Zscaler to buy Symmetry Systems in AI security push

Zscaler has agreed to acquire Symmetry Systems in a deal focused on AI security.

The acquisition will bring Symmetry Systems' identity-mapping and data-access technology into Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange platform. The combination is intended to help companies track how human users, software applications, AI agents and data interact across their operations.

Businesses are trying to tighten controls on AI systems as automated agents take on more tasks across internal software, cloud services and data stores. That has created a challenge for security teams, which have traditionally governed access through user directories and fixed permission groups.

Symmetry Systems' access graph is designed to show how identities, applications and data connect inside an organisation. It analyses access logs from software-as-a-service products, public cloud services, data repositories and AI systems, then maps which identities are accessing which data and by what route.

Zscaler plans to use that view as the basis for access policies covering both people and non-human identities. The combined set-up is expected to provide visibility into how AI agents interact with systems and sensitive data, apply least-privilege rules and detect unusual behaviour in real time.

Why it matters

The move reflects a wider shift in cyber security as companies try to manage software agents that act independently, use short-lived identities and inherit permissions from other systems. Those traits make them harder to monitor than human employees using named accounts.

Older security models do not easily scale to environments where millions of autonomous agents may communicate with applications, data sources and each other. In that setting, understanding the chain between an agent, the identity it uses, the action that triggered it and the data it touches becomes central to policy enforcement and incident response.

Potential uses include tracing data lineage across multiple agents and tools, identifying which systems may be exposed if an identity is compromised, and limiting access based on actual usage rather than broad inherited entitlements.

Jay Chaudhry set out Zscaler's view of that shift.

"As enterprises rapidly adopt AI, the old playbook for governing access built around users and directories cannot scale to millions of AI agents," said Jay Chaudhry, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Zscaler. "With Symmetry Systems, we are adding the access graph that maps how every identity, application, and data source connects across the enterprise. This foundational visibility is what Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange will use to govern agent-to-application and agent-to-agent communication at scale, giving customers the actionable control they need to safely embrace AI."

Technology focus

Symmetry Systems has focused on identity mapping and data-access analysis, particularly in environments where cloud services and AI tools create complex chains of interaction. Its software is intended to help security teams understand not only who or what accessed data, but also the context around that access.

For example, a team could see what triggered an AI agent to access a customer record, which identity it used and which systems were involved. If the behaviour appears risky, Zscaler's platform could then enforce a response.

The acquisition also shows how established security vendors are extending beyond network controls and endpoint protection into identity, data governance and AI oversight. As AI systems spread through large organisations, security providers are trying to position themselves around the flow of information between users, machine identities and business data.

Mohit Tiwari, who leads Symmetry Systems, said that is where the market is heading.

"Symmetry Systems' mission is deep security research that earns real customer love. Zscaler is an inspiration on both counts," said Mohit Tiwari, Chief Executive Officer, Symmetry Systems. "We believe the dominant security platforms of the AI era will govern how information flows between identities across zero-trust networks. As AI disintermediates applications, endpoints, and traditional network boundaries, identities and data become the new control plane for enterprise security. In this world, legacy security models centered on endpoints, applications, or perimeter networks increasingly operate at the wrong layer of abstraction. Together, Symmetry Systems and Zscaler are building the information flow network for the age of AI."

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to complete in the coming days.