For some organizations, the paradigm shift toward zero trust has been years in the making, while others still see it as an aspiration. While many organizations claim success in implementing key principles, the process of full implementation is expected to be incremental.
A 2023 PwC report stated that only 36% of CISOs have started a zero trust journey, and 25% of CISOs plan to start a zero trust journey in the next two years.
This article explores the paradigm shift towards Zero Trust in cybersecurity, examining its gradual adoption among organizations and the need to implement it to combat the evolving threat landscape.
Understand the need for zero trust
Zero Trust revolutionizes organizations’ understanding of threats. Traditionally, external actors have been considered the primary risk, while actors within the network were assumed to be inherently known and trustworthy.
However, this way of thinking is outdated in today’s cybersecurity environment. Despite this reality, many organizations still cling to this view. It stems from an era when clear boundaries existed and network access relied on tightly controlled channels that were not always secure or exclusive.
While this model provided a level of protection and led to the development of defense-in-depth strategies, the continued increase in vulnerabilities and the increasing sophistication of hackers and their tactics required changes. This is where zero trust comes into play.
Revealing vulnerabilities of “trustworthy” users
Instances of successful data breaches and cyberattacks reveal a disturbing reality – bad actors can operate on the “trusted” side of the network. With this design, attackers often go undetected until it's too late.
Even these so-called "trusted" users are often unaware that an attacker has compromised their identity. By exploiting a user's privileges, these actors operate silently across the network, accessing sensitive data and critical systems without arousing suspicion.
However, Zero Trust brings about a complete change in perspective. It turns this flawed model on its head by adopting the principle of “least privilege” as the default approach. Under Zero Trust, all users are initially classified as untrusted, regardless of their perceived trustworthiness.
Therefore, access to any resource requires user identification and authentication to ensure that application, system or resource permissions are only granted to authorized individuals.
Setting new standards for enterprise security
Enterprises must proactively identify areas within their networks and critical assets where Zero Trust can be implemented. By applying Zero Trust principles, significant improvements can be made to enhance overall security effectiveness, ensuring that even if one network segment is compromised, attackers cannot easily move to another part of the network.
Those who make incremental progress will have greater success in preventing security breaches in the coming years. On the other hand, organizations that neglect to adopt this proactive approach will continue to make critical parts of their infrastructure vulnerable to sophisticated attacks, resulting in increased costs over time associated with managing sub-optimal defense strategies.
Zero Trust is expected to become the new benchmark for best practices, especially for organizations undergoing cloud transformation and migration to cloud services. Within the Zero Trust framework, defining trust models and data access in cloud environments becomes more practical and achievable.
Here are five key steps to effectively implement Zero Trust:
1. Identify focus areas for Zero Trust efforts: Aggregate and integrate data sets that reflect the current configuration of hybrid infrastructure, security controls, and endpoints. Identify the key assets, applications, data repositories, and infrastructure that will form the basis of a zero trust zone.
2. Model the hybrid network: With a complete understanding of network connectivity and security configurations, organizations can determine a starting point. Visualize and evaluate the effectiveness of security measures to develop a tailored Zero Trust strategy.
3. Build a zero-trust environment: Develop and optimize a segmentation strategy while configuring and fine-tuning your network and security technology accordingly.
4. Establish and validate a zero trust policy: Automatically evaluate policies to identify exposure risks and ensure compliance. Use network model validation policies to ensure compliance with Zero Trust principles.
5. Monitor and maintain your zero-trust implementation: Continuously monitor your hybrid network using network models. Validate any changes before implementation to ensure compliance and ensure proposed changes do not introduce new risks. Automate and align change management processes with zero trust architecture.
By following these steps and adopting Zero Trust, organizations can improve their security practices and effectively protect their critical assets from evolving threats.
The move to Zero Trust represents a proactive and forward-thinking approach to ensuring strong protection and peace of mind in an increasingly complex digital environment.