Why Zero Trust is Essential for Remote Work and IoT?

A newly formed tech startup started a remote work culture. They shared company file access with all the employees from their devices. One day an employee used a hacked laptop to access these files. This gave hackers access to company files. Later the startup found they had lost almost all their data.

After the incident, a security analyst talked to the company. He said implementing strong security would have helped the company. For this Zero-trust protection is the best.

What made the security analyst conclude that zero-trust is best for protection?

Previously, companies used firewalls to protect the data from external attacks. They believed data was safe in the internal network. But when technology evolved, the cyber attack also changed. The traditional methods cannot defend against the furious modern cyber threats. So many companies came forward with their cybersecurity services in India to tackle these cyber threats

What is Zero-trust security?

John Kindervag is the man behind this new identity-based security model. He noticed the lack of security measures for the internal network. John believed that they should protect every system in the network. Because data can leak from anywhere This idea of no trust in any entity began the start of the zero-trust security model.

This trust-no-one architecture model strictly follows "trust no entity in a network". Here entity includes the user, app, software, devices, or service. All the entities in the company need checking and verification before using it. It treats every user, device, and connection request like a possible threat. Only after careful checking, the system decides if the system is secure. No entity has immediate access. Instead, an entity has to go through verification, each time it needs access to a new resource.

When technology evolved, the network structure and devices in a network also changed. Now a company’s network goes beyond the office network. It has a cloud network, mobile services, data centres, and remote connections. This factor increases the risk of getting a cyber-attack from inside the company.

Working on zero-trust architecture

Setting up this access control security model is a little difficult. In a company, there are many parts and devices in the system. They design a plan first. This plan has the rules about who can access what, and the different security tools. This plan also makes sure everything works smoothly.

Many companies follow a different framework in using the Zero trust framework. But the main basic idea is the same for any framework. John's no-trust security model has three main concepts. They are principles, parts, and network access.

There are three main principles of this strict access control model. Continuous monitoring and validation are the first principle in this security model. All the points are under unstoppable monitoring to give access to any new resource. If they notice any misbehaviour, the system will close immediately.

The company has designed this non-trust security model with the least privilege to entities. In this framework, users and devices get only the least access to the resources. They remove the access, once their job is over. This least-privilege access becomes the second principle of this no-trust framework.

The security team used the techniques of the "assume as if" method. In this method, the framework assumes, that hackers have already entered the network. So, the continuous check of the system is the third principle of the no-trust security model.

There are five main parts included in no trust security architecture. They act as the five main pillars of this security model. They are 

• devices - all the devices that connect to the network should follow the rules set by the company. The security system keeps an updated list of all allowed devices in the security network.
• identity - Only approved users can access the company resources. No trust security framework ensures who the employee is. After verification, he can access, the resource which he has permission to use. Everyone will not get access to all the resources in the company.
• networks - In John's no-trust security framework the network plays a critical role. They divide the network into small segments. He called this micro-segmentation. These small networks will be more secure. If there is a threat, they can stop it easily before spreading. Hackers cannot see other resources to which they have no access. They also encrypt the traffic and understand user behaviours.
• application and workloads - All the applications have assigned only limited access. Instead of one-time access, they check the application repeatedly. The model also checks how the applications communicate with each other.
• Data - the fifth pillar of zero trust architecture is data. This security model controls the data very carefully. Organization of data in many categories makes it easy to give access to the right people. Every user encrypts the data before saving. Continuous monitoring of data helps them to find out any breaches.

The final concept of zero trust security framework is network access. This security framework uses Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Network access helps people safe connections to applications and services, like a VPN. It connects users only to the things they can access.

Pros and cons of zero trust security model

There are three main benefits of using this new security framework. First, it gives control over access to resources and data. Second, it reduces the chances of breach by continuous monitoring. Finally, by isolating the network through micro-segmentation they prevent the spread of hacking.

The main challenge in using this system is the cost of implementing it. Training the employees about this model is also a costly process. Continuous monitoring is a complex task to carry out. Transitioning from a traditional to a new method may take time to adapt.

Importance of Zero trust security system in today's business

In today's world, cyber threats are more advanced. We access data from various locations. So, if this new model is present in the company, it ensures that only authorized persons can access it. Once the work is over, they remove the access from the user. This makes the data safe from any breach.

Currently, fields like cloud-based services, and multi-chain securities use this. The rise of remote work also made companies use no-trust security systems for all remote workers. The increasing use of IoT leads this technology to be a vital part of it, for security purposes.

Future

As we approach 2025, the world of cybersecurity is changing fast. When technology like AI is evolving, cyber security has become an area of importance. AI helps the business in many ways. In the same way, hackers can use AI for hacking purposes also. With the rise of quantum technology, hackers may hack the encrypted data also. Post-COVID pandemic, the remote working model has increased. This led to the massive use of the Zero trust security framework by companies.

The future of cybersecurity is in the hands of AI, quantum technology, and Zero trust security. Businesses will focus on managing who can access their systems. This limited accessibility can help from many types of attacks.

Conclusion

In today's world of increasing online threats, the importance of data security cannot be neglected. By using the Zero Trust security model, companies can protect their data to a large extent. In the future, more companies will adopt this model for their business. The increasing use of cloud computing, and IoT devices all lead to increasing demand for no-trust security.