Malware and ransom attacks have the potential to seize a thriving business and can put its future in jeopardy. Such attacks can extract sensitive data and can misuse it to a greater extent. Cybercrime is a constant threat, and it is well known to target data related to private credentials and financial transactions.
Reputational damage is extremely harmful to an enterprise as it loses trust resulting in loss of customers and stakeholders. It is important to ensure the data is protected at all costs, and databases must be fortified with better security layers to avoid such data penetration. Loss of intellectual property can be used by organizations to completely wipe out competitors by exposing trade secrets, R&D development, and much more.
Traditional security systems were built on a common ideology, everyone inside the network is to be trusted by default. This is where the attacker gains leverage, and they create an access point over everything inside.
This is where zero trust comes into place. An IT security model creates a framework that requires identity verification for every person trying to access a secured database. Instead of creating a complete firewall, the zero trust model focuses on verifying each inbound request and finding out its origination source.
How to implement Zero Trust security architecture in the Cloud?
Define and address the current status of the network, database, assets, applications, and services related to the organization. Review and weigh all the risks and exposed areas and assess the organization’s current security status.
Prioritize the most critical aspects of the organization and ensure that they are graded with the highest level of security encryption.
Create a layout of all the assets and their transaction flow to determine where the sensitive data lives and which users are constantly accessing it.
Review and restructure all the security protocols and remove/replace the outdated local legacy systems.
Build a list of cloud services available for the organization and maintain strict access to from high to low-risk services.
Maintain less exposure by removing stale accounts and constantly updating access logins by rotating passwords.
Invest in resources and cloud security models that can be constantly upscaled to adapt to new threats and support the organization’s changing needs.
Steps to implement Zero Trust Security on Cloud
Protect the customer’s data-
It’s the core value of the zero-trust system to implement strict controls on user access, zero-trust limits the access for users to get bare minimum privileges. Users are granted permission to read, write or execute files, which helps monitor their jobs and activity.
Just like users, devices can be compromised and cannot be trusted blindly to save data identity-centric control features must be deployed from end-to-end. This helps keep the devices and the data safe at bay by timely verification and ensuring that the internal resources are up to the security requirements.
Deploy preventive measures-
Multifactor authentication is essential towards achieving zero trust, and it helps minimize risk by detecting any anomalous traffic.
Review all accounts at regular intervals to ensure they are secure and grant the users limited access to track sensitive data access.
Monitor the network continuously, figure out the loose ends. Inspect those areas, deploy countermeasures and keep track of all the unusual behaviors and the authentication logs related to them.
Reduce the complexity of the security stack
Implementing security systems with legacy devices is quite expensive and unnecessary; avoid that with a cloud-based approach where the complexity is eliminated. The cloud automates all the deployment, monitoring, troubleshooting, and patching processes. Helping organizations scale as and when required.
Increase visibility
Increased visibility allows more room for perfection and helps identify the real threats to the system by indirectly improving network visibility. Better authentication and authorization screening have helped minimize costs and security staff.
Implement machine learning and artificial intelligence technology to optimize the performance based on current and real user behavior.
Micro-segmentation-
Zero trust networks utilize this method to break down the security zones into small perimeters to provide separate access points to the network. This creates multiple secure zones across multiple devices and data centers, indirectly increasing security layers and improving the network.
A user without access to any of the zones would be restricted to other zones and enter only with a newly issued access code by the administrator.
Adopting Zero Trust Security Model in the Cloud
There are 4 stages to adopt the zero-trust model
Verification of identity
Verification of device
Verification of access
Verification of services
By implementing a zero trust model, organizations can build a secure chain of networks and decrease their chances of exposure over time by preventing attacks and eliminating unauthorized access.
Conclusion
Each organization needs to figure out the approach to create a sustainable environment best suited for their needs. By balancing risk profiles and improving access methods to gain entry to their company resources, one can increase investments in zero trust. Businesses can greatly benefit from cloud migration and zero trust architecture by improving user experience.
