Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler Reviews

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler securely routes traffic from cloud workloads, such as applications running in AWS or Azure, through the Zscaler cloud for inspection and policy enforcement. In a traditional setup, Zscaler is primarily used for user traffic, but with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, the same security controls extend to server-side or workload traffic inside the cloud environment. For example, if application servers in an AWS VPC require internet access, instead of allowing direct outbound access, that traffic routes through Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler into Zscaler. This ensures that all traffic is inspected for threats, URL filtering policies are applied, and data protection controls are enforced. Another important use case is for east-west and server-to-internet communication, where visibility and control over workload behavior is desired, especially for compliance in industries such as banking or finance. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler also helps maintain a consistent security posture across users and workloads since both are governed by Zscaler policies. Overall, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler enables a zero-trust approach for cloud workloads by eliminating direct internet exposure and ensuring all traffic is inspected through Zscaler.

A specific example from a banking client involved application servers hosted in AWS that required outbound internet access for updates and API communication. Initially, these servers had direct internet access through the NAT gateway, which created a visibility and security gap since the traffic was not being inspected or controlled centrally. To address this, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler was implemented in the AWS environment. Routing was configured so that all outbound traffic from the application subnet was redirected through Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler into the Zscaler cloud. Once integrated, Zscaler policies such as URL filtering, SSL inspection, and threat protection were applied to the workload traffic. This ensured that even server-to-internet communication was fully inspected, similar to user traffic. As a result, centralized visibility and control were achieved, the risk of malicious outbound connections was reduced, and the environment was aligned with compliance requirements such as PCI DSS. Additionally, the architecture was simplified by removing the need for additional proxy or firewall appliances in the cloud.

Apart from outbound workload protection, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler adds value in controlling traffic in microservices architecture, where applications often communicate with external APIs or third-party services. Using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, this traffic is routed through Zscaler for inspection, which helps detect any malicious behavior or potential data exfiltration attempts. Another important use case is enforcing consistent security policies across both users and workloads. Instead of having separate security controls for endpoints and cloud servers, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler allows unified policies to be applied through Zscaler, which improves visibility and simplifies management. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler also plays a key role in compliance-driven environments, especially in banking and finance, where monitoring and logging all outbound traffic is mandatory for audit purposes. Overall, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler extends zero-trust principles beyond users to cloud workloads, ensuring that no traffic is trusted by default and everything is verified and inspected.

The most valuable features of Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler include centralized visibility and control. It allows routing of all cloud workload traffic through Zscaler, which means full visibility into what applications and servers access externally. This is very critical in banking environments where audit and monitoring are mandatory. The second key feature is unified policy management. Instead of managing separate security controls for users and cloud workloads, the same Zscaler policies such as URL filtering, SSL inspection, and threat protection can be applied across both. This simplifies operations and ensures a consistent security posture. Another important aspect is the ease of integration with cloud security environments such as AWS and Azure, without needing traditional firewall appliances, which reduces complexity and improves scalability.

These features make a significant impact on day-to-day operations, especially in terms of visibility, troubleshooting, and policy management. With centralized visibility, instead of checking multiple tools or cloud logs, all cloud workload traffic can be directly viewed in Zscaler logs. This makes troubleshooting much faster when users or applications report issues because it is possible to quickly identify whether traffic is being blocked, allowed, or flagged as suspicious. Unified policy management also simplifies operations since the same policies apply across users and cloud workloads. There is no need to maintain separate rule sets, which reduces configuration errors and makes policy changes much faster and more consistent across the environment. From an operational standpoint, it reduces the dependency on traditional firewalls or proxies in cloud environments, which means less infrastructure to manage, fewer points of failure, and easier scalability. Overall, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler helps the team be more efficient by reducing troubleshooting time, simplifying policy management, and giving better control and visibility from a single platform.

A challenge faced during the initial implementation involved routing and application dependency. After routing cloud workload traffic through Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, a few applications started failing because they depended on specific external services that were getting blocked due to strict policies or SSL inspection. To resolve this, traffic was analyzed using Zscaler logs, the exact domains and services being impacted were identified, and a controlled policy exception was created while maintaining overall security. This helped strike the right balance between security and application availability, which is very important in production environments. A key learning from this was that while Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler provides strong security control, proper policy tuning and understanding application behavior is critical for smooth deployment.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has had a very positive impact, especially in terms of security and operational efficiency. Before implementation, cloud workloads had direct internet access through the NAT gateway, which limited visibility and control over outbound traffic. After adopting Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, all traffic was routed through Zscaler, giving centralized visibility and full policy enforcement. One improvement observed was a significant increase in threat detection. The ability to identify and block suspicious outbound connections that were previously not visible improved the overall security posture. From an operational perspective, troubleshooting became much faster. Instead of checking multiple cloud logs, Zscaler logs could be directly used to analyze traffic behavior, which reduced incident resolution time. The dependency on traditional firewall appliances in cloud environments was reduced, which simplified the architecture and lowered operational overhead. Additionally, for compliance-driven clients in banking, it helped meet audit requirements by providing detailed logs and consistent policy enforcement across both users and workloads.

Measurable improvements were observed after implementing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. In terms of visibility and threat detection, a 25 to 35 percent increase in identifying suspicious outbound connections was seen that were previously not visible when traffic was going through NAT. From an operational standpoint, troubleshooting time reduced by 45 to 55 percent because Zscaler logs could be directly analyzed instead of checking multiple cloud logs. Dependence on additional security appliances in the cloud was also reduced, which helped lower operational overhead and simplified the architecture. In terms of compliance, better audit readiness was achieved with centralized logging and consistent policy enforcement across workloads and users.

While Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is a strong solution, one area that could be improved, especially for teams that are new, is configuring route tables, ensuring proper traffic flow, and avoiding asymmetric routing, which can be challenging, particularly in large or multi-VPC environments. More automated deployment options or guided configurations, especially for AWS or Azure, would simplify the onboarding process. Another area for improvement is better visibility at the cloud-native level, such as tighter integration with cloud logs or more context-aware insight for workload behavior, which would make troubleshooting even faster. Once properly implemented, it works efficiently and provides strong security and visibility.

In addition to deployment simplicity, improvements around policy tuning and documentation would add significant value. From a policy perspective, when Zscaler policy is extended to cloud workloads, it sometimes requires careful fine-tuning to avoid impacting application dependency. More predefined templates or workload-specific policy recommendations would help teams implement it faster with fewer disruptions. In terms of documentation, while the existing guides are helpful, more step-by-step real-world deployment examples, especially for multi-VPC or hybrid environments, would make onboarding smoother for teams. Tighter integration guidance with cloud-native tools such as AWS logging or monitoring services would further improve troubleshooting and visibility. From a support standpoint, faster access to best practice recommendations or reference architecture would help teams avoid common misconfigurations during the initial setup.

I have around 4.5 years of experience in the cybersecurity domain, primarily working with enterprise customers in the banking and financial sector, and in my current role, I handle end-to-end security operations. Overall, this experience has helped develop strong technical skills and a customer-focused mindset, where I act as a trusted advisor rather than providing support. Over these 4.5 years, strong hands-on experience in cloud security was built, especially with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, and work has been done on SSL inspection, traffic forwarding using pack files, policy creation and optimization, troubleshooting user access issues, and improving overall security posture while minimizing false positives.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has been quite stable and reliable once properly deployed. There have not been any major downtime or critical issues. Most of the challenges encountered were during the initial setup and routing configuration, but after stabilization, it has been performing consistently, handling workload traffic effectively.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler performs very in terms of scalability since it is deployed within the cloud environment. Horizontal scaling is easily achieved by adding more connector instances based on traffic requirements. As workloads grow, routing can be updated and traffic can be distributed across multiple connectors without major architecture changes. Since inspection happens in the Zscaler cloud, there is no need to worry about scaling the security infrastructure separately.

The experience with Zscaler support has been generally positive. For most issues, especially those related to configuration or troubleshooting, timely responses and useful guidance were received. In more complex scenarios such as routing or policy tuning, support provided best practices and recommendations, which made the implementation smoother.

Before adopting Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, the primary approach involved traditional cloud security methods, mainly NAT gateway combined with firewall-based controls for managing outbound traffic from cloud workloads. While this setup worked, it had limitations. Visibility on the outbound traffic was limited and policy enforcement was not centralized. Troubleshooting also required checking multiple tools such as cloud logs and firewall logs, which made operations more complex. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler was adopted to achieve centralized visibility and consistent policy enforcement through Zscaler. This allowed the same security controls such as URL filtering, SSL inspection, and threat protection to be applied to both users and cloud workloads. The switch was primarily driven by the need for a zero-trust approach, better visibility, and reduced dependency on traditional firewall infrastructure in the cloud.

The primary factor regarding initial setup is deployment and routing complexity, especially in larger or multi-VPC environments where ensuring correct traffic flow and avoiding asymmetric routing can take considerable effort. Another aspect is policy tuning for cloud workloads. Since application servers may have specific dependencies, it requires careful fine-tuning of policies and SSL inspection to avoid impacting functionality during the initial rollout. Additionally, while the platform provides good visibility, having more cloud-native context and tighter integration with services such as AWS monitoring tools would further enhance troubleshooting and insights. These challenges are mainly around initial setup and optimization. Once implemented properly, the solution works effectively and delivers strong security and visibility.

Before finalizing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, a few other approaches were evaluated, mainly traditional firewall-based solutions in the cloud and native cloud controls such as AWS security services. While those options provide basic security, they lack centralized visibility and unified policy enforcement across both users and workloads. Managing multiple tools can also increase operational complexity. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler stood out because it allowed the same security policies to be extended to cloud workloads, giving a more consistent and scalable zero-trust approach. In terms of stability, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has been quite stable and reliable once properly deployed. There have not been any major downtime or critical issues. Most of the challenges encountered were during the initial setup and routing configuration, but after stabilization, it has been performing consistently, handling workload traffic effectively.

A return on investment has been observed, especially in terms of time savings, operational efficiency, and improved security visibility. For example, incident troubleshooting time reduced by 35 to 45 percent because Zscaler logs could be directly used instead of correlating multiple cloud and firewall logs. The need for managing additional firewall or proxy infrastructure in the cloud was also reduced, which helped lower operational overhead and reduce support burden on the team. From a security standpoint, around 25 to 30 percent improvement was seen in detecting and blocking suspicious outbound traffic, which reduced potential risk and manual investigation efforts. Overall, while it did not necessarily reduce headcount, it significantly improved team efficiency, allowing more workloads to be handled with the same team and enabling faster incident response.

In terms of additional improvements, one small enhancement would be having more predefined policy templates for common cloud workload use cases, which would make initial policy tuning faster and reduce dependency on manual configuration. Regarding pricing and licensing, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler was part of the overall Zscaler enterprise licensing, so it was more of a bundled approach rather than a separate purchase. From a setup perspective, there was not a significant additional cost beyond the cloud infrastructure itself, such as compute resources in AWS. The value comes from the security capabilities it adds rather than from the licensing component. Overall, while pricing depends on the enterprise agreement, the solution delivers good value considering the visibility, control, and security it provides.

Before finalizing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, a few other approaches were evaluated, mainly traditional firewall-based solutions in the cloud and native cloud controls such as AWS security services. While those options provide basic security, they lack centralized visibility and unified policy enforcement across both users and workloads. Managing multiple tools can also increase operational complexity. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler stood out because it allowed the same security policies to be extended to cloud workloads, giving a more consistent and scalable zero-trust approach.

Organizations should plan the deployment carefully, especially around routing and network design. Understanding the traffic flow and dependencies upfront helps avoid issues later. It is important to start with a phased rollout and proper policy tuning rather than enabling stricter policies immediately. This ensures minimal impact on applications while maintaining security. This review has been given an overall rating of 8.

In our current organization, we have been using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler by Maiden Edge, Maidenhead Bridge for almost two and a half years. They are providing us specialized virtual appliances to simplify and secure connectivity between cloud environments. For our case, this involves AWS and Zscaler Internet Access, with a focus on zero trust and high availability, and it also helps with performance enhancement.

Our main use case for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is that we have been using it as a pre-configured virtual machine that we deploy on our AWS system with minimal networking requirements. This connector helps us automate Zscaler node detection and route selection, which reduces the manual configuration and operational burden for our organization's administrators. Management is quite straightforward through it being available with SSH and AWS System Manager. The appliance also includes built-in utilities for traffic monitoring and troubleshooting and log export to syslog. Our day-to-day use case is primarily that it helps us automate Zscaler node detection and route selection.

Automating node detection and route selection has helped us reduce the number of errors we were getting and made Zscaler more reliable and less dependent on Zscaler directly. Before using this solution with Zscaler, the Zscaler used to malfunction frequently, impacting our productivity. After implementing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler along with Zscaler, we have seen positive effects, saving time as well as resources, which has left a very good impression on us.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has positively impacted our organization by helping us in our cloud environment to connect our resources to Zscaler, ensuring that security policies are consistent with zero-trust access and increasing reliability by 28%. It has also helped us with site-to-cloud networking at high performance, optimizing performance and reducing the bottlenecks of cloud connectivity, saving resources and time by at least 78%. Additionally, it has automated workloads using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler's high availability and ensured that connectivity is uninterrupted to Zscaler, even during network outages or maintenance.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler offers multiple features, but the major feature I love specifically is automated Zscaler node detection, which helps detect any kind of problem first. Additionally, it is available all the time, providing high availability routing for seamless failover, which is one of my favorite features. It also provides Layer 4 routed bypass for TCP, UDP, and ICMP traffic, enabling granular traffic control that streamlines our services working with Zscaler. It has provided complete visibility of internal IPs on the Zscaler console, allowing us to monitor and troubleshoot whenever there is a problem, making things transparent and easy for us to monitor. The integration with SIEM or syslog enhances centralized log management for our organization.

I feel that they are doing great with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. If I need to suggest an improvement, it would be to simplify the steep learning curve, as it can be complex for newcomers without prior experience. Apart from that, I did not face any challenges with them in these two and a half years.

I have been working in my current field for almost 10 years.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler's scalability is definitely impressive, as it has handled growth and changes in our organization well. Whenever we have increased our employees and the number of users, it has contributed positively to our growth without any scalability issues.

We reached out to customer support three weeks back due to an issue where Zscaler got stuck, and they identified and solved the problem within 45 minutes, which is exceptional. I give them a 10 out of 10 for customer support.

Positive

The deployment of Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler in our environment is very straightforward with the option to pass configuration parameters via user data during initial setup. The connector integrates seamlessly with cloud-native services, in our case AWS, and it also works with load balancers, firewalls, and monitoring solutions, making the deployment straightforward and easy, with no challenges I remember in our organization.

The configuration process for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is excellent. We did not encounter any challenges, and it was very smooth. Even if it is complex, the team is always there to help, and customer service is excellent—always there to assist with deployment or configuration challenges.

We have definitely seen a return on investment with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, saving us money by at least 20 to 25%. In terms of time, we have saved at least 22 to 25% related to security and automation. The employees have become more productive and focused on the right direction.

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is definitely competitive. They provide us a good cost, and since we obtained it through AWS Marketplace, we are well supported in this area.

We did not use a different solution, but we have evaluated some alternatives, including Fortinet SASE, Cisco Umbrella, Netskope Security Cloud, and Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access.

Before choosing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, we definitely evaluated other options and looked at several solutions. We chose Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler because it is a scalable solution. Increasing the number of seats or users did not show any signs of crashing or lagging.

One more thing I want to mention is the built-in tools for testing and troubleshooting, which include traffic logs, TCP dump, speed test, and MTR.

Everything else is good. The user interface is very attractive and does not require any change.

If you are looking into using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, I recommend it highly if you are committed to Zscaler and want a very simple automated GRE and IP routing from Azure, AWS, or GCP, without having to manage tunnels or custom NVA designs yourself.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is a good solution that can help your Zscaler work better and secure your environment more effectively. It can also integrate with multiple cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, and GCP, making it a must-have solution for organizations based on my observation. I provide this review with an overall rating of 4 out of 5.

I am mostly using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler as a VPN only. If I want to access any company-related web apps, I am using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler for connection so that I do not want any third party to access my web apps. To explain how it works, consider that we are developing a web app which will hold financial-level information. On the organizational level, we do not want any of our competitor companies to access our web app even though they know the web app link. Because anyone can log into a particular web app using the username and password, which can be easily hacked, and they could be able to see our financial-related and recipe information because we are currently working for a CPG-related company. To restrict that, we are hosted in a very secure environment. To access our web app in that particular secure environment, we either need to connect to our office email or if I am accessing from home while working from home, I need some VPN to get connected. That is why instead of connecting to any third-party VPN, we have Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, which enables us to connect. The main use case is to restrict any other third-party persons from accessing our recipe-level information or financial-level information. We are using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler as a VPN so that we can be able to access the app securely.

The best features Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler offers are that even in our secure environment, we have a different region hosted, such as US and UK. Before that, we were using some private VPN, so we needed a US VPN separately and UK VPN separately. But now after using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, which becomes a centralized VPN, we are able to access the US-hosted app as well as UK-hosted app so that we can bypass using different VPNs for different regions. That is the main use case.

Regarding ease of use, to connect to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, we need our org ID. Whenever we are authenticating using our org ID, it is easy to connect to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. It is pretty handy and user-friendly. Once it is connected, we can be able to access all the apps which are hosted inside our private environment.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has positively impacted my organization. Previously, as I mentioned, we needed to connect to VPN every time separately. But now whenever we log into our VDI, we can connect to the VPN by pre-default because Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is already installed. Once it is already installed, we can access our apps directly without connecting to the VPN. Because of this, we are saving approximately 5 to 10 minutes of time, so that increases our productivity and screen time. If I want to access some information quickly, before it would take time because I would need to connect to VPN and open the app. But now because Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is pre-defaultly connected, I do not need to connect to any private VPN separately, so it reduces my time.

Previously, if a particular task was taking 10 minutes, now it is significantly reduced to two to three minutes only. We saved seven minutes of time in each and every task. It is actually an improvement.

Every improvement is already done on Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. We do not need any improvement on Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler because to be honest, I did not see any flaw on this. It is already working well. However, whenever I turn on or turn off and turn on my VDI, every time while opening, it will ask me to sign into Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. If you make the login pre-defaultly available in Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, such as one-time login is permitted, then it will be easy for me to access Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. Other than that, I am not seeing any flaw. It is already good.

I have been using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler for the past one year.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is stable.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler's scalability is good. It can handle growth and changes. It is very easy to scale also, and it is good.

I did not interact with customer support because I did not face any issues till now. Maybe if I get the chance, I will.

Previously, I used Trellix as my solution. But now I changed to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler because of its pricing.

Security-wise, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is good. As I mentioned, I am mainly using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler for security only. Governance-wise, it is also good and it is easy to set up. It is pretty easy.

I will say return on investment as time saved. It is saved from 10 minutes to three minutes now. I saved seven minutes on each task.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is handled by my organization only, so I do not know the pricing and setup cost. But I think it is very less compared to other systems.

I did not evaluate any other options before choosing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler.

My advice to others looking into using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is to definitely go with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. It is a good security connector. I would rate this product a 9 out of 10.

My main use case for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is that it provides security as a cloud connectivity security service that extends Zscaler Internet Access and Private Access to cloud-native workloads across AWS, Azure, and GCP. It is designed to secure workload-to-internet, workload-to-SaaS, and workload-to-private app communication without relying on traditional VPN, cloud firewall, or complex routing models.

One specific example of how I use Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler in my environment is that it secures cloud workload traffic and gives zero-trust connectivity across AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-prem environments without depending on legacy VPN or firewall-heavy design. This is the main use case of Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler.

The product has its own feature set, starting with extended ZIA and ZPA to cloud workloads, secure internet-bound traffic from workloads, enable app-to-app or app-to-private access connectivity using Zero Trust Exchange, and support AWS, Azure, and GCP deployment.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has positively impacted my organization by improving the ROI side, as it reduced tool and architecture complexity because it can replace or reduce dependence on VPN, virtual firewall, NAT, proxy tools, and other similar solutions. That impact is approximately a 20 to 30% reduction in cloud networking and security operation center efforts. Additionally, faster multi-cloud deployment, automation support, and official deployment templates help reduce rollout effort compared with building infrastructure from scratch. Furthermore, it provides better policy consistency across the cloud environment, improved visibility for SOC, and reduced risk from overexposed cloud connectivity.

The 20 to 30% reduction is an improvement in monitoring efficiency and is a reasonable estimate where my team currently depends on separate cloud-native logs and manual correlation from an effort perspective. From an example perspective, a SOC team can investigate workload access and egress behavior faster when logs are normalized and streamed centrally.

The best features Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler offers include extended ZIA and ZPA to cloud workloads, secure internet inbound traffic from workloads with capabilities such as SSL inspection, IPS, firewall control, and DLP by ZIA. It enables app-to-app and app-to-private access connectivity using Zero Trust Exchange, including multi-cloud and hybrid cloud use cases. It supports AWS, Azure, and GCP deployment and includes centralized policy and visibility, automated orchestrated deployment support, Azure Resource Manager, and a highly scalable architecture.

Out of those features, I find the strong zero-trust approach for cloud workloads to be the most valuable day-to-day because Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is designed around zero-trust connectivity, not legacy network extension. It provides inside-out connections through Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, which reduces exposure and avoids broad network-level access. For example, a workload in AWS can securely connect to a private application in Azure through Zscaler policy controls without building site-to-site VPNs or opening large network paths. This is a good replacement for legacy cloud networking components. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler positions itself as a simple alternative to legacy cloud VPN, virtual firewall routers, proxy NATs, and other tools. This is a strong advantage for organizations trying to reduce architecture complexity.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler can be improved because I find it relies on a VM-based connector model. While Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler simplifies traffic forwarding, it is still based on deploying virtual machine instances in a cloud. Some organizations prefer a fully agentless or native-embedded cloud solution. The best value comes when you already use the Zscaler ecosystem, so if you have anything other than the Zscaler ecosystem, it may not work optimally. It is tightly coupled with the Zscaler ecosystem, which is one drawback. Additionally, the learning curve for design and traffic steering is required because it supports several use cases including internet egress, private app access, and multi-cloud connectivity.

Another aspect I could mention is that executive reporting could be more business-focused, as that area is currently lagging.

I have been using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler for the last five years.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is stable.

Its scalability is good and it is highly scalable. Based on your requirement, you could go with either one cloud connector or two, which will depend on the criticality of your application.

The customer support for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is good.

Before choosing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, I have not evaluated any other option in terms of Cloud Connector, but I have worked on Netskope as well.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is good because whoever is buying Zscaler purchases it from an ecosystem perspective, so I do not have any other choice in that regard.

I did not purchase Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler through the AWS Marketplace; it is from a partner.

I have seen a return on investment from this solution, and I have already shared those details.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is good because whoever is buying Zscaler purchases it from an ecosystem perspective, so I do not have any other choice in that regard.

It is not about using a different solution for me. I am a customer support executive, so I need to support different customers and solutions. Based on the customer requirement, I give them different solutions. Sometimes it is Zscaler and sometimes it is Netskope. It is not about switching one solution to another solution for me.

While I do not have a surprise, I think others should know that consistent security policy across cloud and user is one of the most top use cases along with multi-cloud and hybrid cloud flexibility.

My advice to others looking into using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is that it is all about the Zscaler ecosystem. Whoever is using Zscaler knows Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler's importance, and they could use it from a centralized connectivity perspective. I have given this product a review rating of 10.

My main use case for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is to use it as a VPN. Instead of directly connecting to a separate VPN link, I connect to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, which acts as a VPN so that whenever I have a web app hosted in a firewall, I can access that particular web app via Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler only. I cannot access it using other networks.

This setup has worked well for me because my company has a different environment called DNA. Whenever a web app or any other resources in Azure are hosted inside that DNA, I need to use or connect to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler to access that particular resource. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler acts as a VPN, so only users with a particular company ID can access that resource. No third party can access it. Even if I try to access the web app using my personal laptop or mobile phone, I cannot access it. I can only access those particular web apps and other resources like Key Vault inside Azure using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler on my company's laptop only.

I find Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler pretty useful for my main use case on a day-to-day basis because it really helps us as a security firewall. I do not want any other third-party companies or competitor companies to access my web app and see what I have developed. I need to keep it secure and do not want other companies to copy my web app or see the confidential information available in my web app. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is pretty useful while connecting.

The best features that Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler offers include a great login feature because I cannot log into Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler without my company's ID, and it requires Okta verification. It is pretty easy and safe as well. No other person can access Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler on their laptop because it has some separate code to log in and log out, which is provided by the administrator only. Security-wise, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is very helpful.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has positively impacted our organization in securing a lot. Previously, there were many security issues. Before using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, around five percent of security breaches happened without our notice. Thankfully, our client noticed these breaches and found them before they became problematic. We wanted to ensure it does not happen in the future, which is why we moved to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. Everything is good, and it has been working well. From a security perspective, everything is good in Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, and our organization is mostly relying on Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler to safeguard everything.

One thing we can improve regarding Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is that every time I log into my laptop, it asks me to sign in to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler again and again. Perhaps we could change that login feature to reset once a month, but currently it resets every day. That is the one feature I feel can be improved; everything else is good.

I do not need any other improvement currently; everything is good aside from the login issue. I am okay with other things.

I have been using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler for the past one year.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is stable; sometimes there is downtime, but not every time. That obviously happens with every cloud security platform. Compared to Trellix, we have not faced much downtime with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, so it is generally okay. The team can look into the downtime issue.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler's scalability is good because we are currently handling Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler connections to multiple regions, so scaling-wise, it is working well.

The customer support for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is pretty good. Whenever I have issues and raise a concern, they resolve it within two or three hours.

We previously used a private VPN, but instead of using it, we are now directly connecting to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. We switched because we needed to connect to a VPN every time, and it was taking more time to connect. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, being on-premises and organization-level, offers more security compared to accessing the private VPN. Thus, we switched to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler.

I do not have much information about return on investment, but from a time saved perspective, previously when we wanted to access apps securely, we needed to connect to a VPN, which took around two minutes to connect. Now, with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, we do it in about thirty seconds, which shows significant time saved.

I do not have any idea about pricing because it is handled by the organization, but as far as I know, the cost of Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is similar to other security cloud platforms. Cost-wise, there is no difference, but protection-wise, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is very good.

We evaluated something called Trellix before choosing Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, but compared to Trellix, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is better, which is why we switched to Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler.

I rate Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler a nine out of ten. I reduce that one point because of the login feature only; otherwise, everything is good. From a security protection perspective, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler plays a major role, so I am giving it a nine.

I choose nine specifically because, as I mentioned, aside from the login feature, the rest is good. From a security perspective, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is very good.

My advice for others looking into Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is that it is the perfect cloud security system. If you have other options in mind, you should definitely give Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler a try because it is good. I have been using it for the past year. Even though I sometimes face downtime or other issues such as multiple login attempts, I still feel that from a security perspective, Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is good, so proceed with it.

While we are operating Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, we have noticed a radical drop in architectural complexity, along with a massive cloud infrastructure cost reduction and accelerated incident response times.

The cost reduction with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler happens because running traditional next-generation virtual firewalls in the cloud is incredibly expensive—not just because of the software licensing, but due to the massive instance size required to handle deep packet inspection and SSL decryption. Our organization saw an immediate drop in the cloud compute bill by offloading the heavy computational lifting, such as sandbox and SSL inspection, allowing Zscaler cloud and local CSC appliances to run on a tiny lightweight micro-instance. Additionally, it significantly reduces or entirely eliminates the need for expensive native cloud gateway process fees.

The best features that Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler offers are not just about the security checkboxes; they are about the operational sanity for cloud engineers and system administrators.

Managing cloud egress traffic using traditional methods such as virtual firewalls or complex NAT tables is famously tedious. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler makes things easier for cloud engineers and system administrators compared to traditional methods, which highlights why it delivers operational sanity. The route management nightmare is gone, and we get automated next-hop selection. We only select the next hop, and the manual tunnel management is gone. We use Zscaler API automation.

When we evaluate the governance and security for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, we find that it is highly advanced, particularly regarding how it tackles the shift from human users to autonomous, machine-speed AI workloads.

When evaluating the accuracy and reliability of output for Zscaler AI capabilities, specifically how it handles the traffic following throughout Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, we have to separate it into two distinct functions: AI-driven threat detection, which means analyzing the malicious traffic, and AI data classification, covering DLP and governance rules. Zscaler AI capabilities score incredibly high on reliability because they are built on a closed loop of data, but they face inherent limitations when dealing with the unpredictable nature of generative AI.

Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler can be improved by offering seamless OS upgrades while moving beyond reprovisioning, along with high-throughput burst performance and horizontal scaling.

They can also improve deeper cloud-native infrastructure as code error handling.

For Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler, improvements are needed for complex overlapping IP and non-HTTP protocol handling, as well as granular wildcard domain and bypass proxy behavior. The friction exists because admins need it. We have also noticed that when attempting to whitelist or bypass a root domain using the wildcard, the underlying proxy logic can occasionally act inconsistently with deep sub-URLs or complex, long-string hostnames, especially those exceeding 64 characters. If one sub-URL gets blocked, admins are forced to explicitly type out dozens of individual fully qualified domain names. The improvements they can make include a highly resilient, context-aware PAC, proxy auto-configuration engine built directly into the local appliance firmware that can cleanly evaluate complex regular expressions and long hostnames.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler reveals that the pricing can be complex since it is rarely sold at a stand-alone price. Instead, the licensing model is integrated and not separate. If integrated as a workload-specific add-on for a mid to large-sized enterprise, it often starts around 30k per year.

I choose eight out of ten for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler because it represents a tool that is highly successful and dominant in the specific category. However, it still has minor real-world operational friction points, keeping it from being absolutely flawless. In engineering terms, ten out of ten would mean a tool that introduces zero overhead, scales infinitely with zero configuration, and adapts perfectly to every single edge case out of the box. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler does not quite hit that utopian standard, but it scores an eight out of ten, which is a very solid score on a clear balancing act.

The best advice I would give to others who are considering using Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is to view it as a fundamental architectural shift, rather than just a plug-in security tool, because it changes how you design cloud networking from the ground up. I assigned a rating of eight out of ten to this product.

We use the solution to connect private applications in the data center or the SaaS applications on the cloud.

The solution is secure.

The connectivity could be faster. Sometimes, the issue is internal.

I have been using the solution for two years.

The product is pretty stable. It has a set of compliance that it follows. It is flexible. We can modify it according to our requirements. I rate the stability a nine out of ten. Sometimes, there are issues with the internet and cloud connectivity.

We have 500 users in our organization. The product is completely scalable. We can scale it up to 20,000 easily.

We contact the support team two or three times a year if we need to change some configuration. The technical team is good. The team works on our requests according to the priority levels assigned. The team calls us quickly if we raise a P1 request.

The tool is easy to deploy. We have to deploy the agent on the user’s machine. The agent takes 20 minutes to be installed. The tool is deployed in the data center. If the prerequisites are set up already, the product can be deployed in two or three hours.

It is a cloud-based solution. We need two support engineers and one senior resource with more than seven years of experience in networking to deploy and maintain the tool. We need one product manager for coordination.

The deployment can be done in-house.

The solution provides security. The users can access the application securely. The user experience is also good. The solution improves the latency and connectivity. When we connect through our legacy solution or VPN, we face delays. Zscaler is a fast solution.

Price is not a problem. We prefer Zscaler because it is a secure product.

We also evaluated Forcepoint. We did a POC and demo of the solutions. We evaluated the products based on the use cases and their performance. Then, we chose Zscaler.

Once the sales activity and upgrades were complete, we requested some licenses and started utilizing them. I will recommend the solution to others. Organizations must remove the bottlenecks and latency issues before converting from the legacy VPN connectivity to Zscaler. Otherwise, we will face some connectivity issues. Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

This solution is for hybrid users who work from anywhere. It's like an end-user firewall. We can have restrictions on the end-user. If they come to the office, we have the infrastructure set up, and we can restrict access. 

But if they are connecting to the office from a personal network, like when working from home, we don't have any visibility. That is where Zscaler will help us get control over the end user. Wherever they are, on any network, the organization policy will be pushed to the end-user.

It is very beneficial in preventing the end-user system from being compromised. It can give visibility on the end user's internet access. If the user is accessing any malicious content, suspicious things, or phishing attacks, those things can be mitigated by using Zscaler. Those kinds of traffic will be blocked. That is one of the advantages.

If there are any issues at the network level, such as users working from home, then it is very hard to catch up with them and resolve issues on the end-user machine. 

If the user doesn't have internet access because of Zscaler... Sometimes, it might be a rare case, but it is very challenging for us to take action because they don't have internet. It can be difficult for us to troubleshoot.

The user accessibility; it is better to improve that for control accessing and configuring. It's very complicated to do the configuration. The IT job is a little bit complicated. Those who have the experience can do that. It's not easy or handy to use this tool.

It has good stability, and it is very secure in terms of security.  

Scalability is complicated. I would rate it an eight out of ten. It can support more than 10,000 end users.

We have used tech support to solve some kind of issues, network issues, or any product-level issues. We used to connect with the tech support of Zscaler.

Sometimes we used to get faster support. If it's an issue with the product level, then it will take some time. That's also fast only. The support is good from their end.

We used to use FortiSASE from Fortinet. It follows the same zero-trust security access concept. It is also in the same picture. But if you compare it to Zscaler, Zscaler is better compared to FortiGate.

Zscaler is very secure, and it has more features, like application segmentation, where only trusted users can access limited resources within the private environment.

The deployment time depends on the environment and how many users are there. For example, for a hundred users, we can complete the deployment within two weeks.

It can integrate with multiple third-party solutions like Microsoft for authentication purposes, and Splunk, QRadar, and any antivirus solutions if they have them. It is feasible to integrate with third parties so that we can get access together to protect the end-users and the environment.

It requires around ten people, dedicated engineers, to manage this.

From the security perspective, it has a layered approach for the connector. But with FortiGate, it's like simply connecting to the network, and it doesn't have that much security.

It is a little bit too costly because of the maintenance and the product scalability. It is a little bit costly compared to other products, and it has more features compared to them. That is where the pricing seems more.

I would rate it a nine out of ten. It is recommended for hybrid users, where the work-from-anywhere concept is followed. It is very useful for them to get complete visibility on the end-user and to secure their environment by bridging from outside.