CyberKnight and Netskope have officially signed a strategic value-added distribution partnership at the CyberKnight stand during GISEC 2025. Leveraging CyberKnight’s proven expertise and coverage, this collaboration aims to empower regional entities to modernize security and safeguard data across all sectors. The partnership ensures enteprise and government organizations can benefit from Netskope’s global innovation and local infrastructure to accelerate performance and get unprecedented visibility into any cloud, AI, web, and private application activity while reducing risks.

As a modern SASE and SSE solution, the Netskope One platform delivers unified data security and adaptive threat protection, combining CASB, SWG, ZTNA, DLP, DSPM and other capabilities with patented AI innovations that detect anomalies, block zero-day threats, and prevent data exfiltration across cloud and AI apps, endpoints, and IoT. With 70% of enterprises in the region now prioritizing AI-driven threat detection and zero-trust frameworks, Netskope’s cloud-native, AI-ready architecture and expansive NewEdge network provide the speed, resilience, and performance required for today’s digital enterprises.

“Netskope goes to market through a network of strategic partnerships and alliances across the region. We work closely with our channel partners who over many years have built strong relationships with enterprise customers and government, who rely on them to recommend and deliver modern cybersecurity solutions, essential to stay ahead of an ever-evolving threat landscape”. “Netskope was founded on the belief that continuous innovation is essential to help organizations modernize networks and security,” said Michael Herman, Vice President Channel Sales, EMEA & LATAM at Netskope”.

“Our partnership with CyberKnight, announced at GISEC 2025, will help expand our regional coverage, help our partners deliver modern cybersecurity solutions and better serve organizations in the region to protect data, securely enable AI usage and build cyber resilience for the future. Cyberknight is committed to building a comprehensive set of skills and services to help partners and customers deploy and deliver Netskope technology at scale. This will enable enterprises and governments to embrace digital transformation with confidence, knowing their users, data, and applications are protected by industry- leading, AI-centric security.”

“Partnering with Netskope marks a pivotal step in our mission to bring the world’s most advanced cloud and AI security to the region,” added Avinash Advani, Founder & CEO, at CyberKnight. “With our focus on technical excellence and Netskope’s cutting-edge platform, we will enable our customers to confidently navigate digital transformation, protect critical assets, and achieve compliance in an increasingly complex threat environment. This collaboration will ensure that organizations across the region have access to market-leading, best-of-breed technology to defend against cyber threats as they accelerate the journey to the cloud.”

Bring-your-own device (BYOD) policies and the temporary work requirements of contractors are two of many use cases that can create security risks for businesses based on access to data. Enterprise browser functionality that is well integrated with a full SSE offering means that organizations can count on data security not only when users interact with cloud and SaaS apps, but also to prevent data leakage both to apps and unmanaged endpoint devices, ensuring SSE adaptive policy controls are consistently applied.

“Enterprise browser functionality should be delivered as part of a unified data security solution,” said John Martin, Chief Product Officer, Netskope. “At Netskope, our strategy has always been to enable modern data security using the broadest and deepest protection from a single, holistic platform. As we shared our continued expansion plans with security and networking leaders over the past year, it quickly became clear that enterprise browser capabilities are best when integrated at the architecture level, making use of full SSE data security and adaptive policy controls, not just as a product add-on.”

Netskope helps organizations modernize their businesses by converging critical security, network, and analytics services into a powerful, cost-efficient platform, Netskope One. By integrating Enterprise Browser with the full SSE capabilities of the Netskope One platform, organizations accelerate time-to-value and operational efficiency, especially with the ability to extend current SSE application control policies to unmanaged device users and temporary users such as contractors working as part of a merger & acquisition process.

Netskope One Enterprise Browser today:

• Enables seamless secure access for unmanaged devices and temporary workers to web sites and applications using a hardened, managed Chromium-based browser built by Netskope engineers
• Integrates with enterprise identity providers for user authentication and context
• Applies zero trust principles for adaptive access that leverages rich context from overall SSE policy controls
• Prevents data leakage to apps and to unmanaged endpoints
• Leverages high performance global access, thanks to the Netskope One platform’s underlying NewEdge network, which offers full compute at every global data center covering 75+ regions, 220+ countries and territories, and 200+ Localization Zones

Netskope One Enterprise Browser is available today and offered flexibly or as part of SSE subscription packages.

As organizations increasingly adopt cloud technologies to drive innovation and efficiency, they are also challenged to secure sensitive data from a range of cyber risks, including:

• Ongoing increases in the number of users uploading sensitive data to personal instances of cloud applications
• New and evolving threat techniques such as abuse of certain applications for critical data access, back doors, and financial gain; compromise of credentials to access critical business data; insider threats; and more
• Data exposure from the insecure use of both managed and unmanaged AI-based productivity tools

Netskope and Google Workspace empower organizations to embrace modern collaboration and productivity by enabling the secure use of AI-based productivity tools. Netskope provides advanced data loss prevention (DLP) techniques, delivering real-time visibility and control over users, data, and corporate vs. personal cloud instances. In addition, Netskope’s comprehensive threat protection through both API and inline controls detects threats in Google applications and monitors data movement and threat propagation between Google Workspace apps and third-party ecosystem applications.

“Netskope is proud to expand its partnership with Google Workspace by joining the Workspace Security Alliance. There are already thousands of customers using Netskope to safeguard their Google Workspace applications, and this new partnership further enhances the secure usage capabilities for application specific data protection policies,” said Andy Horwitz, VP, Global Partner Ecosystems, Netskope. “Together, Netskope and Google Workspace can help customers modernize their productivity stack. We look forward to helping customers safely optimize their employees’ daily productivity.”

The Netskope and Google Workspace partnership enables organizations to embrace collaboration and productivity while safeguarding critical data. Joint customers can now more effectively:

1. Support best practice use of Gemini for Google Workspace: Leverage real-time user coaching to help enforce best practices in application usage. Organizations can gain visibility into data movement to minimize sensitive information sharing while achieving data compliance objectives.
2. Protect sensitive data: Detect and manage access to sensitive data within Google Workspace applications, enforcing policies to prevent unauthorized data movement across platforms, including third-party services like Microsoft OneDrive, Box and Dropbox.
3. Stop insider threats like data exfiltration: Prevent the download of sensitive data from Google Workspace business instances and then the upload to personal instances, which is one of today’s top reasons for data loss. Additionally, apply this control to unmanaged devices: allow unmanaged or personal device access to a specific cloud app for collaboration, however, do not allow downloading of sensitive data.
4. Detect and stop elusive threats and malware: Protect against malware and phishing delivered from the cloud. Netskope’s multi-layered advanced threat protection (ATP) enhances security within Google Workspace and across cloud applications.
5. Maintain compliance in Google Workspace: Ensure that organizations can adhere to regulations and meet compliance needs by enforcing security policies within Google Workspace.

“By partnering with Netskope, a leading SASE vendor, customers can confidently expand their Google Workspace adoption leveraging their existing IT infrastructure investments,” said Nikhil Sinha, Group Product Manager, Google Workspace. “Netskope instance awareness enables fine grained data governance policy differences to both corporate and personal Google Workspace accounts. We are excited to partner with Netskope to provide these advanced security capabilities to our customers.”

With a background in cybersecurity strategy and executive leadership, both within the Middle East and Globally, Su Le brings a wealth of experience to Netskope’s advisory team. His appointment underscores Netskope’s commitment to providing tailored support to organizations within the region, empowering them to address evolving cybersecurity challenges effectively.

“The cybersecurity landscape in the Middle East faces a growing threat of increasingly sophisticated attack vectors,” said Le. “CxO executives need to learn how to demystify cybersecurity to pave the way for new opportunities and tightened defences – especially in the context of digital transformation and implementation of cybersecurity protocols. With a history working in both the Middle East and global cybersecurity landscapes, I am looking forward to promoting innovative and comprehensive cloud-native solutions as part of the Netskope team.”

Jonathan Mepsted, Vice President, Middle East and Africa at Netskope, commented, “Technology leaders are now at the forefront of accountability when it comes to reimagining architectures that will enable growth, agility and flexibility. We are excited to have Su, with his wealth of knowledge and razor-sharp expertise, to make this very daunting transformational journey as seamless as possible across the board. Le’s prior experience as a member of SambaNova Systems’ advisory board emphasizes the importance of his expertise in guiding organizations through crucial transformative security initiatives.”

Netskope’s expansion of its CxO Advisory Board comes at a time of rapid growth and innovation for the company. The company has expanded its EMEA team significantly, bolstering the regional leadership to better support local organizations in their adoption of Security Service Edge (SSE) on their journey to SASE. Netskope’s customers include more than a quarter of the Fortune 100 and some of the world’s largest commercial banks, healthcare providers, telecommunications companies, and retailers. The company has raised over $1.4 billion from leading investors including ICONIQ Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, and Sequoia Capital Global Equities.

Since joining Netskope in 2021 as Senior Vice President, EMEA and LATAM, Bousquet has delivered strong leadership and exceptional execution, which has led to numerous achievements for Netskope and its EMEA and LATAM territories. This includes expanding the company’s footprint across the regions, recruiting top talent, and landing world-renowned brands in financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, government, and other industries as Netskope customers. Before joining Netskope, Bousquet successfully served as Vice President, EMEA South, Israel & Alps at Palo Alto Networks, growing territory revenue by more than 600% in five years. Before that, he held various international management roles at Cisco.

“Raphaël’s deep industry experience, passion for winning, and the extensive accomplishments he’s already achieved at Netskope make him the unanimous choice of the company’s executive team and board of directors to take the sales leadership reins and drive this next era of our growth,” said Dave Peranich, President, Go-to-Market, Netskope. “As we make a graceful sales leadership transition, the entire Netskope team salutes Chris Andrews for everything he has helped us achieve over the past decade – including scaling to the several-hundred-million-dollar market leader we are today.”

“Chris’ achievements go hand-in-hand with Netskope’s biggest milestones, and we thank him for his leadership and determination over a long, impressive run that spans nearly the entire history of Netskope sales to date,” said Sanjay Beri, CEO and Co-Founder, Netskope. “He helped lay the foundation for our continued success and will always be part of Netskope’s legacy. We wish him the very best in retirement, and well-earned time to focus on family and personal pursuits.”

Information technology teams today seek cloud-centric infrastructure solutions that elegantly converge network and security capabilities, reduce legacy technology maintenance, and support the performance demands of hybrid work environments. SASE has emerged as a leading framework already influencing these enterprise buying decisions; according to Gartner®, by 2026, 60% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering, up from 15% in 2022.

However current branch infrastructure is often rife with challenges. To date, most branch solutions:

• Rely on legacy SD-WAN and multiple disjointed network security technologies that were not built to extend performance to cloud-first, hybrid work environments;
• Can’t accommodate the explosion of cloud applications or IoT devices now in use throughout the enterprise;
• Struggle under collections of security point products and connectivity services that aren’t cleanly connected or integrated, but incur significant ongoing maintenance costs;
• Contribute to an overall status quo of inefficient, un-optimized branch infrastructure and inadequate security controls.

The new Netskope Next Gen SASE Branch, powered by Borderless SD-WAN, converges a unified SD-WAN and security appliance, the Netskope SASE Gateway, with a context-aware SASE fabric, zero trust-based security, and a SkopeAI-powered cloud orchestrator. Available as a single, cloud-delivered offering, the solution also includes a thin branch that optimizes and secures traffic from all locations and users to cloud and on-prem locations.

“We’ve designed the Next Gen SASE Branch with the biggest needs of enterprise businesses in mind, both today and in the future,” said Parag Thakore, SVP, Borderless SD-WAN at Netskope. “Organizations no longer need to manage a complex stack of solutions to properly operate their enterprise, nor do they need to sacrifice performance for security. With Next Gen SASE Branch, they can take full advantage of a one-platform, one-software, one-policy approach that’s uniquely and fully enabled by Netskope Borderless SD-WAN.”

“As a full-service managed service provider, we’ve partnered with Netskope and deployed their fully integrated SASE solution to modernize the branch and VPN infrastructure of many customers,” said Darren Carlson, CEO of Halo Global. “Utilizing Netskope’s platform, we can expedite customer onboarding to provide a technology that streamlines infrastructure while enabling them to grow and secure their business.”

“The era of the hyper-distributed enterprise – where workers can be anywhere and applications are everywhere – is causing organizations across the globe to transform their network and security strategies,” said Brandon Butler, IDC Research Manager, Enterprise Networks. “Key capabilities for next-generation architectures include deeply integrated networking and context-aware security, cloud-based management, and advanced automation enhanced by AI/ML. Netskope’s Next Gen SASE Branch exemplifies the company’s approach to SASE by combining the important elements of Borderless SD-WAN via NewEdge with a portfolio of cloud-native and context-aware security capabilities.”

Netskope Next Gen SASE Branch includes:

• A Context-Aware SASE Fabric that supports more than 75,000 applications and cloud confidence index (CCI)-based smart QoS (quality of service) defaults, as well as AI/ML-based IoT device intelligence for traffic engineering, and VRF (virtual routing and forwarding)-aware segmentation and advanced routing delivered end-to-end across data centres and clouds. In addition, Borderless SD-WAN available on Netskope NewEdge delivers optimized Global WAN connectivity across transcontinental branches and high-performance cloud on-ramp from any branch, data centre, or remote user to any SaaS, private application, or transcontinental region.

• Zero Trust Hybrid Security, which seamlessly integrates cloud-delivered Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) capabilities, alongside on-premises Application Firewall, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)/Intrusion Detection System (IDS), and Device Intelligence capabilities. In addition, Netskope ZTNA Next combines SD-WAN optimization capabilities with a converged zero-trust network access solution that enables the full retirement of legacy VPNs.

• SkopeAI-powered Cloud Orchestrator, which streamlines network and security management using a unified console and the enforcement of consistent policies across branches, remote locations, and various cloud environments. It further provides end-to-end path visibility and top-notch application performance using Netskope Proactive Digital Experience Management (P-DEM).

How has the Zero Trust Network Architecture evolved since it was first coined in 2010?
Since its introduction as a counterpoint to the implicit trust that exists on the internet, Zero Trust has become well-recognised as a methodology requiring explicitly proven trust before access is allowed. Recently it has evolved from a singular concept into a broad set of terms used so much and so widely that it has almost lost its meaning. Our field CTO Steve Riley was actually the first person to use the phrase Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) – when he was an analyst at Gartner – but ZTNA has also evolved over recent years.

Originally it championed the idea of “trust nothing”, but it is now better suited to practical use, driving towards the idea of “trust nothing without adequate and continuous authorization”. Fundamentally, ZTNA takes us from the perimeter-based security model where – once you are through the perimeter – you have open access to everything, to an access model that requires users, devices, and applications to continually prove they are authorised before accessing only the specific resources they have been allowed.

Do you believe that technologies that support zero trust are moving into the mainstream?
When we see global government entities and national security organisations mandating Zero Trust architectures we know the technology is moving mainstream – and that is exactly what is happening at the moment. Two of the key technology architectures for supporting a zero-trust approach to network and application access are SASE and SSE. While traditional perimeter security tools are still available, they are an investment in legacy technologies.

Early adopter organizations have already moved to architectures like SASE and SSE, that better support a Zero Trust approach, and now we are starting to see a majority of organizations doing likewise. This is a sure sign that the technologies supporting a Zero Trust architecture are now mainstream.

Do you believe that enterprise IT departments today require a new way of thinking because the castle itself no longer exists in isolation as it once did?
Enterprise IT departments are having to rethink their approach to security in a world where locking everything down is no longer an option. Users, applications, data, networks – everything was once able to be hermetically sealed against both infiltration and exfiltration, but this is no longer the case.

Security and networking architectures are all being swiftly rethought with a view to enablement rather than restriction. The question IT departments are asking themselves is; how do we provide access without losing all security, or how do we maintain security without limiting productivity? It’s that quest for balance between access and security that is the new tension.

How can companies get started with zero trust?
Zero Trust can seem like an impossibly large project, so I always suggest identifying a starting point where you can make the most impact as quickly as possible. The enterprise perimeter is where the most current risk lies, so I recommend focussing on ZTNA for access to internal resources, where micro-segmentation will prevent lateral movement between resources. Once you have implemented ZTNA, move on to other initiatives to extend a Zero Trust approach throughout your technology infrastructure. For example, pilot a remote browser isolation solution, scan all data at rest in the public cloud for external shares, and start scanning containers that your developers are creating for new apps.

Industry experts have warned that cyber-attacks will be focused on techniques that zero trust controls can’t mitigate. What according to you can be done to address this?
Adopting a Zero Trust approach would be beneficial in mitigating wider cyber risks, but it is important to understand there are always limits to any security measure. With this in mind, it’s important to identify and shore up any blind spots.

Ensuring you have Multi-Factor Authentication in place and removing administrator rights on all end-user devices are good starts, but make sure you also know where your most valuable assets are, and segment them off from the wider network so you can limit any damage if there is a breach elsewhere. You could also make sure you are not exposing them to the outside (directly on the internet) instead of putting them behind a ZTNA wall which will limit what damage a cyber-attack can do.

What according to you are the limitations of zero trust?
Because Zero Trust is not a product, it can’t be bought and installed in one sitting to mitigate cyberrisks. For this reason, it is likely to be rolled out as separate projects leaving gaps that could be exploited. Unwinding existing legacy technologies as part of a migration to Zero Trust can also leave some points of exposure. These can of course be mitigated by picking the right projects to start your journey with (start small and scale slowly), while always keeping the principles of Zero Trust in mind.

Cloud apps are widely used by businesses, a fact not lost on attackers, which view these apps as an ideal home for hosting malware and causing harm. The Cloud & Threat Report from Netskope Threat Labs examines how these cloud security trends are shifting and advises organizations on how to improve their security posture based on those shifts.

“Attackers are increasingly abusing business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware by bypassing inadequate security controls,” said Ray Canzanese, Threat Research Director, Netskope Threat Labs. “That is why it is imperative that more organizations inspect all HTTP and HTTPS traffic, including traffic for popular cloud apps, both company and personal instances, for malicious content.”

Rise in Uploads to Cloud Apps Means Rise in Malware-Delivered Downloads
The most significant change in cloud application use in 2022, compared to 2021, was the marked increase in the percentage of users uploading content to the cloud. According to Netskope data, over 25% of users worldwide uploaded documents daily to Microsoft OneDrive, while 7% did so for Google Gmail and 5% for Microsoft Sharepoint. The drastic increase in active cloud users across a record number of cloud applications led to a sizable increase in cloud malware downloads in 2022 from 2021, after remaining close to flat in 2021 compared to 2020.

The correlation between uploads and downloads among the most popular apps is no coincidence. Nearly a third of all cloud malware downloads originated from Microsoft OneDrive, with Weebly and GitHub coming in the next closest among cloud apps at 8.6% and 7.6%, respectively.

Cloud-Delivered Malware Is Increasingly More Prevalent Than Web-Delivered Malware
Industries have increased their reliance on cloud applications and cloud infrastructure to support business operations over the last several years—a trend further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and a worldwide shift toward hybrid work. As a result, cloud-delivered malware is now responsible for a much higher percentage of all malware delivery than ever before, especially in certain geographic regions and industries.

In 2022, several geographic regions saw significant increases in the overall percentage of cloud vs. web-delivered malware compared to 2021, including:

• Australia (50% in 2022 compared to 40% in 2021)
• Europe (42% in 2022 compared to 31% in 2021)
• Africa (42% in 2022 compared to 35% in 2021)
• Asia (45% in 2022 compared to 39% in 2021)

In certain industries, cloud-delivered malware also became more predominant globally, especially:

• Telecom (81% in 2022 compared to 59% in 2021)
• Manufacturing (36% in 2022 compared to 17% in 2021)
• Retail (57% in 2022 compared to 47% in 2021)
• Healthcare (54% in 2022 compared to 39% in 2021)

Cyber Preparedness: The Remote Workforce is Here to Stay
Companies have made considerable adjustments to enable remote and hybrid workplaces to flourish. While some industries sought to bring employees back to the office on a more frequent basis in 2022, remote work options appear to remain largely in place. Remote and hybrid work dynamics continue to pose multiple cybersecurity challenges, including how to securely provide users access to the company resources they need to do their jobs and how to scalably and securely provide users access to the internet.

Netskope recommends organizations take the following actions to avoid the increased risk of security incidents stemming from the cloud- and web-delivered malware:

• Enforce granular policy controls to limit data flow, including flow to and from apps, between the company and personal instances, among users, and to and from the web, adapting the policies based on device, location, and risk.
• Deploy multi-layered, inline threat protection for all cloud and web traffic to block inbound malware and outbound malware communications.
• Enable multi-factor authentication for unmanaged enterprise apps.