Attaining Zero-Trust Security: Vital Steps for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - Rajarshi Bhattacharyya, Co-Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, ProcessIT Global

Cyberattacks are mounting at a disturbing rate, impacting all industries, including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, transportation, and retail, among others. Cybercriminals are getting increasingly organized causing significant harm to economic, social, and even national security. In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, conventional perimeter-based security models are becoming obsolete, leaving organizations, especially, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) vulnerable to cyber threats. Unlike large enterprises that have invested significantly in cybersecurity, SMBs face greater risks with fewer defenses.

According to Accenture's Cost of Cybercrime Study, while 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses, only 14% are adequately prepared to defend against them. This highlights the urgent need for SMBs to fortify their defenses against sophisticated and evolving threats. As one of the most effective approaches to protect their assets, SMBs can implement the Zero-Trust Security Model, which is built on the principle of "Never trust, always verify”.  This model requires continuous verification of users, devices, and networks across an organization, attempting to access the resources. This helps in minimizing security risks as no user and device is blindly trusted without proper validation. By adopting Zero-Trust, SMBs can enhance their cybersecurity posture, making them better equipped to face today’s security challenges.

Adopting the Zero Trust Security Model

Implementing a Zero Trust Security framework involves several critical steps.

•        Identify all digital assets in the network

For SMBs, safeguarding sensitive customer data, financial transactions, and other critical business information is of utmost importance.  To ensure that, these organizations first and foremost should begin by thoroughly identifying all data, applications, networks, devices, and workloads within their environment and take a comprehensive inventory. These assets must be classified based on their sensitivity—payment details, for instance, should be secured with the highest security measures. Classify assets as low, moderate, or high risk, and restrict access accordingly. Furthermore, assess the environment to identify if any unauthorized tools are used by employees.

•        Establish a Zero-Trust network

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for creating a Zero-Trust network.  A next-generation firewall (NGFW) should be implemented to segment a specific area of the network as it delivers capabilities beyond that of a traditional firewall, helps prevent intrusion, and offers cloud-delivered threat intelligence.  At all times, organizations should implement a resilient IAM system to identify every user and device accessing the network and resources. Each user gets limited or controlled access to the digital assets as and when required and is locked out at other times.  This Role-based access control (RBAC) admits employees based on their specific job roles and not beyond securing the organization's data from unauthorized access and breaches. An additional layer of security is offered by multi-factor authentication (MFA) making it harder for criminals to compromise accounts. 

•        Implement a Zero-Trust policy

Post architecting the zero-trust network, comes the designing of zero-trust policies.  Embracing a Zero-Trust policy is crucial for SMBs to ensure strong security practices are leveraged across the organization.  Here it is important to ask, who, what, when, where, why, and how of every user or device requesting access to the organization’s resources.  These policies are also based on the principle of least privilege.  The factors to be taken into consideration for access policies are identity and the role of the user, the location and type of the device, besides ownership.  Application and data sensitivity should be considered as well.  All policies should be dynamic with ongoing enforcement and should be capable of adapting to specific user roles and the state of the device.

A well-implemented Zero-Trust policy not only helps in mitigating risks but also standardizes security practices across the organization, ensuring that protocols are consistently applied.

•        Create Micro-Segments or Secure Zones

Network segmentation is a vital strategy that involves dividing the network into smaller, isolated zones or 'micro-segments.' By doing so, the lateral movement of attackers within the network is greatly restricted, as each segment operates independently with its own set of access controls and security policies. This isolation helps contain potential threats, reducing the impact of any unauthorized access or security breaches. In the event that an attacker gains access to one part of the network, they are confined to that segment only, preventing them from moving freely and compromising other critical systems or data. 

•        Continuously monitor and improve the network

Zero-trust security demands constant monitoring.  By doing so, any potential issues are alerted on the network with any suspicious behavior addressed in real-time.  Additional valuable insights for ensuring optimum network performance are made possible without the security getting compromised. There are several tools to assist in the detection of anomalies and any potential security threat in real-time, across network traffic and user activity.  To stay always ahead of the ever-evolving cyber threats, organizations should focus on regular audits and adjustments to security protocols.  Monitoring, paired with encryption of sensitive data both at rest and in transit, will restrict attackers from exploiting the information even if attackers gain access. This integrated strategy strengthens defenses against cyber threats and fosters a proactive security posture for SMBs, shifting away from a reactive approach.