Trust is a vital part of any healthy human relationship, and living without trusting anyone would be exceedingly lonely. But you can't trust everyone. Instead, you use your critical thinking skills and your knowledge of people and their intentions to determine when you can trust them. Computer networks don't have that ability. They simply follow their programming, which means that a malicious actor getting access to one machine on your company's network can lead to a cascade of disastrous consequences. This is why so many companies are instituting zero-trust security models in their networks. But what is zero-trust security, and how can you implement it? Our experts are here to answer your questions.
Traditional Security vs. Zero Trust: A Fundamental Shift
In a traditional security model, your network automatically distrusts anything that comes from outside, but trusts things that occur within the network. Picture a castle with a large wall: as long as the wall and gates keep invaders out, then anyone on the inside is friendly. In a business setting, this can involve intranets, firewalls,
The trouble with traditional security is that it ignores the damage people can do from within the "castle." In modern terms, in this world of rampant, sneaky security threats, can you really trust that every device on your network is free of threats? Can you ever be truly sure that nobody in your company can use information to their own ends? One person clicking on one phishing email can cause a disaster, as the Bank of Bangladesh learned after a 2016 cyber-heist that almost cost them $1 billion.
A zero-trust security model can't neutralize every threat, but it ensures that your company has the tools to monitor for threats wherever they come from.
The Core Principles of Zero Trust Architecture
There are three components of zero-trust architecture, as detailed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
- Least privilege access is the idea that people should only have access to the data and systems they absolutely need. Allowing every company device full access to privileged data greatly increases the number of "gates" in your castle's walls. The more unnecessary access your employees have, the greater the danger and the greater the liability.
- Continuous authentication is the idea that you should verify every device, every time they connect. Include extra authentication for critical changes or for viewing of sensitive data.
- Assumption of breach means that your company should always operate as if somebody is attempting to breach it. Once it's large enough, this will be true.
Key Pillars of a Zero Trust Security Model for Growing Businesses
A lot goes into zero-trust security, and it can be hard to determine what to implement first. Focus on the fundamentals listed above. For instance, simply implementing two-factor authentication for employee logins and access to critical information can make it much harder for malicious actors to get a foothold in your system. Likewise, implementing endpoint management is an excellent early move, since it can be scaled up later on. Finally, it's easier to design a heavily segmented network while your company is still small, rather than rewrite the system once it's gotten large. Laying the groundwork for long-term planning can make a huge difference in your company.
Contact us at Dove Technologies to learn more about Zero-Trust Security
If you'd like to learn more about zero-trust security models or how to implement one in your company early, reach out to us at Dove Technologies. In addition to our wide selection of network security and firewall hardware, we're glad to help deliver a solution that works for you and will keep working for years.
Image credit: // Shutterstock // Andrey_Popov
