“Never Trust, Always Verify”
As technology advances and AI plays a bigger role in managing vast amounts of data, securing & safely organising that data has never been more critical.
Legacy systems & parameter security measures leave companies vulnerable to cyberattacks & data breaches in an era where we feel information has never been more valuable.
Adopting a “Zero Trust” security model is quickly becoming the industry standard in cybersecurity. We have put together a brief article to summarise the key concepts behind this approach & provide an insight into the cybersecurity measures to consider moving forward.
Perimeter Security Fails
False Defences
Implicit Trust Models
- Legacy Firewalls and VPNs assume that anyone “inside” your network is automatically safe. However, once an attacker breaches that perimeter – through phishing, compromised credentials or a vulnerable device – they often have free rein across your network.
Lateral Movement Risks
- A traditional coarse-grained segment means that attackers can easily pivot from one compromised system to another, moving laterally across departments undetected.
AI-Powered Threats
- Modern malware and phishing campaigns often leverage machine learning to create adaptable, highly targeted lures, moving around legacy system defences and changing their behaviour in real time – leaving static security tools exposed.
Zero Trust Principles
Secure Your Platform
Verify Explicitly
- To maintain security, it is key to continuously authenticate and authorise based on real-time context: user identity, device health, location, time of request and threat intelligence. Implicit trust leaves your network vulnerable to intrusions.
Least Privilege Access
- Implement just-in-time access and grant users and applications the minimum permissions necessary to complete their associated tasks. The fewer individuals who have heightened access to your network, the better.
Micro-Segmentation
- Operate under the assumptions that attackers are already inside your network, designing with containment in mind. This would involve limiting lateral movement, isolating systems and maintaining strict micro-segmentation. Micro-segmentation divides networks and applications into small, isolated zones so that even if one area becomes compromised, attackers would not be able to freely roam across your environment.
Continuous Monitoring & Risk Assessment
- Behavioural analytics and anomaly detection can be leveraged to spot unusual activity early and act fast. Whether automated or not, the regular inspection of network traffic and access attempts can prove a valuable and proactive method of protecting your network.
Key Components
Adjusted Practices
Identity & Access Management (IAM)
- Centralising authentication and enforce strong, multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a key measure to protecting your network. This allows user identities to be continuously and ties access decisions to dynamic risk levels.
Endpoint Detection & Response
- Continuous monitoring of endpoints for advanced threats, suspicious activity and enable rapid containment. Using automated threat detection and response tools neutralises risks fast.
Security Information & Event Management (SIEM)
- SIEM provides a centralised view of all security events & alerts, detecting patterns that human teams might miss. by automatically connecting seemingly isolated incidents. It’ll correlate events, raising alerts on violations & anomalies. Using TLS/SSL decryption, next-firewalls & intrusion prevention also allows the vetting of data flows.
AI & Machine Learning Integration
- Modern SIEMs also utilise AI & Machine Learning to go beyond the simple rule-based detection. They analyse behaviour patterns alongside baseline normal activity, to highlight subtle anomalies. AI helps reduce alert fatigue by filtering out false positives and highlighting the threats that require human attention, also providing operation efficiency. Over time, these systems will also learn and adapt to your specific environment, evolving with your system to continue refining anomaly detection.
The Benefits
Reap The Rewards
Reduced Vulnerability
- A clear benefit will be reduced exposure to cyberattacks through actionable tasks such as micro-segmentation to shrink attack paths. Preventing lateral movement is key to minimising damage should their be an attack. Preventative measures such as an SEIM, AI & Machine Learning, Just-In-Time access also acts to reduce vulnerability.
Improved Visibility
- The continuous monitoring of networks, including logging allows full insight into network activity.
Stronger Compliance
Granular access controls & audit trails ensure regulatory adherence, protecting companies from regulatory infringements.
Rapid Response
Using AI, behavioural analytics & automated anomaly detection ensures real-time response, reducing cyberattack consequences.
Our Work
Cyber Essentials Plus
With regulations tightening and cyber threats evolving, proactive data protection is no longer optional; to evolve with emerging technologies, we must ensure data is structurally sound.
At MWS, we have partnered with clients to achieve Cyber Essentials Plus Verification, delivering top-tier security without sacrificing performance.
To learn more about how you can benefit from an upgrade in cybersecurity, whilst crafting an evolved IT infrastructure get in touch with us.
