Zscaler launches Zero Trust Segmentation

Cloud security company Zscaler has unveiled Zero Trust Segmentation, an approach to securely connecting users, devices and workloads across distributed networks. The solution aims to prevent lateral movement from ransomware attacks by turning branches into simplified environments and eliminating the need for firewalls, site-to-site VPNs or other more expensive security tools.

Each branch, factory and public cloud within a networking environment becomes a virtual island communicating directly with the Zscaler cloud security platform. The company’s Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform then applies business policies to securely connect users, workloads and devices to minimise the attack surface associated with public IPs.

The company said this approach can help improve the security of IoT devices and operational technology systems, which often rely on end-of-life operating systems with known vulnerabilities, leaving them highly prone to attacks.

The platform is also designed to standardise multi-cloud workload security for internet-bound traffic, communication between clouds and data centres, and between workloads and processes to further reduce an organisation’s attack surface.

Zscaler EVP of product management Dhawal Sharma said traditional network and security architectures enable the spread of ransomware, and using firewalls to segment business networks can be a very complex and costly task.

“Integrating advanced technology from the recent AirGap acquisition, Zscaler Zero Trust Segmentation now offers the most advanced, robust protection against ransomware attacks, which can be implemented in days,” he said. “Additionally, it delivers up to 50% cost savings by eliminating the need for legacy firewalls and complex infrastructures.”

The Zero Trust Segmentation platform currently supports AWS and Azure, with Google Cloud Platform support set to be introduced in February next year.

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