Zscaler’s ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report Reveals Dominance of ChatGPT and Rising Security Concerns in AI/ML Transactions

Zscaler’s report highlights ChatGPT’s dominance in AI transactions and rising security concerns related to AI applications.

Quiver AI Summary

Zscaler, Inc. has released the ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report, highlighting that ChatGPT is the leading AI/ML application, comprising 45.2% of all AI/ML transactions, yet also the most blocked due to security concerns. The report analyzes over 536 billion AI transactions and reveals significant trends, including an astonishing 3,000% year-over-year growth in enterprise AI/ML tool usage, with major volumes originating from the U.S. and India. The Finance & Insurance sector dominates AI transaction traffic, while the rise of agentic AI and open-source models like DeepSeek raises new security challenges for enterprises. Despite the rapid adoption of AI fostering innovation and productivity, the report indicates that 59.9% of AI transactions were blocked, emphasizing the need for enhanced security strategies to counteract threats that leverage AI capabilities.

Potential Positives

• Zscaler’s ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report highlights a 3,000+% year-over-year growth in enterprise use of AI/ML tools, showcasing the rapid adoption of AI technologies and positioning Zscaler as a key player in the industry.
• The report’s findings on the dominance of ChatGPT in AI/ML transactions (45.2%) indicate Zscaler’s significant market insight and relevance as enterprises navigate security concerns related to highly used tools.
• Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange platform, processing over 536 billion AI transactions, underscores its capabilities in providing robust security solutions amidst rising AI-driven threats, reinforcing its leadership in cloud security.

Potential Negatives

• Despite being the most widely used AI/ML application, ChatGPT is also the most-blocked application, indicating significant enterprise concerns over data exposure and unsanctioned use.
• The report highlights that enterprises blocked 59.9% of all AI/ML transactions, raising alarms about the perceived risks and security challenges associated with these technologies.
• The emergence of agentic AI and DeepSeek as threats indicates that competitors are disrupting Zscaler’s market, potentially affecting their positioning in the industry.

FAQ

What percentage of AI/ML transactions does ChatGPT account for?

ChatGPT accounts for 45.2% of all AI/ML transactions, making it the most popular AI application.

Which industries lead in AI/ML transaction volume?

The Finance & Insurance and Manufacturing industries lead, generating 28.4% and 21.6% of AI/ML transactions, respectively.

How much data is processed by enterprises using AI/ML tools?

Enterprises sent a total of 3,624 TB of data to AI/ML tools, indicating high integration into operations.

What are the security concerns associated with AI adoption?

Security concerns include data leakage, unauthorized access, and compliance violations, with enterprises blocking 59.9% of AI/ML transactions.

Where are most AI/ML transactions being generated globally?

The United States and India generate the highest volumes of AI/ML transactions, reflecting a global shift toward AI innovation.

Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. See the full release here.

$ZS Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $ZS stock 1 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 1 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $ZS stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative’s congressional trading dashboard.

$ZS Insider Trading Activity

$ZS insiders have traded $ZS stock on the open market 34 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 34 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $ZS stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

• AJAY MANGAL has made 0 purchases and 12 sales selling 190,480 shares for an estimated $38,228,210.
• ROBERT SCHLOSSMAN (Chief Legal Officer) has made 0 purchases and 15 sales selling 12,675 shares for an estimated $2,337,014.
• ANDREW WILLIAM FRASER BROWN sold 8,000 shares for an estimated $1,392,830
• REMO CANESSA (Chief Financial Officer) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 6,915 shares for an estimated $1,383,177.
• MICHAEL J. RICH (CRO and President of WW Sales) sold 3,779 shares for an estimated $757,007
• SYAM NAIR (CTO) sold 3,682 shares for an estimated $737,576
• JAGTAR SINGH CHAUDHRY (CEO & Chairman) sold 2,863 shares for an estimated $573,513

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative’s insider trading dashboard.

$ZS Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 380 institutional investors add shares of $ZS stock to their portfolio, and 397 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

• VOYA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC removed 1,467,990 shares (-50.5%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $264,840,075
• TIGER GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC added 1,450,000 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $261,594,500
• UBS GROUP AG added 771,042 shares (+151.5%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $139,103,687
• POINT72 ASSET MANAGEMENT, L.P. removed 627,896 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $113,278,717
• FMR LLC added 627,030 shares (+52.2%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $113,122,482
• AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL INC removed 580,586 shares (-80.2%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $104,743,520
• JPMORGAN CHASE & CO removed 577,132 shares (-70.6%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $104,120,384

To track hedge funds’ stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative’s institutional holdings dashboard.

$ZS Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $ZS in the last several months. We have seen 12 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

• Scotiabank issued a “Outperform” rating on 03/06/2025
• BMO Capital issued a “Outperform” rating on 03/06/2025
• Wedbush issued a “Outperform” rating on 03/06/2025
• Bernstein issued a “Outperform” rating on 03/06/2025
• RBC Capital issued a “Outperform” rating on 03/06/2025
• BTIG issued a “Buy” rating on 03/06/2025
• Citigroup issued a “Buy” rating on 03/05/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $ZS, check out Quiver Quantitative’s $ZS forecast page.

$ZS Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $ZS recently. We have seen 8 analysts offer price targets for $ZS in the last 6 months, with a median target of $241.0.

Here are some recent targets:

• An analyst from Goldman Sachs set a target price of $207.0 on 03/06/2025
• An analyst from Scotiabank set a target price of $242.0 on 03/06/2025
• An analyst from BMO Capital set a target price of $233.0 on 03/06/2025
• An analyst from UBS set a target price of $260.0 on 03/06/2025
• An analyst from Robert W. Baird set a target price of $250.0 on 03/06/2025
• An analyst from BTIG set a target price of $252.0 on 03/06/2025
• Mike Cikos from Needham set a target price of $240.0 on 03/05/2025

Full Release

• 
  ChatGPT
  
  is the most popular AI/ML application, accounting for nearly half of all AI/ML transactions (45.2%) and is also the most-blocked AI application, followed by Grammarly, and Microsoft Copilot as the second and third most-blocked applications, respectively
• 
  Agentic AI
  
  and open-source model
  
  DeepSeek
  
  are creating new opportunities for threat actors to weaponize AI and automate and scale their attack
• The top five countries generating the most AI/ML transactions are the
  
  United States, India, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan
  
• The
  
  Finance & Insurance and Manufacturing
  
  industries generate the most AI/ML traffic, with 28.4% and 21.6% share of all AI/ML transactions in the Zscaler cloud, respectively, followed by Services (18.5%), Technology (10.1%), Healthcare (9.6%), and Government (4.2%)

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

Zscaler, Inc.

(NASDAQ: ZS), the leader in cloud security, today released the ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report, based on insights from more than 536 billion AI transactions processed between February 2024 to December 2024 in the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™platform, the largest in-line security cloud, which discovered real-world threat scenarios ranging from AI-enhanced phishing to fake AI platforms. This report also explores recent developments in areas that will undoubtedly influence AI in 2025 and beyond, including agentic AI, the emergence of DeepSeek, and the evolving regulatory landscape.

The report reveals a 3,000+% year-over-year growth in enterprise use of AI/ML tools, highlighting the rapid adoption of AI technologies across industries to unlock new levels of productivity, efficiency, and innovation. Enterprises are sending significant volumes of data to AI tools, totaling 3,624 TB, underscoring the extent to which these technologies are integrated into operations. However, this surge in adoption also brings heightened security concerns. Enterprises blocked 59.9% of all AI/ML transactions, signaling enterprise awareness around the potential risks associated with AI/ML tools, including data leakage, unauthorized access, and compliance violations. Threat actors are also increasingly leveraging AI to amplify the sophistication, speed, and impact of attacks—forcing enterprises to rethink their security strategies.

“As AI transforms industries, it also creates new and unforeseen security challenges,” said Deepen Desai, Chief Security Officer at Zscaler. “Data is the gold for AI innovation, but it must be handled securely. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, powered by AI with over 500 trillion daily signals, provides real-time insights into threats, data, and access patterns—ensuring organizations can harness AI’s transformative capabilities while mitigating its risks. Zero Trust Everywhere is the key to staying ahead in the rapidly evolving threat landscape as cybercriminals look to leverage AI in scaling their attacks.”

Key Insights from the ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report

ChatGPT Dominates AI/ML Transactions, But Security Concerns Remain

ChatGPT emerged as the most widely used AI/ML application, driving 45.2% of identified global AI/ML transactions in the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange. However, it was also the most-blocked tool due to enterprises’ growing concerns over sensitive data exposure and unsanctioned use. Other most-blocked applications include Grammarly, Microsoft Copilot, QuillBot, and Wordtune, showing broad usage patterns for AI-enhanced content creation and productivity improvements.

“We had no visibility into ChatGPT. Zscaler was our key solution initially to help us understand who was going to it and what they were uploading.”

—Jason Koler, CISO, Eaton Corporation |

See the video case study

DeepSeek and Agentic AI: Innovation Meets Escalating Threats

AI is amplifying cyber risks, with usage of agentic AI and China’s open-source DeepSeek enabling threat actors to scale attacks. So far in 2025, we’ve seen DeepSeek challenge American giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, disrupting AI development with strong performance, open access, and low costs. However, such advancements also introduce significant security risks.

Geographies Leading AI Adoption: US and India

The United States and India generated the highest AI/ML transaction volumes, representing the global shift toward AI-driven innovation. However, these changes aren’t occurring in a vacuum, and organizations in these and other geographies are grappling with increasing challenges like stringent compliance requirements, high implementation costs, and shortage of skilled talent.

Finance & Insurance Lead Enterprise AI Traffic by Industry

The Finance & Insurance sector accounted for 28.4% of all enterprise AI/ML activity, reflecting its widespread adoption, and indicative of the critical functions supported by the industry, such as fraud detection, risk modeling, and customer service automation. Manufacturing was second, accounting for 21.6% of transactions, likely driven by innovations in supply chain optimization and robotics automation. Additional sectors, including Services (18.5%), Technology (10.1%), and Healthcare (9.6%), are also increasing their reliance on AI, while each industry also faces unique security and regulatory challenges posing new risks and possibly impacting the overall rate of adoption.

The Zscaler AI Advantage

Built on a true zero trust architecture, Zscaler delivers Zero Trust Everywhere, securing user, workload, IoT/OT communication using business policies, not network policies. Zscaler mitigates AI-powered threats by hiding applications and IP addresses from attackers, inspecting all traffic for threats, and ensuring users access only authorized applications—never full networks. This approach minimizes the attack surface, prevents lateral movement, and stops threats before they can cause harm. Zscaler protects its users against today’s most sophisticated AI-driven threats by implementing the following:

• 
  Zero Trust Foundation:
  
  Minimize the external attack surface through continuous verification and least-privilege access.
• 
  Real-time AI Insights:
  
  Employ predictive and generative AI to deliver actionable insights that enhance security operations and digital performance.
• 
  Data Classification:
  
  Leverage AI-driven classification to seamlessly detect and safeguard sensitive data across Zscaler’s Data Fabric.
• 
  Threat Protection
  
  : Block AI-enhanced threats through continuous monitoring and response powered by the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange.
• 
  App Segmentation:
  
  Restrict lateral movement and reduce the internal attack surface with AI-driven, automatic app segmentation.
• 
  Breach Prediction:
  
  Harness the power of Zscaler Breach Predictor that combines the power of generative AI and multi-dimensional predictive models.
• 
  Cyber Risk Assessments:
  
  Leverages AI-generated security reports to continuously optimize your zero trust implementation.

Download the Full ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report

Download the full version of the 2025 AI Security Report

here

for more information about real-world threat scenarios, AI predictions, insights into AI regulations, and AI best practices.

Methodology

Analysis of 536.5 billion total AI and ML transactions in the Zscaler cloud from February 2024 to December 2024. The Zscaler global security cloud processes over 500 trillion daily signals and blocks 9 billion threats and policy violations per day, delivering over 250,000 daily security updates.

About ThreatLabz

ThreatLabz is the security research arm of Zscaler. This world-class team is responsible for hunting new threats and ensuring that the thousands of organizations using the global Zscaler platform are always protected. In addition to malware research and behavioral analysis, team members are involved in the research and development of new prototype modules for advanced threat protection on the Zscaler platform, and regularly conduct internal security audits to ensure that Zscaler products and infrastructure meet security compliance standards. ThreatLabz regularly publishes in-depth analyses of new and emerging threats on its portal,

research.zscaler.com

.

About Zscaler

Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across more than 150 data centers globally, the SASE-based Zero Trust Exchange™ is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform.

Media Contact

Natalia Wodecki

press@zscaler.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9c2bf5d3-5720-4db8-bf1f-a9675f48840e

This article was originally published on Quiver News, read the full story.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.