Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is a cloud-native security platform that implements zero trust architecture for users, workloads, IoT/OT devices, and B2B partners. The platform operates on a proxy architecture that brokers one-to-one connections between users and applications based on identity, context, and business policies, following the principle of least-privileged access. The platform addresses four stages of the attack chain by hiding applications from the internet to minimize attack surface, inspecting all traffic including encrypted content to prevent compromise, connecting users directly to applications rather than networks to eliminate lateral movement, and identifying and protecting sensitive data to stop data loss. The platform uses AI to assess risk based on context including user behavior, device posture, destination, content, third-party intelligence, and processes over 500 trillion daily signals. It performs full TLS/SSL inspection at scale and enforces policies that can grant access, block, isolate, or deceive based on risk assessment. The platform integrates with third-party identity providers for user, device, and workload identity verification. It determines connection destinations whether to webpages, SaaS applications, private applications, or other resources. The architecture eliminates traditional network perimeter approaches and hub-and-spoke models that rely on firewalls and VPNs.