An era of zero trust security
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This is the perfect coincidence of events for zero confidence take center stage in the world of cybersecurity: the growth of hybrid and remote work, the constant transition to cloud services, the constant growth of mobile devices in the workplace and the onslaught of complex attacks that can affect entire supply chains.
Never before have organizations faced so many challenges in protecting their data resources, and there has never been a need to be more suspicious of users and devices trying to access their networks. The zero-trusted model with its basic concept that users, devices, applications and even networks should not be trusted by default – even if they are connected to a permitted network and even if they have been previously tested – is well suited for today’s typical IT. environment.
There is simply too much risk that an outsider trying to gain access actually has nasty intentions. Too much is at stake to trust anyone or anything. One of the most notable effects of the transition to zero trust is the realization that traditional virtual private networks (VPNs) no longer fully provide remote access to corporate networks.
Distributed workforce in an organization can have access to tightly regulated customer data through local or cloud customer relationship management systems and enterprise resource planning systems. They may also need access to commercially confidential intellectual property – all from personal devices.
Organizations need an effective way to protect and authenticate these users, and unfortunately, traditional VPNs are struggling to withstand the traffic congestion generated by working from home.
A Tanium study found that VPNs are overloaded were the second biggest security issue for organizations moving to a distributed workforce. Problems with older VPNs not only compromise the security of traffic flows, but they also contribute to the increased risk of security threats associated with endpoints.
When the pandemic hit and organizations were forced to allow many employees to work from home, they relied on VPNs to support their distributed workforce, but with less than stellar results. Although VPNs are familiar to many users and are already used for remote access, they are not ideal tools for secure access for so many users who rely on devices that in many cases are not as secure as they might be. to be.
VPNs do not provide adequate protection against threats to home networks. In addition, companies with a significant mobile or hybrid workforce will need to maintain a significant amount of VPNs that can be difficult to manage and maintain for IT.
Zeroing trust to zero
To truly provide secure access for a large number of remote employees, organizations need to think outside the VPN and fully adopt a zero-trusted cybersecurity model.
Zero-trusted strategies and tools make it easier for security teams to securely access applications because they have more detailed access controls and users do not receive shared permissions. Access rights are specific and require constant verification.
Term “zero confidence”A lot is used in the cybersecurity market and can mean different things to different people. If done correctly, this approach should consider three things: the user’s credentials, the data the user is trying to access, and the device (endpoint) the user is using to gain access.
By combining the least privilege principle with a modern approach that uses contextual access, multifactor authentication (MFA), and network access, businesses can maintain a more flexible security model that works well with a remote workforce and a cloud-rich environment.
They can reduce the surface of the attack and make sure that sensitive data is only available to users who need it in an approved, validated context. This serves to reduce the risk.
Checking your device is one of the keys to a successful zero-trust strategy, and since remote work today makes up the bulk of end-user access, the device’s position is extremely important. In many cases, devices are a new “perimeter” within organizations, and checking them protects organizations from stolen credentials or even stolen devices that cybercriminals can use to gain access to networks.
This is why the exercise of strong endpoint management is such an important part of a zero-confidence approach. Without accurate real-time endpoint management, organizations cannot ensure compliance or confirm the position of the device as a prerequisite for access. Authentication alone cannot guarantee that a device is protected.
The right tool can allow security teams to constantly check the position of the device in accordance with policies and ensure that the zero-confidence approach really does not trust anyone, even after the identification and access policies are in place. Ideally, organizations should be able to integrate new solutions with zero confidence with the tools they already use, so they don’t need to start from scratch.
Key components of zero trust practice should include:
- Monitor device compliance and compliance requirements to confirm a security position for the device and give security teams the opportunity to take action if something goes wrong.
- Identity and access control to authenticate users’ identities and compare their access with role-based rules.
- Network access control, including restricting access to resources in network segments based on the person of the user and the device used.
The concept of zero trust may seem negative – even paranoid: do not trust anything, be it devices and other endpoints, applications, networks or individuals. However, the model shows that organizations work in extremely difficult times, and much is at stake when data hacking or ransomware attacks occur.
More people are working remotely, in many cases using their own devices and networks. Companies are relying on cloud services more than ever. The attacks have become more perfect and can affect all supply chains.
Organizations need to take the initiative to ensure that valuable data resources are always protected, and to be sure that users and devices trying to access their networks are not harmed.
Implementation of Fr. zero trust strategy is a really effective way to achieve that level of security. Learn how Tanium can help.
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