Enterprises can strive to implement the zero trust service to secure every user, every device, and every connection at all times. Read on to know how to protect your most valuable assets and manage threats more securely using zero trust, especially in the remote work scenario.
In the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, more and more businesses have adopted the digital transformation framework utilizing technologies such as Cloud, IoT, Mobile, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Language, and so on. As a result, hostile actors are attempting to evolve new pathways and methods of breaking into organizations in order to exfiltrate data or compromise security. Traditional perimeter-centric security strategies implemented in organizations, which are no longer viable, are still failing to prevent successful malicious intrusions.
Why zero trust?
An expanded workforce and trends such as BYOD, have fueled the growth of the hybrid multicloud enterprise. This means increased the number of connections into and throughout the organization. For security teams, it increases the difficulty to protect data, users and resources.
“Protecting this scattered ecosystem requires the correlation of real-time security context across all security domains. The right combination of security capabilities — empowered by a zero-trust approach — is a good first step 
toward success. “Identity is the new Perimeter” said Tushar Haralkar, Security Software Technical Sales Leader – IBM Technology Sales, India-South Asia
This new urgency has led to emergence of “zero trust”. While exact methodologies vary by vendor, it signifies a shift in the security mindset — as organizations adopt cloud technologies, traditional and firewall-based security approaches become obsolete.
Zero trust ensures all data and resources are inaccessible by default and can only be accessed on a limited basis and under the right circumstances. Organizations can reject the concept of a “trusted” internal network and an “untrusted” external network by using a Zero trust architecture, instead treating all users with the same level of scrutiny.
By removing the assumptions of the trust equation, zero trust is an alternative security architecture that can help overcome the flaws of a failing conventional perimeter-centric security approach.
Zero trust Approach
Conventional network perimeter-oriented approach to security is not enough in today’s cloud-driven world. Instead, organizations must provide secure access to a spectrum of users, including workers, partners, contractors, and customers, independent of their location, device, or network. Consistently deploying security across all cloud environments aids in the instillation of confidence and resilience in business operations.
All of the benefits of hybrid cloud, however, necessitate a modernized, redesigned approach to enterprise security, with a focus on zero trust strategy. Crucial parameters like context, cooperation, and visibility are enhanced by zero trust technology and controls. And that’s exactly what you’ll need to secure your company’s growth and transition.
“A zero trust approach provides advanced protection from cyberthreats. You can apply zero trust to address key security use cases like insider threats, remote workforce, data privacy, hybrid cloud, IoT, Privileged access, etc.” said Tushar.
Securing Cloud: Zero trust approach secures hybrid cloud, brings a new balance of governance, configurations, controls, policies and automation across users, all cloud workloads and your data. Zero trust technologies assist you in discovering and classifying all cloud assets so that the appropriate protections and access controls can be implemented.
Ensuring Privacy: Zero trust helps protect customer privacy increases openness and accountability across the organization. Using zero trust technologies to build in privacy and security from the start ensures that everyone across the organization accessing customer data is properly authenticated.
Addressing Insider Threats: In hybrid cloud environments, putting zero trust into action to proactively manage insider threats helps minimize disruption, increase resiliency, and secure users and resources. It also aids in the detection of risk trends across data, identity, applications, and other areas.
Enabling Security for Hybrid Workforce: To create a zero trust environment for your disparate workforce, you must focus on security holistically rather than strategically. In this pandemic situation — your data, applications, and users are all over the place in today’s enterprise world. In this context, IBM enables to secure your organization as each connection between these components must be validated and authorized.
By dynamically responding to user datasets, and workloads throughout the business — no matter where they are — a zero trust approach can help organizations modernize operations and turn security into a business enabler.
Conclusion
From the security professional’s perspective, zero trust is a framework to modernize their security programs and aid them adapt to security threats that arise from the ever-changing corporate environment.
As business and threat landscapes continue to evolve, organizations are pivoting to zero trust security approach. The path to zero trust security isn’t the same for everyone, but organizations should realize that integrating Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions as the core technology is the ideal process to start.
In four words, the zero trust security framework can be summarized as “Never Trust, Always Verify!”
Tushar states “Zero trust isn’t a product you can buy. Its a framework or an approach.” ..Leverage Zero Trust framework to provide smarter security that helps to enable the right user under the right conditions to have the right access to the right data.
Learn more on how you can protect your workforce and grow your business with context-based zero trust.