Zscaler has announced its intention to acquire Symmetry Systems, a pioneer in identity mapping and data access for artificial intelligence security. Symmetry Systems’ access graph shows how human and non-human identities, applications, and data connect across the enterprise—the critical visibility security teams need to manage how AI agents communicate at scale with each other, applications, and data.
This access graph integrates business logs from SaaS applications, public cloud services, data warehouses, and AI systems. Through artificial intelligence, it correlates all this information into a unified map that shows which identities access which data, how they do so and under what context. Combined with the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, this visibility will become the foundation that security teams will use to create and enforce policies that govern how AI agents communicate with applications, data, and each other.
The new approach to identity directories
Until now, companies have managed user access through identity directories that group profiles and assign permissions on applications and data. However, AI agents break this model: they operate autonomously between different systems, use ephemeral identities and inherit permissions, while their number grows exponentially. This creates significant security gaps in terms of what data they handle, why, and on whose behalf. Policies designed for human users are not prepared to scale to millions of autonomous agents interacting with applications, data, and each other. According to both companies, a new approach is necessary.
Symmetry Systems and Zscaler aim to offer precisely that new approach by revealing which identities interact with which applications and data, while the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange will use those relationships as a basis for establishing policies: who can communicate, with what, and under what conditions.
For example, when an AI agent accesses a customer record, Symmetry Systems will immediately show what triggered that action, what identity the agent used, and what systems were involved. If risky behavior is detected, Zero Trust Exchange will automatically apply appropriate measures. Without this foundation, developing effective policies for millions of AI agents would be virtually unfeasible.
“As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, the traditional user- and directory-based access management model can no longer scale to manage millions of AI agents,” said Jay Chaudhry, president and CEO of Zscaler. “With Symmetry Systems we are incorporating an access graph that shows how all identities, applications and data sources within the enterprise are connected. That visibility will allow Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange to govern communications between agents, applications and data at scale, giving our customers the control necessary to safely adopt AI.”
Building on Zscaler’s strong AI security foundation, which already protects the enterprise with robust AI detection capabilities and runtime security measures, this acquisition unlocks a set of Zero Trust capabilities that have until now been impossible to deliver at scale:
- Deploy AI agents with confidence. Know exactly what each agent can access, what information they used and why, giving security teams the visibility needed to safely bring autonomous agents into production.
- Apply least privilege policies for AI. Analyze the permissions granted and used by human and non-human identities to define the minimum level of access required for each agent and enforce those controls using Zero Trust Exchange.
- Ensure complete data traceability. Track any data used by an AI agent, even when subagent and tool chains are involved, simplifying audits, investigations, and compliance reviews.
Symmetry Systems’ mission is to develop advanced security research that provides real value to customers.
- Detect and contain anomalies in real time. Symmetry Systems identifies anomalous agent behavior and triggers automated Zero Trust Exchange responses to limit exposure before an incident occurs.
- Calculate the potential extent of a breach. If an agent or identity is compromised, determine in seconds what data and systems could be affected.
“Symmetry Systems’ mission is to develop advanced security research that brings real value to customers, and Zscaler is a reference in both areas. We believe that the leading security platforms in the age of AI will be those capable of governing how information flows between identities within Zero Trust environments.
As AI reduces the relevance of traditional applications, endpoints, and perimeters, identities and data become the new control plane for enterprise security. In this context, traditional models focused on endpoints, applications or perimeter networks operate at an increasingly less effective level of abstraction. Together, Symmetry Systems and Zscaler are building the information flow network for the AI era,” concludes Mohit Tiwari, CEO of Symmetry Systems.
