Zero Trust and Identity Access Management: Lets Take it One Step Further

Article 2 of 2 - An overview of Zero Trust and its Capabilities

While an Identity and Access Management (IAM) system is crucial for a business's cybersecurity, ongoing reinforcement is essential to maintain its effectiveness. So, how are more and more companies ensuring that vital information stays secure and accessible only to the right people??

Background?

The answer lies in the framework of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), a security framework that assumes no user, device, or network is inherently trustworthy. The concept of Zero Trust evolved over time and its need was rooted in the requirement for more robust cybersecurity. The early 2000s marked the time when experts began questioning the traditional cybersecurity methods of corporate VPNs. In 2009, John Kindervag, an analyst at Forrester Research, formally introduced the Zero Trust model. As the years followed and organizations began experiencing more sophisticated cyber threats and data breaches, the Zero Trust model began gaining traction.??

With growing fears of cyber security attacks, even the Department of Defense (DoD) unveiled its Zero Trust strategy in 2022 to bolster its cybersecurity posture. Additionally, a year prior to that, President Biden directed all US Federal agencies to implement a zero-trust architecture.?

Zero Trust Principles?

Business Enablement

Align security to the organization’s mission, priorities, risks and processes. Employees can securely access essential resources from any location, enabling remote work and enhancing collaboration without compromising security. Additionally, Zero Trust allows businesses to allocate security resources more efficiently, concentrating efforts on high-risk areas and minimizing unnecessary expenditures on broad security measures.?

Assume Breach?

ZTA assumes attackers can and will successfully attack anything (identity, network, device, infrastructure, etc.). By assuming a breach, Zero Trust adopts a proactive security stance, identifying and mitigating threats before they cause significant damage. This constant verification reduces the number of weak spots available to malicious sources.??

Verify Explicitly??

Protect assets from attacker control by explicitly validating that all trust and security decisions incorporate all relevant available information.??

Use Least-Privilege Access??

Restrict access to potentially compromised assets by using just-in-time (JIT) and just-enough-access (JEA) approaches, along with risk-based policies such as adaptive access control. This limited access granted to users reduces the potential entry points for attackers. Meaning that even If an attacker gains access to a user’s credentials, their reach within the network is limited.??

In summary, Zero Trust principles are no longer just a recommended strategy, rather a necessity in today’s cybersecurity landscape. By focusing on verifying identities and managing access, IAM serves as the cornerstone of ZTA. Together, these approaches form a dynamic, adaptive defense that effectively secures critical assets.??

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