Zero Trust is the concept that a organisation is secure if it assume that there is not implicit trust and continuously validates every stage of interaction digitally.
How does a Network with zero trust work?
On a base level no one is trusted by default at any corporation level. Meaning all individuals have to adhere to the same level of authentication throughout the businesses multiple times a day. This has been shown to reduce breaches and allow for a higher level of security across businesses this is implemented in.
Why would you use zero trust?
If a company or individual access a network from multiple devices from multiple locations it is quite hard to justify that they should be trusted implicitly. Remote and hybrid working during the COVID-19 pandemic has required more employees to work remotely and access systems meaning more vulnerabilities are occurring.
Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 has Zero Trust as a part of its best practice model requiring users to authenticate themselves frequently to allow access to areas with restricted access to all areas being promoted. Seeing a large company such as Microsoft adopt this for their practices on cloud storage demonstrates the value in this scheme.
A scenario where is is used
An example of this would be accessing Microsoft SharePoint from home using an unknown computer with the user login details. How this would work is as the user is logging into the system they would have Multi factor authentication. Meaning that their phone would be prompted a code to allow them to sign in alongside their usual password and account login details. This overall adds a layer but also allows more access from multiple points securely as the system is assuming there is no trust.
Should you use Zero Trust
Most likely is the answer, it is a great system to implement in any work place handling sensitive information or consumers data. In the case of everything being low risk it isnt essential but it is excellent practice to have and reduced your general risk of a breach. Overall Zero Trust is an excellent concept that can apply to any work place but you can also adapt it to your personal life by applying multi factor authentication to accounts it is definitely worth considering.
Find a previous article on Zero Trust here.
