What is zero trust?

And why you should implement it for better security and user-friendliness.

The key to a secure modern workplace

Never trust, always verify. That is the mantra of zero trust; surely, you have heard it before. At the same time, it sounds cumbersome, like you need to show your ID for every single door you want to enter, digital or otherwise.

While you could implement zero-trust that way, this is not the preferred approach. It is often much more frictionless, offering a better user experience than that while significantly increasing your security. Let us explain how it works.

Zero trust is a security architecture that advocates consistently verifying the identity of users, devices, and resources before granting access to sensitive data or systems. The idea is that threats come not only from the outside but also from within your network. Access to resources should be granted only after verifying the identity and context of the request.

It is often seen as the key to building a modern digital workplace that is both secure and user-friendly.

No inside or outside

To give a better overview of what zero trust is and how it works within an organization, we can divide it into a few key areas:

Never trust, always verify. This means you should not assume a user or device is safe based on location, such as if they are connected to the internal network.
Least privilege. Organizations often give users too much access where they do not need to, especially in a growing organization or when user roles are evolving. Proper access management, where users only have access to what they need, is a foundational part of zero-trust.
Continuous monitoring. Access management is not something you do once and leave it be. It must be continuously monitored and adjusted to ensure the least privilege principle.
Segmentation. The network itself should be segmented into smaller parts. This is to prevent bad actors from moving too far within your network if they should get access.
Data-centric. Your data should always be protected, whether stored in transit or in use.

At the same time, continuous monitoring of access is not the only important part of zero-trust. Continuous improvement of your entire security model is also very important.

Benefits of zero trust

Improved user experience

Zero trust can eliminate the need for VPNs and provide a seamless experience for accessing both on-premises and cloud applications, saving users time and frustration.

Greater visibility and control

A zero-trust approach can give organizations greater visibility into their access requests and activity. This can help organizations identify potential threats and vulnerabilities and take appropriate actions to mitigate them.

Enhanced security

By consistently verifying the identity of users and devices instead of leaning on trust, the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data and systems is significantly reduced, thus helping organizations comply with regulations.

Zero-trust for a better user experience

This all sounds very reasonable in terms of added security for your organization, but how exactly does this improve the user experience?

Three areas are critical for implementing zero trust, which, when done right, will also improve the user experience significantly.

Identity and access management (IAM). A robust and modern IAM solution will give your organization the tools to implement least privilege principles, simplify admin tasks, and automate several processes.
From a user standpoint, automated processes will speed up onboarding and transition to new roles and eliminate time-consuming tasks like waiting for a manual password reset.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA): The “always verify” part we have mentioned is dependent on strong user authentication, something you will achieve with MFA.
From a user perspective, MFA can simplify their daily work by enabling the type of authentication that suits their roles. Here, you can even go passwordless, using other means of authentication. That way, the user does not have to remember passwords at all.
Single sign-on (SSO): Enabling a single sign-on solution as part of your zero-trust initiative is sound advice to keep track of everything from a security standpoint and simplify admins' daily work. That way, admins have fewer areas to focus on, enabling them to tighten security where it counts.
The user also benefits from this by simplifying their daily work. They get one identity, one login, and access to all applications and services they need simply and effectively.

The importance of IAM

Ultimately, in a zero-trust approach, identity becomes the security perimeter, and hence, identity and access management are vital foundational pieces of any successful zero-trust architecture. It ensures that only authorized users can access your organization's systems and data and that all access is properly logged and monitored. With a strong IAM solution, it is easier to implement zero trust effectively. Therefore, it is essential for any organization that is serious about implementing zero trust.

We provide several modern solutions to help your organization implement a zero-trust strategy effectively. Together, our solutions form a complete IAM solution with all the necessary tools. At the same time, they can be implemented separately, giving you the flexibility to implement what you need for your organization.

Make sure you know who has access to what.