Traditional network security is being phased away. Traditional network security was built around the concept of a guarded network perimeter that is difficult to reach from the outside but implicitly trusts everyone on the inside. The problem with this strategy is that once an attacker gains network access, they can move laterally and elevate privileges to reach vital assets.
Insider threats are now responsible for 58% of sensitive data security incidents. While these dangers may be the result of incompetent or unscrupulous employees, they can also be the result of external hackers who circumvented perimeter protections by exploiting a compromised user account. Insider attacks can be difficult to detect and avoid in both scenarios because they are typically invisible to perimeter security measures such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems.
To make matters worse, many security programs have a dysfunctional, confusing separation of duties and responsibilities between security teams and DBAs/Application owners. This can provide substantial hurdles for enterprises attempting to reduce the danger of attackers infiltrating their networks. In this post, we’ll establish the principles of a Zero Trust security architecture and explain what measures you must take to ensure it’s consistently effective at safeguarding apps and data.
The Zero Trust security concept is introduced
In this paradigm, security teams demand users and devices attempting to access resources to be rigorously authenticated, whether they are inside or outside the organization’s private network. Given today’s realities of data and systems being deployed between on-premise data centers and cloud providers, as well as employees shifting to remote work, the Zero Trust security model may be the most obvious approach to implementing consistent security controls.
No user, whether within or outside the network, is trusted in a Zero-Trust security model. Security solutions constantly ensure that each person and device only has access to the resources they require, taking into account the time, location, and type of the activity. Security personnel instantly notice and respond to unusual access.
This appears to be a simple task. Organizations must develop a proper environment that incorporates specific core features for a Zero Trust security model to thrive. All data repositories must be subjected to rigorous data activity monitoring (DAM). Strong analytics, automated threat detection to limit the danger of account hijacking, and orchestration to make verification easier and impact faster responses to data misuse are also required in the model.
What is preventing the Zero Trust security approach from being a success?
Simply put, very few businesses have the foundational elements in place to support a Zero Trust security approach. Forrester Research, in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, developed Zero Trust as a security concept in 2010. (NIST). Eight years later, an IDG Security Priorities Survey found that while 71% of security-focused IT decision-makers are aware of the zero trust paradigm, only 8% are actively utilizing it in their firms, with another 10% piloting it.
The relatively modest adoption is most likely due to shortcomings in existing data security solutions in enterprises. As traditional perimeter-based security measures are demonstrated to be permeable and indefensible, more enterprises must upgrade their data security solution. Zero Trust provides a concept that clearly aligns with today’s IT ecosystem, in which the distinction between insider and outsider is completely irrelevant.