Zero Trust Security Model

What is Zero Trust?

The concept of "zero trust" refers to a philosophy of network security that maintains that no user, whether they are located within or outside the network, should be trusted until their identify has been adequately verified. The concept of zero trust functions on the presumption that there are always risks present, whether they come from within or outside the network. In a zero-trust environment, it is also assumed that every attempt to access the network or an application is a potential security risk. The reasoning of network administrators is informed by these assumptions, which forces them to create severe and trustless security procedures.

How the Zero Trust Model Evolved?

John Kindervag, a researcher at Forrester Research, is credited with being the first person to use the phrase "zero trust." Kindervag demonstrated the inadequacy of standard network security models in a study that was released in 2010. The article discussed how these models all demand some degree of confidence on the part of the user. At numerous points along the network, administrators are required to place their faith in individuals and machines; but, if this trust is betrayed, the integrity of the whole network may be compromised.

He suggested using segmentation gateways (SG), which could be deployed right in the middle of a network, as a means of finding a solution to the issue. Incorporating a number of distinct preventative actions and making use of a packet-forwarding engine to direct preventative actions to the points in the network where they are required are both components of the SG model.

How Does a Zero Trust Architecture Work?

Implementing zero trust means demanding stringent identity verification from each person or device that seeks to get access to the network or application. This verification is performed regardless of whether or not the device or user is currently within the perimeter of the network. Events like as shifts in the devices being used, location, log-in frequency, or the number of unsuccessful login attempts may all serve as potential triggers for user or device identity verification to take place.

The Protect Surface

Identifying your protect surface, which may be based on data, applications, assets, or services and is more generally referred to by its acronym DAAS, is the first step in the protection process.

• Data: Which data do you have to protect?
• Applications: Which applications have sensitive information?
• Assets: What are your most sensitive assets?
• Services: Which services can a bad actor exploit in an attempt to interrupt normal IT operation?

Putting up this protective barrier will help you zero in on what aspects of the environment need safeguarding. This strategy is superior to the alternative of attempting to protect the assault surface, which is continuously growing in size and complexity.

The formation of micro-perimeters is one of the components involved in a zero-trust policy's requirement that traffic surrounding important data and components be regulated. A segmentation gateway is used by a zero trust network in the periphery of a micro-perimeter. This gateway is responsible for monitoring the admission of both persons and data. It uses a Layer 7 firewall and the Kipling approach to implement security measures that are intended to properly screen people and data before to providing access. These procedures are aimed to prevent unauthorized access.

In order to determine whether or not incoming packets belong to a certain category of traffic, a Layer 7 rule analyzes their payloads. In the event that a packet includes data that does not conform to the requirements of the Layer 7 regulation, access will be denied. The Kipling approach casts doubt on the veracity of the entry attempt by asking six inquiries about the entry and the one who is attempting to get access to it: "Who? What? When? Where?" Why? How? In the event that the response to any of the queries triggers an alarm, access will not be provided.

Benefits of a Zero Trust Model

When it comes to developing their security architecture, several corporations have chosen to support to the zero-trust ideology for a variety of reasons:

• Protection of customer data: The wasted time and frustration that comes from the loss of customer data is eliminated, as is the cost of losing customers who no longer trust the business.
• Reduced redundancy and complexity of the security stack: When a zero trust system handles all of the security functions, you can eliminate stacks of redundant firewalls, web gateways, and other virtual and hardware security devices.
• Reduced need to hire and train security professionals: A central zero trust system means you don't have to hire as many people to manage, monitor, secure, refine, and update security controls.

Define a Protect Surface

Outline the types of data or network components you absolutely need to protect. For many companies, this may include:

• Customer data
• Financial records
• Employee information
• Proprietary collateral such as blueprints and patents
• Network equipment like servers, switches, and routers

Limit Access to Data

Determine which resources each user requires access to in order to carry out their responsibilities, and then restrict their access to just the regions that contain those resources. By doing so, you limit the attack surface for phishing or malware intrusions, which in turn minimizes the likelihood of human mistake occurring. And if a person just has one password that is weak and that password is used for numerous different points of access, then a hostile actor may find out that password and exacerbate the impact of a breach. The hacker was able to penetrate not just the parts of the network that were vital to the user's employment, but also the parts of the network that were not essential.

Give Your Team Visibility

If your IT department has access into the system, they will be able to assist users in getting the most out of the network while also keeping a close check on it. Tools for visibility may include the following:

• Reports: User activity reports can be analyzed to identify attempts to break into the system.
• Analytics: Analyzing user activity over a period of time may reveal patterns of behavior. A break in the pattern could indicate an attempt to bypass security protocols.
• Monitoring: Real-time monitoring of the system can reveal hackers’ attempts at infiltration as they happen.
• Logs: When system activity is logged, you can analyze the data to look for anomalies that could be due to attempted breaches. You can also ascertain the methodology of a hacker by studying the logs after a hack.