Remote working becomes the new normal for enterprises. Before remote or hybrid working becomes this common, the only threat for companies is branch offices. They needed to control and manage their branch offices’ cyber security besides the headquarters. Now, enterprises should accelerate their attention and exertion on cyber security. Because they have so many remote employees and users everywhere now. It is quite hard for them to control users and applications when they are this widespread.
As the attack surface has been expanding, hackers find and implement new and sophisticated techniques to access company assets. This means that risk has been multiplied.
ZTNA 1.0 in Cloud Security
Another concern on hybrid working is cloud security. Remote or hybrid work can not be thought separated from cloud systems. The more enterprises adopt remote working the more they have to migrate their data, applications, and systems to cloud-based resources. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a common and effective way to secure the cloud. The main tenet of Zero Trust is that never trust the users and always ask for credential authentication. If an unauthorized user tries to access any specific resources, the ZTNA framework blocks it.
Most of the companies still function with the ZTNA 1.0 model which is legacy. But ZTNA 1.0 has so many shortcomings. For example, when ZTNA 1.0 authenticates a credential, it assumes all actions or access requests coming from authenticated users are %100 trustable. There is no way for authorized users to have malware or malicious lateral movement according to ZTNA 1.0. Of course, this assumption weakens the security wall and can not offer high-quality protection.
ZTNA 2.0 in Cloud Security
Enterprises require ZTNA 2.0 to robust their cloud security and not compromise pace when maintaining it. When ZTNA 1.0 once approved the credential, it maintained trusting this user forever. But it poses a tremendous risk for company cloud security. On the other hand, in ZTNA 2.0, credential verification is constant. Even if a user grants access, ZTNA 2.0 keeps assessing user behaviors and device activities. When ZTNA 2.0 detects suspicious activity, it revokes user permission immediately.
Another advantage of ZTNA 2.0 is that it protects the whole data. In ZTNA 1.0 any internal or external attack can easily damage data due to ZTNA 1.0’s insufficiency in protecting data. On the contrary, ZTNA 2.0 offers perfect data controlling and guarding by using a single DLP policy.
What is the SASE Solution?
Enterprises need a framework that merges networking and network security services into one, intricate, and integrated model. SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), in this sense, inspects all user activities, makes assessments, and authentications, and mitigates potential threats. Then, function all these core features to enhance potential threats.
SASE is a cloud-based architecture that uses network security solutions and wide-area networking. This is why it is so crucial for cloud security. If fundamental steps are followed and typical mistakes are avoided; SASE implementation will no longer be a challenge for the companies that want to adopt SASE in their network.
SASE Requirements in Terms of ZTNA
As mentioned above, for a successful SASE implementation, companies should follow specific steps. There are a couple of tips that enterprises can consider in their SASE journey.
● Assess and Audit Current Situation
First things first. A company should observe and understand its current situation to know its requirements, weak points, and strengths from a holistic overview. Are your technological resources adequate? What kind of data do you process and transmit? What are common threats to your company and how can you protect yourself from them? Answering all these questions honestly and then preparing a SASE policy will level up your adoption process.
The ZTNA services can help organizations to make their assessments and audits without huge effort. So, when enterprises decide to implement SASE in their networks, first, they must consider ZTNA’s necessities.
● Segmentation
Segmenting a whole network into smaller segments can facilitate monitoring and assessment. In this context, Zero Trust can help your organization to break the network into more particular pieces. One of the core elements of Zero Trust is network segmentation. By using ZTNA and SASE simultaneously, enterprises can acquire optimized cloud security.
SASE can not be considered separately from ZTNA. First companies should embrace the tenet of ZTNA and then change their legacy systems with ZTNA 2.0 services. After doing all of these, they can start SASE implementations to increase their security level.
● Regular Audits and Testings
SASE and ZTNA are not one-time cyber solutions. To maintain the same security level and be prepared for new attacks, companies should regularly monitor and audit their networks. Enterprises need to understand if their policies work well or not. This is the only way for them to see and understand what their requirements are.
Audition also enables enterprises to evaluate or measure their cloud security level. It helps organizations to increase their accountability and fulfill their legal requirements. Because almost all enterprises, regardless of their profession, are under legal obligations and must follow some regulation. If they do not, they will be liable for compensation and may lose their reputation.
ZTNA is an amazing opportunity for enterprises to meet legal requirements and reach a higher standard in cloud security. It streamlines user management and deploys safety in every corner of the network. Because ZTNA includes a holistic point of view and a consistent security approach.
● Holistic Approach
SASE provides enterprises with a holistic approach. By using SASE properly, companies can achieve their ultimate ZTNA goal at the same time. This is why ZTNA is so crucial in SASE adoption. SASE should include the ZTNA approach but not only that. SASE architecture also contains employee participation, technical and digital tools, constant supervision, and an up-to-date organizational mindset.
Conclusion
ZTNA 2.0 is indispensable when it comes to SASE quality. Enterprises can achieve their final purpose on cyber security or cloud security by implementing ZTNA 2.0 and SASE simultaneously. The tenet of ZTNA can improve SASE adoption and enterprises protect themselves from attacks by using one, comprehensive service that is called SASE.
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