How to Secure Your Network With Zero Trust Network Access Architecture

A zero-trust architecture is the best way to protect your network against threats. It reduces the attack surface, enabling micro-segmentation and application-based access control.

Zero Trust requires strict controls on user permissions, including service accounts, to limit lateral movement by attackers. It also requires a continuous verification process that uses risk-based multi-factor authentication and other advanced technologies.

Building a zero-trust model for your network is an ongoing project that requires significant resources and support. The architecture can be complex to implement, and a variety of different infrastructure components—like proxy servers, security gateways, software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN), cloud access security brokers (CASB), and secure web gateways (SWG)—may need to be integrated into one platform with a standard management console.

Zero Trust relies on a strict definition of Trust. Every user and device must be re-verified for every interaction, and no implicit trust is granted based on the location of a network connection or the identity of a device.

The zero trust network access architecture must also provide the least privileged access, granting users information on a need-to-know basis and limiting their attack surface.

The architecture should also be able to dynamically evaluate and monitor internal and external devices, including their current posture and security configuration. It should also be able to identify and manage business processes and associated risks, ensuring that the appropriate level of access is provided for each activity.

In addition, the system should be able to limit the blast radius in the event of an internal or external breach to minimize damage. This is often called continuous verification and requires advanced technologies to constantly reevaluate device identities, network connectivity, and application flows.

Authentication is a critical component of Zero Trust because it ensures that only authorized users can access resources. It can be achieved through various methods, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), out-of-band authentication, and specialized user authentication for Internet of Things devices.

MFA is the most potent form of security because it requires a combination of user identity, device, and network factors to verify that a login attempt is legitimate. To implement Zero Trust, your network must be able to monitor and validate user devices and applications, enforce the principle of least privilege, and use micro-segmentation to break your network into smaller segments that are easier to protect.

Investing in a next-generation firewall that acts as your network’s segmentation gateway is the best way to do this. This allows you to deploy granular security policies invoked upon every transition across the protected surface instead of focusing on generic resource access.

A Zero Trust implementation requires significant effort and resources, but it will pay off in the long run by dramatically reducing your organization’s risk exposure to threats.

By implementing Zero Trust in stages, you can manage your security infrastructure more effectively and reduce the impact on productivity and organizational efficiency. Getting started is simple, and our experts are here to help you make the process a success.

The second pillar of Zero Trust is device authentication. This means that any user or machine, whether inside a corporate network, at home (if they have a VPN), or in a public place like a coffee shop, must be verified and authenticated before accessing data or applications.

This is a very different approach from traditional network security models that operate based on implicit Trust, and it is crucial to secure your agency against attack. It is based on the principle that attackers are always present inside and outside your corporate boundaries and that securing a perimeter is no longer enough to protect you against them.

To do this, your agency must be able to identify and verify every device that connects to your internal networks, including IoT devices. This requires an advanced device authentication protocol that goes beyond simple MAC address filtering and uses more robust mechanisms, such as a digital signature.

It is also important to enforce strict password hygiene, encourage multi-factor authentication, and use anti-keylogging and anti-screen scraping technologies to prevent attacks that rely on password-stealing malware to access users’ accounts. Finally, it’s essential to monitor your entire network to ensure visibility so that you can quickly detect and respond to vulnerabilities.

Zero Trust requires an approach that combines multiple technologies. It relies on risk-based multi-factor authentication, device and identity protection, proxies that support a software-defined perimeter, and IPS that protect networks from external threats.

It also includes segmentation gateways, identity and workload protection, cloud security solutions, encryption of data and email, and continuous monitoring. It also requires a robust network architecture that provides visibility of users, devices, and networks.

This ensures all access is vetted and verified and does not operate on implicit Trust. It uses the Principle of Least Privilege, which restricts access to only what is needed for an activity. This minimizes the impact of a breach and prevents sensitive information from becoming available to attackers.

Zero Trust will require new tools and practices as the threat landscape changes. It will need to be able to monitor and evaluate dynamic data and context to respond to evolving threats quickly and accurately. It will need to be able to reassess users and devices over time to determine the level of authentication and authorization required.

As a result, Zero Trust will need to be able to support and integrate with existing infrastructure, systems, applications, and protocols to make it scalable for today’s modern enterprises. It must accommodate hybrid and multi-cloud environments, various operating systems (OS) and cloud providers, physical and virtual data centers, and distributed and remote workers.