 zero trust as an enterprise security model zero trust as an enterprise security model hemraj tue 10142025 711 zero trust as an enterprise security model laszlo s gonc submitted by hemraj on mon 10132025 626 laszlo s gonc cissp first senior fellow divihn cybersecurity center of excellence linkedin url linkedin perspectives tag security in the digital dna expert content laszlo sgonc sort by trending latest zero trust as an enterprise security model laszlo sgonc security in the digital dna trending latest image n ever trust always verify the traditional idea of the welldefined network perimeter is outdated in a world where organizations are increasingly moving applications and data to cloud services embracing a highly mobile remote workforce and dealing with a significantly growing number of devices attaching to the corporate network many digital transformation initiatives are forcing businesses to rethink their enterprise security architecture as organizations go through these changes security concerns are paramount with cyber attacks on the rise  in march there was a 30000 increase in covid19 related attacks and malware source zscaler   today s new reality in an increasingly perimeterless world begs the question how does an organization protect itself the zero trust framework presumes bad actors are already in the network the approach deploys multiple strategies such as a identity and access management b multifactor authentication c encryption d risk scoring and e rolebased access controls to enforce strict governance policies these policies provide user access to specific applications and resources aligned with their roles and responsibilities this limits not only northsouth movement in the network but also eastwest lateral movement across the network four 4 things you need to know the methodologies that enable zero trust accomplish five 5 core tasks  microsegmentation microsegmentation is a method of creating secure zones in data centers cloud deployments and even applications allowing organizations to isolate workloads from one another and secure them individually it is aimed at making network security more granular using microsegmentation files in a network can be placed in separate secure zones a user or program with access to one of those zones will not be able to access any of the other zones without separate authorization tying security to individual workloads least privilege access  zerotrust is based on granting least privilege access however the access is only granted on verification of multiple contextual environmental variables at each request such as a who is requesting access b what is the context of the request and c what is the risk of access to the environment zerotrust no longer provides trust to anyone or anything connecting to valued systems it treats equally traffic originating from within the network as well traffic arriving externally users devices even api s are all treated the same this enables minimization of the attack surface it improves audit and reduces the risk and costs of security breaches multifactor authentication mfa   mfa is a core value of zero trust security it means simply requiring more than one piece of evidence to authenticate a user entering a password alone is not enough to gain access the use of twofactor authorization the addition of a code sent to another device is now widely used and accepted by consumers and stakeholders other forms of authentication biometrics are emerging to bolster identity verification application behavior and visibility  a benefit of microsegmentation is the enablement of application security that builds in policies defining allowed behavior and protection for each individual build as example ideation through development occurs in an environment isolated from the rest of the network so that any breach of an application will be contained and prevented from spreading into the rest of the network visibility into application behavior on devices that access applications also needs to be taken into account so anomalous activity can be detected and action can be taken more quickly designing and building use a five 5 step model for implementing and maintaining a zero trust network  define the protect surface in the zero trust defining the scope of the protect surface in manageable portions is critically important the protect surface should include the critical map the transactions flows how traffic moves across a network should define how it is protected therefore it is essential to gain contextual insight on the interdependencies of your data application assets and services the daas documenting the interaction between specific resources allows the ability to properly enforce controls it also provides valuable context to ensure the controls help protect the data architect a zero trust network zero trust networks are built from the ground up architected and customized around specific requirements for the protect surfaces however it is imperative that the protect surface and transaction flow maps be completed first create the zero trust policy once the zero trust network has been architected the next step is to define and whitelist which resources should have access to the others the questions of who what when where why and how work well here monitor and maintain the network lastly the final step is to ensure logging is enabled all logs are reviewed both internal and external and data is analyzed in a timely manner visibility should be all way through layer 7 of the osi model upon completing the first protect surface for your organization this model can be iteratively and easily expanded to other data sets applications assets and services from legacy or modern systems it can be implemented in a costeffective and nondestructive way zero trust and the future of work security objectives and best practices to keep mind while designing and building a zero trust environment that serves today s needs and into the future should include these considerations  think anytime anywhere secure applications data users devices and network traffic through persistent protection all with the same degree of effectiveness regardless of location the user experience should be frictionless and easy to deploy build for resilience as organizations mature their continuity of operations and crisis management plans a zero trust architecture allows organizations to adapt and move quickly to changing environments and realities in addition to providing strong cybersecurity best practices zero trust means different things to different organizations it is an approach a framework zero trust is not a specific tool or set of tools it can be adapted to many use cases particularly for remote work teleworking and byod bring your own device typically a practice still not considered secure and it can be implement one defined protect surface at a time as senior leaders we are asked to be more strategic and drive revenue through technologies and integration as the business goals and needs expand at the same time cybersecurity is an incredibly complex problem to solve from both the end user side and in the data center as attack surfaces become even broader it s no longer a question of if a breach will happen but when zero trust provides a scalable adaptive solution author laszlo s gonc cissp first senior fellow divihn cybersecurity center of excellence  