Cloud security company Zscaler on Monday announced a collaboration with IBM and Red Hat aimed at protecting private applications during the vulnerable window between a software flaw being disclosed and a patch being deployed — a gap the companies say is shrinking fast as attackers use artificial intelligence to weaponise newly discovered bugs.
The announcement, made on October 5 from San Jose, California, brings together Zscaler's Autonomous Application Shield — delivered through the company's Zero Trust Exchange platform — with Lightwell from IBM and Red Hat, described by Red Hat vice president Gunnar Hellekson as a validated remediation solution for open-source software vulnerabilities.
The shrinking patch window
The pitch behind the partnership is simple: vulnerabilities are being exploited faster than enterprise IT teams can patch them. Citing Mandiant's M-Trends 2026 report, the companies point out that the mean time to exploit a vulnerability has now fallen below zero — meaning flaws are increasingly being weaponised before a public patch even exists. "A window that was months or weeks is now hours and minutes," Hellekson said.
The joint offering spans four capabilities: exposure discovery, preemptive application-specific protection, machine-speed inline response and validated source-level remediation.
What is available now
The Autonomous Application Shield is currently available through an Early Access Program. Zscaler's release notes that availability, capabilities and timing are subject to change. Joby Menon, Zscaler's senior vice president of product management, and Hellekson are the executives on record for the announcement.
Worth noting: the claims about the product's effectiveness come from Zscaler's own announcement, reported further in a Dow Jones wire — they have not been independently verified.
The collaboration lands amid a busy year for enterprise cybersecurity, as companies race to defend against AI-driven attacks that automate the search for and exploitation of software flaws.
Sources: Zscaler Collaborates with IBM and Red Hat to Protect Private Applications from Frontier AI-Powered Threats; Zscaler Works With IBM, Red Hat on Cybersecurity for Private Apps
The announcement, made on October 5 from San Jose, California, brings together Zscaler's Autonomous Application Shield — delivered through the company's Zero Trust Exchange platform — with Lightwell from IBM and Red Hat, described by Red Hat vice president Gunnar Hellekson as a validated remediation solution for open-source software vulnerabilities.
The shrinking patch window
The pitch behind the partnership is simple: vulnerabilities are being exploited faster than enterprise IT teams can patch them. Citing Mandiant's M-Trends 2026 report, the companies point out that the mean time to exploit a vulnerability has now fallen below zero — meaning flaws are increasingly being weaponised before a public patch even exists. "A window that was months or weeks is now hours and minutes," Hellekson said.
The joint offering spans four capabilities: exposure discovery, preemptive application-specific protection, machine-speed inline response and validated source-level remediation.
What is available now
The Autonomous Application Shield is currently available through an Early Access Program. Zscaler's release notes that availability, capabilities and timing are subject to change. Joby Menon, Zscaler's senior vice president of product management, and Hellekson are the executives on record for the announcement.
Worth noting: the claims about the product's effectiveness come from Zscaler's own announcement, reported further in a Dow Jones wire — they have not been independently verified.
The collaboration lands amid a busy year for enterprise cybersecurity, as companies race to defend against AI-driven attacks that automate the search for and exploitation of software flaws.
Sources: Zscaler Collaborates with IBM and Red Hat to Protect Private Applications from Frontier AI-Powered Threats; Zscaler Works With IBM, Red Hat on Cybersecurity for Private Apps
