 2026 where we will demonstrate how organisations can accelerate their AI initiatives with Zero Trust.