EDITOR’ S QUESTION
Digitisation is significantly transforming how governments interact with citizens, provide services, and handle crises. However, it creates a double-edged sword for cybersecurity. Essentially, disruptive technologies bring many opportunities, but they also usher in significant vulnerabilities, changing the cyber risk landscape by providing a greater attack surface for cybercriminals to aim for. Hence, the more digital you are, the bigger the target you become.
Implementing Zero-Trust architecture is one of the most robust ways to deal with the increased vulnerabilities arising from the rising consumption of digital services. However, Zero-Trust is not a typical solution you can buy from the market, an Original Equipment Manufacturer or any vendor.
In fact, we can aptly describe Zero-Trust as a security strategy that requires collaboration across people, processes, and technology. Most importantly, the communication for such a strategy must come from an organisation’ s leadership and top executives, who must drive its principles. yet many lack transparency of these flows. A key principle of Zero-Trust is ensuring the transparency and actionability. It is crucial to monitor traffic from all servers, endpoints, and assets in the organisational network environment. This information should be presented to leadership to help them understand network activities and address any issues or suspicious behaviour.
The third step is to enforce Identity and Access Management, IAM as part of a Zero-Trust strategy. This includes implementing Multi-Factor Authentication, MFA, where users provide additional verification beyond just a username and password, for example, confirming their identity via a pop-up on their phone.
Implementing Zero-Trust architecture is one of the most robust ways to deal with the increased vulnerabilities arising from digital services.
The three fundamental principles of Zero-Trust are: never trust anyone; always verify the principle of least privilege – only provide access to what is needed; and assume that a breach has already occurred.
Additionally, there are multiple steps in implementing a Zero-Trust strategy. The first step is the identification of assets. You cannot protect what you do not know making it crucial to understand your environment and provide complete visibility of what you need to protect. Many organisations, especially those with legacy systems, are unaware of all the assets they own, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks and more.
Another important aspect is Role-Based Access Control. This means that users are only granted the specific access and permissions they need to perform their job functions. The principle of least privilege is a key tenet of Zero-Trust.
Zero-Trust security marks a major shift for organisations relying on legacy systems, ensuring strong security measures against evolving threats. p
The second step is mapping network flows. Organisations transmit millions of data packets daily,
KUMAR VAIBHAV, LEAD SENIOR SOLUTION
ARCHITECT, CYBERSECURITY, IN2IT TECHNOLOGIES
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