Zero Trust Security

Organizations want their employees to be more productive, that means working anywhere, on any time, on any device, securely. The ever-changing threat landscape and with how employees changed the way they work are forcing organizations to revisit how they secure their networks. In this day and age where network perimeter is everywhere, and the physical perimeter is vanishing, we must assume that the network is always hostile; therefore, external and internal threats exist on the network at all times. Back in 2010 Google was attacked which they claimed was sponsored by a nation state. It was a highly sophisticated attack that forced Google to launch the BeyondCorp project. BeyondCorp was an internal Google initiative to enable its employees to work from untrusted networks without the use of a VPN. This is the first major implementation of a Zero Trust security model, a term also popularized by John Kindervag in 2010.

The Zero Trust security model assumes that a breach is inevitable or has likely already occurred, so it constantly limits access to only what is needed and looks for anomalous or malicious activity. Zero Trust embeds comprehensive security monitoring; granular risk-based access controls; and system security automation in a coordinated manner throughout all aspects of the infrastructure in order to focus on protecting critical assets (data) in real-time within a dynamic threat environment. This data-centric security model allows the concept of least-privileged access to be applied for every access decision, allowing or denying access to resources based on the combination of several contextual factors.

Zero Trust requires all users, even those inside the organization’s enterprise network, to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validating security configuration and posture, before being granted or keeping access to applications and data. This approach leverages advanced technologies such as multifactor authentication, identity and access management (IAM), and next-generation endpoint security technology to verify the user’s identity and maintain system security. 

As a result, organizations must ensure that all access requests are continuously vetted prior to allowing connection to any of your enterprise or cloud assets. That’s why enforcement of Zero Trust policies heavily relies on real-time visibility into user attributes, applications, hardware and devices, and network traffic.

In summary, the Zero Trust model is the next evolution of our security model. It’s built on an identity centric model for security that completely transforms the current and legacy IT models. Zero Trust is not easy to implement, but it’s achievable today. The model is the ultimate solution to building security from the inside out and not the outside in. While it may not be a complete silver bullet, it gives companies the best chance to contain security incidents before they become catastrophic breaches.