So what is Zero-Trust?
Have you ever heard of “Trust, but verify”? Think of Zero-Trust as “Never Trust and always verify.” Zero Trust is a security framework that requires all users, whether in or outside the organization’s network, to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated for security configuration and posture before being granted or keeping access to applications and data. Zero Trust was created based on the realization that traditional security models operate on the outdated assumption that everything inside an organization’s network should be implicitly trusted.
However in May 2021, Biden issued an executive order mandating U.S. Federal Agencies to adhere to NIST 800-207 as a required step for Zero Trust implementation. Which is a framework security professionals are already familiar with. As a result, the standard has gone through heavy validation and inputs from a range of commercial customers, vendors, and government agencies stakeholders – which is why many private organizations view it as the defacto standard for private enterprises.
However, pulling this type of framework off is no easy feat. One would need to have the following:
- Risk-based multi-factor authentication
- Identify Protection
- End Point security
- cloud workload technology to verify a user or systems identity
- Consideration of access at that moment in time.
Zero-trust is the new buzzword because more than 80% of all attacks involve credentials or misuse in the network. All these news attacks being utilized by credentials, identify stores and email security to web gateway providers. Zero-trust helps ensure greater password security, the integrity of accounts, adherence to organizational rules, and avoidance of high-risk shadow IT services.
