Zero Trust Security: The New Approach for Network Security

Security personnel is trying to create best-in-class security, implement the best security they can. From this, most organizations have many different security devices in their network, many of which do not communicate well with each other, if at all. This can cause security lapses as varying personnel are responsible for different devices and implement the security plan that is the best for their device.

We live in a world where cybercrime is a common factor for any organization that is planning to implement and administer network services. Cybercrime is not new, but the stakes have never been higher. It doesn’t take much research to understand that the cost of cybercrime is expensive. With the number of attacks increasing by 10% each year, and the cost of those attacks increasing substantially, network architects must not only consider but prioritize security when planning, implementing, and operating the network.

Security personnel is trying to create best-in-class security, implement the best security they can. From this most organizations have many different security devices in their network, many of which do not communicate well with each other, if at all. This can cause security lapses as varying personnel are responsible for different devices and implement the security plan that is the best for their device.
Adding to the struggle of securing an enterprise, is the use of a multi-cloud environment. All traffic to and from the cloud must be encrypted and monitored for security purposes. To monitor the traffic, it must be unencrypted putting a burden on the security equipment to monitor and secure.

Network security is a rapidly changing environment in which vendors must help create simplified security solutions with a single pane of glass management to overcome the onslaught of attacks now and in the future. One of the aspects of network security that gets neglected is detection. Understanding that most breaches are discovered by a third party after the security compromise has happened should encourage a better detection plan. With an average of 211 days to detect and contain a breach, many organizations could be compromised and not know it. Business organizations are like living entities and like most entities, they do not like change. Creating an environment of security is a daunting task. Security personnel must make it a priority to make sure that all levels of leadership are on board with a security plan. Once they understand the importance of security, it will be easier to create training programs and purchase security equipment for the company.

As networks grow, so does the diversity of equipment and vendors that staff members must be trained on. As these changes appear, some staff members might choose to find environments where their skills are in need instead of learning new skills for new equipment.
Understating the cost of network security is a multifaceted problem for all businesses. The risk assessment must be made at many levels for different categories of data. What would it cost if this data was taken? What skillset do we need to protect the data? What tools are needed to protect the data? This assessment must remain agile to be able to change as threats, data, personnel, and equipment change.

Evolving Malware

Any software that is harmful to your system can fit under the term malware. It is becoming more sophisticated in its ability to hide from scanners. Some of the ways it hides are encrypting data before transmitting, storing itself in memory so file scanners cannot find it, appear to send data to known websites, and download itself in multiple files and then compile on a server once it is through the scanners.

Phishing

Everyone wants to keep their business happy by helping them with almost anything they ask, but what is the request from your boss is really from a bad actor. Phishing is creating an e-mail or SMS message that looks like it comes from a known source but in reality, it is from a bad actor. This message will ask you to log in to a fake website or send back private information that allows the bad actor access to systems and accounts in your control. One should always be suspicious of e-mails that ask you to log in to verify the information. E-mail filters are never going to stop every phishing threat.

Threats got sophisticated

Threats are becoming more sophisticated as hackers are becoming more organized and better financed. Hackers are increasingly associated with organized crime and nation-states, as this provides resources to find the best way to breach a network and stay undiscovered. Persistence is a reference to the determination of the hackers and their desire to keep control of your network. If the attack does not work, these hackers will continue again and again, until they succeed. Once they succeed in breaching the network, they work to stay undiscovered, so they may continue to exfiltrate data off of the network indefinitely.

Security is too complex

As your network footprint increases, the challenges of maintaining security also increases. There are more devices to manage, more policies specialized for each situation. There are also new devices like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), which have little build-in security and are easy to deploy. Many of these devices get deployed without network administrator approval or oversight of network security personnel. How do you face all those challenges when your rate of deployment continues to increase?

On top of the growing threat climate, customer networks have become a blend of standalone or best-in-class-security products. This layered stack of specialized products might meet customer security goals but can lead to various issues including:

• Operational complexity for administrators

• Isolated functions leading gaps in defense

• Multiple vendors and interfaces leading to console fatigue and
• Separate uncorrelated threat intelligence or telemetry leading to illicit behavior not being detected

Today’s network security must be integrated, automated, and intelligent to effectively protect your organization.

Perimeter oriented security

Not too long ago, a typically managed network had defined boundaries and edges. Network security was relatively simple, involving mainly a firewall between your network and the Internet, some basic user management credentials, permissions, and so on, and, perhaps, a mandated antivirus application. Everything was considered managed and a BYOD mentally wasn’t even an option. The problem with this approach is that once an attacker gains access to the network, they have free reign over everything inside.

Defense in Depth

Organizations have to build upon the perimeter security model by adding layers of security that must be breached to obtain access to information on the network. If one layer fails to stop an attack, other layers are encountered to thwart an attack.
This multilayer approach with intentional redundancies increases the security of a system as a whole and addresses many different attack vectors.
Depending on the size of your organization’s network, components of defense in depth include antivirus, firewalls, anti-malware, password strength, intrusion detection, etc.
On the other hand, this approach has its limits, with the main problem being that layers of the defense do not communicate with each other. For example, if an endpoint antivirus finds a virus, it does not signal an intrusion, detection, and prevention (IDP) or firewall defenses to stop further movement of viruses in the network.

Zero Trust Security

Organizations must build and manage their network as zero-trust security, trust no one in the network. This model requires strict identity verification for every user and device that accesses resources in the network, regardless of whether they are in the office or working from home. This model works in the principle of “never trust, always verify”, and it is designed to address lateral threat movement within the network by leveraging micro-segmentation and granular perimeters enforcement based on user, data, and location.

Kosbit network design architects, network solution leads, and security engineers are a dedicated group of security experts that can help your business stay out of never-ending security threats. For most organizations, it is almost impossible to achieve being risk-free. But why not protect yourself from known or unknown cyber threats. Please contact us and tell us what are the cyber threats that your business is facing? Which ones are more prioritized? Which vulnerabilities in the network do you want to repair? Let us know.