Some know it as “never trust, always verify,” while others in the form of the Russian proverb “trust but verify”. Here, we talk about the concept of zero trust in cybersecurity.
Since 1994, when Stephen Paul Marsh formulated the term in his Ph.D., the understanding of this framework and its application have changed.
Fast forward to today. This concept is integral for the protection of the cloud and the prevention of data breaches that start with unauthorized access.
Among those who integrate it to protect their infrastructure, some regard it as nothing more than a buzzword.
What is zero trust security, and what are some prevalent myths that surround this model of cyber protection?
#1 – Zero Trust Security Is a Product
Zero Trust Security is more of a concept rather than a product that a company can buy. It is a principle that can be applied to devices, applications, users, entire networks, or data.
Most companies use it to restrict user access to prevent intruders. Instead of assuming that anyone with the right credentials can log into their account, this model assumes that any user could be a hacker.
One way to apply this concept is by restricting access to files based on the job title of a user. Role-based access observes the logins in the context of a job that a person performs within a corporation.
Catching a criminal within the system early and not allowing them to get deeper access to the network stops them from reaching sensitive files.
Validating that a user is genuine prevents hacking exploits that start both externally and internally. Moreover, this practice can prevent bad actors from accessing deeper parts of the network, granted by more privileged accounts.
For instance, if unauthorized threat actors get to the personal user data, they can leak or expose it, demand ransom, and more. For businesses, this means major financial and reputational damage.
#2 – Applying Zero Trust Security Makes for a Distrusting Workforce
“Trust but verify” is the most suitable explanation for the zero trust methodology.
Some trust is necessary, but so is having that extra layer of security to check if the user is genuine.
Old-school security models were hyper-focused on the threats coming from outside of the company’s system. This assumes that anyone who is inside of the network is a non-malicious user.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, the rise of remote and hybrid work, and cloud-powered solutions form more entry points that hackers can misuse to get into the network.
Modern infrastructures are built differently. They’re complex because they combine old and new architecture. As a result, they’re more likely to have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. One of the most common flaws that can lead to illicit access is cloud misconfiguration.
Furthermore, data breaches in which the personal information of users is leaked online are common nowadays. This could mean that user credentials were exposed at some point online.
Double checking the identity of the user is an extra step in the security that prevents illicit access into the network. It protects the system of a corporation just as much as it does its users’ or workers’ personal data.
It’s not about distrusting the employee, but assuming that anything could go wrong and taking measures to protect the workers as well as the system.
#3 – Zero Trust Replaces Other Security Measures
Even if companies employ the zero trust strategy, they still need layered protection that can help them avoid cyber attacks and data breaches. Zero trust is not a substitution for security solutions such as firewalls, endpoint security, or even phishing awareness training.
Instead, it’s an additional framework, a strategy that can account for some major gaps in traditional security. For example, the zero trust strategy can be used to prevent breaches after a bad actor has already got access to the system.
If the intruder manages to steal credentials and enter the network, zero trust-based access can detect suspicious activity in the context of a company. It can discern between a genuine user and a malicious hacker with the right credentials.
This prevents deeper lateral movement of the attacker in the network that could lead to damaging data breaches.
Firewalls will block most of the malicious traffic, and workers might recognize and avoid obvious phishing attempts. But when other tools fail, verifications that are based on zero-trust principles will cease the attack.
Relying on a single tool or a few protocols leads to high-risk vulnerabilities in cybersecurity. The more security points the threat actors have to go through to get to the valuable assets of a company, the stronger the security.
As a result, zero trust provides another layer of in-depth security that protects the company from versatile zero-day and well-known threats.
#4 – Zero Trust Is Nothing More Than a Buzzword
Vendors of some security solutions have exploited this popular phrase to promote their products, even those they didn’t have anything to do with zero trust. However, we’re talking about a legitimate methodology that has been developing and in use for almost three decades.
The concept is intuitive and easy to understand, even if a person doesn’t know a lot about security. This is also the reason why many companies have been using this popular concept to promote their services.
This happens when a concept is popularized and thus regarded as a highly researched keyword — even companies that don’t apply the zero trust guidelines want their products to be associated with it.
Many companies have been applying this framework to secure their networks for years.
Within the last couple of years, the concept became popular because it’s integral for the protection of systems that add cloud infrastructures.
When done right, it increases the visibility of personal data and improves the overall security of the most important assets within the scaling attack surface.
Conclusion
What makes zero trust security different from other frameworks is that it generally safeguards resources.
While it doesn’t refer to the specific product a business can buy, and it isn’t a replacement for other security points that the company already has, it covers a major gap in security. Zero trust is essential for keeping intruders out of the network.
Such a framework is necessary for modern organizations that no longer have a single physical headquarters from which they operate.
They’ve opened their network to remote workers and have cloud-powered structures.
This also means that they need a different approach to the protection of an architecture that faces more attacks than ever before and operates from an increasingly complex infrastructure.
