Battling Burnout at Black Hat 2025: Enter the Zen Zone

The noise never stops. Alerts pile up, working hours bleed into weekends, and security teams are left juggling tools, resigned to endless firefighting.  

At Black Hat 2025, Zero Networks is bringing something different: a booth experience built to cut through the chaos – not add more noise. Whether you’re burned out on half-finished projects or buried under a stack of “critical” alerts with no context, we’ll show you how to stop chasing threats and start controlling them. 

For too long, defenders have been overburdened and overwhelmed. Get some well-deserved R&R at Black Hat in Zero’s Zen Theatre – here’s a sneak peek at the topics we’ll be exploring in Booth 2251 this year. 

The Microsegmentation Project You Can Actually Complete: Put Attackers on the Defense  

It’s no secret that microsegmentation is the gold standard for locking down lateral movement, but it has historically been viewed as too complex to implement and scale. Benny Lakunishok, CEO and Co-Founder of Zero Networks, sums it up this way: “Microsegmentation has long been the crown jewel of network defense; praised for its effectiveness but abandoned because of its complexity.” 

MITRE’s post-breach guidance for hardening networks points to microsegmentation as critical, frameworks like CISA’s Zero Trust Model require microsegmentation for optimal maturity, and security leaders agree almost unanimously – just 1% say microsegmentation is “not very important” for cyber defenses. Still, just 5% of organizations are microsegmenting their networks today.  

Why? Legacy microsegmentation is too complex, time-consuming, and labor-intensive, causing most projects to stall or fail outright. 

According to Nicholas DiCola, VP of Customers at Zero Networks, “Most CISOs move every three to five years on average – they start these projects that don’t even finish by the time the CISO leaves, because it just takes a lot of human effort to manage. Some don’t even get to the micro level; they might get some rough network segmentation because that’s the best they can do based on the amount of time it takes.” 

But as identity threats accelerate and cyber insurers increasingly mandate network segmentation, security teams can’t afford to keep playing catch-up with attackers – organizations need microsegmentation that doesn’t create more manual work for overburdened defenders.  

Now, you can shift away from reactive strategies and roll out comprehensive microsegmentation in record time through capabilities like:  

• Automated asset tagging, grouping, and policy creation and management  
• Adaptive, identity-informed policy enforcement 
• Agentless orchestration of native firewalls  

This approach removes the barriers of legacy solutions, finally bringing microsegmentation within reach and shifting the burden of effort to attackers. DiCola says, “I tell people with automation and an agentless capability, microsegmentation doesn't have to be at the end of the road anymore – it can actually now be at the front. You can gain a very high security posture with very little effort.” 

How to Learn More at Black Hat  

Visit Booth 2251 daily at 11:00 a.m. to discover how an automated approach to microsegmentation puts attackers on defense without putting your team through months of manual effort.  

For an exclusive look at the presentation that convinced a panel of CISOs microsegmentation can be effortless, join us on August 6th at 4:00 p.m. as our very own Security Jedi and VP of Customers, Nicholas DiCola, presents the session that swept the Cyber Shark Pitch Competition.  

Layered Network Security: How Palo Alto Networks and Zero Networks Work Together  

Applying advanced security controls to effectively block lateral movement and accelerate Zero Trust has historically been considered too complex and disruptive. The strategic integration between  Palo Alto Networks and Zero Networks changes that, delivering effortless microsegmentation and granular critical asset protection for enhanced network security – without adding complexity.  

The partnership marks a critical Zero Trust milestone, removing a key barrier while simplifying Zero Trust roadmaps.  

Combining Microsegmentation and Next-Gen Firewalls 

Microsegmentation contains threats inside the network by immediately blocking lateral movement for East-West protection. Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFWs) deliver strong perimeter defense and threat prevention, enhancing North-South protection.  Together, these solutions result in a proactive, layered defense.  

With the microsegmentation market projected to balloon by more than $33 billion in the next nine years, Zero Networks’ integration with Palo Alto Networks is explicitly noted as one of the key developments driving growth.  

Take a deeper dive into the combined solutions’ power to learn why customers like Reference Laboratory, who have experienced the integration firsthand, say they’re now automating traditionally complex processes like "magic."  

How to Learn More at Black Hat 

Join Jasmine Punia, Senior Product Manager at Palo Alto Networks, on August 7th at 2:00 p.m. for a closer look at how Zero Networks and Palo Alto Networks join forces to deliver a powerful, integrated defense that blocks lateral movement and ransomware while simplifying your security stack.  

From the Frontlines: Unfiltered Insights from Security Leaders  

Organizations are investing more in security and risk management, but breaches continue to rise, and security teams are overrun with alert fatigue. More empty promises from vendors won’t solve the problem – it’s time for defenders to swap strategies and collectively shift the balance of power in cybersecurity.  

Tap into hard-earned perspectives from Zero Networks customers and learn the real-world strategies your peers have used to level up network security for actionable takeaways like:  

• The challenges that led them to pursue microsegmentation  
• Key capabilities to focus on during vendor selection  
• Practical tips for getting started with network segmentation – even when bandwidth is limited  
• Differentiators that enabled them to implement comprehensive segmentation in record time  

Stop making room in your security strategy for half-finished projects and empty vendor promises – leverage learnings grounded in the day-to-day realities of security leaders to build a tried-and-true roadmap for success.  

How to Learn More at Black Hat  

Stop by Booth 2251 daily at 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. for a rotating series of real stories from Zero Networks customers.  

Automated Segmentation, Automated Validation: How Zero Networks and Horizon3.ai Join Forces  

Eighty percent of organizations are exposed to attack paths that leave critical assets vulnerable, but most traditional security tools are inherently reactive – they alert you to malicious activity once it’s already underway.  

But attackers are moving faster than ever. Breakout time – how long it takes for adversaries to start moving laterally – hit an all-time low last year, with the fastest recorded breakout time dropping to 51 seconds. Rather than waiting for hackers to expose attack paths and chasing them through alerts, defenders need to proactively address vulnerabilities, stopping cyberattacks before they spread. 

Regular penetration testing is key to uncovering weaknesses, but it’s only half the battle. Without an integrated feedback loop to immediately address exploitable attack vectors identified during pen tests, security teams are left with more work and more stress – but not more security.  

Together, Zero Networks and Horizon3.ai’s pen testing platform, NodeZero, enable organizations to continuously identify and remediate vulnerabilities, strengthening their security posture automatically and proactively. This approach puts power back in the hands of security teams, without piling onto their to-do lists.  

How to Learn More at Black Hat  

See how Horizon3.ai and Zero Networks team up to deliver automated segmentation, validation, and peace of mind every day at 3:00 p.m. in Booth 2251.  

Flipping the Script on Visibility and Agility: Microsegmentation Redefined 

Most segmentation projects get stuck before they even start, buried under weeks of asset mapping, dependency tracking, and endless attempts to visualize the entire network before enforcing a single control. 

Meanwhile, the struggle to discover resources and monitor traffic is particularly acute in Kubernetes environments where organizations can't afford to compromise agility while a complex, time-consuming, and labor-intensive segmentation project unfolds, leading nine out of ten organizations to experience at least one Kubernetes security incident in the last year.  

Zero Networks is rewriting the microsegmentation playbook, turning visibility mapping into an independent benefit of segmentation – not an obligatory first step – and expanding coverage to Kubernetes environments.  

Now, organizations can effortlessly discover all in-cluster resources and monitor traffic inside and outside the cluster, gaining the control they need without disrupting agility.  

How to Learn More at Black Hat  

On August 6th at 5:00 p.m., stop by Booth 2251 to hear Zero’s VP of Product, Yuval Goldberg, break down how Zero Networks unlocks visualization and automated segmentation with no dependency, enabling both independently.  

Get a firsthand look at how Zero Networks is expanding coverage to support microsegmentation of Kubernetes clusters on August 7th at 12:00 p.m. – Yuval Goldberg will break down how the solution enables customers to discover what is deployed in clusters, view activities, and enforce segmentation on workloads, applications, and other K8s entities.  

Bringing Zen to Black Hat 2025  

Every day for security pros is filled with noise – make Black Hat a break from the frenzy. We’ll be offering a slice of calm amidst the chaos all week at Booth 2251; stop by our Zen Zone silent disco to relax and recharge, then stay for our lineup of interactive sessions to learn how you can make peace of mind a daily reality.  

See our full roster of daily booth sessions and drop by to zero in on zen security strategies.