Dave Russell, Vice President of Enterprise Strategy, Veeam Software, explains how Zero Trust can protect organisations and elaborates on how building good habits among your employees is a critical aspect of its use.
A ‘Zero Trust’ security model is one of the latest buzzwords in the cybersecurity industry. In short, a Zero Trust model means you do not leave any room for errors and do not trust anyone or anything.
Owing to a hybrid workplace led by the after-effects of the pandemic and several emerging technologies such as the Metaverse, Web 3.0, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, the cybersecurity industry is working hard, as usual, to be as future-ready as possible. But since we have yet to see the evolution of these technologies and their impact, we need to tread carefully when using them.
So, what exactly is Zero Trust? Is it a new product? Is it a certification or a mere buzzword within the cybersecurity industry?
Some organisations are mistaking Zero Trust for an actual product or certification. A Zero Trust model is not an actual product or new certification in the cybersecurity industry. A Zero Trust security model is deployed to ensure end-to-end cyber and cloud security. It is deployed for the security of our internal as well as external stakeholders. One of the most important concepts it lives by is ‘never trust, always verify’.
It also includes enabling of multi-factor authentication to grant access to any application or platform. Additionally, it is also about embracing the micro-segmentation of security perimeters to avoid any security breach.
Any new security features or models are not completely risk-free without building compliance and good habits among the employees. Similarly, Zero Trust is all about building good habits among your employees. It is also about ensuring that your employees enable multi-factor authentication when accessing any apps or platforms. It is an added form of compliance layer which shouldn’t be bypassed by the IT admin, someone at the top level or even the deployer. There should be a top to bottom approach and a must for all employees to be authenticated and validated continuously to build a better security posture within the organisation.
A Zero Trust model isn’t just about multi-factor authentication. It also requires all the users to be authenticated, authorised and have their security configurations continuously validated to access any kind of application or data. This is done as an additional layer of security. This model does have various benefits such as remote authentication and verification by your employees. This will allow them to work peacefully in a remote or a hybrid situation.
So, can you adopt the Zero Trust model whenever you want?
Before deploying any new security model, we need to understand the return on investment. We need to know whether we really need it. We need to understand that while Zero Trust is an approach to secure the most important assets of the business, it’s equally as important to know whether the ‘juice is worth the squeeze’.
You already need to be a digital organisation as you decide to deploy Zero Trust security. For you to apply the Zero Trust model within your organisation, you need to be an already digital organisation that has digital assets that need cloud and cyber protection. Your employees should have digital assets on which they can verify themselves.
We don’t need to jump into every bandwagon or deploy every new technology that is just launched. We need to understand our security needs first and then act accordingly. Your cybersecurity investments will only be worthwhile if you and your employees are willing to commit to it long-term and build good habits to ensure complete cybersecurity.
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