April 26 – An increasing number of businesses are turning to zero trust in order to enhance cyber security. This approach reflects a shift away from traditional perimeter-based security models and towards a more comprehensive and proactive security framework.
With zero trust, organizations aim to verify and authenticate every user and device that attempts to access their network, regardless of location or status within the network.
Current trends
Around the world, more than 60% of organizations have fully or partially applied a zero trust strategy. For just over three-quarters of organizations, the investment adds up to less than 25% of the overall cyber security budget.
A recent survey indicates that 56% of organizations are moving forward with a zero trust strategy due to widespread recognition of zero trust as an industry best practice.
The challenge
In spite of general enthusiasm for the framework, a number of enterprises remain unsure of what zero trust implementation best practices actually look like. Experts recommend that organizations start with the following:
1. Know the environment. In order to successfully implement zero trust, organizations should be aware of how far zero trust will really extend for them. A zero trust strategy doesn’t always include the entirety of an organization’s environment.
Because enterprise risk spans beyond the scope of zero trust controls, organizations need to both understand and potentially decide on how much enterprise risk can be mitigated through zero trust.
2. Communicate zero trust success. The majority of businesses that apply zero trust have strategic metrics that they use to measure progress (and risk). Experts advise organizations to set specific metrics for zero trust deliverables, as opposed to recycling metrics used for other areas.
3. Anticipate cost increases. Forty-one percent of organizations say that their staffing requirements and corresponding expenses will likely increase due to zero trust implementation. Nonetheless, this cost may be offset through various other cutbacks in expenditures.
These are just a few zero trust challenges and considerations…
Zero trust resources
Become a zero trust expert. Explore the following related resources:
- How to implement zero trust
- Zero trust best practices
- AWS zero trust: A CISO’s path to improved cloud visibility & control
- How hackers bypass zero trust and what you can do about it
- The 7 principles of zero trust security with Check Point Infinity
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