TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine. Dark Reading Resource Library Black Hat News Omdia Cybersecurity Advertise NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP Cybersecurity Topics World The Edge DR Technology Events Resources REMOTE WORKFORCE IDENTITY & ACCESS MANAGEMENT SECURITY ENDPOINT SECURITY СLOUD SECURITY News, news analysis, and commentary on the latest trends in cybersecurity technology. Zscaler-SquareX Deal Boosts Zero Trust, Secure Browsing Capabilities Zscaler's acquisition of SquareX comes as competitors like CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks are also investing in secure browser technologies. Jeffrey Schwartz,Contributing Writer February 13, 2026 3 Min Read SOURCE: ROBERT AVGUSTIN VIA SHUTTERSTOCK Zscaler is the latest cybersecurity giant to snap up a secure web browser technology provider, acquiring early-stage startup SquareX. The company aims to extend enforcement of network and application access policies to browsers on both managed and user-owned devices with SquareX's technology. Singapore-based SquareX, which has a U.S. operation in Palo Alto, Calif., released its namesake browser extension in late 2023, the year the startup was founded with $6 million in seed funding. Last year, SquareX secured a Series A round of $20 million. The deal, announced last week, has already closed, though terms were not disclosed. SquareX is software that plugs into Chromium-based web browsers, notably Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Vivek Ramachandran, SquareX’s founder and CEO, explained in a blog post that its browser detection and response (BDR) capabilities can detect and respond to browser‑native threats, such as malicious extension scripts. Related:Torq Moves SOCs Beyond SOAR With AI-Powered Hyper Automation LOADING... The SquareX browser extension gives "security teams deep, actionable visibility while remaining virtually invisible to users," Ramachandran noted. "Even with strong, secure web gateways, there was still a gap as to what was happening inside the browser. We saw an opportunity to add real-time threat detection and response directly into the browser, making SquareX's in-browser protection a powerful additional layer of defense." Zscaler plans to integrate SquareX as an endpoint to its Zero Trust Exchange, the cloud-native platform that provides devices and application workloads with direct connections rather than a distributed network. Web browsers on computers, phones and other endpoints have increasingly emerged as the primary user interface. According to an Omdia Research report, the browser is the endpoint now used for 85% of all work computing activities. LOADING... As of last year, Gartner estimated that 10 percent of organizations have deployed secure enterprise browsers, but forecasts that by 2028, that percentage will rise to 25 percent. A report published last month by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) emphasized that threat actors specifically target authentication cookies, session tokens, and behaviors within traditional browsers through sophisticated phishing attacks, credential theft, and script-based exploits. "A browser-centric enforcement architecture empowers security teams to rigorously gate access based on validated identity, continuously verify device posture, cryptographically bind authentication to phishing-resistant factors, and dynamically adapt permissions as contextual risk indicators fluctuate," the report's author, HCL Technologies lead cybersecurity and AI security engineer Sunil Gentyala. Related:CrowdStrike to Buy Seraphic Security in Bid to Boost Browser Security Dhawal Sharma, Zscaler’s VP of product management, tells Dark Reading that the integration is already underway and should be completed within the next few months. "We have been evaluating this company for the last three months, and we looked at the integration points and the scalability of the platform, which we were happy with, so the teams are already heads down," Sharma says. SquareX's installed base is relatively small, Sharma acknowledges, with only a few dozen customers. But he anticipates rapid demand. Zscaler’s acquisition comes on the heels of CrowdStrike's agreement last month to buy Seraphic Security for $420 million in cash. Many of Zscaler's competitors rolled out secure browsers in the past year. Among them are the release of Netskope One Enterprise Browser, Check Point Enterprise Browser and Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access Secure Browser. The latter is a revamped and newly integrated version of the Talon Enterprise Browser (acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2023). Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft have hardened their widely used browsers with the launch of Google Chrome Premium, a fee-based add-on that provides URL filtering, malware scanning, policy enforcement and DLP controls. In November, Microsoft announced new security controls for its Edge for Business browser, now in preview. Related:Advisor360 Gets a Handle on Shadow AI via Automation Sharma insists competitive activities did not influence Zscaler’s desire to acquire SquareX. “We heard from our customers from a user experience perspective, the browser makes more sense,” he says. “But we didn't want to blindly go and acquire a browser and just have a check box. This is truly extending the platform from a feature or a use case in our world.” After releasing its Prisma Browser last year, Palo Alto Networks described it as one of its fastest-growing offerings. In figures disclosed last August, Palo Alto Networks said it sold 3 million licenses during the fourth quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, doubling the installed base to over 6 million. About the Author Jeffrey Schwartz Contributing Writer Jeffrey Schwartz is a journalist who has covered information security and all forms of business and enterprise IT, including client computing, data center and cloud infrastructure, and application development for more than 30 years. Jeff is a regular contributor to Channel Futures. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Redmond magazine and contributed to its sister titles Redmond Channel Partner, Application Development Trends, and Virtualization Review. Earlier, he held editorial roles with CommunicationsWeek, InternetWeek, and VARBusiness. Jeff is based in the New York City suburb of Long Island. 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