Easy-to-Use GUI with Strong Endpoint Security and Browser Sandbox
What do you like best about the product?
The GUI is quite good and easy to use. It also helps with endpoint security, and the browser sandbox is useful for data loss prevention. The manual and OEM support were good as well.
What do you dislike about the product?
Implementation has some hassle at the initial stage and requires a lot of troubleshooting. There’s also a fair amount of work needed on the server side, including opening multiple ports and whitelisting URLs.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
An end user was able to paste company data directly into the browser, and we didn’t have visibility into who did it. It would also help to have an option to disable clipboard access from the host to the browser.
Convenient Access Makes This a Standout Choice
What do you like best about the product?
What I like best about Zscaler Internet Access is its cloud-native security approach, which allows users to access the internet securely from anywhere without relying on traditional on-premise hardware. It provides strong protection against threats while maintaining good performance, and the centralized management makes it easy to enforce consistent security policies across all users and devices.
What do you dislike about the product?
What I dislike about Zscaler Internet Access is that initial setup and policy configuration can be complex, especially for new users. Troubleshooting can sometimes be challenging due to limited visibility into traffic flows, and occasional latency may be noticed when traffic is routed through the cloud. Additionally, licensing and pricing can be expensive for smaller organizations.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Zscaler Internet Access solves the problem of securing internet traffic for a distributed workforce without relying on traditional perimeter-based security. By moving security controls to the cloud, it protects users from web-based threats, malware, and data loss regardless of location. This benefits me by providing consistent security, reduced reliance on VPNs and on-premise hardware, improved visibility into internet usage, and simpler management of security policies across the organization.
Cloud security has transformed remote access and now supports zero trust for all users
What is our primary use case?
Zscaler Internet Access provides secure internet access for users without relying on a traditional on-premises firewall. It helps enforce security policy, protect users from malicious websites, control app access, and ensure visibility across all user internet traffic, regardless of location. Several components and features are available, including Zscaler Cloud and Zscaler Trust Exchange, which function as inline internet security enforcement points, along with user traffic forwarding mechanisms. These forwarding methods include Zscaler Client Connector (GCC) for remote hybrid roaming users, GRE and IPsec for branch offices and data centers, PAC files for legacy proxy environments, and explicit proxy for controlled environments. Additional components include the policy engine, threat protection stacks, and logging analytics. The features and components also function as a Secure Web Gateway, cloud firewall, advanced threat protections, cloud sandbox, DNS security, data loss prevention, and browser isolation, which is a recently added feature.
A good example of how my team uses Zscaler Internet Access is enabling secure remote access for users working from home. Instead of directing traffic through different data centers, Zscaler Internet Access allows us to apply the same security inspections and policy directly from the cloud, significantly improving both performance and security.
What is most valuable?
The best features Zscaler Internet Access offers are Secure Web Gateway, URL filtering, SSL inspections, and policy-based access control. I find myself relying on Secure Web Gateway, URL filtering, SSL inspection, and policy-based access control the most because these are the main and top-most features I use regularly. Zscaler Internet Access has all of these types of features for securing all internet access and web inspections, allowing me to control all traffic through these features.
Zscaler Internet Access features include a Secure Web Gateway for URL filtering, file type control, and inline SSL inspections. The second feature is a cloud firewall with Layer 3 to Layer 7 filtering control and stateful inspections. No hardware inspection or hardware firewall is required. I can also perform segmentations by users, location, and application. There is a cloud CASB solution available as well. Additionally, there is an advanced threat protection feature with signature-based behavioral detections, inline IPS, and zero-day threat protections. The cloud sandboxing solution scans unknown files and provides machine learning-based verdicts to prevent zero-day malware delivery in my environment. There is also a DNS security feature that provides DNS tunneling detections, malicious domain controls, and faster threat containment at the DNS layer. The data protection feature includes inline DLP and CASB-style cloud app control, data sovereignty enforcement, and browser isolation, which executes risky sites in isolated cloud browsers and prevents endpoint compromises.
Zscaler Internet Access has positively impacted my organization by reducing the dependency on on-premises hardware and improving security posture, enabling faster user onboarding, and providing better performance for remote users. It has resulted in a drop in security incidents related to web threats and improved visibility into user activity. An area for improvement includes fine-grained troubleshooting tools, better policy simulations, and optimizations around initial configuration complexity.
What needs improvement?
The admin UI and documentation for Zscaler Internet Access could be more intuitive for new users, specifically during initial rollout and advanced policy design.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zscaler Internet Access for three to four years in a production environment.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using Zscaler Internet Access is to switch from traditional firewall and proxy-based solutions to Zscaler Internet Access to better support cloud and remote work environments. I recommend evaluating other cloud security and Secure Web Gateway solutions, but Zscaler Internet Access stood out for its maturity, scalability, and global reach. Zscaler Internet Access is a strong, enterprise-ready cloud security solution that fits well with modern distributed IT environments and Zero Trust strategies, which will help much when evaluating all of these solutions. I give this product a rating of 9.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Robust Security with Some Latency Concerns
What do you like best about the product?
I appreciate the URL Filtering Policies since they allow or block connections based on URL, domain, or IP, offering granular control over websites and reducing the risk of accessing blocked URLs. I also value the Cloud App Control Policies, which help us manage cloud apps like social media and webmail with detailed control, such as allowing view access while blocking upload or download, aiding in data leak prevention. The Firewall Management is another feature I like, as it lets us manage outbound connections at the port, protocol, and application levels without needing hardware appliances.
What do you dislike about the product?
Latency across different regions is the only drawback we have. Takes at least 1 to 2 months to implement if you are a global company.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Zscaler Internet Access for centralized web access management to ensure safe and compliant internet traffic. It protects against malicious websites and phishing. URL filtering, cloud app control, and firewall management enhance security and provide granular control, reducing risks and preventing data leaks.
Robust Security and Seamless Cloud Management
What do you like best about the product?
it has a robust security, so it protects users and make the internet faster for them and everything is managed in the cloud and it prevents accidental data leaks so it provides strong data protection.
What do you dislike about the product?
Setting up policies and getting familiar with the configuration can be somewhat challenging initially. Occasionally, during peak times, it slows down the internet. I've also heard many people mention that it is a great product, though it tends to be a bit expensive.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
In traditional networks, all traffic is routed back through the data center firewall, which can create bottlenecks and slow down connections. This setup also led to some security concerns. However, with Zscaler, we experience faster access to cloud applications and the internet, while security is provided for everyone. As a result, we no longer have to worry about these issues.
Seamless Cloud Security with Effortless Global Policy Management
What do you like best about the product?
Zscaler Internet Access provides seamless, cloud-delivered security without the need for complex on-prem infrastructure. I really appreciate the consistent performance, easy scalability, and the ability to enforce security policies globally from a single dashboard. The integration with zero-trust principles also ensures secure access regardless of user location, which is extremely useful in a hybrid or remote work environment.
What do you dislike about the product?
The initial setup and fine-tuning of policies can be time-consuming, especially for larger organizations. Troubleshooting issues sometimes requires deeper visibility than the platform immediately provides, and support responses can occasionally be slower than expected. Additionally, certain logs and analytics features could be more intuitive.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Zscaler Internet Access is helping eliminate the need for traditional VPNs and perimeter-based security models. It simplifies secure remote access, reduces latency by routing traffic through local breakouts, and strengthens overall security posture with real-time threat detection. The biggest benefit is improved user productivity due to faster, more reliable access and reduced dependency on hardware appliances.
Effortless Security with Up-to-Date Intelligence
What do you like best about the product?
I really like the constant updates that Zscaler Internet Access provides because it means the service is always using the newest threat intelligence and security features without needing to patch or maintain hardware. This keeps protection current automatically. I also appreciate the control admin interface, which offers a single place to create policies, see traffic, review logs, and manage users. Instead of juggling multiple tools, it gives me a single control panel that makes changes faster and simplifies troubleshooting. Together, these make Zscaler Internet Access valuable as I spend far less time maintaining security tools and far more time enforcing clear, consistent security across the organization. Plus, the initial setup was very easy, and it pairs well with identity providers and endpoint agents.
What do you dislike about the product?
A few rough edges tend to show up with Zscaler Internet Access. Traffic logs can feel too high-level when trying to debug subtle issues, requiring more digging to stitch together the full path of a request. A more unified end-to-end trace view would make troubleshooting smoother. The policy engine is powerful but can get dense when rules stack, making it easy to create overlapping or conflicting rules. A built-in policy conflict checker would save mental bandwidth.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Zscaler Internet Access to control and protect my internet flow, limiting unwanted access. The constant updates and admin interface make it valuable by maintaining up-to-date protection and simplifying policy management, saving me time and effort in maintaining and enforcing organization-wide security.
Excellent Security Solution for Upgrading Protection
What do you like best about the product?
1. Comprehensive Security Everywhere Zscaler decouples security from the physical office. Whether a user is at the headquarters, at a coffee shop, or working from home, they get the same level of protection. It eliminates the need for VPNs just to browse the internet securely.
2. Zero Infrastructure Maintenance (SaaS) Since ZIA is 100% cloud-based, there is no hardware to buy, patch, or upgrade. You don't need to manage physical firewall boxes at every branch office.
What do you dislike about the product?
1. High Cost Zscaler is a premium product. It is generally more expensive than traditional firewall solutions or basic web filters. The licensing model is per-user, which can get costly for large organizations with many features enabled.
2. Complex Deployment While you don't manage hardware, configuring the policies in the cloud can be complex. Setting up SSL inspection properly is difficult because it requires installing certificates on all devices; otherwise, it breaks many applications.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The "Backhauling" Problem
The Problem: In traditional networks, traffic from remote users or branch offices is routed back to the corporate headquarters (via MPLS or VPN) to be scanned by a central firewall before going out to the internet. This is called "hair-pinning" or "backhauling." It causes high latency (slowness) and requires expensive bandwidth at the HQ.
Easy to Use, Fast Connection
What do you like best about the product?
I like Zscaler Internet Access for work because it's easy to use and connects quickly. The setup was very easy, which is a big plus for me. I appreciate the security it provides, especially when using the VPN feature.
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Zscaler Internet Access for security at work using the VPN. It connects quickly and is easy to use, which enhances my experience.
Robust Security and Simple Interface
What do you like best about the product?
I really like Zscaler Internet Access for its interface. It's pretty simple, well-defined, and everything is segregated, which means as an admin, I don't get confused about where I need to navigate. The options are clear and simple. They also have a very good knowledge base article that is kept updated, and everything is going well for us. I also appreciate the approach the Zscaler team provided during the integration and implementation, which was interesting and manageable.
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing as of now they are continuously improving and providing new features with Ai too
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Zscaler Internet Access helps us develop robust security for internal devices and internet use, blocking access to certain sites and ensuring users' account information is secure.
