Why Your Remote Business Needs Zero Trust

Even though hybrid or remote work models were considered a temporary solution, they became regular operating procedures for companies. The traditional in-office work model has shifted away to a fully or partially remote work model.

However, along with this new work model, a variety of cyber threats and related security challenges came. Therefore, companies need reliable cybersecurity models such as Zero Trust. Here is what Zero Trust is and why your business needs it.

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What is Zero Trust?

The zero Trust security model refers to a method for designing and implementing IT systems. “Never trust, always verify” is the main idea behind the Zero Trust security model. It means all devices need to be verified even if they got verification before. With this model, devices can not be trusted by default even if they are connected to corporate LAN.

How does Zero Trust work?

The Zero Trust model assumes a breach and evaluates each request as if it came from an open network, rather than trusting that everything within the corporate firewall is safe. For security configuration, all users must be authenticated, authorized, and continually validated, whether they are inside or outside of the company’s network. To provide these security measurements Zero Trust use different key principles;

Continuous Monitoring and Explicit Verification

The Zero Trust security is based on the assumption that there are attackers both inside and outside the network, hence before access is granted, all users should be verified. Both device identity and user identification are verified by Zero Trust, allowing the system to monitor the actions of users. Once established, logins and access time out, requiring users and devices to be re-verified regularly.

Use Least Privilege Access

The zero Trust security model allows devices and users with the bare minimum of permissions required to execute the operation needed. This limits each user’s access to the network’s sensitive parts and evaluates access requests before permission is granted.

Utilize Microsegmentation

Microsegmentation is a network security approach that conceptually separates the data center into distinct security segments and sets security policies and supply services for each segment individually. Zero Trust utilizes micro-segmentation and creates different and secure zones, with separate authorization needed to gain access to each zone.

Lateral Movement Prevention

Lateral movement refers to an attacker moving within a network after gaining access to it. Even if the attacker’s access point is discovered, lateral movement can be difficult to detect because the attacker will have compromised other network sections.

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However, since Zero Trust access has to be re-established regularly and segmented, an attacker can not move from one segment to another. This keeps breaches’ impacts to a minimum level.

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA):

MFA refers to an authentication method in which a single piece of Authentication is not enough to gain access. Multi-factor Authentication is one of the key principles of Zero Trust and consists of three elements. We can simply explain these elements as something you know, something you have, and something you are.

The most common use of MFA is two-factor Authentication – 2FA. It means you need to provide two different pieces of evidence to gain access. Generally, this evidence is your password ━ something you know and code sent to your mobile device ━ something you have.

Why do you need Zero Trust for your business?

With the increase in the remote workforce, the former philosophy of “trust but verify” became risky since employees are not present in the office. Zero Trust offers solutions for problems arising from remote and hybrid models.

With the Zero Trust security model, companies can reduce the risk of lateral movement, and keep the negative effects of breaches to a minimum, since no device or user is trusted, companies can support BYOD policies. They can also reduce the risk of the chances of malware and ransomware-infected devices being exploited as an attack vector.

Even if it sounds complex to implement this security model, once you provide the right set of technologies and services, it is easy to adopt this model. Also, remember that Zero Trust does not make your network completely secure. Still, it is one of the best ways to minimize the risks, and it also allows you to take action before a crucial issue happens.

Final Words

In small businesses, cyberattacks and cyber threats are one of the first considerations when you want to keep your data, login credentials, and sensitive information secure. To keep your company’s data safe, it is best to implement some cybersecurity methods like Zero Trust.

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