How much should a company trust its clients, users, business partners, or even its employees? People like to believe themselves trustworthy and might even get offended if a company seems like it does not trust them. Still, it is a fact that most security breaches happen due to a human error, whether intentional or not. In this article, we will talk about the benefits of the zero-trust security model.
The traditional security approach means that there are multiple levels, to call them that way, of trust, where the people inside are trusted more than the people outside. It makes sense, of course, but it is not the only road down which the security has been going. There is another, more extreme, but also potentially much more, safe, called zero-trust security.
As you can conclude based on the name, zero-trust security means that everyone is treated as a threat. It does not matter which resource, device, or user is concerned, and no one is to be trusted. While it might seem unusual, this approach has a wide range of security benefits.
Some of them might be obvious (as mentioned already, most security issues happen due to human error, which can often be caused by letting people have too much access to sensitive information). Still, some of them are not connected only to security, but instead, they also provide some different long-term benefits.
A successful zero-trust security approach requires a precise and accurate infrastructure inventory so that the administrators can know exactly which users, devices, applications, data, and more are included in the company’s infrastructure and where the resources in question reside. Thus, while it helps with security, it can also be beneficial in the long term for performance planning purposes.
Another thing required to have a successful zero-trust approach is to use the right tools. Multiple unique resources can help with that, such as SIEM, network detection and response, security orchestration, automation, response, and more. They are a combination of log and event analysis to identify security issues when they happen and to provide ways of resolving them. This helps the administrators work on the security operations opportunity to detect and handle any potential cybersecurity threats quickly.
When it comes to online security in general, most people will immediately think of a password. While often a reliable way of protecting your data or account, the problem appears that, as time passes, it seems like there are more and more websites and applications that require us to have funds. Every single one of them suggests having a unique password. Of course, repeating your password does pose a valid security concern, but how to remember all of your passwords? Having them written anywhere, either on your pc, phone, or even a piece of paper, does not seem safe.
That is when the zero-trust security offers a solution, with the single sign-on (SSO) tools require no password but prove equally, if not even more, effective. The SSO authentication framework organizes what resources someone should have access to. It allows people to authenticate only once and yet receive access to all the data they need. In combination with multifactor authentication, this skips the part of the process requiring a password and makes things easier for the users.
Within the traditional security approach, each security tool is individual and independent from the others. This can cause vulnerabilities in the security network, as some parts of the infrastructure might be left less protected than others. Zero-trust policy, however, offers a possibility of creating universal security rules that can be implemented throughout the entire organization. Thus, it both simplifies the security process for the administrators and strengthens it overall.
Applications, data, and more, within a company, are often moved, depending on the current needs. Unfortunately, moving data from or to a cloud meant that the security administrator had to recreate the entire security policy in the new location manually. This was a detailed and lengthy process, and it also provided, once again, opportunities for human error. However, with zero-trust, all security can be centrally managed, and automated tools can recreate the policies when needed.
