By Ryoji Itako, business development director for Japan and Korea, Acumen Intelligence
At Zenith Live ’26 Tokyo, Zscaler founder and CEO Jay Chaudhry delivered his first keynote speech in Tokyo, strongly emphasising the necessity of Zero Trust in the AI era.
He emphasised that traditional perimeter defenses are no longer viable because AI can scan networks in an instant, and the risk of immediate lateral movement after a breach has increased. He noted that “human users” – previously considered the greatest weakness – are being replaced by autonomous AI agents, causing the attack surface to expand exponentially.
This demonstrates that, given the explosive growth in attacks and the speed at which they unfold, human-based defenses are no longer sufficient. Zscaler reportedly protects 750 billion transactions per day.
As guidelines for security professionals, three approaches were presented: understanding the attack surface, accurately prioritising risks, and operating with confidence. This raises the fundamental question of how to control the risks generated by AI itself while leveraging it.
While interweaving humour to poke fun at non-integrated product suites, he outlined Zscaler’s philosophy – one that has consistently pursued architectural integration and Zero Trust principles since the company’s founding.
He explained that data, devices, users, and applications cannot be managed effectively if they remain fragmented; the platform must be integrated. This philosophy elicited deep resonance from the audience.
A suite of new features designed to address the emerging risks of the AI agent era – including AI Access Graph, AI Gateway, Endpoint AI Security, AI Guard for Apps, and AI red teaming – was introduced.
Finally, Jay shared a key philosophy he often emphasises – without learning, there is no knowledge and without knowledge, there is no certainty. And learning cannot be done alone. This means that we incorporate the learning of others – including partner companies – into our own knowledge.
Doesn’t this suggest that AI is making collaboration essential for both organisations and individuals?
