EXPERT
OPINION
The need to streamline and unify the security infrastructure of organisations is perhaps never as urgent as it is now .
4 . Continuous monitoring of data flows and assets to detect changes , violations or anomalies
The end goal here is to have a unified security framework for all assets . In doing so , IT and InfoSec teams can reduce the burden of dealing with different infrastructure for users on the Intranet vs . Internet , provide a unified experience to users independent of the locality of access and have one consistent framework for security . In a world where the workplace is increasingly shifting towards a ‘ work anywhere ’ model , moving towards a ZT architecture simply makes sense .
To be sure , moving towards a ZT architecture is not a quick end goal , but rather a journey for most organisations . It is unfortunate that severe dislocations such as that caused by the COVID-19 virus may perhaps serve as a forcing function for organisations to embark on this journey .
Nonetheless , it is one that most organisations can embrace with a few key steps :
1 . Map out your assets . Leverage non-intrusive techniques such as network metadata for visibility , along with leveraging host / endpoint based approaches .
2 . Discover and understand the asset communication flows and patterns . Once again , monitoring network traffic provides an excellent approach for gaining this insight . This is important in order to define the right access control policies . Not understanding this can lead to potential disruption in the business .
3 . Implement authentication and access control policies based on the above discovery . For legacy devices and applications that can ’ t easily be authenticated , isolate them on different segments of the network and monitor and control all access to and from them .
4 . Set up a continuous monitoring strategy . Monitor network traffic , as well as log host / endpoint data . Use tools that can work off this data to analyse it and surface incidents and violations of the policy .
Zero Trust is a journey that perhaps requires significant thought in terms of executing the above steps . Many organisations have , in the past , delayed this initiative . With the workplace being completely reimagined due to the tragic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic , the need to streamline and unify the security infrastructure of organisations is perhaps never as urgent as it is now . u www . intelligentciso . com
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