CIO OPINION
Five reasons why you need to migrate to a Zero Trust security architecture
If you haven ’ t started down the path of reengineering your network to become a Zero Trust network , here are the five crucial reasons to do so :
1 . The complexity of your network – the number of users , where they work , the devices they use , the number of workloads , your use of SaaS , adoption of a hybrid cloud environment , and so on – is just going to increase . A Zero Trust network reduces the complexity of securing your assets and makes it much easier to isolate problems .
2 . Because the complexity of your network is increasing rapidly , your security perimeter will , and maybe already does , look like Swiss cheese . Consequently , the attack surface of the network has expanded and the only practical way to reduce your level of vulnerability is to start establishing micro-perimeters and microsegments to regain control .
3 . Third-party services such as SaaS and PaaS can ’ t be trusted . It only takes a single breach of a single third-party service that ’ s overly trusted to compromise your network assets . Creating robust micro-perimeters around these services is an absolute must .
4 . The Internet is , essentially , an unsecured network and cyberattacks from amateurs , organised crime , and hostile state actors are increasing rapidly . In addition , the costs of mitigating a breach or a ransomware attack have increased enormously . The financial risks have become profound and will become the driving force in IT budgeting .
5 . Insider threats have also increased rapidly . Managing a mix of employees working from home and from branch offices as well as providing access to suppliers and other business partners requires robust and well-structured security controls .
If you have started down the path to a Zero Trust network , are you moving fast enough ? Could you move faster ? Does the C-suite understand the issues and is it willing to fund a strategy that might be all that stands between business success and irreversible failure ? If you have not yet started to plan and implement a Zero Trust architecture , why not ? p
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