What is Zero Trust Security? Deployment Guide

Because Zero Trust is a proactive defense strategy, technologies that support Zero Trust have recently been widely adopted in response to growing security concerns.

That said, trust plays a central role when we talk about cybersecurity. The basic elements of cybersecurity include “trusted” network infrastructure, users, devices or endpoints, and suppliers.

There is no doubt that this approach has played an important role in protecting businesses, their data, and even individuals. However, delving deeper into the more technologically advanced world, this approach has long been exploited by cyber attackers for the following reasons:

• A weak security model or “castle and moat” concept where security inspections occur outside the perimeter of the building in which a business operates. If a hacker or malware somehow manages to breach that perimeter and infiltrate it, damage is done.
• Outdated access controls such as network firewalls that don’t give you visibility or control over your users’ applications or the services they use. Once hackers have compromised your network, they can easily access those applications.
• VPN technology is great at securing data communications and maintaining confidentiality and privacy, but authorization and authentication are not yet fully realized.
• Workflow changes such as BYOD policies and remote workers using devices. If proper security systems are not implemented, data breaches will occur.

All these security challenges that organizations face have created the foundation for systems that are flexible, dynamic, simple, and provide a high level of security from all sides.

Zero trust security is the model we’re talking about.

In this article, you will learn about Zero Trust security, its principles, how to implement it, and some interesting points about Zero Trust security.

Let’s explore!

What is Zero Trust?

Zero Trust is an advanced security approach in which all users, both inside and outside an organization’s network, are authorized, authenticated, and have their security posture and configuration continually verified before being allowed access to the network, data, and applications. You need to

This approach leverages high-end security technologies such as multi-factor authentication, next-generation endpoint security, and identity and access management (IAM) to verify user identities while maintaining tight security.

Zero Trust not only provides strict user identity verification, but also protects users and applications from advanced Internet threats.

The term “zero trust” was popularized by Forrester’s John Kindervag, but was actually coined by Stephen Paul Marsh after he published a paper on computational security at the University of Stirling in April 1994.

In fact, most concepts of Zero Trust are not new. Based on Marsh’s research, trust is finite and transcends human aspects such as ethics, morality, justice, judgment, and legality. According to him, trust can be explained as a mathematical construct.

Zero Trust aims to promote the idea that organizations should not trust devices or users by default, even if they are connected to the corporate LAN or have been previously verified. This relies on clear real-time visibility into user attributes such as user identity, firmware version, endpoint hardware type, OS version, vulnerabilities, patch levels, user logins, installed applications, and incident detection. I am.

As a result of its strong security features, Zero Trust has become more popular and organizations are starting to adopt it, including Google with its BeyondCorp project.

A key driver of this adoption is the increased frequency of cyberattacks targeting endpoints, on-premises devices, networks, data, cloud apps, and other IT infrastructure. In addition to this, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to work from home and the number of online attacks has further increased around the world.

Therefore, security practices like Zero Trust appear to be a viable option.

According to the report , the global market size for zero trust security is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.4% to reach USD 51.6 billion by 2026 from USD 19.6 billion in 2020.

Common terms for Zero Trust access include Zero Trust Application Access (ZTAA), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Zero Trust Identity Protection (ZTIP).

What are the core principles of Zero Trust?

The Zero Trust security concept is based on the following principles and is used to secure your organization’s network.

Least privileged access 🔐

The basic concept is that users are given the level of access they need only when they need it to do their job and fulfill their role. This reduces the user’s exposure to sensitive components of the network.

User identification ✔️

You need to know who has access to your network, applications, data, and more. To maintain stronger security within your organization, always check authentication and authorization for each access request.

Microsegmentation 🍱

This is an important practice when you need to divide your security perimeter into smaller zones. This process, also known as zoning, is done to ensure that different parts of the network have separate access.

Additionally, data must be continuously managed and monitored across these zones, providing fine-grained access controls to eliminate excessive privileges.

Leverage advanced prevention techniques 🛑

Zero Trust recommends adopting advanced prevention techniques that can stop online breaches and reduce their damage.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a technology for verifying user identity and increasing network security. It works by asking users secret questions, sending text/email verification messages, and evaluating users through logic-based exercises. The more authentication points you incorporate into your network, the more secure your organization will be.

Monitor device access in real time 👁️

Apart from controlling user access, you need to monitor and control the number of devices seeking access to your network in real time. All of these devices must be authenticated to minimize the possibility of attack.

What are its advantages?

Zero Trust provides a powerful strategy for organizational security and network resiliency. This brings several benefits to your business:

Protection from both external and internal threats

Zero Trust provides strict policies to stop external threats, protect your business, and protect your users from harmful internal agents. In fact, insider threats are even more serious and exploit the trust you have in them.

This report from Verizon states that approximately 30% of all data breaches involve insiders.

Zero Trust therefore focuses on the concept of “never trust, always verify.”

Additionally, implementing expanded explicit authentication and monitoring and verifying all access to data, devices, servers, and applications prevents insiders from abusing their privileges.

data protection

Zero Trust helps prevent malware and employees from accessing large parts of your network. Therefore, limiting access and access times can help mitigate attacks and, even if a breach occurs, reduce its impact and prevent further damage.

As a result, your business data can be protected from hacking. Additionally, once malware has breached your firewall, it can only access certain parts of your data for a limited time.

Zero Trust protects not only your data, but also your intellectual property and customer data. Preventing attacks can help your business maintain its reputation and maintain customer trust. In addition to this, huge losses and other financial consequences are also avoided.

Improved visibility on your network

With Zero Trust, you can’t trust anything or trust anyone, so you can decide which activities and resources you want to monitor. Centralized monitoring of your entire organization, including compute sources and data, gives you complete visibility into which devices and users are allowed access to your network.

Therefore, you have complete visibility into the application, user, location, and time associated with each access request. Our security infrastructure instantly flags any abnormal behavior and tracks all activity that occurs in real-time for comprehensive security.

Securing remote workers

Remote work has become widely accepted across industries and businesses, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Cyber ​​risks and vulnerabilities are also increasing due to weak security measures on the devices and networks of employees working from anywhere in the world. Even firewalls are now inefficient, posing risks to data stored across the cloud.

With Zero Trust, user identification and verification at each level takes over the boundary concept or castle and moat approach. The identity is attached to every device, user, and application that wants to join the network.

In this way, Zero Trust provides robust protection for all employees, no matter where they are located in the world or where their data is stored.

Make IT management easier

Zero Trust security relies on continuous monitoring, control, and analysis. Therefore, automation facilitates the process of evaluating access requests. Because if you do everything manually, it takes a lot of time to approve each request, which significantly slows down your workflow and impacts your business goals and revenue.

However, automation such as Privileged Access Management (PAM) can be used to determine access requests based on specific security identifiers and automatically grant access. Therefore, you don’t necessarily need to involve your IT team in approving every request that includes human error.

Administrators can also be held accountable if the system flags a request as suspicious. This way, you can harness the power of automation and free up employees to work on improvement and innovation instead of doing mundane tasks.

Ensuring compliance

Zero Trust helps you stay compliant at all times because each access request is first evaluated and details are logged. The system tracks the time, application, and location of each request, creating a perfect audit trail that forms a chain of evidence.

As a result, you no longer have to struggle to maintain and submit evidence, making governance more efficient and faster. At the same time, it is far removed from compliance risks.

How can I implement Zero Trust?

Although every organization has unique needs and challenges, certain aspects remain common to all organizations. That’s why Zero Trust can be implemented across your organization, regardless of your business or industry.

Here’s how to implement Zero Trust security in your organization.

Identifying sensitive data

Knowing what kind of sensitive data you have, where and how it flows, can help you determine the best security strategy.

Additionally, identify assets, services, and applications. You should also examine your current toolset and any gaps in your infrastructure that could act as security loopholes.

• Give your most important data and assets the highest level of protection and prevent them from being compromised.
• Another thing you can implement is classifying data as confidential, internal, or public. You can leverage micro-segmentation or zoning. Additionally, it creates small chunks of data for different zones connected to the network’s extended ecosystem.

map data flow

Evaluate how data flows across your network, including transaction flows that can be multidirectional. Facilitate data flow optimization and micronetwork creation.

Also, keep in mind where sensitive data is located and who has access to awareness for all users and who can implement stricter security practices.

Establish a zero trust micronetwork

Once you have information about how sensitive data flows within your network, create a micronetwork for each data flow. Design to ensure that only the best security measures are used for any use case.

This step uses virtual and physical security controls such as:

• Reinforced micro-perimeter to prevent unauthorized lateral movement. You can segment your organization based on location, user groups, applications, and more.
• Implement multi-factor authentication such as two-factor authentication (2FA) and three-factor authentication (3FA). These security controls provide an additional layer of security and validation for each user inside and outside your organization.
• Initiate least-privileged access for users who need them to complete their tasks and fulfill their roles. The decision should be based on where sensitive data is stored and its flow.

Continuously monitor zero trust systems

Continuously monitor your entire network and micro-perimeter ecosystem to inspect, record, and analyze all data, traffic, and activity. These details can be used to identify malicious activity and its source to improve security.

This gives you a broader view of how security is maintained and whether Zero Trust will work in your network.

Leverage automation tools and orchestration systems

Utilize automation tools and orchestration systems to automate processes and get the most out of your Zero Trust implementation. It helps you save time and reduce the risk of organizational defects and human error.

Now that you understand how Zero Trust works, how to implement it, and its benefits, let’s take a look at some tools that can make implementation even easier.

What is a Zero Trust security solution?

Many vendors offer zero trust solutions, including Akamai, Palo Alto, Cisco, Illumio, Okta, Unisys, Symantec, and Appgate SDP.

Zero Trust network solutions or software are identity management and network security solutions that help implement a Zero Trust model. This software allows you to continuously monitor network activity and user behavior and authenticate all requests.

If a user attempts to violate permissions or exhibits unusual behavior, the system prompts them for additional authentication. At the same time, the software collects data from traffic logs, user behavior, access points, and provides detailed analysis.

The software may utilize risk-based authentication, specifically to control network access. Some of the Zero Trust network software are:

• Okta : Leverage the cloud to enforce stronger security policies. The software integrates with your organization’s existing identity systems and directories, along with over 4000 apps.
• Perimeter 81 : Uses a robust architecture of software-defined perimeters, provides broader network visibility, full compatibility, seamless onboarding, and offers 256-bit bank-grade encryption.
• SecureAuth Identity Management : Known for providing users with a flexible and secure authentication experience, it works in all environments.

Other notable Zero Trust networking software solutions include BetterCloud, Centrify Zero Trust Privilege, DuoSecurity, and NetMotion.

What are the challenges in implementing Zero Trust?

Here’s why implementing Zero Trust is difficult for organizations.

• Legacy Systems: Many legacy systems, including tools, applications, network resources, and protocols, are used in business operations. Identity verification can’t protect them all, and rebuilding them is prohibitively expensive.
• Limited Control and Visibility: Most organizations lack comprehensive visibility into their networks and users, or are unable to set up strict protocols for some reason.
• Regulation: Regulatory bodies have not yet adopted Zero Trust. Therefore, organizations will have problems passing security audits for compliance.

For example, PCI-DSS requires the use of segmentation and firewalls to protect sensitive data. However, the Zero Trust model does not have a firewall, which introduces compliance risks. Therefore, adopting zero trust security will require significant regulatory amendments.

conclusion

Although Zero Trust is in its growth stage, it is a hot topic in the security industry. As cyber-attacks increase around the world, robust systems like Zero Trust are needed.

Zero Trust provides a strong security architecture with identity and access control for data and transactions by validating every device and user at each access point. Protect your organization from all types of online threats, whether human or programmatic, on or off your network.