Dive Brief:
- Zscaler is looking to the channel for go-to-market support as it builds out its zero-trust cybersecurity platform, executives said Tuesday during a Q3 2026 earnings call for the three months ended April 30.
- The company deepened its global systems integrator alliances earlier this month through the launch of an AI security initiative called Project AI-Guardian, which tapped Cognizant, EY, HCL Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Zscaler also moved to acquire Symmetry Systems, an identity mapping and access control security platform, for an undisclosed sum.
- “AI is changing the nature of cybersecurity in real time,” Zscaler CEO and Chairman Jay Chaudhry told investors Tuesday. “Today, users are the weakest link in cybersecurity. But soon, AI agents will be the weakest link because they operate at far greater speed and have far less oversight. Even a single compromised agent can move from discovery to data theft in minutes.”
Dive Insight:
As enterprise software vendors threaten to unleash hordes of autonomous AI agents into the cloud, security providers are racing to stand up defenses.
“We expect it will not be long before millions of AI agents have access to organizations’ mission critical applications and sensitive data,” said Chaudhry.
Zscaler has fortified its Zero Trust Exchange platform through a series of acquisitions over the last year, adding Red Canary managed detection and response, Splx AI governance and SquareX browser security capabilities to its zero-trust portfolio. Symmetry expands the company’s coverage to hard-to-track AI agents.
Symmetry’s technology uses access graphs that map user interactions across applications and data sources, filling a gap in Zscaler’s coverage, according to Fernando Montenegro, VP and practice lead for cybersecurity and resilience at the Futurum Group.
“The Zero Trust Exchange is a mature enforcement platform,” Montenegro said in a blog post Wednesday. “What it has not had, until now, is the relational visibility layer needed to tell that platform what to enforce when the identity in question is an autonomous agent rather than a person.”
The acquisition was accompanied by a solid quarter in which Zscaler grew revenues 25% year over year to over $850 million. The company also saw annual recurring revenues for its cloud-based platform increase 25% to $3.5 billion, CFO Kevin Rubin said Tuesday.
“We closed Q3 with 748 customers generating more than $1 million of ARR and 4,003 customers exceeding $100,000,” Rubin added.
The company has benefitted from its GSI partnerships at the top end of the market and is courting value-added resellers and other channel firms to reach into the middle.
“The channel — especially the VAR channel — plays an important role in the low end of the market,” Chaudhry said. “So we are creating specific programs and incentives for new logos in that area.”
