What Are Zero Trust Security Services?

Zero Trust security services deliver the capabilities that organizations need to implement a Zero Trust approach to cybersecurity.

In a Zero Trust framework, every user, device and connection must be continuously authenticated and validated before receiving access to data, applications and other resources within an IT system. This starkly contrasts traditional security solutions that assumed anyone or any device already inside the network could be trusted. With the rise of hybrid workforces and cloud computing, the conventional approach to security makes it too easy for attackers to penetrate network defenses and roam unhindered inside the network. 

Zero Trust security services provide the capabilities required to implement Zero Trust: continuous monitoring, identity and access management, endpoint verification, microsegmentation and more.
 

Zero Trust security services address a critical vulnerability in IT security today. In the past, many organizations adopted a “moat-and-castle” approach to network security. IT teams invested heavily in security programs and technology to thwart attacks at the network perimeter, keeping threats out while allowing users and devices inside them to access IT resources freely.

With modern networks, this traditional approach has two critical flaws.

• The network perimeter is disappearing. IT assets today are rarely contained within an on-premises network perimeter. As organizations lean more heavily on cloud computing, applications and infrastructure may reside in cloud data centers worldwide. Data and workloads may constantly move between public clouds, private clouds and on-premises infrastructure. At the same time, remote workers and work-from-home employees need access to IT resources from locations outside the network perimeter, often connecting on their own devices through unsecured internet connections. In this environment, trusting users and devices inside the network is obsolete.
• Threats inside the network are unchecked. In an IT environment where users are implicitly trusted, any attacker successfully penetrating defenses can move freely inside the network. That means a threat actor who has accessed the network using stolen credentials can easily take control of one IT asset after another, wreaking havoc and stealing funds or exfiltrating data.

Zero Trust security services address these flaws by locking down access to IT assets, requiring constant authentication and permitting access on a strict need-to-use basis.

Zero Trust security services help organizations to comply with several essential requirements of a Zero Trust framework.

Continual authentication
Zero Trust environments operate on the principle of “never trust, always verify.” Continuous authentication means there are no trusted zones, users or devices. Instead, a Zero Trust system treats everything as a potential threat and always authenticates based on various data points, including identity, device, data sources, location and workload.

Assumption of breach
When security teams assume that a breach has already happened – rather than waiting until a violation is confirmed – they can adopt a more assertive security posture that minimizes the impact of an attack.

Approve least-privilege access
Zero Trust environments limit access rights for any user or application and only permit the minimum privileges required to perform a function. This approach limits the attack surface by preventing users, applications and processes from having overly broad access to IT resources.

Continuous monitoring
Organizations need Zero Trust solutions that can provide real-time visibility into the health of an IT environment and quickly identify and remediate threats.

Minimize the impact of breaches
IT teams use several Zero Trust security services to limit the blast radius of a cyberattack. Microsegmentation technologies are vital to this effort, placing perimeters of security control around individual applications, workloads and critical data to prevent attackers from accessing them after they’ve gained access to one part of a network.
 

To implement Zero Trust successfully, enterprises need a unified Zero Trust security platform that provides essential capabilities while streamlining management and delivering comprehensive visibility. Platforms provide a variety of Zero Trust security products offering capabilities at every level of an IT environment.

• Identity security. Enterprises need Zero Trust security services that can authenticate users and manage role-based access control to ensure that only legitimate users can access IT assets.
• Device security. Endpoint security solutions validate user-controlled devices like laptops and autonomous devices like sensors that are part of an Internet of Things network.
• Data security. Solutions for protecting data include technology for discovering and classifying data throughout the organization and protecting it with end-to-end encryption. 
• Application security. Zero trust application access solutions wrap each workload and container within a security perimeter to prevent unauthorized access.
• Network security. Zero Trust security services for encrypting network traffic and providing secure access are essential to maintaining a Zero Trust environment.
• IT management. Zero Trust security services for automation and orchestration help to simplify management and accelerate incident response.
   

Forcepoint is the leading user and data security cybersecurity company, offering solutions that deliver secure access while enabling employees to create value. As a Zero Trust vendor, Forcepoint provides a collection of Zero Trust security services that simplify the implementation of Zero Trust policies. 

Forcepoint ZTNA
Forcepoint Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) provides a secure connection that limits what remote users can access on the network. Forcepoint ZTNA tailors users’ access to the specific private cloud applications they require while keeping everything else on the internal network hidden. This allows networking teams to provide remote access to line-of-business applications while security teams retain the visibility and control, they need to keep the enterprise safe.

Forcepoint Zero Trust CDR
To block malware and other threats embedded in documents and images, Forcepoint Zero Trust CDR (Content Disarm & Reconstruction) adopts a Zero Trust approach to malware detection. Rather than searching for known and unknown threats within a file, Zero Trust CDR automatically assumes the file is compromised and re-creates a fully functional, threat-free file. As a result, SOC teams are freed from the constant chores of handling quarantine cues, managing false positives, applying signature updates and dealing with potential breach alerts.

Forcepoint DLP
Forcepoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) implements Zero Trust security services for data on endpoints, applications and the network. By identifying and securing sensitive data throughout an IT environment, Forcepoint DLP ensures regulated data and protects intellectual property while delivering greater visibility into user interactions with data and applications. This allows security teams to implement Zero Trust control based on the sensitivity or value of data as well as the specific risk of each user.