For the past 40 years or so, and more recently with the use of next-gen firewalls and secure web gateways, there has always been an outwards vantage point for security. The reactive processes and technologies have revolved around deterring bad actors from infiltrating organizations, data, and applications. Perimeter-based security intrinsically trusts everyone inside, affirming that if an address originates from a “trusted” virtual private cloud or network segment, the communication and actions were free of malicious intent.
As traditional constructs of on-site employees and on-premises solutions fade, and critical applications and data are moved to the cloud, security teams are left to question the effectiveness of perimeter security. The former sense of trust and control is evaporating, as policies are unable to keep pace with dynamic, scalable, and distributed multi-cloud environments.
The complexity of today’s business ecosystems has driven industry experts to insist that the corporate perimeter is obsolete, even dangerous. That's why many organizations are transforming their infrastructures to escape legacy networks full of “security debt.” Instead of bolting on security to fill the holes that perimeter security measures fail to protect, enterprises have the opportunity to build in entirely new methods and rethink their approach:
Traditional security constructs that relied on trusted addresses are giving way to the zero trust model in order to fix the perils of the new network paradigm. Through the guiding principle of “never trust, always verify,” it is assumed that the network is by default a hostile place, with not only external threats to deal with, but also internal. This shift in approach dictates that trust is only established once the secure identity of the applications, users, and hosts controlling the addresses are authenticated. By allowing only trusted applications to communicate over approved network paths through zero trust segmentation, organizations gain better security that extends beyond the network.
With reliance on homogenous security controls throughout the environment, zero trust segmentation allows for consistent policies, while remaining independent from the underlying network topology. As cloudfronts scale dynamically in real time, established controls and protection policies are able to adapt for instant, consistent security.
Zscaler has embraced zero trust segmentation and has operationalized it with machine learning, enabling us to stop compromise and attack progression of internet-borne threats. Learn more about Zscaler Workload Communications, a key component of the Zscaler Cloud Protection solution.
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