Case Study: Virginia Commonwealth University achieves secure Zero Trust hybrid work—eliminating VPNs and blocking threats—with Zscaler

Virginia Commonwealth University Adopts Zero Trust to Support Secure Hybrid Work Across 15 Colleges and Schools

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a top-50 public research university with 15 schools in Richmond, needed to secure a distributed, hybrid workforce of about 7,500 faculty and staff. With users working on and off campus (including employees who are also students, contractors, and researchers), VCU’s legacy on‑premises firewalls and VPNs couldn’t provide consistent visibility, manageability, or performance for internet, SaaS, and private application access.

VCU deployed Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange (ZIA and ZPA) to replace VPNs and enforce least‑privilege, app‑level access. The rollout eliminated VPNs, connected users directly to apps (stopping lateral movement), and integrated EDR and Microsoft EntraID for adaptive access controls; it also improved performance and reduced infrastructure load by 75%. In short order VCU blocked millions of policy violations and threats—including tens of thousands hidden in encrypted traffic—and secured remote work across all 15 schools within six months.

Virginia Commonwealth University

Dan Han

Chief Information Security Officer