Securing Zero Trust Access for a remote workforce with Zscaler and Vectra AI

Over the past few years, and even more so over the last months, networks – and the way we work – have fundamentally changed. Traditional network security that focused on the physical boundaries of our offices, specifically policies enforced with firewalls to control where users can go and what they can access using network access control, has become obsolete.

With over 70% of employees around the world working remote and companies anticipating it staying that way, this new distributed workforce is forever working outside the boundaries and control of the corporate office.

Filtering access through the implementation of virtual firewalls is cumbersome to maintain, and VPN throughput to corporate applications impacts the user experience and is easily circumvented by attackers.

Furthermore, VPNs allow access to the network, further granting bad actors the ability to move laterally and access additional corporate assets.

The need for improved secure access to corporate applications and data has never been greater.

Key benefits of the Zscaler and Vectra Integration

ZeroTrust access visibility

Zscaler ZPA allows secure access to business critical internal applications whether they are on-prem or in the cloud. Vectra continually monitors all interactions and accounts used, and identifies malicious intent from both account compromises as well as malicious insiders. This allows organizations to have full visibility into interactions on their network, and to take action to stop attacks before they lead to data loss or ransomware attacks.

Reduced risk

The Zscaler inline and integrated security stack combined with Vectra identity and network visibility significantly reduces attacker dwell time and the business loss caused by security breaches, malicious insiders, and downtime.

Increased SOC efficiency

Comprehensive visibility from workforce to network to applications provides a complete view of the threat landscape.Automatic prioritization of alerts augments your SOC, and one-click drill down and pivot between consoles, as well as cross-platform workflow, expedites investigation and response by up to 34x.

Access visibility

Full insight into how the workforce is accessing applications and from where, giving insights that can help scale infrastructure as needed.

Secure zero trust architecture

Ensure that only your workforce is accessing business-critical private applications and workloads by securing access and monitoring how accounts are being used once access has been granted.

Key benefits include:

• Over 70% of employees around the world are working remotely and companies are planning for a hybrid remote work model going forward.
• Zscaler and Vectra AI help to monitor and protect this remote workforce.
• A hybrid network security model that spans both cloud workloads and on-prem applications allow you to track and stop attackers earlier in the kill chain – all while keeping access to your applications available and easy for the entire extended workforce.

Why integrate Zscaler with Vectra AI?

To address these issues, Zscaler and Vectra have joined forces to offer organizations reliable secure, monitored access to business-critical applications through modern security-as-a-service platforms.

Modern cyberattacks often start with the attacker stealing or compromising valid enterprise accounts. These so called account takeover attacks circumvent preventative security solutions like MFA and provide the attackers with a starting point into a cloud service or enterprise network. Once access has been established, attackers move laterally to new accounts or between cloud and hybrid networks. Because of the nature of these attacks – leveraging valid accounts and multiple disparate services – traditional security solutions struggle to stop them.

To mitigate this, a better approach is to leverage Zscaler’s Zero Trust platform, enabling secure access to the internet and applications.

Combined with Vectra Network Detection and Response, the joint solution helps to monitor and protect the remote workforce. This joint solution of market leading NDR along with market leading Zero Trust platform makes the transition to this new norm easier, faster, secure, and manageable.By leveraging a hybrid network security model that spans both cloud workloads and on-prem applications in tandem with learning behavioral models that understand hosts and identities, it allows you to track and stop attackers earlier in the kill chain – all while keeping access to your applications available and easy for the entire extended workforce.

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