Implementing Zero Trust Architecture with CSE
The world has undergone significant changes in recent years. In today’s world, customers and employees expect information anytime, anywhere, and on any device. As attack surfaces expand and new threats emerge, IT leaders must safeguard their organizations while providing a fast, reliable, seamless user experience.
“68% of the cybersecurity professionals say their focus on remote work accelerated the priority of Zero Trust projects” – Cybersecurity Insiders, 2022 VPN Risk Report.
The minimum standard for employees, partners, and customers to work together and succeed from any location, using any device, while also ensuring the safety of users, business data, and applications – is Zero Trust. When built directly on a widely distributed, global cloud infrastructure, it minimizes access difficulties and maintains employee productivity and security.
What is Zero Trust Security
Zero Trust security requires strict verification for every person and device accessing resources on a private network, regardless of location. ZTNA is the primary technology linked to Zero Trust architecture. However, Zero Trust is a complete network security approach encompassing various principles and technologies.
In simpler words- Traditional IT network security trusts anyone and anything inside the network. A zero-trust architecture trusts no one and nothing.
Why Zero Trust
Today’s organizations require a new security model that can adapt to the complex modern environment, embrace the hybrid workplace, and protect people, devices, apps, and data regardless of location.
In an era where AI rapidly transforms our work, its convergence with cybersecurity brings immense opportunities and new challenges. Here’s why Zero Trust becomes even more crucial:
- Sophistication of threats: Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can evade traditional security measures. To combat this, Zero Trust offers a more effective defense. It emphasizes continuous verification, explicit verification, and least privileged access. With or without AI capabilities, this approach provides a better defense against advanced threats.
- Data protection and privacy: AI depends on vast amounts of customer data to assist users in being more productive. It is of utmost importance to safeguard this data. Zero Trust’s data-centric approach ensures that access to sensitive data is strictly controlled, thus reducing the risk of unauthorized AI-driven breaches.
- Automated responses: AI-enabled security can automate responses to threats rapidly. When integrated with Zero Trust, AI-driven responses are even more effective in improving alert fatigue, adapting access controls in real-time, minimizing damage, and containing potential breaches.
What are some Zero Trust use cases?
Organizations that store and process digital data on a network can benefit from implementing a zero-trust architecture. However, some of the most common use cases for Zero Trust include:
- Replacing or augmenting a VPN: Many organizations rely on VPNs to protect their data. However, VPNs are often not ideal for defending against today’s risks.
- Securely supporting remote work: While VPNs can slow productivity for remote workers, Zero Trust can extend secure access control to connections from anywhere.
- Access control for cloud and multi-cloud: A Zero Trust network verifies all requests, regardless of source or destination. It also helps reduce the use of unsanctioned apps (a situation called “shadow IT”) by controlling or blocking their use.
- Onboarding third parties and contractors: Zero Trust can quickly extend restricted, least-privilege access to external parties, who typically use computers not managed by internal IT teams.
- Rapidly onboarding new employees: Zero Trust networks can also facilitate the quick onboarding of new internal users, making them a good fit for fast-growing organizations. In contrast, a VPN may need more capacity to accommodate many new users.
Building a Secure Foundation with Zero Trust: A Step-by-Step Guide
This guide outlines five key steps to implement Zero Trust security within your organization, bolstering your defense against cyber threats.
1. Unifying Security with SASE:
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) acts as a central hub, combining network security and SD-WAN functionalities into a cloud-based service. Consider these factors when choosing a SASE solution: Seamless Integration: Ensure compatibility with your existing network architecture, especially if you have critical on-premises infrastructure.
- Comprehensive Features: Look for micro segmentation, patching, sandboxing, and robust identity and access management (IAM) capabilities.
- Breach Containment: Opt for a solution that minimizes the impact of a potential breach by effectively containing the threat within a specific zone.
- SASE simplifies implementation by offering these technologies as a unified managed service.
2. Segmenting Your Network:
Microsegmentation involves dividing your network into smaller, more secure zones. This allows you to grant granular access control, restricting access to specific zones for authorized users, applications, or services while keeping others out.
3. Adding Layers of Authentication:
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) demands users to provide multiple verification factors beyond just passwords. These factors can include:
- Knowledge factor: Something the user knows (e.g., password, PIN)
- Possession factor: Something the user has (e.g., phone, security token)
- Inherence factor: A unique biometric characteristic (e.g., fingerprint, facial recognition)
Access is granted only after successful validation of all required factors.
4. Granting Least Privileges:
The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) restrains user and non-human resource access to the bare minimum required for designated tasks. This minimizes potential damage if unauthorized access occurs.
- This translates to granting users only the necessary permissions to read, write, or execute specific files and resources.
- Similarly, non-human resources like systems and applications are granted only the permissions needed to perform their authorized functions.
5. Verifying Endpoints:
Zero trust principles extend to endpoint devices, ensuring they are verified before granting access to your resources. This often involves device enrollment, allowing identification and verification of each device attempting to connect.
Implementing device verification ensures that only authorized and compliant devices can access the network.
These steps will help the organization establish a robust Zero Trust security posture and enhance your overall cybersecurity resilience.
CSE offers cloud security services that can be customized to create a Zero Trust solution tailored to your business requirements. In today’s cloud-based environment, you can safely access applications without relying on internal corporate networks.
FAQ’s
Q. Why Zero-Trust?
A. You should consider adopting a zero-trust security model because traditional security models that assume everything inside a network is trustworthy are no longer effective in today’s age of cloud and mobility.
Q. Why is Zero-Trust security essential?
A. Zero trust security is crucial in our digital world as it enforces strict access controls and continuous verification to prevent breaches and maintain a strong security posture against evolving threats.
Q. Can Zero-Trust replace VPN?
A. ZTNA is a better alternative to VPN, providing secure access to private applications based on dynamic identity and context awareness. Compared to VPN, ZTNA reduces complexity, provides stronger security, and offers a smoother experience.
