Black Hat 2025: Key Vendor Innovations Transforming Enterprise Security

Amid the frenetic pace and crowded exhibition halls of Black Hat 2025, three vendor announcements have emerged as potential game-changers in enterprise security. With the hybrid work era pushing organizations to grapple with unmanaged devices, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, and surging “shadow AI” usage, leading vendors Check Point Software, Menlo Security, and SentinelOne have each unveiled technologies and strategies that signal a new phase of defensive innovation. Their latest offerings address some of the most urgent—and overlooked—threats facing IT and security teams in the modern enterprise.

---

Background: The Security Perimeter Redefined​

The sprawling digital ecosystem of today’s organizations bears little resemblance to the castle-and-moat IT structures of the past. Employees, contractors, and third parties now regularly access corporate resources from a blend of managed and unmanaged devices, spanning offices, remote worksites, and even personal smartphones. This transformation offers agility and flexibility, but it triggers a fundamental shift: the classical “security perimeter” is all but extinct.
Current research quantifies the magnitude of this challenge. An average of 31% of endpoints accessing critical corporate resources are unmanaged—meaning they exist beyond the direct control of IT. Even more concerning, 59% of those unmanaged desktops lack essential protections such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), zero trust frameworks, or equivalent controls. For cybercriminals, these endpoints are gaping entryways; for defenders, they highlight the urgent need for novel risk mitigation strategies.

---

Check Point’s Enterprise Browser: Zero Trust for the Unmanageable​

Redefining Endpoint Security​

Check Point Software, already renowned for its deep investments in network and browser security, is staking a new claim in the fast-evolving enterprise browser sector. Their latest announcement at Black Hat introduces the Check Point Enterprise Browser, designed explicitly to secure unmanaged endpoints and enforce zero trust principles—even beyond traditional IT reach.

Key Capabilities and Features​

• Data Isolation: Sensitive corporate data is quarantined within secure browser sessions, thwarting attempts to exfiltrate or leak information from unmanaged devices.
• Integrated Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Real-time scanning and enforcement stop confidential data from entering or leaving authorized web applications.
• Security Posture Checks: Automated evaluations verify that each session and device meets corporate compliance and security standards before granting access.
• Complete Session Visibility: IT teams retain forensic-level insight into browsing activity and resource usage, crucial for compliance and rapid incident response.

This browser-first approach sidesteps challenges typically associated with endpoint clients or agents. By leveraging browser extension technology and seamless integration with existing identity providers, IT can quickly deploy security controls—even to devices owned by contractors, gig workers, or BYOD participants.

Impact and Limitations​

Check Point’s move validates the rapid ascendance of enterprise browsers as cornerstone security platforms. Such browsers bridge the gap between user convenience and organizational mandate by ensuring that enterprise-grade security can “travel” with users, regardless of the device or network. However, onboarding challenges remain: IT must still persuade users to install and operate within the sanctioned browser, a hurdle mitigated when strong identity integrations facilitate rapid rollout but not entirely eliminated.

---

Menlo Security: Broadening the Zero Trust Horizon​

Dual Innovations: Enterprise Browsers and Secure Collaboration​

Menlo Security, long a trailblazer in browser isolation and web-based threat prevention, used Black Hat 2025 to reveal two distinct—but highly synergistic—solutions aimed at unmanaged and BYOD endpoints.
1. Menlo Adaptive Web: Further Fortifying Enterprise Browsers
Menlo’s Adaptive Web feature introduces dynamic controls into its flagship browser service:

• Data Redaction: Automatically conceals sensitive fields—such as Social Security numbers or credit card information—when presented in browser sessions.
• Field Identification and Disabling: Blocks high-risk fields, particularly credentials or sensitive inputs, from unintended access or manipulation.
• SafeSearch Enforcement: Applies web content filters, reducing exposure to phishing sites or inappropriate web destinations.

Critically, Menlo’s enterprise browser technology requires no installation on the endpoint. Security is delivered via a remote secure browser, enabling frictionless deployment across unmanaged or non-corporate user devices.
2. Menlo Secure Storage: Reinventing File Collaboration
In tandem with its browser advances, Menlo has unveiled Menlo Secure Storage—a file collaboration service born from its recent acquisition of Votiro. This system addresses one of the thorniest issues introduced by collaborative, distributed work: how to allow fluid document exchange and editing between managed and unmanaged endpoints without sacrificing security.

• Cloud-First Collaboration: All files and operations remain within Menlo’s secure cloud enclave, dramatically reducing the risk associated with local downloads or unprotected re-uploads.
• Zero Trust Alignment: Policies enforce controlled sharing, editing, and usage for mixed user bases—including external contractors and cross-functional teams.
• Legacy Workaround Elimination: Employees and partners no longer need to resort to risky workarounds, such as emailing documents to personal accounts or editing outside secure environments.

Assessing Menlo’s Strategic Vision​

Menlo Security’s dual-pronged approach acknowledges the multi-vector reality of endpoint risk. By combining robust browser security with secure file collaboration, Menlo provides a path for organizations to extend zero trust protections deep into their operational mesh—covering workflows that rarely fit neatly into legacy security models.
Yet, while the seamless, installation-free remote browser model removes user friction, it may introduce bandwidth and latency issues for highly interactive sessions. Effective communication, user training, and integration with preferred productivity tools will be critical in driving adoption and maximizing the security returns.

---

SentinelOne’s Bid for AI Security Leadership​

The Rise of Shadow AI​

While device-centric risk remains a clear and present danger, Black Hat 2025 also showcased a looming threat with less obvious boundaries: shadow AI. As employees race to adopt generative AI tools and digital assistants—often in defiance of stated company policies—organizations face an unprecedented visibility and control crisis.
Research data paints a startling picture:

• 53% of end users admit to using AI tools that are explicitly banned by their organization.
• 45% suspect co-workers are sharing sensitive data with unauthorized AI.
• While 72% of IT leaders believe they have strong AI usage policies, only 44% of corporate workers are actually aware of them—a critical policy communication breakdown.
• Enforcement gaps persist, with only 36% of users sensing strict oversight, compared to 53% of IT decision-makers who believe enforcement is effective.

SentinelOne + Prompt Security: An AI Security Milestone​

Against this backdrop, SentinelOne’s announcement of its intent to acquire Prompt Security marks what may be the industry’s first deep integration of end-user AI governance and protection into a mainstream endpoint security platform.
Prompt Security specializes in safeguarding AI interactions at the user level:

• Prompt Content Analysis: Detects when employees submit sensitive or non-compliant data to generative AI systems, flagging or blocking the transfer of privileged information.
• Shadow AI Discovery: Illuminates unsanctioned tool usage, equipping organizations with the evidence and audit trails needed to map—and address—AI adoption in real time.
• User-Level Enforcement: Empowers IT to craft policies that balance needed productivity tools with protections against misuse or accidental sharing.

By moving swiftly to integrate these capabilities, SentinelOne is positioning itself at the forefront of a new era: one where endpoint protection and AI usage policing are inseparable.

---

Critical Analysis: Strengths and Emerging Risks​

Vendor Strengths Breaking New Ground​

• Context-Aware Security: Each announcement leverages real user data, adaptive policies, and environmental signals rather than static, “one-size-fits-all” rules.
• BYOD and Unmanaged Device Inclusion: The focus on securing devices beyond IT management acknowledges a key trend: hybrid work and gig workforce reliance are not going away.
• Holistic Data Protection: Menlo and Check Point’s solutions both pivot on data-centric security, aligning with regulatory and industry standards for information risk management.
• Proactive AI Policy Enforcement: SentinelOne’s angel on the shoulder—by way of Prompt Security—offers a rare degree of insight into employee and tool behaviors, vital for taming shadow AI risk before it metastasizes.

Challenges and Cautions​

Despite their promise, each solution faces its share of headwinds:

• User Behavior and Adoption: Even the most robust controls are only as effective as their adoption. Persuading users to switch browsers, engage with new tools, or abide by AI restrictions demands robust change management and clear, ongoing education.
• Privacy and Trust Balancing Act: Zero trust and session monitoring grand visibility to IT, but may raise privacy concerns or foster resistance among users worried about constant surveillance.
• AI Tool Arms Race: As organizations add layers of detection and prevention, users determined to bypass controls—whether for convenience or productivity—may become increasingly adept at obfuscation, sparking an ongoing game of cat and mouse.
• Integration Complexity: Particularly for Menlo Secure Storage, seamless workflow integration with existing productivity suites (Office, Google Workspace, etc.) is essential. Poor integration could drive users back to insecure, unsanctioned methods.

---

The Expanding Enterprise Security Landscape​

The Black Hat 2025 announcements from Check Point, Menlo Security, and SentinelOne do not mark the launch of entirely new categories, but rather the intensification and convergence of prevailing security trends. The rise of enterprise browsers, the mainstreaming of zero trust, and the urgent need to police AI usage all reflect the evolving threat landscape where traditional perimeters and static controls have become obsolete.
For organizations tasked with protecting critical assets, the implications are two-fold:

• Continuous Innovation Required: Attackers rapidly exploit any gaps left by lagging defenses. Defenders must embrace new solutions and iterate policy at speed to remain effective.
• Human-Focused Security: Tools must accommodate the real-world behavior of employees, partners, and contractors. Security is only as strong as its alignment with how people actually work.

---

Conclusion: Charting a Path Forward​

Black Hat 2025 served as a microcosm of the challenges and opportunities defining modern enterprise security. As employees continue to blur the line between managed and unmanaged, sanctioned and shadow IT, security leaders must deploy adaptive, context-aware solutions that extend both protection and productivity beyond the old perimeters.
Check Point’s enterprise browser, Menlo’s dual-focus innovations, and SentinelOne’s proactive stance on AI security each represent a substantive response to these realities. They signal an industry racing not just to catch up with threats, but to redefine what enterprise security means in a connected, AI-powered, user-driven age.
Ultimately, organizations that move swiftly to adopt these innovations—while recognizing their limits and preparing for the operational realities of deployment—will be best positioned to thrive in the uncertain digital terrain that awaits. The most success will come to those who view security not as a barrier, but as an enabler: empowering people and protecting data, wherever and however work gets done.

---

Source: TechTarget 3 eye-catching vendor announcements from Black Hat | TechTarget