Zero Trust security is a framework that requires all users, both inside and outside of an organisation’s network, to be identified and authorised before accessing the network.

Unlike traditional IT network security, which trusts anyone and anything inside the network, Zero Trust security trusts no one and nothing, adopting the mantra of ‘never trust, always verify’. With businesses in the UK facing a cyber attack every 19 seconds, it’s no surprise that organisations are widely adopting this additional layer of security to help mitigate cyber attacks and breaches.

This article explains why you should implement a Zero Trust security framework for your business.

The main principle of Zero Trust is to remove implicit trust across an organisation. To do this, you need to:

1. Verify and authorise access based on all available data points, including user identity, location, device, and data classification.

2. Adopt ‘least access’ policies to limit user access.

3. Minimise the blast radius by assuming a breach and use data analytics to improve defences.

For a Zero Trust approach to work most effectively, it needs to be comprehensive and focus on the full ecosystem of controls, including network, cloud, and identity, that businesses rely on for protection.

To start designing a Zero Trust architecture for your organisation, you should look at three elements: users, applications, and infrastructure.

The first step of a Zero Trust architecture requires authenticating user identity. This ensures that employees only have access to the applications and devices that are necessary for them to complete their job successfully and verify that the devices they use for work have been approved.

With a dispersed workforce, the increase in shadow IT, (the use of IT systems and devices without explicit approval from an IT team, such as personal devices), can leave organisations vulnerable to a cyber security attack.

Networks are not the only IT elements that are prone to a cyber attack. Applications contain valuable data and can be susceptible to numerous cyber attacks, including code injection, lateral movement, API weaknesses, and others.

Applications are dynamic, so removing implicit trust from them requires careful and consistent monitoring.

Your IT infrastructure, whether on-premises or in the cloud, consists of all the hardware and software required to run your organisation. It is vital to ensure that access to this is verified and secure.

With the acceleration of digital transformation through hybrid working and the increased adoption of cloud-based solutions, taking a zero-trust approach to security has never been more critical. It is one of the most effective ways for organisations to control access to their networks, applications and data, helping to keep them safe and secure. There are many benefits to implementing a zero-trust approach to security, including:

With the Zero Trust model, an organisation must approve every user and device that accesses their network, providing full oversight of who is in their network, why they are there, and how they gained access. This gives organisations complete visibility of all users, devices, and activity.

Unlike traditional perimeter security models, the default in a Zero Trust environment is to ‘deny’. By utilising technology to verify users and devices, organisations have complete visibility and control over who is granted permission to see and access your network; which reduces the risk of falling victim to a cyber attack.

With the increase in hybrid working and distributed workforces, the perimeter for an organisation’s cyber security has never been greater. Not only do organisations need to provide the tools for employees to successfully work remotely, but they must also ensure that their data and devices remain secure.

Zero Trust allows them to do that with strong authentication, while reducing the overhead of extending your corporate network to your employees’ homes, as with the traditional VPN model.