Never trust; always verify. A zero trust model establishes trust in users and devices through authentication and continuous monitoring of each access attempt, with custom security policies that protect every application.
Zero Trust: A strategy that allows little room for assumptions to be made; a user must never trust that they are accessing their data securely and instead must double- or triple-verify identity at login.
Traditional security approaches assume that anything (devices, users, infrastructure, etc.) inside the corporate network can be trusted. The reality is that this assumption no longer holds true.
Now more than ever, employees and users have more control over the applications they use. Data and applications are no longer behind the firewall, and users can connect directly to work applications over the internet using personal owned devices.
A core tenet of zero trust is that security is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, even within the same organization. Zero trust applies anywhere an access decision is made. When approaching security design using the zero trust model, it’s easiest to break adoption down into three pillars:
The massive demand to support remote work and adopt cloud environments amplifies the need for security in the workforce, so that’s where many organizations begin their adoption of a zero trust security.
Zero trust can be summed up as “never trust; always verify.” This approach treats every access attempt as if it originates from an untrusted network — so access won’t be allowed until trust is demonstrated. Once users and devices have been deemed trustworthy, zero trust ensures that they have access only to the resources they absolutely need, to prevent any unauthorized lateral movement through an environment.
Adoption of zero trust can help address common security challenges in the workforce, such as phishing, malware, credential theft, remote access, and device security (BYOD).
This is done by securing the three primary factors that make up the workforce: users, their devices, and the applications they access.
Users are the people, such as employees, contractors, partners and vendors, that need access to work applications and systems.
Zero trust requires that a user be given access only to the applications they truly need to do their job — and no more. It also requires that user identities be verified using a method like strong multi-factor authentication, to establish that they are who they say they are at every single access attempt.
Devices are the things that are used to gain access to resources. These could be corporate-managed or personal devices (desktops/laptops, tablets, mobile phones).
Under zero trust, devices are checked at every access request to ensure that they meet security parameters and aren’t introducing risk. Devices should also be monitored over time, to detect potential threats or anomalous behavior.
Applications are the tools businesses use to operate. They can be located anywhere — from the cloud, to being hosted in-house or on physical systems.
Application access should be governed by adaptive access policies, created based on the sensitivity of the data in the application. This granularity ensures that access is provided only to users or groups of users who need it, from locations and devices that are trusted.
Zero trust arose to address the uniquely 21st-century security challenges that exist in the modern workplace.
As apps, data and identities move to the cloud, the IT model extends past the traditional corporate perimeter. Organizations need to comprehensively secure this new model, without compromising on agility or usability.
Deperimeterization means that users may not be protected by traditional security measures, and may be more susceptible to phishing, malware and other threats.
Environments are now a hybrid mix of legacy on-premises services and multi-cloud infrastructure and software as a service (SaaS) apps.
Attackers that make it past one verification point (such as a firewall or a user login) can exploit inherent trust and move laterally within a network, application or environment to target sensitive data.
Adding security doesn’t need to add friction to a user's experience. By implementing solutions that verify users and devices at the point of access you can provide a balance between security and productivity.
Adaptive policies and device monitoring practices inherent to zero trust help you catch and mitigate security risks before they become problematic.
Zero trust requires that companies have visibility into users and their devices as they access applications. Enforce user, device or application-specific policies to meet your organization's security requirements for access. Flag risky users’ devices, then block or notify users to update any out-of-date software on their own devices before granting access to applications.
By applying the same trust-based reasoning to every access point, users get a consistent and productive security experience regardless of location, device or whether their applications are on-premises or in the cloud.
Make it harder for attackers to access and move laterally within your environment by segmenting resources, using strong authentication factors, adding encryption, and marking known and trusted devices.
The term “zero trust” entered the security lexicon relatively recently, but the concept itself has been around for nearly two decades.
Today, zero trust is a leading security model poised to evolve further in the years to come.
In the early 2000s, the Jericho Forum was created to tackle “de-perimeterization,” which was becoming more and more common in the workplace. Hybrid infrastructures meant the traditional castle and moat approach to security became antiquated and the threat surface broadened.
In 2009, John Kindervag, then a Vice President and Principal Analyst on the Security and Risk Team at Forrester Research, introduced the concept of a “zero trust model,” in response to these security challenges. He defined the approach as one that assumes traffic within an enterprise’s network is no more trustworthy by default than traffic coming from the outside.
This model served as the building blocks for Google's BeyondCorp, introduced in 2014. BeyondCorp is Google’s particular implementation of the zero trust architecture. It includes securely identifying users and devices, separating trust from the network, externalizing apps and workflow, and implementing inventory-based access controls.
Gartner's CARTA model - continuous adaptive risk and trust assessment - calls for a shift away from one-time, binary access decisions toward contextual, risk and trust-based decisions. This model is about giving just enough trust to users, even after authentication, to complete the action requested.
Forrester evolved to the zero trust extended framework and introduced seven pillars for the model’s implementation. The research giant started the publication of a Wave report, evaluating leading vendors offering zero trust solutions.
2019 saw zero trust enter the mainstream with NIST’s SP-800-207 zero trust guidance and UK NCSC guidance. These recommendations align important core tenets of security that every organization should be paying attention to when designing their own zero trust journey
The Duo Security offering has been fully integrated into the Zero Trust-focused Cisco Zero Trust portfolio approach for the Workforce, Workplace, and Workload (WWW). [...] the WWW approach based on ZTX is front and center in the vendor’s platform, offering integrated analytics and automated decision making and deploying segmentation controls across the entire infrastructure.
— The Forrester Wave™, Zero Trust eXtended Ecosystem Platform Providers, Q3 2020
There are five phases for implementing Zero Trust for the Workforce, which comprises an organization’s users and their devices, and how they access applications. The approach is iterative.
Begin with a specific set of people, expand coverage for their applications, and expand coverage for their devices. Once we are always verifying trust within this well-defined scope, apply a set of reasonable policies to enforce trust and protect the organization. Finally, integrate this scope with the broader organization’s IT and security functions and shift to continuous improvement.
Ensure only authorized users are accessing your resources. This can be done a number of ways — multi-factor authentication (MFA) is the most prevalent method, but passwordless authentication is also becoming an attractive option.
Which endpoint or device is being used with every access request? What is its current security state, and from where is the request originating? Tracking device activity is key in detecting account takeover attempts and other risks.
Define the characteristics of a “trusted” device within your organization. Identify known devices, both corporate-managed and personal, that meet those criteria, so that unexpected devices can be easily flagged.
Set requirements for access based on the sensitivity and security state of your resources. These policies can range from allowing only corporate-managed devices to requiring certain versions of software, encryption or step-up authentication based on user behavior.
You’ve achieved zero trust for the workforce! All applications and systems within scope are protected; monitoring and response to threat scenarios are ongoing. Now, it’s time to optimize user workflows and management of your zero trust ecosystem.
Want to start or improve your organization’s zero trust strategy? Work with the experts at Cisco to plan your unique journey.
User trust is the foundation upon which a zero trust strategy is built — and strong multi-factor authentication is a tested and proven way to establish that trust.
Under zero trust, devices should be checked and monitored based on unique, situation-based policies. Duo’s Device Trust helps you do exactly that.
Credential theft continues to be a thorn in the side of even the most diligent zero trust adherent. A passwordless approach could change that.
Achieving zero trust for the workforce is a journey. In this white paper, we'll take you through a five-phase iterative transformation which ensures users and devices can be trusted as they access systems, regardless of location.
