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What Is Zero Trust Security and Why It Matters

What Is Zero Trust Security and Why It Matters

By Sérgio F.Sérgio F. Verified by Mary P.Mary P. Last updated: February 3, 2025 (0)
Table of contents

With the upward trend of online threats each passing year, traditional approaches to network security are proving limited in their effectiveness. The rise of sophisticated cyberattacks like ransomware and the widespread adoption of remote work blurred the lines of perimeter-based network security. As years rolled on, this evolving trend drove the need for a better cyber defense model.

Here’s where the zero trust framework enters the stage. This model became popular in the middle of the 2010s and has grown in prominence ever since, becoming the cornerstone of modern cybersecurity.

Zero trust security and why it matters

Imagine you’re throwing an exclusive party and want to ensure only invited guests enter. To monitor this, you check everyone’s ID and verify their invitation. This is essentially the principle of zero trust security: never trust, always verify.

Simply put, every access request to a specific network, regardless of where it comes from (inside or outside), has to be verified and authenticated before being granted access. While cybersecurity awareness has gained traction in the last few years, the zero trust model is still not as widely adopted as it should be. Let’s understand why it matters.

What is zero trust security?

With zero trust security, all users and devices, regardless of location, are considered untrustworthy by default. The only way to change this is for all users to validate their authenticity through continuous security checks.

Zero trust on paper

Core principles of zero trust security:

  • Assume breach: Zero trust works under the assumption that an attacker is either already inside the network or about to enter it. No user, device, or system trying to access the network is trustworthy, requiring rigorous identity validation for access approval.
  • Continuous authentication: All users require ongoing identity validation during their session. The volume of authentication requests varies based on location, device health, and behavior.
  • Minimal access privileges: People are only granted the bare minimum of access privileges necessary for their responsibilities. This minimizes vulnerabilities by limiting access to vital systems and preventing bad actors from moving laterally within the network if breached.
  • Real-time monitoring: Zero trust continuously monitors the network using advanced analytics and machine learning. This allows it to detect suspicious behavior or unauthorized access attempts, instantly activate defensive protocols, and notify cybersecurity teams.
  • End-to-end resource security: All resources within a network (apps, systems, and data) are equally deemed vulnerable. This way, all assets are attended to no matter where they are, be it in the cloud, on-premises, or off-premises.

Hacker desk access denied

Why does zero trust security matter?

The rise of IoT, cloud services, and strict data protection regulations left conventional network security models in the dust. This technology boom led to the growth of advanced cybersecurity threats like ransomware and supply chain or insider attacks.

Cybercriminals now rely on targeting third-party vendors and trusted users for unauthorized access to networks, which is impossible to prevent with traditional security systems.

The importance of zero trust network security is rooted in its design to protect all systems and networks, including decentralized ones. By offering continuous authentication, strict access control, and comprehensive privilege management, it dramatically improves network resilience, reducing the surface for potential attacks.

The growth of remote work also brought complications for conventional security models, but zero trust can easily address this. Challenges like multiple device access from different locations are mitigated with the ‘never trust, always verify’ approach.

 

5 benefits of zero trust security

  1. Fortified network security: It assumes all networks and systems are compromised, requiring all internal and external access requests to undergo thorough verification. This is one of the main advantages of zero trust models.
  2. Comprehensive authorization: Continuous successful authentications are the only way to keep a session active even after logging in.
  3. Thorough granular controls: Meticulous access permission management allows organizations to define in-depth user privileges. This includes granting access to different resources based on time of access, location, device, and user identity.
  4. Rigorous monitoring: Real-time monitoring and analytics guarantee the instant flagging of suspicious activity and other benefits like live insights and audit reports. Basically, it’s like having an all-encompassing surveillance system for keeping track of all the network’s activity.
  5. Full-scale data compliance: All data and its access are strictly controlled and verified, supporting compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

Deploying zero trust

All organizations, services, or businesses should strive to bump up their online security and implement a zero trust security model. It improves network security on all fronts, allowing for a much more rigorous approach to protecting resources and data.

So, if zero trust is a framework and not a service or app, what are the zero trust security implementation steps?

How to implement zero trust security

1

Deploy robust Identity and Access Management (IAM): Start by enforcing identity verification with mandatory MFA and SSO security protocols across all resources.

 

2

Establish the scope of protection: Conduct an inventory of your organization’s assets, map out the most vital ones, and focus on securing them.

3

Group and classify resources: Use network segmentation to isolate less critical data from crucial data and employ custom security controls for each set.

There’s really no one-size-fits-all for implementing zero trust models. That’s actually one of its advantages, as it can be completely customized depending on business needs, structure, and size. For help in the implementation, there’s a list of services available like Okta, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Crowdstrike, and Google Workspace Security.

OTP authenticator app

Zero trust: maximum security

The evolution of network security triggered the need for a better and more resilient defense model, resulting in the emergence of the zero trust model. It outperforms older cybersecurity approaches by adhering to principles like continuous authentication, rigorous access control, and real-time monitoring.

In addition, it allows businesses and organizations to keep their data protected internally and externally while being compliant with demanding data protection laws.

The ongoing growth of cyberthreats is why zero trust matters in today’s online security landscape. We recommend all users, organizations, businesses, or services to evaluate their current security models and consider adopting this framework. If you have doubts, you can always consult with cybersecurity experts and agencies. Alternatively, you can investigate zero trust-aligned solutions like Perimeter 81, Crowdstrike, or Okta.

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