Harmonize your SASE strategy around Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

In just a half-decade, corporate IT management has been transformed by widespread adoption of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). In a time of ever-increasing cybersecurity threats, SASE allows enterprises to streamline their protection needs around a centralized, cloud-based platform while reducing overall complexity and cost.

For CIOs and CISOs at large organizations, a powerful incentive for aggressive SASE strategies is the deployment of a perimeter defense tool known as Zero Trust Network Access, or ZTNA.

ZTNA, and similar technologies designed around the model of zero trust, achieve a tighter security infrastructure by making network access more granular. Users are granted more limited network connectivity based on specific, clearly identified work needs, rather than a holistic license to roam.

At the same time, network access can be opened to multiple types of users, while IT leaders gain improved visibility to monitor activity. This is critical to large organizations that require flexibility to bring together diverse workstreams.

In short, a zero-trust mindset is essential to any SASE strategy. This approach not only enhances other SASE benefits but also aligns an organization’s IT infrastructure with the defensive mindset that is crucial in today’s landscape.

Future proofing the network

SASE offers business tech leaders a broad array of service offerings, including firewall-as-a-service, wide-area networking, secure web gateways and cloud-access security brokers (CASBs), just to name a few. SASE enables IT security leadership to more proactively deploy AI tools at their network perimeters. This is vital in overcoming the advantages of speed and scale enjoyed by many cyberattackers.

For large enterprises especially, zero trust has been central to their journey toward SASE adoption. As hybrid work models, remote offices and a more mobile society increasingly dictate how business is done, ZTNA and other zero trust tools allow leading businesses to expand their perimeters, both in what they do and where they do it.

As a device-agnostic platform based in the cloud, zero trust replaces IP-based access with a “never-trust, always-verify” posture in line with what responsible cybersecurity demands today. ZTNA specifically incorporates what is known as “least privilege access” across the network. Least privilege access is a security principle where users and processes are granted only the minimum amount of access necessary to perform their assigned task.

ZTNA is, like SASE, also very scalable. Zero trust helps organizations work safer while taking on greater workloads, while SASE enables them to do this in a more strategically comprehensive manner. Forbes.com notes: “Starting with implementing SASE and then moving to broader zero trust concepts significantly reduces the attack surface and provides a more robust security architecture for both onsite and remote employees.”

Building a safer cloud environment

Deeper use of cloud services is key for any organization seeking to stretch its capacity. IT leaders at these organizations know the importance of maintaining a protective mindset, yet at the same time offering its people a network nimble enough to access critically needed tools that exist outside the network. For them, zero trust is ideal as it keeps a secure perimeter while allowing organizations to enjoy the full potential of the cloud.

Related to cloud concerns, but distinct from them, is the ability to manage compliance. ZTNA can help organizations navigate specific compliance frameworks relevant to their operations. This includes the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a European data privacy law that affects all organizations doing business there.

IBM identifies zero trust as a core element in cloud engagement strategies: “Because zero trust architecture enforces access control based on identity, it can offer strong protection for hybrid and multicloud environments.”

The need to operate across multiple cloud environments simultaneously increases the threat level to vulnerable enterprise networks. For many, expansive cloud architectures allow for a multitude of traps and harmful tracking devices. Keeping these pitfalls at bay is another advantage of zero trust.

Zero trust does require new thinking around networks and user access. There are many opportunities available in cloud service uptake, but some hazards, too. How organizations choose to navigate the challenges of working with assets outside their network perimeter ultimately will dictate what level of risk they incur.

Making room for big data

As large, forward-thinking organizations make increased use of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), demand for data has risen exponentially. The data center industry reports annual growth in the double digits. Facilitating this data explosion at large organizations while not compromising security is central to maintaining robust growth.

Zero trust is designed to enhance broader data initiatives by accommodating exactly as much informational intake as an organization needs at any one time. While perimeter-based network defenses can be overwhelmed or bypassed by smart or determined disruptors, zero trust systems allow for the safe management of big data by denying access to the network itself.

Ultimately, cybersecurity threats to an organization take many forms. These include external data loads, remotely operating IoT devices and outside employees working for partner organizations. Threats can be active or passive, their carriers unaware of the risks they present. Zero trust is designed to reduce vulnerability by assuming the worst.

Choosing the right path forward

IT leaders increasingly value zero trust – 81% of organizations are deploying zero trust as the foundation of their cybersecurity strategies.

Zero trust may be the most immediately comprehensible to organizations seeking to prioritize growth while being leery of expanded network vulnerability. The cultural adjustments required in its adoption are not only relatively minimal, but in line with larger evolutionary patterns in the use of information architecture.

“Zero trust is not a product, zero trust is an architecture,” explains Jack Klecha, senior director for information security at Cisco. “It’s about identity, access, and response.”

How Spectrum Business can help

Interested in learning more about how your enterprise can benefit from SASE uptake by securing your network with zero trust? Investigate the tools offered by Spectrum Business to help achieve maximum growth without sacrificing security.