Zscaler - Experts & Thought Leaders

FireMon, the pioneering network security and firewall policy management company, detailed expanded support for Zero Trust microsegmentation across hybrid environments, including a deeper integration with Illumio and continued coverage for VMware NSX and Zscaler. By normalising, analysing, and continuously validating segmentation intent across network, virtual, and host enforcement points, FireMon helps security teams operationalise Zero Trust at enterprise scale. Firewall governance report “The future isn’t more consoles,” said Jody Brazil, CEO of FireMon. “It’s one policy playbook that proves control efficacy every day and the evidence to back it up.” Organisations using FireMon to unify segmentation and firewall governance report measurable outcomes, including up to a 90% reduction in compliance reporting time through consolidated policy data and faster validation and change reviews across the hybrid networks. They also eliminate blind spots between virtual, host, and network enforcement points, strengthening segmentation consistency, and overall control assurance. “Zero Trust only works when segmentation policies are governed and consistent across every layer,” Brazil added. “We’re giving teams one place to validate intent, spot drift, prove compliance, maintain least access, whether the control lives on a firewall, a fabric, or the host.” Making Zero Trust real with microsegmentation Regulators and industry groups are pushing beyond periodic audits toward continuous proof that controls work every day. While Zero Trust has become mainstream, many organisations still struggle to operationalise segmentation due to siloed policies and governance blind spots. Fresh telemetry from FireMon Insights found 60% of enterprise firewalls fail high-severity compliance checks on first evaluation and 34% fail at critical levels — failures that point to process and ownership issues, not just isolated misconfigurations. Unifying segmentation and firewall policy under one governance model directly addresses this challenge, allowing enterprises to prove control efficacy across every enforcement plane. Illumio label-based policies “The Illumio Platform is the enforcement engine enterprises rely on to stop lateral movement and contain breaches. As organisations scale segmentation across hybrid environments, they need governance that aligns host-level intent with broader network policy." "Our collaboration with FireMon enables customers to extend Illumio label-based policies into unified governance workflows, ensuring segmentation remains consistent, validated, and continuously enforced, strengthening breach containment,” Sarab Matharu, Director, Tech Alliances at Illumio. How host-level segmentation from Illumio Matharu added: “Our collaboration with Firemon gives organisations the visibility and governance they need to connect segmentation intent with enterprise-wide policy assurance.” This integration highlights how host-level segmentation from Illumio and centralised policy governance from FireMon combine to deliver continuous Zero Trust validation, from the data centre to the endpoint. What’s new Deeper Illumio integration (host-based Zero Trust Segmentation). FireMon ingests Illumio’s label-driven policies alongside firewall and cloud controls to: Optimise Illumio-defined policies to achieve least access, detect inconsistencies between network and host policies, validate segmentation against frameworks (e.g., PCI, NIST, CIS), and automate recertification and evidence collection across enforcement planes. NSX distributed firewall groups The result is a single governance workflow that keeps segmentation intent aligned from the data centre to the cloud to the endpoint. VMware NSX microsegmentation, modelled in context. FireMon visualises NSX distributed firewall groups and rules within the same hybrid topology used for physical firewalls, enabling conflict detection across virtual and physical layers, change simulation before deployment, and automated compliance checks for NSX-managed zones. FireMon has long supported NSX policy orchestration and visibility. Zscaler cloud-delivered Zero Trust, governed centrally. By integrating Zscaler policy data, FireMon extends policy visibility, risk analysis, and reporting to SASE and firewall-as-a-service environments, aligning user-to-app paths with on-prem and cloud controls, and reducing misconfiguration risk before changes ship. Operationalising Zero Trust with FireMon Unified topology and policy normalisation. See how access is permitted or denied at the network, virtual, and host layers in one console; analyse multi-vendor rules with a consistent schema for faster troubleshooting and safer change. Continuous compliance, not audit season. Run automated checks against control baselines, track exceptions, and measure time-to-remediate across firewalls, NSX segments, Zscaler policies, and Illumio labels with evidence on demand. Change simulation and policy optimisation. Design and verify segmentation and access changes before deployment; flag redundant, shadowed, or overly permissive rules to shrink attack paths and simplify audits. Scale across the environment. FireMon supports 120+ firewall and cloud platforms, so segmentation governance lands where teams already manage policy. Built for hybrid reality The integrations align with how operators run modern environments: Illumio for label-driven, host-level containment to cut lateral movement, VMware NSX for distributed microsegmentation in virtualised data centres, and Zscaler for cloud-delivered enforcement at user and app edges, all governed through FireMon’s policy management workflows.

Global cybersecurity pioneer AlgoSec has released its annual ‘The State of Network Security Report’ providing a broad view of network security in hybrid cloud environments, identifying the most popular strategies adopted by security professionals. The report sheds light on key market trends and highlights the solutions and technologies that are in demand and why, helping organisations to navigate the complexities of modern network security.       Based on two comparative surveys conducted in H2 of 2022 and 2023, AlgoSec’s research evaluated market leaders including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Check Point, Palo Alto Networks, Cisco and more, identifying significant shifts in cloud platform adoption, deployment of firewalls and Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), as well as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) implementation. Key findings Key findings from the report include: Security, continuity, and compliance driving cloud platform selection – When selecting a cloud platform, organisations prioritise seamless integration, compliance, and robust security features. While the overall adoption of cloud platforms has grown, the ranking of different vendors has remained relatively stable. Azure continues to be the most widely used platform, closely followed by AWS, which has shown the fastest pace of growth. The growing adoption of SD-WAN – The move towards remote working and cloud computing has been the catalyst for the increased deployment of SD-WAN, ensuring secure and reliable connections across multiple locations. That is reflected in the report, with a steep decline in the number of organisations that had no SD-WAN solution from 55.2% in 2022 to 34% in 2023. The rise in SASE adoption – With network infrastructures becoming more complex, SASE has become a popular solution for organisations, consolidating multiple security functions into a single, unified, cloud service. The report found the rate of SASE adoption has increased year-on-year, with notable growth of Zscaler implementation from 21.9% in 2022 to 37% in 2023, and Prisma access implementation from 16.2% in 2022 to 22.8% in 2023. The increasing importance of firewalls in cloud estates – With more businesses looking to secure corporate resources across complex cloud networks, firewall implementation has increased as a result, providing organisations with the means to safeguard against external threats. The rate of adoption has risen significantly, with only 7.1% of respondents saying they had no firewalls deployed in 2023 - a sharp drop from the 28.4% recorded in 2022. The persistence of hybrid networks – Despite the general shift towards cloud adoption, on-premise data centres and device rollouts remain a significant feature of the network landscape. Cloud-based network security solutions “According to our research there has been greater adoption of cloud-based network security solutions across the board,” said Eran Shiff, VP Product of AlgoSec. “However, there is still progress to be made in the SD-WAN and SASE space. By identifying the key trends and the most popular solutions on the market, we can provide some much-needed clarity into the complex world of network security.”

DigiCert, Inc., a pioneering global provider of digital trust, announced accelerated adoption of its Digital Trust solutions as the company closed a record total of new bookings in Q4 of its fiscal year as well as a record number of patents filed. Product innovation and key partnerships, coupled with the increasing demand for Digital Trust, were behind the strong customer demand. As the need for Digital Trust continues to rise – from quantum computing and connected devices to content provenance – DigiCert has accelerated its market position, driven record bookings, bolstered its executive bench, expanded innovation, introduced new products to market, and earned respected industry recognition. Consequences of innovation “While we experienced a lot of great momentum in fiscal 2024, we are even more excited about the opportunities we see for Digital Trust over the next 24 months as more and more organisations endeavour to become quantum ready, coupled with the growing need for trusted devices and content authenticity,” said Amit Sinha, CEO of DigiCert. “What we’re seeing is a crescendo of trust issues brought by the unintended consequences of innovation, and as a long-established provider of the foundation on which trust is built, DigiCert is well positioned to address these issues.” Key business highlights for FY2024 Closed largest bookings quarter in company history in Q4 Appointed Jugnu Bhatia as CFO and Dave Packer as CRO Published inaugural ESG report Signed new strategic partnerships with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, TD Synnex, and Deutsche Telekom Hosted first annual Digital Trust Summit in Vegas, where 300+ attendees convened to hear presentations from Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon Devices & Services, Zscaler, RSA Conference, and B. Braun, in addition to DigiCert’s executive leadership team Earned a Net Promoter Score of 76 Published 2024 State of Digital Trust Report and commissioned study on Preparing for a Safe Post Quantum Future Products and innovation Operationalized innovation and filed 32 patents, the most in the company’s history, bringing the total number of patents to 113 issued and 55 pending Launched DigiCert® Trust Lifecycle Manager, which includes Discovery, Management, and Automation, breaking down silos of managing trust across enterprise and brings public & private trust together in a way that hasn’t been done before   Expanded the offering in DigiCert® Software Trust Manager to combine continuous code scanning with policy enforcement and monitoring necessary to secure software supply chains Introduced DigiCert Labs that included a free PQC Playground to allow the industry to test NIST-recommended quantum-safe algorithms Launched CertCentral® Europe to support customer requirements for data residency Introduced DigiCert® KeyLocker, cloud-based secure delivery and storage of private code signing keys to comply with the new requirements issued by the CAB Forum Expanded pioneering authoritative DNS network to include an additional point of presence (POP) in Atlanta, enhancing performance for customers in that region Executed various CertCentral enhancements, including webhooks to better support automated workflows, and hosting for Verified Mark Certificates and logo files to speed deployment and VMC renewals Expanded DigiCert® Trust Lifecycle Manager support for third-party certificate authorities: Microsoft CA and AWS Private CA Industry and standards leadership Established the first unaffiliated root of trust for the U.S. EV (electric vehicle) infrastructure initiative (Plug & Charge) and ISO 15118-2 standard Eclipsed one billion televisions with CI Plus certificates in Europe Surpassed 180 billion DNS queries in a single day Completed EU Qualified audits and received certifications for CertCentral and the DigiCert ONE platform Accomplished first-ever DNSTrust SOC2 Audit successfully Successfully conducted 31+ compliance audits, pioneering the industry and showcasing commitment to global security and trust standards Garnered industry recognition including 2023 CRN Channel Chiefs, Top 100 Women in Security, and 2023 Globee Cybersecurity Award.