Zscaler acquires Symmetry Systems to extend its AI agent security capabilities

Zscaler Inc. is acquiring Symmetry Systems Inc., a venture-backed startup that helps companies monitor their data assets.

The companies announced the acquisition today without disclosing the financial terms.

Nasdaq-listed Zscaler sells cybersecurity tools that help enterprises protect employees from malicious websites, block phishing emails and fend off other threats. Its software can also mitigate cyberattacks that target artificial intelligence applications. The acquisition of Symmetry Systems will expand Zscaler’s capabilities in that area.

San Mateo, California-based Symmetry Systems has built a platform that can automatically create an inventory of a company’s data assets. It finds records across public clouds, software-as-a-service applications and on-premises hardware. The platform also supports air-gapped environments, sensitive systems that aren’t connected to the web for cybersecurity reasons.

After the software finds a new record, it generates a tag that describes the file’s sensitivity. Symmetry Systems also monitors data assets on an ongoing basis for changes and unusual access attempts.

According to the company, the visibility that its platform provides into datasets lends itself to a wide range of use cases. 

Cybersecurity teams can use the software to detect when ransomware attempts to encrypt sensitive records. If hackers steal a worker’s login credentials, the platform instantly determines what records may have been compromised. Identifying the impact of credential theft historically took days.

Symmetry Systems also promises to ease the work of regulatory compliance teams. According to the company, they can use its software to check whether files are stored in accordance with privacy laws and industry-specific cybersecurity frameworks.

The platform can scan, among other assets, the datasets that companies use to train their AI modes. It maps out the records that are used in a training run and determines whether they comply with data quality standards. Additionally, Symmetry Systems can help companies secure the information ingested by their AI agents.  

Agents often input data into third-party applications while processing a prompt. For example, a market research agent might enter a piece of information provided by the user into a third party search engine. Symmetry Systems’ platform can identify such potential data leaks.

Zscaler will use the platform’s AI agent governance features to enhance its Zero Trust Exchange product. The latter software creates encrypted network connections that workers and agents can use to access a company’s internal applications. According to Zscaler, the Zero Trust Exchange will harness the data that Symmetry Systems’ platform collects about AI agent activity to automatically fine-tune cybersecurity controls.  

“As enterprises rapidly adopt AI, the old playbook for governing access built around users and directories cannot scale to millions of AI agents,” said Zscaler Chief Executive Officer Jay Chaudhry. “With Symmetry Systems, we are adding the access graph that maps how every identity, application, and data source connects across the enterprise.

Zscaler expects to close the acquisition in the coming days.

Photo: Zscaler