The 3 Core Principles of Zero Trust

Zero Trust has been a topic of cybersecurity for over two decades, gaining prominence in 2010 when John Kindervag championed the concept.

Today, as cyber threats evolve and organizational perimeters expand with remote work and cloud integration, interest in Zero Trust is higher than ever. This makes it a perfect opportunity to revisit the robust foundations of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).

In this guide, we’ll delve into the three fundamental principles of Zero Trust: Least Privilege Access, Always Verify, and Risk Mitigation. Each principle is critical for building a resilient and dynamic security environment where threats are not only recognized but also effectively contained. Join us as we explore how these principles can fortify your organization against the ever-changing landscape of cyber threats.

1. Least Privilege Access

2. Always Verify

3. Risk Mitigation
   
   

What is Zero Trust Security?

Zero Trust Security is a cybersecurity strategy that challenges the conventional perimeter-based security models, which have increasingly shown their limitations in the face of modern cyber threats and evolving work environments. Traditional security models operate under the assumption that everything inside an organization’s network can be trusted. However, this assumption has become flawed due to the rising sophistication of cyber attacks and the fact that insiders can often be threats themselves.

In the face of evolving cyber threats and changing work environments, traditional perimeter-based security models are proving inadequate. Enter ZTNA, a paradigm shift in cybersecurity that embodies the principle of “never trust, always verify.”

Least Privilege Access

In a Zero Trust architecture, access controls are dynamically and strictly enforced to ensure robust security. Let's explore the five distinct levels of access that are particularly relevant within a Zero Trust framework:

1. No Access: This is the default setting for any user or device. Access is not granted until explicit authentication and authorization are achieved, reinforcing the security from the ground up.

2. Public Access: This level allows users to access publicly available information or resources without the need for authentication. It's designed for maximum accessibility while still maintaining overarching security protocols.

3. General Access: Within an organization, general access typically includes access to basic organizational tools such as email. This level is meant for day-to-day operational activities by regular staff members.

4. Administrative Access: Reserved for IT and security personnel, this is the highest level of access. It includes comprehensive privileges over all systems and applications, enabling these authorized users to modify, delete, or configure high-level settings as required for system management and security.

5. Privileged Access: At this level, users and systems are granted only the minimum levels of access—or permissions—necessary to perform specific functions. This careful allocation of privileges is crucial for minimizing the attack surface and limiting the potential damage from security breaches or insider threats. This foundational principle of granting the least privilege necessary to complete your tasks is the core of the Zero Trust model.

Each of these access levels plays a vital role in the enforcement of Zero Trust principles, ensuring that security is maintained through meticulous control over who can access what within your network.

Always Verify

In the Zero Trust model, the concept of implicit trust is completely abandoned in favor of constant verification. This approach operates under the assumption that a security breach is already present within your system.

Consequently, Zero Trust protocols strictly limit access privileges to only those necessary for specific tasks and continuously scan for signs of malicious activity. Implementing Zero Trust can significantly mitigate your risks associated with data breaches, ransomware, and insider threats.

Although this model imposes stricter access controls, it streamlines your organization’s cybersecurity framework, facilitating a more manageable and secure system environment. This enhanced security architecture is crucial for safeguarding your data and assets.

Risk Mitigation

To effectively minimize the blast radius within a network, the Zero Trust framework advocates for an 'assume breach' approach. By segmenting the network into smaller, secure zones, this strategy enhances control over access and sharply curtails the possibility for threats to move laterally within the system.

This segmentation not only restricts access to sensitive areas but also contains potential breaches to isolated segments, dramatically reducing the overall risk and impact of security threats. This proactive and compartmentalized approach is essential for robustly defending against and swiftly responding to cybersecurity threats.

As our VP of engineering would explain:

"Imagine your computer network is like a city, and each service or application is a building within that city. The 'blast radius' refers to how much damage a potential security breach could cause—just like how far the impact of an explosion might reach in a real city.

In cybersecurity, if a hacker gains unauthorized access to part of the network, the blast radius is the extent to which they can move from that entry point to other parts of the network. With a larger blast radius, hackers can access more data and cause more damage. By limiting the blast radius, you're essentially building walls or barriers between different parts of your "city" (or network). If one barrier is compromised, only those within that area would be impacted. The damage doesn't spread to other buildings behind other barriers."

TL;DR: the blast radius in cybersecurity is about the damage a breach can cause in a network. Strategies like network segmentation contain breaches and minimize this damage.

See how Zero Trust can help your organization

Cyber threats keep evolving. Organizational perimeters are getting more porous due to remote work and cloud adoption. The shift to Zero Trust Network Access is a strategic move to a more secure, agile, and resilient security model. By embracing ZTNA, you can protect your critical assets while growing your business in today’s fast digital landscape.

Transitioning from the secure perimeter paradigm to one based on Zero Trust does not happen overnight. It is a new way of thinking about secure access and requires new security processes. At the same time, ZTNA cannot disrupt business operations if you want to keep executive and stakeholder support. Careful planning must account for the potential challenges and risks. Take a phased approach that starts with a proof-of-concept project before gradually rolling it out to the rest of the organization. This is where having the right ZTNA vendor makes a difference.

We designed the Twingate secure access solution to make migrating to Zero Trust seamless. You do not have to change your network infrastructure since Twingate works across firewalls, subnets, and cloud services. Twingate is compatible with your existing security stack, including your current VPN system, as well as with your DevOps team’s CI/CD pipeline. Twingate customers have deployed our Zero Trust solution within minutes.

Using your new ZTNA system is just as easy. Administrator consoles let your staff update access permissions quickly. Easy-to-use apps run quietly in the background. Even the most demanding users love it because Twingate just works.

See how easy Zero Trust can be by trying our free Starter plan for individuals. Or contact us to learn how Twingate ZTNA solutions can work for your team.