Zscaler, the Nasdaq-listed cybersecurity company, has announced a collaboration with IBM, the technology services and consulting group, and its open-source software subsidiary Red Hat to protect corporate applications during the period between the public disclosure of a vulnerability and the deployment of a patch.
The partnership combines Zscaler's Autonomous Application Shield, part of its Zero Trust Exchange security platform, with Lightwell, a software remediation tool from IBM and Red Hat.
The timing reflects an increasingly hostile threat environment: Mandiant's M-Trends 2026 report, cited by Zscaler, found that attackers are now exploiting vulnerabilities in under zero days on average, meaning attacks are arriving before a fix is even available.
In practice, Zscaler's infrastructure hides private applications to reduce their visibility to attackers, segments user access to contain breaches and applies inline protections to block exploit attempts until a permanent fix is deployed.
Lightwell supplies tested remediations for flaws in open-source software, helping organisations prioritise and deploy patches once they are ready.
"As attackers weaponise newly disclosed vulnerabilities faster than enterprises can respond, organisations need a way to protect private applications immediately while fixes are being prepared and deployed," said Joby Menon, Zscaler's senior vice president of product management.
Gunnar Hellekson, vice president and general manager of Red Hat Lightwell, described the arrangement as bringing Lightwell's capabilities to the front line of enterprise networks while patches are applied to critical systems.
