Zero trust exchange platform innovations from Zscaler

Day 2 of Zenith Live ‘24, organized by Zscaler, started with zero trust exchange platform innovations.

Dhawal Sharma, SVP & GM, Product Management, Zscaler, welcomed everyone. Zscaler has a brand new, unified console for users. You can have classification of threats, and also see where a threat is coming from. There are actions taken for known and unknown threat files. There is also a look-in for advanced threats, sandbox threats, etc. There is another segment related to policies. Zscaler's footprint has been growing. 

You can also have a look at devices, and categorize them. You can set up different policies around those. We have brought all the policies in a single place in the Zscaler platform. You don't need to go to any different console anymore. We are also introducing a new CxO mobile app. 

Alex Philips, CIO, Nov, showcased the mobile app. The goal is to provide comfort, and that, everything is working fine. You also get an app experience. Internet traffic shows data centers and connectors. There is another tag for news, which brings up contextual information of your choice. We are working with many more features, and they will be coming up later.

Zscaler platform has zero trust access that starts with identity, added Sharma. Zscaler ingests signals and enforces adaptive access. Organizations have multiple apps. For a legacy app, you can use the existing app, and check. The platform has 100+ Zscaler signals. Some of these are built around device risk, etc.

Automation and programmability is another area. Zscaler is built with APIs. We are now introducing Zscaler OneAPI services. You get consistent identity and authorization, unified API expenditure, and scalable and secure. 

There is analytics and co-pilot, as well. This is expanding to all facets of the platform. You can proactively identify and resolve user performance issues. Co-pilot helps improve insights. There are also faster resolutions with ZDX and ServiceNow integration. ZDX can also proactively monitor apps and more. We are expanding to 100+ Zscaler locations very soon.

We are now transforming networking with zero trust. There are users, workloads, branch and campus, and IoT/OT devices. We are extending Zscaler private access to support VoIP, and more. We are also announcing support for legacy apps soon. There may be challenges on connecting with some business partners. We are expanding zero trust to business partner apps. We have also introduced zero trust networking for workloads. We are looking at micro segmentation. We are simplifying zero trust access and segmentation for SAP. 

Ben Nelson, CISO and Chief Trust Officer, FICO, stated that the company provides analytics software solutions for hyper-personalized experiences. FICO and Zscaler journey started from 2018. We have since moved to secure workloads in the cloud. We have introduced deception technology. We are doing agent-based micro-segmentation. Sharma talked about branch and campus. We are now transforming networking with zero trust. 

Naresh Kumar, VP, Product, Branch Connector, Zscaler, added that it really takes a lot to modernize a large enterprise. We are simplifying and securing branch networking with zero trust SD-WAN. 90+ customers have already deployed this. It still requires a router. 

We have an inline gateway for cafe-like branch office experience. ISP link management, app-aware path selection, and zero trust security are in one integrated appliance. No additional firewalls and routers are required. We are introducing 5G support, and extend to remote locations. This includes mission-critical sites. 

Brian Morris, SVP, Digital Technology Solutions, Gray, said they have 102 markets right now. Transformation goals include network modernization, simplification and cost savings, and consistent security policies. We are currently doing phased transformation. We have had significant savings in network cost, lower business risk, and better business agility.

Finally, zero trust for IoT/OT is also there. There is VLAN complexity and legacy device limitations. We have zero trust device segmentation. It builds a segment of one. No changes are required for switching and routing. It is done via agentless approach. AirGap product is available right now. We are introducing integrated zero trust gateway soon.

There was 40% increase in OT attacks over the years. We have reduced attack surface during triage. Segment of one allows granular control. Hence, we have four areas for zero trust segmentation. Zscaler offers platform to achieve more innovation.