Last month, some of the brightest minds at Zscaler and CrowdStrike teamed up to host Beyond the Perimeter 2023, the third edition of our annual security transformation series. The two-hour event showcased how Zscaler and CrowdStrike work together to secure the complex, modern work-from-anywhere world, and how context-aware security provides a real-time exchange of information so businesses can make smarter access decisions at scale.
In this post, we recap the event’s keynote presentation and the “fireside chat” with our joint customers; in a follow-up post, we’ll recap the technical and business breakout sessions.
Takeaway: Hybrid work is the future of your business
This year’s event kicked off with an inspiring keynote presentation delivered by Steve House, SVP, Product at Zscaler and Amol Kulkarni, Chief Product Officer at CrowdStrike. The speakers highlighted some intriguing statistics regarding the future of remote work: 77% of organizations see hybrid work as the future, and 85% of all organizations will be cloud-first by 2025. There’s no question that the modern workforce and workloads are quickly migrating to the cloud, but cybercrime is moving full steam ahead too. The presenters named four useful key metrics for analyzing the modern threat landscape: the time it takes to move laterally from one host to another, the shift away from traditional malware, the surge in interactive intrusions, and a dramatic increase in access brokers. Cybercriminals are getting faster, moving beyond malware, and putting tremendous pressure on security teams.
“Every organization has unique challenges. Zero Trust, if implemented properly, can help meet specific needs, and still ensure a fantastic ROI on your security strategy.”
—Amol Kulkarni, Chief Product Officer for CrowdStrike
With budget constraints, operational efficiencies, and vendor consolidation already impacting security decisions for many customers, the speakers outlined a compelling case for moving away from existing siloed point products that can’t communicate with one another and toward a comprehensive, consolidated platform, rooted in Zero Trust and leveraging context-driven security.
Takeaway: Leveraging context is how you get to Zero Trust.
CrowdStrike’s 2023 Global Threat Report shows that adversaries are doubling down on stolen credentials: The 2022 report revealed more than 80% of attacks in 2022 involved misused credentials, underscoring that context is critical when evaluating and securing remote users at scale. The speakers showed attendees how the CrowdStrike Falcon and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platforms provide deep visibility into users, devices, and locations, delivering superior cyberthreat protection by connecting users directly to their apps and identifying and resolving performance issues.
The speakers named the five points of context Zscaler and CrowdStrike leverage to accelerate Zero Trust protection: users, endpoints, networks, the apps users are trying to access, and where those apps live. This context, provided by the joint solution, gives organizations a wealth of behavioral data so they can apply least-privileged access controls, security automation, and continuous verification—the principles of Zero Trust—with confidence.
“We are proud to be part of the strongest partnership in security.”
—Steve House, SVP, Product at Zscaler
This approach minimizes the attack surface, prevents lateral movement, and arms companies with detection and response capabilities to threats in real time so they can safely automate workflows, apply adaptive access to applications, and share threat intelligence. The Zscaler and CrowdStrike integration has helped more than 900 joint customers secure their digital transformation, simplify operations, and improve user experience, including industry giants like Carrier, United Airlines, Mars, and Cushman and Wakefield.
“Carrier rapidly scaled global remote access for 26,000 users in just 9 days.”
—Steve House, SVP Product, Zscaler
Takeaway: This is radically transforming customer ecosystems today
Next up was a fireside chat with Anup Purohit, Global CIO of Wipro, and Wayne Fajerski, Deputy CISO at Edward Jones, guest speakers who dove into the specific challenges their organizations faced that led them to Zscaler and CrowdStrike to secure their Zero Trust journeys.
Edward Jones’ story is familiar: The pandemic expedited a shift to remote work, making fast access a priority for users anywhere, any time, and on any device. They needed to quickly get Zero Trust access for a sprawling network of more than 17,000 locations, 20,000 advisors, and 55,000 associates. Protecting these mostly mobile clients and safely providing third-party access required Edward Jones to quickly modernize its tech stack and improve its security posture.
Wipro needed to move away from a legacy VPN solution and modernize app support and connectivity, increasing visibility and access control for remote users and implementing SSL inspection for web traffic. With 95% of Wipro’s applications living in the cloud, managing multiple appliances on-premises had become costly and complex. Wipro needed to consolidate its tools, build a new cloud-native security stack, and secure its roaming users.
A steady increase in the adoption of cloud-based applications, assets, and workflows has left businesses struggling to provide real-time, frictionless login while protecting hybrid workers and enterprise assets. Zscaler and CrowdStrike enable organizations like Edward Jones and Wipro to confidently extend a true Zero Trust security posture across today’s sprawling user-access landscape, keeping them safe and productive.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will recap and share highlights from the two tracks - Business Track: Secure your digital transformation and Technical Track: Best practices for architecting Zero Trust strategies.
For more details or to watch a recording of Beyond the Perimeter 2023, click here https://info.zscaler.com/webinar-beyond-the-perimeter-2023
