Zero Trust is rooted in the idea of ‘Never trust, always verify’. It is a strategic approach to cybersecurity designed to secure modern environments and empower digital transformation. It eliminates implicit trust and validates each stage of digital interaction constantly.
Here are the top 5 principles of the Zero Trust Architecture.
1. Devices and services
Successful implementation of the Zero Trust Network Security relies on the consideration of all the data sources and computing services as resources. The services incorporate a company’s SaaS tools and applications, enterprise-owned devices, and other endpoints. Device identification with Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) enables the allowance of only authorized and authenticated devices granting permission and access to the network resources.
2. Fine-tune the security policies
The companies must focus on gathering ample information and data that is of the present user communications and the state of the network. The insights gained from this data will enable them to not only improve the security posture and policies but also to create new security policies. It is essential to enforce proactive security protection.
3. Strengthen the security
The most common reason for severe security risks and consequences is the implicit trust in users and assets. Making certain that all the access requests from various devices and assets meet the security requirements is crucial. Implementing the same security verification and authentication is vital as the assets will be located on the enterprise-owned network infrastructure or on the external networks.
4. Dynamic authorization
Network scanning, assessing security threats, and granting user access should be a constant process as the user account or profile depends on the private security credentials. It includes the devices used to access the network. Implementing asset management, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and constant network monitoring would ensure that the reauthentication and reauthorization are based on the defined policies.
5. Attribute-based policy enforcement
This policy constitutes a set of network and resource access rules. They are based on the attributes assigned by the company to a user, application, or data asset. Some of the attributes involve device characteristics such as location, access request time, software version, and model. Added to this, behavioral attributes defined by the device and the user analytics on the resource’s sensitivity can also be considered.
Taking a Zero Trust approach has never been critical with the digital transformation accelerating in the form of continued migration to the cloud, a growing hybrid workforce, and the transformation of security operations. Once it is done perfectly, Zero Trust architecture results in high levels of security, operational overhead, and also reduced security complexity.
