The shift to hybrid work and cloud-hosted applications have changed how business resources are accessed. Users are using unmanaged devices over unsecured networks like public Wi-Fi to remain productive remotely or on the go, making the internet the new corporate network. This expands your one perimeter to thousands, making the castle-and-moat approach to security inadequate for protecting your users, applications, and data. Continuing to rely solely on perimeter-based controls introduces risks because network-centric defenses are bypassed for direct to internet access and ease-of-use.

Adversaries are taking advantage of the cloud rush Stuck between a rock and a hard place, security teams have done their best to shoehorn legacy security controls for today’s mobileand cloud-first world. The mismatch has been a win for adversaries. As organizations struggle to protect multiple network edges, doors are inadvertently being left open to malware, as evidenced from Zscaler ThreatLabz findings:

• Ransomware attacks have increased by 80% year over year.
• Multifaceted extortion techniques are on the rise, and double extortion ransomware has increased by 117%.
• Phishing attacks rose 29% in 2021 compared to 2020.
• 85% of organizations experienced a successful cyberattack in 2021.
• 63% of ransomware victims paid ransoms in 2021, encouraging cybercriminals to scale up their attacks.