If you haven't seen the Patch Notes I suggest you go check them out.
TLDR; Jumping into Zarzakh now gets you a 6hr timer which prevents you from leaving unless you use the same gate you jumped in through. For 6hrs. Yadda yadda details, but essentially that is the main point. This might be temporary. Sorry.
While this might all be part of some brief temporary NPC actions, it isn't unexpected. Zarzakh has been causing lots of headaches across the community since it was introduced. Many players see this new system as nothing more than an unwelcome cheat to travel times. And, in many ways, that is exactly what it has been. Zarzakh has made New Eden feel smaller than it has in ages. And while most of us do not have access to vast jump gate networks, it was a welcome way for the rest of us to get around. Much like using Pochven as a filament or WH escape route has become. Or Thera for goodness sake.
Seems to me that this is yet another opportunity to align security status to something that would make sense within the universe. The darn place was built by so-called pirates after all. Anyone -5 and below should be able to freely access Zarzakh without restrictions. Goodness knows we have enough restrictions already. This makes perfect sense. Heck, why aren't more things in this game tied to sec status? I've been asking this question for over a decade now.
Bigger picture fast travel is not the end of Eve Online. But it should come at a price, or a cost, or an investment of time. Or all of those. Recent changes to the Ansiblex network in Null Sec is a solid start, although I would certainly yield that opinion to others with more NS based experience than myself. All I do these days in NS is show up unannounced via a filament and cause trouble for the locals. Talk about fast travel. Am I right?
I suspect this recent change in Zarzakh is the prelude to more permanent and lasting updates to come. And I also suspect we might not be happy with those either. I'm not happy about this change. I often take our gangs through Zarzakh down to hunt in Minnie/Amarr low sec, a journey that is much, much more of a pita without the shortcut.
But I still believe sec status based travel, especially when it directly ties into the local environment/lore makes sense. Why wouldn't the Deathless want to support criminals?