What is Zero Trust Security and why is it so important?

Reasons why Zero Trust Security is important

In today’s world, where data is spread across infinite number of people, applications and devices, a single password or just a firewall is not enough.

With the extensive increase in the number of devices and users connecting to the business application over the internet, the implementation of the Zero Trust security model has increased to enhance security.

Zero trust security is a security model that requires identity verification for every device and person trying to access the network. To further simplify it, zero trust architecture trusts no one contrary to traditional IT network security which trusts everyone. Zero trust network treats all the traffic including the one already inside the network as unsafe. It blocks the untrusted workloads from communicating until and unless they are identified through a set of attributes. 

Why it is important to have a zero trust security model?

Here are few reasons why a zero trust security solution is important to improve the security postures of the organization.

1. Protect Consumer and business data

Allowing consumer’s data and other private data to fall into the wrong hands can seriously impact the business. Once the malware makes its way into the user’s device, it can extract the valuable data to a command and control server outside the network. Cybercriminals can use the consumer’s personal information to steal an identity to access financial accounts, access credit cards, etc. This also causes a loss of trust among stakeholders and customers.

For companies, apart from the loss of trust, data breach and theft of strategic plans or intellectual property can cost extensive loss in terms of finances and years of hard work.

2. Detects breach faster and enhances visibility into traffic

The zero trust model provides visibility to security professionals about who is accessing the network, using what application, from where and when. It enables the security administrators to monitor the activities of the users, devices and also the data.

Behavioral and predictive analytics then evaluates the data to enforce compliances, apply security policies, and reduce cloud security risk. In case if the preventive control fails, the security team can use the application visibility to quickly identify any security issues. Zero trust security provides visibility of user behavior in real-time and triggers immediate intervention and prompting multi-factor authentication.

3. Reduces complexity of security stack

Zero trust cloud security removes all the complexity of the traditional network perimeters like hardware appliances and software, security mechanisms, application delivery and performance utilities, etc. Using a cloud services approach, a cloud vendor takes over all these responsibilities.

4. Solving security skill shortage issue

The increasing cybercrime is stretching the limits of cyber experts. This has driven up the demand for skilled and expert network resources and has created a shortage of security experts. With zero trust, infrastructure security solutions become easy as zero trust is implemented on the cloud and does not require installing complex stack equipment. It enables securing all applications, data and devices using a single service. It streamlines the operations allowing you to do more with limited security staff.

Apart from reducing the need to have more skilled security staff for your network architecture, the zero trust model reduces the help desk requirements for application access issues, locked devices, etc with better authorization and authentication.

5. Excellent user experience along with high security

The zero trust security model offers ease of use coupled with productivity and secure access. It improves employee productivity and enhances user experience by allowing users to log in without needing to re-authenticate each time and improving syncing issues.

It also optimizes app performance and delivers a seamless user experience across different network conditions and devices. It adapts to user behavior, changes in content and connectivity through adaptive acceleration leveraging machine learning technology. With zero trust security solutions, you also witness reduced latency through cellular acceleration solutions that use modern web protocols and intelligent routing based on internet conditions.

6. Facilitates moving to the cloud

The lack of cloud-based security hinders the ability to migrate to the cloud. Zero trust offers security solutions specifically designed for securing your application in your data center and the cloud. Cloud-based zero trust security provides a single point of authentication and control and gives SSO capabilities to end-users across all of their cloud and on-premise applications. This also restricts access to the entire network by offering only tailored and controlled access to specific applications and data.

Zero trust security solutions provide business benefits as well along with data and resource security. You can reduce the complexity of the security stack, reduce the risk of data breaches and avoid reputation damage that can cause huge financial losses. Most importantly, having a security strategy creates a confident organizational structure that focuses on innovating and bringing an enhanced customer experience.

Hope this Article has helped you know more about Zero trust security solutions.
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