Cybersecurity experts often rave about zero trust security. If you haven’t heard, zero trust is a principle that assumes every user, device, and service connecting to a network is hostile until proven otherwise. Zero trust aims to protect data wherever it may reside while allowing only authorized users and entities to access relevant resources and assets.
Many organizations are opting for zero trust infrastructure. Those considering zero trust must understand these 5 principles.
- The network is hostile
This is at the very heart of zero trust. Instead of assuming a known network is secure, with zero trust, the assumption is that no network is secure.
- Networks are always at risk from internal and external threats
Traditionally, security practices assumed that there were no threats on the network unless they were detected. With zero trust, you assume there is always a threat lurking internally and externally.
- IP location alone is not enough to trust a network
Just knowing the location of an IP is not enough to ensure that it can be trusted. More information about the network and IP address needs to be known before access can be granted.
- The need to authenticate and authorize every device, user, and network
There is no trust by default in zero trust environments. Every user must be authorized and authenticated at every login. The method of least privilege is also used to ensure that the user can only access the data they need, based on a set of criteria determined beforehand.
- Develop dynamic policies based on a wide range of data sources
Zero trust can be built upon using data from real-time monitoring and AI to continue to watch the network and cloud environment. These policies need to be able to adapt as the threats also keep changing. Defining end-to-end data analytics to monitor and detect threats across the entire architecture, including cloud environments, is crucial for meeting IT and security operations requirements.
It may seem extreme but moving your network towards zero trust security may be a wise move. Considering the high cost of cybercrime, it is better to err on the side of high security versus a lax environment. To learn more about zero trust security, contact the cybersecurity experts at Quick Intelligence.
