As organisations become more reliant on cloud-based services, mobile devices, and remote staff, the need for a shift in cyber security becomes increasingly apparent. Unlike traditional perimeter-based security models, Zero Trust is based on the principle of "Never Trust, Always Verify." Every user, application and/or device attempting to access an organisation's resources is continuously authenticated, authorised, and monitored, irrespective of their location or previous level of access.
Involves implementing multiple-factor authentication, continuous authentication, user and device profiling, and risk-based access controls to ensure that users and devices are authenticated and verified before being granted access to network resources. This approach reduces the risk of unauthorised access and compromised credentials, while enabling real-time threat detection and mitigation, ultimately enhancing the overall security of the organisation.
Zero Trust segments the network into smaller, granular segments, isolating sensitive data and restricting lateral movement within the network. This approach limits the potential impact of a security breach.
Instead of providing unrestricted access, each user, application and device only has access to the specific resources and actions that are essential for their roles. By limiting privileges, organisations can reduce the potential for unauthorised access, minimise the impact of compromised accounts, and enhance overall security by enforcing strict controls and ensuring that access rights are continuously evaluated and changed based on the principle of least privilege.
By adopting this mindset, organisations design their security architecture to verify and authenticate every user, application and device attempting to access resources, continuously monitoring for any signs of suspicious activity. This approach to security assumes that breaches are inevitable and focuses on minimising the impact and preventing lateral movement within the network, ensuring a comprehensive and resilient defence against threats.
Zero Trust employs real-time monitoring, behavioural analysis, and machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies, identify potential threats, and respond proactively to security incidents. This allows organisations to swiftly mitigate risks and prevent data breaches.
By eliminating the assumption of trust and implementing rigorous authentication and access controls, Zero Trust significantly reduces the attack surface and mitigates the risk of unauthorised access, lateral movement, and data breaches. It secures an organisation's defences against both internal and external threats.
Zero Trust aligns with several industry regulations and compliance frameworks. By implementing strong authentication, access controls, micro segmentation and continuous monitoring, organisations can more easily meet the compliance requirements of these frameworks. The US NIST 800-207 standard provide guidance on how this can be achieved.
Zero Trust enables organisations to adopt modern technologies such as cloud services, remote staff, and mobile devices without compromising security. Its adaptivity allows businesses to scale and improve their infrastructure while maintaining protection.
Despite its stringent security measures, Zero Trust can provide a seamless user experience. With single sign-on and access controls, users can securely access the resources they need from anywhere, without difficult and hard to use authentication processes.
Zero Trust's continuous monitoring and behavioural analysis enable organisations to quickly detect and respond to potential threats. This approach minimises the impact of security incidents and ensures timely remediation.
Zero Trust represents a shift in cyber security, replacing the outdated perimeter-based security model with a more proactive, adaptive, and robust approach. By challenging the assumption of trust and implementing strong authentication, granular access controls, and continuous monitoring, Zero Trust enhances security, improves compliance, simplifies user experience, and strengthens incident response.
Casey is a Cyber Security Analyst with Diligence. He combines years of experience in IT System Administration roles with working in secure environments like New Zealand Police. Casey is passionate about working in the cyber security industry and is continually growing his skills and experience.
