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In today’s dynamic, hyper-distributed enterprise, with users and devices everywhere, legacy access is showing its cracks. The old rules of engagement, and the tools built to enforce them, simply can’t keep pace. With a hybrid workforce and a surge in IoT devices, now we face users talking to machines and machines talking to machines, all outside the traditional network perimeter.
The natural question is: How do we truly ensure secure access without sacrificing performance or operational agility? Too many still rely on VPNs and network access control (NAC) systems, familiar tools from a bygone era that grant broad network access after login, don’t monitor behavior, and lack data protection. But what if these trusted mainstays are no longer your strongest defense, but your biggest liabilities?
The 2025 VPNs Under Siege report by Cybersecurity Insiders, supported by Netskope, confirms what many IT leaders already know: VPN and NAC are failing under the weight of hybrid work, cloud adoption, and IoT/OT expansion. No surprise, organizations are rethinking their access strategies.
Why traditional ZTNA isn’t enough
ZTNA was meant to provide a better alternative, but many solutions today fall short, offering fragmented coverage that only works for certain users, devices, or scenarios.
- Security and performance gaps: Most only support user-initiated access, leaving out server-initiated traffic like VoIP, remote assistance, or security scans, forcing organizations to keep risky VPNs.
- Static enforcement: Policies often fail to adapt to changing risk, undermining the promise of zero trust.
- On-premise vs remote divide: Traffic is often hairpinned through cloud brokers, creating latency and poor user experience for on-premise users.
- IoT/OT blind spots: Devices like cameras or HVAC lack advanced authentication, leaving admins with weak, spoofable workarounds.
The result? Fragmented tools, inconsistent policies, and mounting complexity, exactly what zero trust was meant to solve.
Universal ZTNA: Redefining secure access everywhere
Enter Universal ZTNA. As Gartner® mentions, “Universal zero-trust network access (ZTNA) is expected to grow to widespread adoption, greater than 40%, by 2027.” We believe, this adoption is accelerating. Why? Because the market has moved past fragmented, point solutions. Enterprises need a holistic approach to secure access, one that works everywhere and for everything: IT, IoT, OT, remote, or on-campus.
Universal ZTNA unifies policy and enforcement in a single framework, making least-privilege access real across every scenario. It continuously monitors identity, device posture, and risk in real time. In short, it’s the core platform for secure access in today’s hyper-distributed enterprise.
Netskope’s Universal ZTNA solution: Built for the modern hyper-distributed enterprise
Netskope’s Universal ZTNA solution, powered by Netskope One Private Access and Device Intelligence, delivers this unified architecture, ensuring you can consolidate and secure your entire access landscape. We’re taking a different approach, one that focuses on delivering the full value of a platform rather than fragmented point products. Our solution is centered on four core pillars that address the end-to-end needs of today’s enterprise: seamless user experience, operational excellence, maximum security, and expansion to all IT/OT environments.
1. Simplifying access with a user-first experience
Netskope One Private Access delivers a comprehensive, user-first secure access experience that fully replaces legacy VPNs and provides a strong alternative to NACs and VDI. It supports local brokers to eliminate cloud hairpinning for on-premises users and acts as a disaster recovery mechanism. Integrated with Netskope One Enterprise Browser, it also provides secure, clientless access with full data isolation.
2. Continuously optimized ZTNA
Netskope One Private Access redefines secure access with Netskope One Copilot for Private Access, an intelligent assistant that automates ZTNA administration and provides actionable recommendations. It accelerates the shift from VPN-like access to true least-privilege ZTNA by redefining application discovery and creating granular policies for newly accessed applications. This AI-driven approach enables security teams to move faster, reduce their attack surface, and scale ZTNA strategies effectively across large-scale environments.
3. Built-in threat and data protection
Modern secure access demands deep inspection and consistent enforcement to protect the private application landscape against evolving threats. Netskope One Private Access integrates foundational threat and data protection directly into private application traffic flows. It inspects all web traffic with advanced threat protection (ATP) and data loss prevention (DLP) controls. ATP stops threats like malware and ransomware, while DLP enables policy-based controls across unmanaged devices, ensuring sensitive data remains protected, regardless of how users connect.
4. Protecting enterprise IT/IoT/OT devices
Netskope’s Universal ZTNA solution secures not just users but every connected endpoint–IT, IoT, and OT–across branches, campuses, and factory environments. Running on the Netskope One Gateway, Netskope One Device Intelligence delivers on-premises IoT/OT security as an on-demand service. Using AI/ML, it provides context-aware visibility, cyber security asset management, continuous risk assessment, and granular device-risk-based policies enforced north–south through the Netskope One Gateway and SSE. Netskope’s unique SD-LAN policies seamlessly integrate with multi-vendor switches, access points, and firewalls, embedding intelligence across the network and dynamically enforcing AI-powered micro-segmentation to prevent the east-west spread of threats.
In a nutshell, Netskope’s Universal ZTNA solution supports a wide spectrum of scenarios that organizations struggle with today by providing a comprehensive solution that:
- Accelerates legacy retirement: Fully replaces outdated VPNs, and reduces reliance on NAC and VDI.
- Enables secure collaboration: Provides secure, least-privilege access for contractors, BYOD, and third-party users.
- Secures critical applications: Protects server-initiated traffic for applications like VoIP and SCCM.
- Extends zero trust everywhere: Delivers zero trust principles to challenging IoT and OT environments.
- Optimizes performance and resilience: Ensures fast, resilient performance through the NewEdge global network and built-in Digital Experience Management (DEM).
Why Universal ZTNA matters now
In the end, Universal ZTNA isn’t just about replacing VPNs or minimizing reliance on NAC; it’s about reimagining secure access for the realities of a hyper-distributed enterprise. With Netskope, organizations gain a single, adaptive platform that unifies users, devices, and applications under one consistent zero-trust model, whether in the cloud, on campus, or in a factory. The result is not only stronger protection and simplified operations, but also the agility to innovate and scale without being held back by outdated tools. This is the future of secure access, and with Netskope’s Universal ZTNA solution, that future is available today.
Ready to learn more? Download Netskope’s Universal ZTNA Solution Brief
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