Digital workspaces are the way of the present and future. You might have employees who come to a specific brick-and-mortar location but who then log into your digital workspace, which is probably a software suite. You might also allow your employees to work from home most or all of the time, but they still log into that software program.
There, they can communicate with one another via email or instant messaging. They might have Zoom-style face-to-face meetings. These are ideal right now because Covid-19 is still a concern.
Working in the digital world makes sense at the moment for many reasons, and it’s not likely to stop anytime soon. While there are potential benefits to working this way, there are potential security concerns. That’s part of why IT professionals came up with the zero-trust security model.
We’ll talk about the zero trust model in this article, so you understand why it works so well. If your company isn’t using it yet, you may decide to do so once you read about what it entails.
What Precisely is the Zero Trust Security Model?
Zero trust security for digital workspaces works so well because it’s a way you can almost entirely ensure that no one unauthorized is using your network. You want that because you need to know no one is stealing your proprietary secrets or learning sensitive employee or client information.
Some IT professionals call zero trust perimeter less online security. It is a particular way you can approach or design a system’s IT implementation. It’s a method to prevent the most common cybersecurity threats, including malware, phishing, and various data extraction techniques that the most skilled hackers use.
The Three Primary Zero Trust Components
The zero trust model comes with three particular components, and it’s really not complete unless you use all three of them. The first is assessment. This is how you can determine all the system elements you need to protect.
Next comes control. You need to carefully control all your online system elements to ensure that no one unauthorized is using them.
Finally, you have recovery operations. You need this final system component to be in place to immediately recover any data that you misplace. You can also use this part of the three-pronged setup to track any data that has gotten outside your known system parameters.
Never Trust, Always Verify
The term “zero trust” refers to the system consistently verifying that each element within it is legit. The system is deliberately set up with redundancies so that you’re meticulously checking each user that logs in, each device that they use, and the software suite to which they connect to make sure it’s authentic.
The verification methods you have in place is part of what makes this system so ideal for remote work in the digital world. Since your workers will probably spend almost all their time in the digital world if your company operates in certain particular niches, this setup is probably going to be your best possible choice.
If you treat every data flow, user, and device as untrusted and double-check each one’s authenticity, you should be able to immediately identify any false user who’s trying to get in. This is how you can discourage any hacker who’s probing your system for weaknesses.
Explicit Permission and Identity Verification Methods
The reason why a zero trust model works well for so many companies is that you get the same security measures with it if you’re working within the network perimeter or outside of it.
Working within the network perimeter would be easy enough if there was not a pandemic going on and also if you allowed all your workers to operate within a single location. That way, it’s much easier to keep track of who’s logging in and what they’re doing once they do so.
However, that’s not practical or possible anymore. The pandemic has forced companies to restructure their business models so that they’re allowing remote work more than ever before. Some of them were doing it already, but Covid-19 expedited this process dramatically.
Now, remote workers can use the zero trust model and log in from across town, across the country, or even internationally. If you don’t have it in place, it would be almost impossible for your business to continue running, and your competitors would catch up to you and possibly put you out of business.
This Nearly Eliminates Human Error
Human error causes most data breaches. A worker’s carelessness may not be intentional, but they might still allow a hacker network access by leaving a security code or password lying around.
That’s not something you ever need to worry about with a zero-trust model. This system takes poor password planning into account, and also insufficient security tooling, and very little supervision in remote environments.
Can You Implement a Zero Trust Model?
The best news for company owners is that you can set up and start using a zero-trust model very easily if you have not done so yet. You can talk to your IT department about the best ways to get this system off the ground. The framework is probably already in place, but if it’s not, retooling your software suite or getting a new one is likely the way to go.
Once your zero trust model is in place, you won’t have to worry about exchanging sensitive data via your network. You can also tell your would-be customers and clients that you have this model in place.
If they understand and appreciate what zero trust is all about, they should feel more ready to work with you or buy products from you. They will realize that they can give you their credit card numbers and other privileged information, and no one will steal it. There are several out-of-the-box zero trust options you can look into, or you can get your IT department to create a bespoke one.