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What is Zero Trust Security?

October 26, 2021

A zero trust architecture or ZTA helps businesses protect against both internal and external threats. Is it time for your business to implement ZTA?

Has your company implemented a Zero Trust policy? More and more companies are adopting this concept, especially in an increasingly remote world. Here’s what you should know.

What is zero trust?

John Kindervag created the Zero Trust Network, or Zero Trust Architecture in 2010. It is a security concept based on the belief that an organization should never automatically trust anything inside or outside its perimeters. Zero trust requires an organization to verify everything trying to connect to its systems before allowing access.

Essentially “Don’t trust anyone.” Or put another way, “Continually assume that the environment has already been breached”

What are the benefits of ZTA?

  • Reduces threat surface
  • Improves data protection
  • Simplifies IT management
  • Secures remote workforce

There are three essential components in a ZTA:

  • User/Application authentication
  • Device authentication
  • Trust

Developing a ZTA

  1. Identify and segment data- Before implementing zero trust, you need to pinpoint the sensitive data. It is helpful to separate systems that humans have access to from other parts of the cyber environment, being that humans are most often the weakest link and the first source of a cyberattack.
  2. Analyze the traffic flows of your sensitive data- As soon as you’ve pinpointed your sensitive data, it’s crucial to analyze the flow of your data—i.e. Where is the data going? How is it being used? In order to effectively defend your data, you need to know how your sensitive data flows across your business applications. The Zero Trust ideology comes in once you understand which flows are allowed—everything else is not allowed access.
  3. Design a network architecture- When you know what flows can be allowed and which can be blocked, you’re ready to build a network architecture, and controls to ensure nothing (that should be blocked) infiltrates your system.
  4. Enforce and monitor- It’s crucial to monitor everything so you realize when an attack has occurred. Zero trust is not a technology, it is a framework and process that requires monitoring and updating.
  5. Automate and orchestrate- Maintain a stable, reliable and predictable network security model by embracing security automation and orchestration.

Need help developing a ZTA? We can help. Contact us at any time.

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