Every business has a mission statement, at least every business I have been involved with over the last 30 years. At CBTS, for example, our mission statement is “To deliver unparalleled products, services and experiences to customers, where they work and live.” And to deliver on that mission with the commitment to “Make it simple, do it fast, and do it together.” Delivering on this mission and commitment is ultimately what makes us a profitable and thriving business.
But guess what? Business departments and divisions each have their own mission statements too! And when security and IT departments are tasked with creating a cybersecurity plan that limits and minimizes the risk to the entire organization, commitments to do things “simple, fast and together” don’t sound very secure. So how do you deliver on your mission, whatever it is, and keep the organization and its most valuable assets secure? In business today, security is top of mind for executive leadership. Security threats have advanced and evolved, and attacks by criminals and threat actors have negative implications on the financial strength and brand trust of every company. Even with these threats, we still HAVE to deliver on the mission, whether that mission leads to selling more widgets, saving lives, building more products, providing financial services, or delivering the best entertainment.
Many computer security architectures have evolved to meet these threats. An example of this evolution is zero trust network access (ZTNA), which allows you to design your cybersecurity plan with an architecture that is customized to your business. Each industry and every business in each industry is unique in how they create, sell, and deliver their products, services, and solutions. In turn, the security architecture you design and build for an organization must be customized to fit into the unique structure and culture that makes that particular business successful and secure.
Zero trust security architectures—at the highest level—change the focus from trusting anyone and any device initially, to requiring users and the devices they use, to prove that they are who they say they are. Sometimes this is thought of as “trust no one” on both the internal network and external network. It is a new mindset, or a framework, where an organization grants employees access based on authentication policies only to the company data and resources needed to do their job.
Read up on the fundamentals of a cybersecurity plan for the supply chain: Enhanced supply chain security and optimization through cloud computing
There are many use cases where zero trust allows you to balance your business objectives and execute your cybersecurity plan.
The first and most common use case regards remote workers or remote offices. These employees are not directly on the HQ network but still require access to company data and information.
Certainly, customer/client access to company data or systems is becoming a requirement for many businesses as a way to differentiate from the competition. In many cases this information can be sensitive or confidential data that must be secure.
Similarly, giving third parties—like business partners and contractors—access to your network is very common in today’s dynamic business environment. With unemployment at an all-time low, companies are relying on business partners and contractors like never before to provide support and augment staff. How do you make sure that you have provided these trusted third parties the minimum access required to help your business? Using a zero trust framework, you can implement a network that provides access to third parties in a safe and secure manner.
Another common zero trust use case is multi-cloud instances. Increasingly businesses have applications and data across multiple clouds. Implementing zero trust gives users the ability to access resources securely across multiple clouds while providing the organization visibility into their cloud security. Read more about the risks and benefits of moving to the Cloud.
To help you create your cybersecurity plan using a zero trust architecture, CBTS needs to clearly understand specific criteria about your business and confirm fundamental questions about who requires access to information in order for them to contribute to the business. We would need to know what devices are being used to access your company data, like laptops, tablets and smart phones, as well as the network devices utilized, like the routers and switches that enable access. Once we know the business workflows and processes, we can design and implement a zero trust network with the policies for the users and devices to make your organization securely successful.
In today’s active business environment, a cybersecurity plan with a zero trust network is critical to keeping your organization and data secure. Think of the many ways employees, vendors, partners, and clients access information right now. Your customers and partners want to access your data and services whenever and wherever they are. Building a zero trust architecture will help keep your data and information secure. FOCUSING on your business while building a zero trust architecture will secure your assets AND allow you to complete your mission.
Contact our team today to get started on your cybersecurity plan.