KPMG in India announces strategic alliance with Zscaler to help organisations deal with cyber risks

MUMBAI, India, 20 August 2024 – KPMG in India, one of India’s leading professional services firms, and Zscaler, a leader in cloud security, today announced the launch of a strategic alliance to jointly provide Zero Trust principle-aligned data security services to customers in India. This includes cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data.

In collaboration with Zscaler, KPMG in India will be delivering a unified technology solution which would enable them to consolidate and simplify their cloud security operations for customers. Such services could facilitate  the advancement of an organisation’s security architecture from ineffective legacy models to a modern Zero Trust approach designed for the cloud.

Given India’s fast-evolving cybersecurity landscape, organisations are grappling to establish robust cyber defence mechanisms that help mitigate risk exposure. According to KPMG in India’s 2023 India CEO Outlook, 77 per cent of CEOs in India compared to 82 per cent CEOs globally view generative AI as a double-edged sword, as it can both enhance cybersecurity efforts and create new vulnerabilities for adversaries to exploit. Furthermore, cybercriminals could exploit the blind spots to launch highly convincing phishing attacks to breach systems, making it critical for organisations to bolster their defenses against emerging threats and technologies now more than ever before.

The KPMG in India - Zscaler alliance combines Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange^TM platform capabilities, such as Zscaler Private Access^TM (ZPA^TM), Zscaler Internet Access^TM (ZIA^TM) and Zscaler Data Protection, with leading transformational advisory capabilities and digital trust services provided by KPMG in India.

With an increased focused on improving management and visibility, the implementation of the products will enable customers to leverage the below:

• ZIA to deliver cloud native, AI-powered cyberthreat protection and Zero Trust access to the internet and SaaS apps through secure web gateway.
• ZPA to give users the fastest, secure access to private apps and OT devices while enabling zero trust connectivity for workloads.
• Zscaler Data Protection to provide a comprehensive, cloud-delivered platform built to safeguard all your sensitive data, everywhere.
• Zscaler Workload Communications secures workload-to-internet and workload-to-workload connectivity across hybrid cloud environments for your mission-critical workloads and servers.

The alliance will also offer broad security services to help organisations understand and effectively manage cyber threats, unique to their businesses.

“Our alliance with Zscaler is a significant step in providing comprehensive trusted technology solutions that enable organizations to deal with dynamically evolving cyber risk.” said Atul Gupta, Partner and Head of Digital Trust and Cyber Security Services at KPMG in India. “This alliance complements our expertise and industry leading consulting capabilities along with Zscaler’s integrated technology solutions portfolio that enables measures to build trust and derive benefits from digital tech adoption” added Gupta.

Commenting on the alliance, Raghavendra BV, Partner and Head, Cyber Transformation, KPMG in India said “Today’s digital first environment has furthered the transformation agenda in a big way, bringing in the need to discover, defend and secure all key enterprise IT assets real-time. KPMG in India’s alliance with Zscaler, will help clients embark on a zero-trust network strategy through implementation of Zscaler’s suite of technology solutions. The alliance will also help enhance client’s security posture across users, workloads, OT / IOT environments ensuring frictionless user experience”

“India is at the forefront of driving digital transformation, not only within the market but on a global scale as well. It is critical for the organisations in India to deliver innovations with cybersecurity principles ingrained into the foundation,” said Ananth Nag, Area Vice President, India at Zscaler. “With the added pressure of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, this strategic alliance is well poised to help customers in India navigate compliance and deploy customised cybersecurity technology solutions to triumph against the fast-changing threat landscape.” added Nag

“The partnership between KPMG in India and Zscaler represents another significant step towards providing organisations in India with the best-of-breed cybersecurity technology solutions as they continue  to strengthen cybersecurity defenses in India's fast-evolving landscape,” said Foad Farrokhnia, Vice President, Channels & Alliances, APJ at Zscaler. “By combining the power of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform and KPMG in India’s transformational advisory capabilities, we are empowering organisations to embrace cloud technologies while effectively managing cyber risks and adopting a modern Zero Trust approach.” added Farrokhnia

KPMG entities in India are professional services firm(s). These Indian member firms are affiliated with KPMG International Limited. KPMG was established in India in August 1993. Our professionals leverage the global network of firms, and are conversant with local laws, regulations, markets and competition. KPMG has offices across India in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Vadodara and Vijayawada.

KPMG entities in India offer services to national and international clients in India across sectors. We strive to provide rapid, performance-based, industry-focused and technology-enabled services, which reflect a shared knowledge of global and local industries and our experience of the Indian business environment.