With the cyber threat landscape getting more complicated every minute, cybersecurity deserves more attention than ever. Fully trusting applications, interfaces, networks, devices, traffic, and users without authentication is no longer an option. Misjudging and misplacing your trust in a malicious entity can lead to severe breaches that can damage your business. Zero trust cybersecurity practices, however, can go a long way toward helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) minimize security risks and prevent data breaches.
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About the Zero Trust Security Model
Zero Trust was introduced in 2010 by John Kindervag, a former Forrester analyst. The concept has since gained wide acclaim and approval as a trusted framework for cybersecurity.
This approach trusts nothing within or outside its perimeter and insists on verifying everything attempting to connect to the company systems before granting access. In simple terms, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) refers to it as a “never trust, always verify” approach.
Implementing zero trust security within your business can help guard against data breaches, downtime, productivity loss, customer churn, and reputation damage. Over 70% of businesses planned to deploy zero trust in 2020 and it is even more critical for SMBs in an era where workforces and networks are becoming heavily distributed.
Three Misconceptions about Zero Trust Cybersecurity
Now that we’ve explained the main characteristics of the zero trust security model, you’re probably starting to see how modern SMBs can benefit from it. Let’s take a closer look at three key benefits all businesses that implement this model can unlock.
1. Zero trust security is only for enterprises.
The zero trust cybersecurity framework is a proven counter-threat strategy. While it’s true that enterprises prioritize the protection of their data and networks by deploying the best solutions and approaches, SMBs must also protect sensitive data and networks by taking adequate measures to minimize internal and external vulnerabilities.
Therefore, Zero Trust Security isn’t just for enterprises. It is equally significant for SMBs as well.
2. Zero trust is too complex.
Zero Trust may seem overwhelming, but when you apply its principles at a scale tailored to your business, you’ll discover it’s far simpler than you imagined.
3. The cost of implementing zero trust is too high.
Zero trust cybersecurity adoption is operationally and economically feasible if you focus on your most critical applications and data sets first.
Four Cyber Threat Facts
Let’s look at a few statistics that should convince you of the seriousness of today’s cyber threat landscape as well as the need for a zero trust approach:
1. Human error causes close to 88% of data breaches.
Unfortunately, you can’t completely mistrust an external network, nor can you fully trust a user within your network.
2. 75% of human-operated ransomware attacks involved compromised privileged accounts.
This underscores the vulnerability posed by privileged accounts, which are often targeted as gateways to sensitive systems and data. Without robust security measures, your organization inadvertently leaves the door open to catastrophic breaches. Zero trust provides the framework to enforce strict access controls and mitigate the potential for compromised credentials.
3. About 28% of employees work from home.
When employees work from home, many devices, users, and resources will interact entirely outside the corporate perimeter. This increases the risk of an incident occurring.
4. Phishing attacks have increased by over 160% since 2019.
To counter growing phishing threats, cybersecurity policies must be dynamic and adapt to address additional concerns.
If you’re not equipped with a solid defense against cyberthreats, you may regret it later when a breach happens. Chances are your current approach to cybersecurity falls short of stopping cybercriminals from accessing your network. The Zero Trust approach can change all that.
How to Adopt the Zero Trust Model
Adopting zero trust within your business does not mean you throw away your existing security tools and technologies. In fact, according to NIST, zero trust security must incorporate existing security tools and technologies more systematically.
Build an effective zero trust model that encompasses governance policies—like giving users only the access needed to complete their tasks—and technologies such as:
- Multifactor authentication
- Identity and access management
- Risk management
- Analytics
- Encryption
- Orchestration
- Scoring
- File-system permissions
Adopt Zero Trust the Easy Way
Taking your business down the path of zero trust may not be easy, but it’s certainly achievable and vital to maturing your business. Don’t worry about where and how to begin. With the right managed service provider by your side, the stress of this journey is removed from your plate because your provider will ensure your business is successful.
