Productivity and Security On Any Device - now in Turbo Mode

Productivity and security must be complementary, but as we know, all too often, one contradicts the other. Security can slow productivity, while productivity without security opens up enterprises to risk.

Zscaler understands this and always strives for ever greater balance, most recently reflected in updates to Cloud Browser Isolation with our new Turbo Mode, Third Party Access innovations, along with continued advancements in threat protection for managed enterprise devices.

Introducing Turbo Mode

Security tools, for better or worse, have long been known to insert some latency into user experiences.  This is why we have long focused on improving the employee browsing experience in Cloud Browser Isolation. Case in point, we have now unveiled Turbo Mode across the globe.

See Turbo Mode in action, offering native-like web experiences 

Turbo Mode gives users a near-native experience, up to 50 frames-per-second, so users are focused on work -- never sluggish web experiences. This technology sends browser rendering instructions from the Zscaler Isolation platform to the local machine as a lightweight WebGL instruction set. The device's GPU then processes these instructions to render the web page locally, avoiding the need to stream each pixel of content.  The result?  Smooth web scrolling, GIFs, animations, and screen movements, providing a native-like browsing experience without compromising security.

Third Party Access - productivity and security from unmanaged devices

We frequently speak to organizations about how they can best support part-time contractors on their own unmanaged devices. These customers would like to avoid the expense of buying laptops for contractors, and can do without the additional management overhead of converting unmanaged devices into managed devices. At the same time, they are concerned about the lack of data security on unmanaged devices putting the enterprise at risk.

This is where innovation in Isolation stands out.

Zscaler Cloud Browser Isolation, part of our Third Party Access solution, delivers secure, agentless application access from unmanaged devices. It offers browser-based application access (for both SaaS and private apps) so employees can use the work apps needed for productivity. Browser isolation and data protection prevent risky user actions like upload and downloads, clipboard use, or accidentally sharing of data in motion from the browser.

Zscaler allows users to access necessary applications directly from their preferred browser, on their preferred computer without compromising data security.  And Turbo Mode ensures users have fast and smooth application experiences.

Making managed device protections even smarter

In addition to considering how to turbocharge user experiences and deliver seamless app access on unmanaged devices, we also wanted to bring more threat detection to web security for managed, enterprise devices. We wanted to do so in a way that complements URL filtering.

We have long relied on URL filtering as a key security tool that ensures safe browsing by regulating access to particular web categories like newly registered domains, suspicious domains, or productivity drains like sports or social media. This often works well, but at times, URL filtering may prevent access to some legitimate sites needed for work. for instance, a business partner's new marketing site that cannot be accessed given it is a newly registered domain, and that may be a risky URL category companies wish to block.

This places a burden on IT to manage numerous exceptions from employees who would like to access the site, which can detract from overall productivity.

For this reason, we developed AI-driven Smart Isolation, to automatically open risky pages in Isolation.

Smart Isolation enhances URL filtering by safely opening risky sites in isolation, reducing the need for overly strict blocking policies that later trigger IT helpdesk tickets to unblock sites, thereby streamlining internet access management.

Do you remember that legitimate partner marketing site that could not be accessed given it is a newly registered domain? With Smart Isolation, organizations can allow access to newly registered domains in URL filtering, but should any page present risk, Browser Isolation prevents web-borne threats from taking hold.  This works by detecting suspicious websites when analyzing the web page contents via TLS inspection and then opening the site in Isolation.

We deliver intelligent productivity with access to more of the internet needed for work, while maintaining a robust enterprise security posture.

Less VDI and no new browsers

Let’s consider third party access again. Zscaler knows that organizations often have to spend considerable sums of money to address this, frequently deploying VDI. We often assist customers seeking to move off of VDI given its cost and complexity.  Some customers have been quoted more than $1000 per user per year for VDI, a truly astronomical price.  What is more, it requires ongoing IT maintenance and provisioning.  

Additionally, some have considered buying and maintaining a whole new enterprise browser.  Not only must organizations find additional budget to purchase a new enterprise browser for all contractors and employees, but they must also convert 3rd party unmanaged devices into managed devices with an obligatory browser install.  What about data security? Teams must then carve out time to set up and manage a new set of data loss policies in the browser - which don’t pull from or integrate from existing data security tools.  Any policy gaps put data at risk.

Zsclaler not only eliminates the need for complex solutions like VDI but also ensures that enterprise-grade zero trust security is seamlessly integrated into the browser, making any browser at work an enterprise browser.

For more on the latest with Browser Isolation, contact your account team or get in touch here.