Utilizing the Power of Zero Trust Security Model in Business
Unauthorized access to your business’s network resources can cause serious security concerns in today’s collaborative business environment. The Zero Trust’s perimeter security model is designed to ensure reliable data is stored inside the network while unreliable information is kept outside. However, creating secure access points can be challenging in today’s fast-paced business environment, where operations require collaboration to be efficient. It is mainly because differentiating reliable information from unreliable mobile data that other collaborators can access can be confusing. So, how does Zero Trust help you solve the equation?
Understanding the Zero Trust Security Model
According to Forrester Research, the firm behind the Zero Trust model, you need to verify who accesses your business’s network resources. In other words, once you’ve identified the internal users in your business network and the untrusted users, you can allow the trusted users to access your network resources but monitor them.
Today, it’s evident that a lot of sensitive corporate information is stored both inside and outside of a company’s network. According to Verizon, 34% of all data breaches or leaks originate from the internal users of a particular network. The survey concluded that this group of internal users includes ex-employees, negligent employees, careless employees, and dissatisfied employees.
External cyber attacks often focus on sneaking into a particular company’s network after spotting a few vulnerable entry points. They target specific data, including personal information and intellectual property. Therefore, implementing different “layers” of access to your business’s data means that you should authorize and verify who accesses the network. Many companies make the mistake of trusting access to a network without verifying the authenticity of the user. That is why the Zero Trust model advocates for the no one or nothing is trusted principles.
Principles of a Zero Trust Network
Just as the name suggests, the zero-trust security system is designed not to trust without verifying. The paradigm is made of several tech ideas and best practices. Some of the notable principles of this security model include:
• Least-privilege access – This means that the system only allows a user to access what they need. This feature reduces the chances of internal data exfiltration and malware attacks.
• Micro-segmentation – The security system will segment your network resources into multiple segments that different credentials can access. Even if one of the segments in your network has been breached, bad actors won’t be allowed to access all the other segments.
• Data usage – Zero Trust ensures that users don’t just stay in the network unnecessarily simply because they have access. Copying of downloaded data off to cloud apps or USB disks is also revoked.
Benefits of Implementing Zero Trust
Typical benefits of implementing the zero trust security model include:
1: Gain Greater Business Visibility
Since the Zero Trust security model never assumes all actors or anything can be trusted, you choose what you want to cover in your security strategy. Normally, it’s ideal to ensure that all your business computing sources are securely protected. So, once you’ve decided on activities and resources to cover, you can implement the Zero Trust security model.
Once you’ve started monitoring access, you’ll gain greater business visibility across the board: you’ll know all the access requests based on time, location, and devices or applications involved. The security system tracks all activities and flags unusual behaviors.
2: Create a Secure Remote Workforce
According to a recent report from Skybox Security 2020, 73% of security professionals seem to be skeptical about the future of cybersecurity due to the dramatic shift to remote work. These professionals feel the sudden shift creates room for more risks and vulnerabilities in cyberspace.
With a lot of data being deployed in the cloud and users spread across the globe, it’s safe to say firewalls have become redundant. Therefore, the robust protection that Zero Trust brings on board creates a stronger perimeter. That secure perimeter attaches an identity to the devices, users, and locations whenever they want to access your network resources.
3: Simplify IT Management
The zero-trust security model allows you to automate the entire process of evaluating access requests continuously. Access is automatically granted whenever the privileged access management (PAM) system analyzes a request using key identifiers and judges that it’s standard. As a result, your IT team will only be involved if they notice that the Zero Trust security system has flagged a suspicious request.
This is very significant for your small business because most companies are experiencing shortages in terms of sufficient cybersecurity skills. Meaning, you don’t have to waste your limited resources in hiring, training, and dedicating IT human resources to simple cybersecurity needs that can be automated.
4: Optimize Your Security Staff
Today, working smarter is more efficient and productive than working harder. With Zero Trust, your security staff can generate data from different locations by utilizing the system’s centralized monitoring. This means that your security team will be able to gain access to a broader scope of analytics they wouldn’t have otherwise accessed. As a result, you can ensure your network resources are more secure even with fewer staff members.
5: Boost Data Protection
A combination of just-in-time (JIT) access and Zero Standing Privilege ensures that malware or even rogue employees don’t access your network resources. In addition, the combination makes sure that what is accessed and the time a user can access your network is limited, reducing the impact of a data breach. When access is restricted and is time-bound, malicious actors and malware won’t have enough time to extract what they’re looking for or cause serious harm if they find the data.
Zero Trust Network Solutions By HRCT
A little bit of paranoia may come in handy as far as cybersecurity is concerned. Interestingly, some of the human errors that lead to serious cyber-attacks are unintentional; users are merely careless with their security codes and passwords. Thankfully, with the zero-trust security model, your business will consider all actors untrustworthy until proven otherwise.
Handling access requests from your employees every time they need to execute a particular project can be tedious and time-consuming. But, by working with an established IT service provider, the process of evaluating all these requests based on access duration, trust, location, and micro-segmentation becomes easier and much faster. Fortunately, HRCT can help you leverage and implement the Zero Trust security paradigm. So, if you’re looking for reliable IT services provider for your business in the Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk area of Virginia, contact us today to begin the conversation.