Know About Zero Trust Security| DROP Organization

What is Zero Trust Security?

Zero Trust Security is an IT security model that need strict identity verification for each person and device that tries to access resources on a private network, despite of the fact that they are within or outside of the network perimeter. It ensures that all users, within or outside the organization are authenticated, authorized and continuously validated for security configuration and posture before granting access to applications or data. This adds extra layer of security to prevent data breaches.

The primary technology linked with Zero Trust architecture is Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and incorporates several different principles and technologies. Zero Trust follows that there is no traditional network edge, networks can be local, in the cloud, or a combination with resources at any location. In brief, a traditional IT network security trusts everyone and everything inside the network, while a Zero Trust architecture do not trust anyone or anything.

What is Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)?

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is the primary technology that enables businesses to implement Zero Trust security. ZTNA is similar to a software-defined perimeter (SDP), that conceals most infrastructure and services, setting up one-to-one encrypted connections between devices and resources they need. 

What is Traditional IT Network?

Traditional IT network security is based on the castle-and-moat concept. In a castle-and-moat security, it is difficult to get access from outside the network, but anyone inside the network is trusted in general. Once, the attacker obtains the access to network, they have free rein over every aspect inside it. This flaw in castle-and-moat security systems is inflamed by the fact that companies do not keep their data at one place. Nowadays, information is spread across cloud vendors, making it hard to have a single security control for an entire network.

History of Zero Trust security

The term 'Zero Trust' was coined by an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in 2010, when the model for the concept was first incorporated. After few years, Google declared that they had implemented Zero Trust security in their network. This led to a increasing interest in adoption in the tech community. In the year 2019, Gartner, a global research and advisory firm, listed Zero Trust security access as an important component of secure access service edge (SASE) solutions.

Main Principles behind Zero Trust 

Zero Trust seeks to address the following key principles:

• Continuous monitoring and validation- A Zero Trust network assumes that there are attackers both within and outside the network. Hence, no machines or users should be automatically trusted. Zero Trust verifies the identity of user  and device security along with its privileges. Once the logins and connections time out are established, the users and devices requires re-verification in a continuous manner.
• Least Privilege- The second principle of Zero Trust security is least- privilege access. It means that the users are given only that much access as required, such as an army general giving soldiers information on a need-to-know basis. This reduces the exposure of user to sensitive parts of the network. Once the least privilege is implemented, it involves careful managing of user permission. VPNs are not suited for least- privilege approaches to authorization. It is because, logging into a VPN gives a user access to the whole connected network.
• Micro segmentation- Zero Trust networks make use of micro segmentation. It is a practice of braking up security perimeters into small zones to maintain separate access for separate parts of the network. If we take an example, where a network with files living in a single data center that uses micro segmentation may consists of dozens of separate, secure zones. When a person or program with access to one of these zones, he will not be able to access any of the other zones without separate authentication.
• Device access control- Along with controls on user access, Zero Trust need strict controls on device access. Zero Trust systems requires to monitor the number of different devices, trying to access their network. It ensures that every device is authorized and assess all devices to confirm that they are  not compromised. Thereafter, it reduces the attack surface of the network.
• Preventing lateral movement- In terms of network security, 'lateral movement' is a situation when an attacker moves within a network after obtaining access to that network. This movement can be hard to detect, even if you discover the attacker's entry point, as the attacker will have gone to compromise other parts of the network. Zero Trust is made to limit the attackers not to move laterally, as Zero Trust access is segmented and has to be re-established periodically. The attacker cannot move across to other micro segments within the network. Therefore, when an attacker's presence is discovered, the compromised device or user account can be quarantined, cut off from further access.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA)- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is another core value of Zero Trust security, which requires more than one piece of evidence to authenticate a user. Just entering the password is not enough to obtain access. The most commonly seen application of MFA is the 2-factor authentication (2FA), which is used on online platforms such as Facebook and Google. Along with entering a password, users who enable 2FA for these services, must enter a code sent to another device, which can be mobile phone. This provides two pieces of evidence of whom they claim to be.

How Zero Trust security works?

This framework requires combination of advanced technologies such as risk based multi-factor authentication, identity protection, next-generation endpoint security and strong cloud workload technology to authenticate a user or systems identity, considering access at that moment in time and maintenance of system security. 

Zero Trust considers encryption of data, securing email, and verifying the hygiene of assets and endpoints before they connect to applications. This architecture requires continuous monitoring and validation that a user and their device gas the right privileges and attributes. It also requires enforcement of policy that incorporates risk of the user and device, along with compliance or other requirements to consider before permitting the transaction. The organization shall know all of their service and privileged accounts and establish controls about what and where they connect. Therefore, organizations must ensure that all access requests are regularly vetted before allowing access to any of your enterprise or cloud assets.

Benefits of Zero Trust security

The philosophy of Zero Trust security is more prevalent in modern IT environments than the traditional security approaches. It is observed that users and devices are widely accessing internal data and data stored both inside and outside the network, making it safe to assume that no user or device is trustworthy. 

The main benefit of implementing Zero Trust principles is to minimize the attack surface of an organization. Also, Zero Trust reduces the extent of damage when an attack occurs by limiting the breach to one small area through micro segmentation and thus lowers the cost of recovery. Zero Trust security minimizes the impact of user credential theft and phishing attacks by implementing multiple authentication factors. 

Zero Trust security verifies every request, thus reducing the risk posed by vulnerable devices such as IoT devices, that are often difficult to secure and update.

Some Zero Trust Cases

Zero Trust architecture is preferred by the organizations, which rely on a network and stores digital data. Below are some of the most common use cases for Zero Trust:

• Replacing a VPN- Often the organizations rely on VPNs to protect their data, but they are not always ideal for defending against today's risks.
• Access control for cloud and multi-cloud- A Zero Trust network verifies every request, irrespective of its source or destination. It reduces the use of unauthorized cloud-based services by regulating or blocking the use of unsanctioned applications.
• Securely supporting remote work- VPNs tend to create bottlenecks and slow the productivity for remote workers, Zero Trust can extend secure access control to connections from any place.
• Rapidly onboarding new employees- Zero Trust network can facilitate a quick onboarding of new internal users. This make them a good fit for fast-growing organizations. In contrast, a VPN may require to add more capacity to accommodate large number of new users.
• Onboarding third parties and contractors- Zero Trust can rapidly extend restricted, least-privilege access to external parties, who use computers that are not managed by internal IT teams.

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