Zscaler this week added a secure access service edge (SASE) based on its existing cloud platform through which it provides access to specific applications via encrypted TLS tunnels.

Naresh Kumar, vice president of product management for Zscaler, said Zcaler Zero Trust SASE is based on Zscaler Zero Trust AI, a secure service edge (SSE) offering that leverages generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to make it simpler to create and enforce cybersecurity policies.

Finally, Zscaler is also making generally available a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) offering, dubbed Zero Trust SD-WAN, along with a set of appliances for connecting to its platform that replaces the need for separate firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs).

The goal is to make it simple to set up connections between end users and the applications they are accessing via a Zero Trust Exchange cloud platform provided by Zscaler that abstracts away all the underlying network complexity, said Kumar. The platform already collects 500 trillion telemetry data signals a day, which Zscaler is using to train AI models to continuously assess risk and provide copilots that make use of generative AI capabilities to, for example, help write policies and provide recommendations.

That approach, in addition to centralizing the management of networking and security services, eliminates any opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit insecure VPN software to compromise an IT environment, noted Kumar. In the event there is a breach, the blast radius of that event is going to be limited to an application that has been given access because of the way microsegmentation has been implemented across the Zero Trust Exchange platform, he added.

As more organizations commit to transitioning to identity-based zero-trust IT architectures to improve the overall state of cybersecurity, they are finding a need to centralize the management of an array of networking and security services. Zscaler is making a case for a platform that enables organizations to achieve that goal more easily via a cloud service that provides connectors for accessing a wide range of applications.

It’s not clear how quickly organizations are embracing zero-trust IT given the costs involved in making that transition, but as cyberattacks continue to increase in volume and sophistication, it’s clear existing approaches to cybersecurity are not up to the challenge. At the same time, organizations that want to leverage AI to help compensate for a chronic shortage of cybersecurity expertise will need a platform capable of analyzing massive amounts of telemetry data. Most IT organizations are not going to be able to collect enough telemetry data to train AI models on their own. As a result, it’s clear fundamental changes to the way network and cybersecurity services are provided need to be made.

Of course, there is no such thing as perfect security, but organizations will need to find a better way to adapt to tactics and techniques used by cybercriminals that are being continuously adjusted. The most promising approach for achieving that goal is to put in place a cybersecurity framework that makes it a lot simpler to verify who is allowed to access what at any given moment.