Introduction
As information is increasingly accessible online, the number of cybersecurity attacks, threats, and breaches continue to grow. From hackers pretending to be someone else for financial gain to major companies falling victim to ransomware, being able to achieve cyber resilience in today’s digital world is critical. It is important to ensure users and devices are both authenticated and authorized prior to being granted access to sensitive information. In this post, we will explore the concept of Zero Trust – understanding what it is, along with its known benefits and challenges.
Zero Trust Philosophy
The core Zero Trust philosophy is never trust, always verify, the point of which is that no entity – user, application, or device – should be automatically trusted. Instead, an entity must be validated and authenticated before getting access. In simpler terms, the concept of Zero Trust can be equated to gaining access to a heavily secured building. To gain entry, one must get through a gate, a guard, provide a code, and go through another checkpoint before being able to enter the building.
Leading the national effort in understanding, managing, and reducing cyber risk, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has created a Zero Trust Maturity Model (ZTMM) to help organizations implement a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). ZTA implementation is strategic and requires a combination of policies, practices, and technologies to succeed. ZTMM includes five pillars – Identity, Devices, Networks, Applications & Workload, and Data – all of which ZTA implementation must consider. Let’s explore each pillar:
- Identity: Verifying the digital identity of every user, device, and application before granting permission to access an organization’s resources.
- Devices: Checking all devices health and compliance before granting permission to access an organization’s network of resources.
- Networks: Segmenting (breaking into smaller pieces) an organization’s networks to thwart lateral, which is a technique cybercriminals use to move among network resources once they have gained network access.
- Applications & Workload: Like users, applications need to access sensitive data and systems. These applications need limited access to data and systems, routine auditing to ensure the latest security updates are in place, and consistent application monitoring to prevent unauthorized access.
- Data: Identifying and ranking data based on its viability. Access to sensitive data should be limited to only users with privileged access.
Zero Trust Benefits
Zero Trust is meant to let the appropriate entities in and keep the wrong ones out. Cyberattacks are on the rise with the intent to steal and misuse critical and sensitive data. Implementing Zero Trust can increase security against modern threats and reduce the number of cyberattacks. Through continuous monitoring of systems, verification of access attempts, and appropriate resource access authorizations, Zero Trust can maximize an organization’s ability to protect its resources from malicious actors. Additional benefits of Zero Trust include increased productivity, cost reduction, improved end user experience, and streamlined resource access.
Zero Trust Challenges
Transitioning from implicit trust where everything is assumed trustworthy until proven otherwise to explicit trust where continuous verification is needed to be granted permission/access can be a huge feat.
From a technology standpoint, Zero Trust implementation will be difficult for organizations without sufficient tools and resources. Further, some organizations may have access to Zero Trust-enabling technological assets while other organizations may have to start from scratch.
From a culture perspective, adopting this change requires understanding and cooperation. It is the people of the organization that play a significant role in the implementation of Zero Trust. Cooperation from senior leadership, IT, data and system owners, and staff are required to effectively transition from implicit to explicit trust.
Looking Ahead: Putting Zero Trust Into Practice
As society grows increasingly technology-dependent, additional measures are needed to protect users and sensitive information. Adhering to the philosophy of never trust, always verify, Zero Trust is a comprehensive and proactive approach to security, deploying continuous authentication to deliver ongoing protection against the risk of unauthorized access. Just as we would expect when entering a highly secured building, diligent and routine security checks are equally critical for maintaining the safety and integrity of our vulnerable digital spaces.
