Running a business is hard enough without having to think about cybersecurity. Your business faces existential threats from cyberattacks every day it’s operational, as data breaches truly do have the power to bring your business down if you’re not prepared for the fallout. A zero trust approach can help to mitigate many of the risks that come from cybersecurity threats, and it’s all thanks to the principle of least permission.
Let’s explore what zero trust is and how your business can benefit from it.
Consider how your typical network functions. You have a username and a password combination which, when used together, provides access to your systems. The individual permissions vary by the user. This security protocol has been in place for decades, and while it’s still largely a good idea, there are issues from both internal and external threats that must be shored up.
That’s where zero trust comes into play. Simply put, zero trust works by being overly cautious with your security measures. A zero trust system requires that an individual authenticate themselves at every step of their data access journey, even past the initial login. Zero trust is naturally more secure than the alternative solution, precisely because more layers of security mean more opportunities to halt a potential attacker. With remote work still a prominent part of businesses’ operational strategies, and insider threats still remaining a common problem, you need all the scrutiny you can get.
The key to zero trust is the process of classification, or determining data that requires zero trust-level protection. Once you know what requires it and what doesn’t, you can attach further authentication measures as you see appropriate. In order for employees to access specific data, they need the permissions to do so and the proper authorization.
With policies like this in place, your employees will have access to all of the information needed to do their jobs, and nothing more, while also requiring that they authenticate their identity along the way. The idea is to make it as difficult as possible for hackers to infiltrate your system’s inner workings or for would-be insiders from stealing data they have no business accessing in the first place. This strict policy could end up saving your business from a long and exhausting battle with cyberthreats.
Zero trust can truly be implemented only when you have the time to develop and deploy the solution in a meaningful way. It cannot just be implemented one day on a whim. As you can imagine, this kind of authentication can be complicated and require a certain level of strategy. You also have the costs to consider, as well as a heavy reliance on cloud computing to ensure this system is one that can be implemented well.
Still, even with all the difficulties, the fact that 20 percent of cyberattacks are caused by deliberate actions carried out by insiders and another 50 percent are caused by mistakes or negligence should be enough to at least consider zero trust as a viable security model. You can implement zero trust with the right amount of support and expertise—both of which First Column IT can offer in spades.
To learn more about how we can help you implement a zero trust security policy, contact us today at (571) 470-5594.
