Priorities of InfoSec leaders post pandemic have changed dramatically. While a large workforce moved online/remote overnight, cybersecurity professionals were left to play catch up. They went from having to secure one office to securing hundreds and thousands of “remote offices.” Now that remote or hybrid work is here to stay, the risk of insecure endpoints has to be dealt with now. It’s time to stop treating proactive cybersecurity as an expense and start implementing it as a business imperative.

Why Zero Trust is a great fit in a Hybrid Working Era?

We all know that mobile workforces bring an increased level of risk with them. No matter where the work is happening or how business data is being accessed, security must be the same. As in the hybrid work environment, the concept of on-premises and off-premises goes away. Similarly, with Zero Trust the concept of trusted and untrusted goes away.

With most of the companies embracing the hybrid model across India, it becomes even more important to be vigilant and use robust security solutions to protect their operations from looming threats. The solution to achieving this is a Zero Trust approach that allows organizations to not only ensure that every network access attempt is constantly vetted and monitored in real-time but also measure the level of risk before granting access to a network. A Zero Trust strategy aims to make the organisation’s network software-defined, boost resilience and flexibility, and combat modern-day threats. We can just say that Zero Trust is going to play a vital role for all organizations going forward.

How does Zero Trust work?

In a hybrid work environment, a Zero Trust framework mixes policies and processes to establish trust for every network access request – regardless of where that request is initiated from. Your security systems don’t just check credentials at the gate, they authenticate every user (and every device they use) whenever and wherever they request access.

Rewards of implementing a Zero Trust Framework

There are many benefits that an organization can achieve post successful implementation of a Zero Trust Framework:

  • Complete visibility into your network
  • Round-the-clock strong security posture against blind spots
  • Minimized threat impact through faster detection capabilities and reduced blast radius
  • Decreased risk of breaches through AI/ML-enabled security analytics
  • Faster recovery time and minimal disruption in case of an attack

In the modern complex threat landscape, organizations need to continuously stay one step ahead of threat actors, i.e., having a 24×7 Zero Trust Coverage of assets both inside and outside the network. Deploying a Zero Trust solution is the first critical step in combating threats. But, since hackers manage to breach even the most secure fortress, a containment strategy is key to mitigating risk. A Zero Trust service that continuously monitors and defends with just-in-time response can help operationalize zero trust, especially if the organization doesn’t have the in-house manpower or expertise to implement it. This calls for the need of an outcome-driven security-as-a-service that helps enterprises rapidly adopt the proactive Zero Trust security framework and augments it with robust security that protects from advanced and hidden attacks, ransomware, and data theft attempts, that traditional defense mechanisms do not catch.

The Future

Considering a hybrid working environment for businesses means getting good visibility of the way people work and the way they interact with sensitive data. Zero Trust provides more control within the network, thereby creating an even stronger defense mechanism system. Overall, to be properly equipped for working in this new normal, it’s imperative that businesses adopt a Zero Trust approach, thereby tackling many persistent security challenges. While we can’t completely foresee the future, but for now Zero Trust is the only way forward for organizations to combat growing threats.