Video

How Evercore Stops Lateral Movement with Zero Networks

Chris Turek, Chief Information Officer of Evercore, first discusses his initial skepticism about Zero Networks. However, upon witnessing a demo, he was impressed by its potential to effectively lock down lateral movement without extreme measures.

Turek then compares Zero Networks' impact to that of next-gen firewalls, emphasizing its unique capability to integrate network segmentation, access control, and user rights. He highlights the platform's superiority over combining separate security solutions, noting its ability to prevent or mitigate all findings from a recent penetration test.

Turek was astonished at Zero Networks' game-changing potential, particularly in controlling lateral movement and identity management within one platform. He predicts the emergence of a new Magic Quadrant by Gartner shaped by Zero Networks' innovation, anticipating imitation from competitors as a testament to its success.

Summary

Evercore CIO Chris Turek says Zero Networks made something he thought was unachievable, fully locking down lateral movement, possible without draconian measures or extraordinary effort. After a proof of concept, Evercore’s engineers found that Zero Networks would have prevented or mitigated all six findings from a recent penetration test, more than any other product in the company’s stack. Turek describes Zero Networks as a cornerstone technology that brings network segmentation, access, and user rights together in one platform, managed by a single part-time admin.

Key takeaways

Before Zero Networks, Turek didn’t believe fully locking down lateral movement was achievable without draconian measures and extraordinary effort.
Evercore’s engineering team validated Zero Networks in a proof of concept, and some of its most discerning engineers were effusive in their praise.
Reviewing a recent penetration test, the team found Zero Networks would have prevented or mitigated all six findings. No other product Evercore had came close to half.
At Evercore, one admin controls lateral movement across the enterprise as a part-time role.
Turek sees combining network segmentation, access, and identity in one platform as the differentiator, something you can’t assemble from separate vendors’ products.

This video was published in February 2024.

What was Evercore’s first impression of Zero Networks?

[00:00] Chris Turek, Chief Information Officer, Evercore: When I first saw it, I didn’t believe it. You can’t possibly take something this hard and make it this easy. I saw the demo, and it made me think, my God, maybe they really have solved this problem. I had my engineering team look at Zero Networks, and they came back blown away. They believed, “Wow, we think these guys have done it.”

[00:27] My name is Chris Turek. I’m the Chief Information Officer of Evercore, a leading independent investment bank. Before Zero Networks, I didn’t think locking down lateral movement completely was actually achievable without truly draconian measures and an extraordinary amount of effort to achieve what we achieve with Zero Networks.

Why does Evercore consider Zero Networks a cornerstone technology?

[00:52] Zero Networks is what I would call a cornerstone piece of security technology. Think back to the first time you saw a next-gen firewall. It was eye-opening. To me, what Zero Networks does across network segmentation, access, and user rights is at that level. We’re really looking to rebuild our IT stack with [Zero Networks] as one of those cornerstone technologies, because there really isn’t another vendor that does the same thing.

[01:25] You really can’t just take a piece of Palo Alto and a piece of CrowdStrike, put them together, and get what [Zero Networks] does. I think that’s what differentiates Zero Networks from anything I’ve seen in the last several years. I haven’t seen another new, differentiated cornerstone technology released in that time.

[01:42] You can allow users to work the way they want to work, where they want to work, how they want to work, on the devices they want to use, and do it securely, achieving military-grade security that businesses can be proud of.

What did Evercore’s penetration test reveal?

[02:00] My team and I were meeting to discuss the results of the proof of concept we had done with Zero Networks. They were very impressed by it. Some of my most discerning engineers were actually effusive with their praise, which surprised me.

[02:12] After we wrapped up that meeting, I was getting the after-action report from a penetration test we’d done, and I found myself stopping the engineers multiple times to ask, “Well, what would have happened if we had deployed Zero Networks?” We had six findings, and they told me every one of them would have been either prevented or mitigated by deploying Zero Networks. There is not one other product we have that would have come close to mitigating even half of those findings, and [Zero Networks] would have covered all six. This was an astonishing discovery. We were blown away. It was one of those game-changing moments you don’t easily forget.

What makes Zero Networks different?

[02:55] To be able to control lateral movement inside the enterprise with one platform, with one admin doing that as a part-time role, is mind-boggling. Now, when you extend that past lateral movement to identity, with the same ease of use in the same platform, that’s really where you get something that’s differentiated.

[03:21] I think soon we’re going to see Gartner define a new Magic Quadrant around what Zero Networks does. I’m sure we’ll see copycats and people coming after it, but, you know, they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery.