Zero Trust in 2020

“The Internet of Things (IoT) devoid of comprehensive security management is tantamount to the Internet of Threats.

Apply open collaborative innovation, systems thinking & zero-trust security models to design IoT ecosystems that generate and capture value in value chains of the Internet of Things.”

― Stephane Nappo

Security is the most critical concern today. A critical lesson we have learned in the past few months is that weak network infrastructure leads to a large-scale breach. This holds across APT attacks and ransomware attacks against large enterprises.

Zero Trust Security Model

In a perfect world, all the organizations would implement a Zero Trust security model. Zero Trust is a strategy to understand and manage perimeters and access in modern computing environments. Today, every possible security strategy is essential to mitigate risks, because the devices and network are vulnerable to attacks given the ‘Work from Home’ situation. Most companies have inherited flat networks. Flat networks optimize accessibility, performance and maintenance by giving access to users’ information, data and applications to everyone in the network, thus increasing risk. Zero Trust provides a framework that addresses the complexity arising from mobility, cloud and web-facing applications.

Zero Trust model provides access based on the user’s location and other necessary details. If the security status doesn’t verify, the authentication fails. Careful planning, strategy result in a good Zero Trust security model implementation.

Enterprises need a strategy that doesn’t depend on the Local Area Network (LAN) for access and trust. Google adopted the Zero Trust model decades ago, and ever since it is a trending topic in the industry. So, organizations are allocating a massive budget to implement a Zero Trust security model. The underlying thought is that users need constant access to applications and data from across the world while maintaining high-security standards.

Advantages of Zero Trust

The first thing that comes to mind while thinking of the advantages is strengthening the security structure of an organization. Other benefits include:

  • Enhanced network performance
  • Shortened breach detection time
  • Ability to address network errors effectively
  • Simplified monitoring

Many executives, engineers and architects want to implement new technologies, many times without a deep understanding. So, the ideal approach is to start with understanding the devices, applications and data to help design a set of controls that decrease the risk through monitoring.

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