As we already know, the old ways of protecting networks are no longer enough and that it is obvious with many breaches we have seen in recent year. Zero Trust offers a new security mindset, while Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) provides the framework to make it a reality. Lets look at how these two concepts work together.
The Core Idea of Zero Trust
Zero Trust is a security strategy built on a simple but powerful principle: never trust, always verify. It eliminates the outdated idea of a trusted internal network versus an untrusted external one. Instead, it demands strict verification and content inspection for anyone or anything trying to access company resources, regardless of location.
Three key pillars for a Zero Trust solution:
- Secure Access Everywhere: Ensure all resources (applications, data) can be accessed securely, no matter where they or the users are.
- Least-Privileged Access: Grant users only the minimum access necessary to perform their roles, strictly enforcing these controls.
- Inspect and Log Everything: All network traffic must be inspected for threats and logged for auditing and incident response.
As organizations increasingly embrace cloud services, applying security effectively means adapting. This is where Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) comes in. ZTNA is the practical application of Zero Trust principles, ensuring secure access to applications, whether they reside in the cloud or a traditional data center.
The Challenge is the Dispersed Digital Landscape
Modern businesses operate with applications, data, and users spread across data centers, multiple cloud platforms, countless Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps, and mobile devices. This distribution makes it very challenging and difficult for companies to:
- Gain full visibility into their applications and data.
- Effectively control and manage who has access to these assets.
Many organizations have tried to work through these challenges with a collection of standalone security products like secure web gateways, firewalls, and remote access VPNs. However, this approach is increasingly problematic. As applications migrate to the cloud, traffic often doesn't need to pass through a traditional VPN. This creates a paradox, as proxies and secure web gateways aren't designed to tunnel traffic to private, internal applications. This has led to a search for VPN alternatives that can handle both cloud and data center resources.
While software-defined perimeter (SDP) products emerged to address private application access under the ZTNA model, they often add to the sprawl of point solutions. Some even create new risks by bypassing the comprehensive security inspections typically applied to internet-bound traffic.
The Solution can be SASE and Zero Trust Network Access
Gartner and research firms, has identified a comprehensive security model called Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). SASE represents a fundamental shift, converging networking and network security services into a single, integrated cloud-delivered solution.
A SASE framework typically includes:
- Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
- Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
- Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)
- Data Loss Protection (DLP)
- And more.
This integrated approach supports all users, applications, and traffic types. And enables organizations to rapidly authenticate users, identify and block potential threats, and thoroughly inspect content. As well as, it eliminates the need for separate infrastructures to manage internet access and private application access, streamlining what was once a complex juggling act with proxies and SDPs. Now all those functionalities are centralized and from central portal.
The Power of Partnership of SASE and Zero Trust
By uniting SASE architecture with Zero Trust principles, companies can achieve comprehensive ZTNA through a single, unified solution. This allows for consistent application and enforcement of security policies across the entire network fabric.
The benefits of this combined approach are significant:
- A proactive, identity-centric model reduces the attack surface.
- Consolidating tools into a single platform simplifies operations.
- Reduces the complexity and expense of deploying and managing multiple security point products.
- A unified view of all users, data, and applications enhances monitoring and response.
In essence, Zero Trust provides the guiding security philosophy, and SASE offers the architectural framework to implement it effectively at scale for the modern, cloud-first enterprise.
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Idris Tuna
Cloud Security Architect
iON United
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