Zero Trust Network Access is a security model that replaces traditional network-based implicit Trust with explicit identity-based Trust. It verifies users and devices based on their identity, context, and posture. This reduces lateral movement between applications and services within your environment, which is one of the primary causes of data breaches. It also limits the number of people with privileged access to the data, thus reducing the damage done if those accounts are compromised.
Microsegmentation
Microsegmentation is a crucial component of zero-trust networks that grants access to resources based on identity rather than specific IP addresses. It is a powerful way to reduce the attack surface by limiting the number of places malicious actors can gain entry. In addition to its security benefits, microsegmentation can improve performance by creating reliable pathways between resources. How does ZTNA work? Administrators can reduce the amount of broadcast traffic on the network by segmenting an environment into smaller subnets and VLANs. Microsegmentation can also help with compliance by allowing IT to set strict rules for what is permitted on the network. This is particularly useful when it comes to regulated data. Organizations should start small and iterate to get the most out of micro-segmentation. It is essential to understand what business processes are most at risk for bad actors and to enforce policies accordingly. For example, if a workflow handles sensitive information, it is crucial to identify which parts of the system are most vulnerable and set up protections around those areas. Once the policies have been mapped, testing them in a non-critical group of assets is essential. This will help avoid any unexpected issues and allow the team to determine if the process works well in its current state. If there are any issues, the team can make any necessary adjustments before rolling out the solution to more groups.
Authentication
Authentication is a core concept of Zero Trust, and it has much to do with how a security model performs. Zero Trust access protocols often rely on multi-factor authentication (MFA), which requires a user to provide more than one piece of evidence to verify identity, such as a password plus a code sent to their phone. In this way, the security system ensures that the user is who they say they are and can gain access to the network. This method helps mitigate attacks that take advantage of overly privileged service accounts, which are often not monitored, and grant unrestricted access to the rest of the network. It is essential to gradually implement a zero-trust model rather than overhauling the entire network architecture. This allows organizations to learn as they go and adapt, reducing the risk of disruption and making the transition more manageable. In addition to MFA, Zero Trust networks rely on micro-segmentation and other network access control methods to maintain a secure perimeter. By separating the data center into dozens of security zones, the Zero Trust protocol only allows authorized users to access one zone at a time. This prevents attackers from accessing a single file or program and exploiting it to access other system parts. This practice also helps limit the impact of a breach by limiting the potential damage to a single region within the network.
Endpoint Verification
Zero Trust is all about verifying the security posture of users and devices. It takes away the assumption that any network user, device, or application is trusted. Instead, the network is segmented, and users are granted access on a need-to-know basis. This approach also helps to prevent attackers from moving freely throughout the network once they gain initial access via valid credentials or an unpatched vulnerability on a device. In addition to microsegmentation, other elements of a Zero Trust architecture should include continuous verification, multi-factor authentication, and device validation. These approaches allow CISOs to take the necessary steps to minimize impact if an external or insider breach does occur. Zero Trust is a more flexible and efficient way to secure internal network resources, including SaaS applications.
Policies
Modern business workflows require employees to connect from remote locations and devices to infrastructure and services located on local networks, in data centers, or cloud environments. This requires a complex network architecture that can verify users and devices to allow access to company assets regardless of location or infrastructure type. Zero Trust can also help limit the damage if an adversary does manage to penetrate a private network by ensuring they have limited privileges and cannot move laterally within the infrastructure. For Zero Trust to be effective, policies must be very granular and constantly reassessed. This is particularly true when considering the use of mobile and IoT devices that are often used outside the network perimeter. Policies must validate device, user, and application health and enforce a least privilege access approach to minimize the risk of such devices introducing threats. It is also critical to monitor the environment to ensure that all devices are updated with patches, as vulnerabilities can be exploited if a device is not updated. Zero Trust is based on the notion that nothing should be trusted by default, and this principle must extend to all connections. To accomplish this, the infrastructure must have a continuous verification capability that authenticates and authorizes based on all available contexts, including identity attributes, location, device, network connections, data source, service, and workload. This enables organizations to reduce their attack surface, limit the “blast radius” if a breach occurs, and minimize the time it takes security personnel to identify and respond to an intrusion. This is possible with an infrastructure that combines microsegmentation, a software-defined perimeter, endpoint verification, and dynamic trust reassessment. In addition, the infrastructure must be able to automate incident response to quickly react to threats and limit their impact on the organization.