A Zero Trust Model is an approach to digital security that assumes everyone, regardless of rank or claimed identity, must authenticate and authorize itself continuously before accessing critical systems or data.
Zero Trust diverges from traditional perimeter-based security, as modern reliance on cloud computing has blurred the boundaries of what is considered the “perimeter.” When working with many cloud services, remote workers, and hybrid environments, Zero Trust aims to protect a business from a variety of threats.
How Does Zero Trust Work?
The Zero Trust framework aims to achieve these goals:
- Continuously verify access privileges every time for everyone.
- Minimize the impact of a data breach should one happen.
- Institute policies that consider the risk of individual users.
How identities are verified may differ from company to company, though common strategies include endpoint security, multi factor authentication, and encryption.
Zero Trust demands authentication and authorization for every attempt at access, as internal attacks where the malicious entity steals the identity of a trusted user are common. The framework accomplishes this through real-time visibility into multiple attributes, including:
- The location where the connection is being made
- Software, firmware, and operating system versions
- Identity of the user, including whether it’s a person or an application
- Patterns of suspicious behavior
Select advanced Zero Trust strategies employ telemetry, data collection, threat intelligence, and machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate accurate policy responses.
When Should I Consider Zero Trust?
The digital transformation of most industries has resulted in a larger attack surface and increasing cyberattacks.
The Zero Trust Model is ideal for businesses looking to achieve a mature cybersecurity program. Companies working with multi-cloud environments, legacy systems, third-party online services, or devices that you don’t have full control over should consider the Zero Trust Model.
Zero Trust also establishes how to prevent, detect, and respond to specific incidents, such as a supply chain attack (often caused by unmanaged devices and remote workers), ransomware, and insider attacks. These are the use cases Zero Trust covers best.
Zero Trust Implementation Best Practices
Implementing Zero Trust requires awareness of your threat landscape. An organization must scan for potential attack points and segment their users by device type, intended function, and other factors to successfully organize by risk.
Zero Trust Deployment Process
- Start by understanding all potential access points for cyberattacks. Visualize the locations of all risks that could be involved.
- Identify threats and prepare to minimize the impact of a data breach should one occur.
- Continue optimizing the protection level to all aspects of the IT infrastructure.
Zero Trust Deployment Policies
- Keep productivity in mind: The ideal cybersecurity procedure maintains integrity with continual verification without sacrificing productivity. Ensure the workflow is impacted minimally when you scan and respond to risks.
- Always follow compliance: Keep track of your industry standards to ensure compliance is being maintained.
- The least privilege principle: When granting permissions to an account, always give the minimum amount necessary for the user to do its job. Zero Trust is built on the idea of trusting no one.
