10 Reasons For Businesses to Implement SASE with a Zero Trust Strategy

Zero trust significantly reduces an enterprise's cybersecurity risk and the damage caused by a compromised user account.

But, there is a catch.

Zero trust security is valuable only when it can be implemented across the company's entire network infrastructure.

This is where SASE comes into the picture. It integrates the zero trust functionality that enables performing access management across the organization's Wide Area Network (WAN).

So, what is SASE?

SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) is a WAN networking and security solution that brings together a full security stack and the optimized network routing capabilities of software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN). It is a cloud solution that supports businesses' cloud-based network infrastructure.

SASE solutions provide security inspection, secured remote access, and optimized networking across a company's entire network. Here are 10 reasons why implementing SASE with a Zero Trust strategy is critical for your business.

Why Should You Implement SASE with a Zero Trust Strategy?

1. Cloud data servers need shared security responsibility.

Companies are preferring to store critical data on hybrid or public cloud instead of corporate-owned data centers. This requires companies to rethink legacy assumptions of trust around processes, technologies, people, skills, and data center security tools.

The new cloud infrastructure needs a shared responsibility model where both the cloud vendor and the enterprise are responsible for providing and maintaining security. A zero trust security model can act as the foundation of shared cybersecurity responsibility.

2. Perimeter-based security isn't very effective in today's enterprise environment.

The way businesses operate has undergone a drastic change. Today, each company relies on digital technologies that have reduced the relevance of traditional perimeter-based cybersecurity models. Parameters don't define the scope of security enforcement any longer.

This is where zero trust security comes into play. It adopts a micro-level approach to approving access requests inside networks. It operates on the principle of least privilege that ensures that everybody gets limited access to the entire system. Consequently, it monitors and verifies each request to get access to different parts of the network.

3. Don't trust PaaS and SaaS applications with eyes closed.

Today, a significant number of applications are offered using PaaS (Platform-as-a-service) and SaaS (Software-as-a-service). Software OEM builds applications using readily available services for logging, authentication, machine learning, database, etc.

They have proprietary rights for business logic and core logic but have little ownership of the software components required to develop the applications. This indicates that application developers cannot trust their applications.

On the other hand, in a zero trust security approach, security controls are positioned, assuming that the network is already compromised.

4. The entire workforce shouldn't have all access.

Enterprises must realize that their dependency on people and processes to conduct various business operations has changed. Traditionally, customers and employees have been the primary users of a business's applications and infrastructure.

But today, even vendors and suppliers are a significant part of the system. Businesses should keep in mind that non-employees such as them shouldn't have full access to the business application.

Also, employees perform specialized functions, and hence, don't need access to the entire network. A zero trust security approach allows enterprises to provide access based on key dimensions of trust, which helps keep an eye on everyone accessing the system, even those with elevated privileges.

5. The Internet is becoming insecure day-by-day.

Today, everyone accesses applications and databases through a cloud network remotely. This implies that internet networks are no longer secure from being hacked or manipulated. So, visibility solutions and network perimeter security that most businesses use are no longer effective in keeping attackers at bay. In this age of remote work, the concept of implicit trust has lost its sheen.

Zero trust works on principles such as "always-verify" and "least privilege" that provide visibility of the entire network existing in the cloud and data centers.

Also Read: Future-proof Your Security Systems by Moving to Cloud Through SASE Approach

6. It is challenging to verify the security status of the WFH environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new normal where more than half of each company's workforce works from their homes. This also means that processes and security technologies based on a particular geographic location, such as the company's headquarters, are no longer relevant.

But there is a hidden danger. When everyone works using a different Wi-Fi network, it substantially increases the possibility of the business network contracting a virus or malware.

Businesses must acknowledge that work-from-home setups aren't secure enough because employees' Wi-Fi router isn't configured for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA-2). Various IoT devices like the thermostat or the baby monitor use several protection protocols that don't provide much security.

On the other hand, a zero trust security framework ensures that employees work from a secured and verified environment.

7. Adopt policies to become cyber resilient.

Did you know that 30,000 websites are hacked daily? And did you know that cyber-attacks happen every 39 seconds?

Today, cyberattacks are prevalent across industries and they are increasing at a rapid pace. Recently, the pharmaceutical industry has been the worst affected industry in terms of the number of cyberattacks registered every day.

Hackers have stolen intellectual property rights and formulas for making vaccines for which pharma companies had to pay huge ransoms to ensure business continuity.

Zero trust framework ensures that these enterprises become less vulnerable to security breaches and better equipped to mitigate financial damage.

8. Advanced Persistent threats (APTs) are becoming complex day-by-day.

In the starting years of the 21st century, cybercriminals would hack a website to expose its security vulnerabilities. But today, they are stealing intellectual property rights and confidential data from secured databases of companies.

To inflict maximum damage, cybercriminals are using advanced tools. Gone are the days of simple phishing scams that were easy to detect and repair. Today's cyberattacks impact entire financial, societal, national, and physical systems.

Cybercrime has become highly organized as well. They are run by international crime rings, nation-states, and ransomware groups. And the worst part is that they can bypass traditional perimeter security. Only micro-segmentation and zero trust security models can detect them.

9. Employee-owned devices aren't as secure as work devices.

While employees work remotely from their homes, they don't use their work devices, which are kept up to date with security policies and tools. Instead, they use their personal computers, laptops, and phones and forget to apply basic cyber hygiene skills.

Zero trust security protocols work on the fundamental principle of "trust nobody; verify everything" that enforces access controls across every network node.

10. Government departments are concerned about online security.

Cybercrimes are no longer limited to DDoS attacks. They have evolved to target financial data, customer data, IP and proprietary functions. Cybercrimes are now expanding to areas such as nuclear power plants, financial data, government systems, elections, and weapon arsenals.

This means that resilient cybersecurity strategies hold paramount importance at each level of society and government. The zero trust security framework significantly increases cyber resilience for government agencies and multinational enterprises that help mitigate security breaches.

Conclusion

The perimeter-based reactive methods that were the core of old and traditional security systems have become obsolete. The zero trust security model is the future of cybersecurity.

Proactive governments and businesses must adopt it to ensure a cyber-secure future for their employees, customers, partners, and citizens. This new-age cyber secure system provides network visibility and constantly monitors who is accessing the system.

If you too want to implement a zero trust security model in your organization, book a demo with LoginRadius today!