At present, numerous enterprises are worried about the pace at which cybercrime is skyrocketing across the globe. No wonder businesses are looking for “silver bullets” to mitigate the risks associated with present-day cyber threats. One catchphrase that has been abuzz in cybersecurity circles is, “Zero Trust”. Many security leaders have even declared it a panacea for all their “security-related woes”.
That said, Zero Trust is neither a product nor a set of products that can simply be purchased as a bundle, to magically solve all your security problems. This is the reason why it’s important that all the related stakeholders, particularly enterprise technology executives should have a clear understanding of what zero-trust architecture is all about.
Never Trust; Always Verify – This is Zero Trust
The concept of Zero Trust architecture revolves around the fact that no user (internal or external) can be perpetually trusted, especially when it comes to providing security privileges.
It is presumed that hackers and other cyber miscreants are active at all times, and only after being vetted by a reliable authentication mechanism, can users can be explicitly trusted and given access to businesses’ IT infrastructure.
In other words, the Zero Trust framework is based on the assumption that network security is always at risk, from both internal vulnerabilities and external threats. With Zero Trust, the enterprise network and data are always protected assets of the organization.
Why is Zero Trust Important for Businesses?
At present, there are a lot of cyber miscreants out there, that are leveraging sophisticated technologies to illegally disrupt businesses’ digital assets. Even in such circumstances, the IT environments of many enterprises are still rife with “implicit and perpetual trust”.
Bad actors exploit this weak link and succeed in wreaking havoc on businesses’ IT operations. To combat this, mindful organizations use Zero Trust to systematically eliminate implicit trust over anyone.
Identity is the most critical prerequisite for giving access to users. It must be noted here that the Zero Trust paradigm is not restricted to just the network, it can rather be applied across multiple facets of enterprise IT infrastructures and deployments.
Consider this simple example to understand the importance of Zero Trust for businesses. Let’s assume that your precious jewels (data) are in your house (enterprise’s IT infrastructure). The main door of your house, and security fences are fully in place to avoid any uncalled-for security incident. If by any chance, a burglar bypasses the security of your main gate, the precious belongings across your home would be “up for grabs”.
However, on top of the traditional defense, if you have alarms, CCTV cameras, or highly secure lockers to secure your jewels (data), the chances of attackers bypassing these strong defenses are minimum to null.
Along similar lines, Zero Trust will minimize any lateral movements of bad actors across the enterprise network, even if they somehow manage to get past the outer-most perimeter of the network.
The tools and solutions that Zero Trust Architectures generally rely upon, include security measures like encryption, biometrics, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), etc. to validate every single user, at any given time.
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- Significance of Zero Trust Security in the Multi-Cloud
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- Zero Trust – An Emerging Challenge for the Government and Private Sector
Explaining the Importance of Zero Trust to C-Suite Executives
Zero Trust provides a sharp departure from the traditional security methods that are no longer enough, considering the lurking dangers across enterprise networks and environments. It is important that security management teams, and top executives are “on the same page”, especially when it comes to Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA).
Any uncertainty or skepticism that C-suite executives might have regarding Zero Trust must be removed. IT decision-makers should take this responsibility, and remove gaps in cyber threat assessment, that might be present between top executives and the IT department.
Technology executives must consider the following points regarding Zero Trust security.
- The impact of highly covert phishing attacks or malware, such as ransomware, can be reduced by adopting a Zero Trust architecture. This will improve the overall resilience of your business. Not just that, businesses can save huge sums that would otherwise have been utilized later, to retrieve their sensitive and confidential data, after the breach.
- Businesses must realize that no “silver bullet” will protect their mission-critical IT resources overnight. Key security personnel must be able to strike a balance between tools, processes, and people. Without full backing from top executives, you cannot count on technology alone to deliver.
- Zero Trust environments are perfect for the future of work, which is either hybrid or fully remote. We say so because whether it’s remote-based workers, remote applications or remote data, Zero Trust can easily adapt to the new inter-connected business environments while giving enterprises the required flexibility and agility to excel.
- It also allows businesses to enforce risk-appropriate security controls, and access rights to digital assets, at any time or location, using a wide range of endpoint devices.
- With the growing trends of Cloud Computing solutions, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is the perfect solution to manage threats that might menace data-driven hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
- Top executives must also be involved in incident response exercises. When they experience a cyber attack first-hand, (even if it is simulated), they will be able to see the financial benefits of being proactive about cybersecurity with Zero Trust.
Conclusion
Zero Trust must be the approach of choice for technical executives. It is the duty of risk management teams to inform top executives about how evolving and unknown threats require taking proactive steps to effectively tackle them.
It is only through the unwavering support from the C-suite executives, that businesses will be able to streamline their cybersecurity posture, and deliver equally immersive user experiences and robust security measures, “anywhere and anytime”.
With the wide array of Cloud Computing solutions offered by dinCloud, you will be able to avail the best possible security measures, such as Virtual Firewalls, Malware and Ransomware Protection, Encryption, Endpoint Protection, and Two Factor Authentication (2FA), in order to effectively meet all your security needs.
