What is Zero Trust Security? Explanation of Reasons for Attention and Points for Implementation

With cybercrime on the rise worldwide, individuals and companies are reviewing their fundamental security measures. Among these, the zero trust security approach is strongly sought after due to its effectiveness and necessity.

This article explains what role zero trust plays and what points to keep in mind when implementing it.

Table of Contents

1. What is Zero Trust?
2. Reasons for the Growing Interest in Zero Trust
   1. The Spread of Cloud Services
   2. Diversification of Work Styles such as Remote Work
   3. Increased Risk of Human Error due to the Penetration of DX
3. Seven Requirements for Achieving Zero Trust
   1. Network Security
   2. Device Security
   3. Identity Security
   4. Workload Security
   5. Data Security
   6. Visibility and Analysis
   7. Automation
4. Points for Implementing Zero Trust
5. Summary

1. What is Zero Trust?

Zero trust means “cannot be trusted” in direct translation, but the zero trust security model refers to a security system based on the premise of “always verifying without excessive trust.”

Zero trust is a security measure that has been advocated since around 2010. It minimizes the risk of unauthorized access by constantly doubting the reliability of access, not only from the outside but also from the inside.

Traditional security systems are based on a concept called “perimeter security,” which assumes that the internal network is absolutely safe and that only access from the outside needs to be guarded against.

However, in today’s complex cybercrime landscape, threats can come from anywhere inside or outside the organization. Therefore, by implementing security measures based on the zero trust security model, the aim is to avoid the risk of the internal system being compromised.

2. Reasons for the Growing Interest in Zero Trust

The zero trust security model was born in the early 2010s, but why is this approach attracting attention now?

2-1. The Spread of Cloud Services

One of the major changes in recent years is the increasing use of cloud services in the business domain. However, while the use of cloud services is convenient, it can also lead to new security risks.

Until now, internal digital information was often shared only within the company’s local network, so there were few opportunities to share digital information externally.

However, cloud services, by their very nature, require the use of internal data while connecting to external networks, which increases the risk of account information leakage and unauthorized access.

Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to both internal and external security measures, and interest in zero trust is growing.

2-2. Diversification of Work Styles such as Remote Work

Work style reform is an initiative that is attracting attention in order to aim for employee diversity and more efficient work styles, but it is important not to forget that there is also a negative aspect of increased security risks.

Remote work is attracting attention in work style reform, but while you can choose where you work, there is also a risk that security measures that are thoroughly implemented within the company will no longer be effective.

If your home internet environment has already been compromised, all business communications and data may be leaked to third parties. As a result, information leakage may occur unintentionally, putting the organization at risk.

To avoid such situations, a zero trust approach that considers employees as “targets of vigilance” is necessary.

2-3. Increased Risk of Human Error due to the Penetration of DX

The penetration of Digital Transformation (DX) is digitalizing company operations and realizing efficient work styles. However, in companies where digital utilization has not progressed so far, there are many cases where they are struggling with the utilization of digital tools, and there is a possibility that human errors will inevitably increase.

The fact that operations can be performed with simple operations also means that erroneous operations can easily cause significant damage.

In order to prevent damage from errors that even the person is not aware of, it is important to manage employees correctly and implement zero trust initiatives that do not cause security problems.

3. Seven Requirements for Achieving Zero Trust

It is said that the introduction of zero trust can be achieved by meeting the following seven requirements.

3-1. Network Security

Network security approves the network for each terminal operated within the company and regulates the use of the network by terminals that have not been approved.

By ensuring the safety of the network on a terminal-by-terminal basis, you can avoid risks lurking in internal and external networks.

3-2. Device Security

Device security is when an organization manages the devices used by employees. By limiting the terminals that can be used for business to only those that have been approved, you can avoid the risks associated with hardware.

3-3. Identity Security

Identity security refers to all efforts to avoid the potential risks of IDs. This includes encouraging regular changes to account IDs and passwords, and creating mechanisms to subdivide access privileges so that confidential information is not inadvertently accessed.

3-4. Workload Security

Workload security protects companies from unforeseen threats by developing an environment that allows monitoring of the system usage status within the company.

It automatically detects the use of services and apps that are not permitted within the company and sends warnings to users to avoid incidents.

3-5. Data Security

Data security is an effort to avoid information leakage by monitoring the removal of internal information and access to data from the outside. Setting access privileges and thoroughly educating employees on security are part of the measures.

3-6. Visibility and Analysis

Visibility and analysis is an initiative to monitor the company’s network and systems 24 hours a day and visualize and analyze the situation.

In addition to checking for suspicious access trends, it also identifies the cause of attacks and minimizes damage if an attack occurs.

3-7. Automation

Automation aims to automate system monitoring and rapid response systems. Security measures that are limited by manual operation can also improve detection accuracy through automation and achieve 24-hour security at full performance.

4. Points for Implementing Zero Trust

When introducing a zero trust security system, in addition to introducing excellent security tools, it is important not to forget to conduct training for employees.

The introduction of the system costs money, but creating manuals for employees and conducting training also takes time and money, so it is important to manage the budget with that in mind. Keep in mind that temporary business stagnation and slowdowns are expected at the time of introduction.

Summary

Building a zero trust security system involves not only introducing an excellent threat detection system, but also many other tasks such as detailed designation of access privileges, implementation of training for employees, and creation of manuals.

In order to prevent your company from being exposed to threats, start by reviewing your internal system as soon as possible and proceed with efforts to strengthen security.

For inquiries, please contact globalsupport@jiran.com.