Today’s cybersecurity landscape is dangerous, to say the least, prompting many organizations to adopt what is called a zero-trust policy for their security standards. Is a zero-trust policy the best solution for your company’s cybersecurity woes, and how effective is it toward preventing security issues? Let’s take a look.

What Does Zero-Trust Actually Mean?

According to the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre, the official definition of zero-trust is “the idea of removing inherent trust from the network. Just because a device is within the internal "trusted" side of a firewall or VPN, it should not be trusted by default.” 

Basically, this applies to just about all devices on your network, including the ones that are supposed to be there. No devices should be trusted by default.

How Effective is It, Really?

As you might have guessed, not all businesses can subject their networks to this great of scrutiny, so you will want to make sure that your company’s policy reflects its needs. The NCSC makes special note that this is more of a guidance rather than a hard rule, and it should be used in terms of network design rather than as a solution you implement to solve your problems. In fact, some businesses might not even be able to pull off a zero-trust policy.

Think of companies with large computing infrastructures. The sheer number of devices on the network and the costs of implementing such a policy could be staggering, and the policy itself could take years to fully flesh out and develop before it starts to show any true return on investment. Businesses might also have to acquire new hardware and train technicians, as well as frequently update this technology to maintain security standards. In particular, organizations with a BYOD policy will have a difficult time with zero-trust.

Even with these issues, however, there remain many reasons to consider zero-trust as a model for your business. Here are a few:

• Greater control over data means delegation to the appropriate users.
• Stronger authentication and authorization
• Better user experience (consider single sign-on as an example)
• Every action or device is subject to some form of policy, meaning every attempt at accessing data is verified.
• Detailed access logs

Start Securing Your Systems Today

You don’t necessarily have to implement a zero-trust policy to enhance your network security, but what you should do is call Dresner Group! Our technicians can give you the strongest fighting chance at stopping any and all threats out there. To learn more, reach out to us at (410) 531-6727.