What You Need to Know About Implementing a Zero Trust Security Approach in 2023

In 2022, zero trust security reached a tipping point, as organizations around the world embraced the security framework. Just four years ago, only 16% of companies said they either had a zero trust initiative in place or would have one in place within the next 18 months, according to an Okta report. Today, that number has jumped to 97%.

Zero trust reached this tipping point because in the cloud world there is no perimeter to defend, and intruders are always on our networks. The shift to modern architectures and remote workforces, coupled with IoT and ever-evolving ​cybersecurity risks, has dramatically increased the threat profile for most organizations. At the same time, the complexities of VPNs, access lists and point security solutions make responding to threats more difficult.

For these reasons, the traditional castle-and-moat security approach is no longer strong enough. Today, companies need to protect a vast digital footprint — and the only way to do that effectively is to trust no one.

What is zero trust?

Zero trust security is a strategy, a mindset and an incremental journey. A comprehensive zero trust security model provides end-to-end protection across all IT components, regardless of whether a service is in the cloud or on premises. Zero trust requires strict identity verification for every person and device trying to access resources on a private network, regardless of whether they’re sitting within or outside of a network perimeter.

Forrester describes zero trust as “an information security model that denies access to applications and data by default. Zero trust advocates these three core principles: All entities are untrusted by default, least-privilege access is enforced, and comprehensive security monitoring is implemented.”

A zero trust approach to security can help overcome today’s leading security challenges, including:

• Complex compliance security and privacy requirements
• Integrating and upgrading legacy infrastructure
• Managing multiple vendor systems

The key principles behind the zero trust approach include:

• Continuous validation: Assumes there are attackers both within and outside your network.
• Least privilege: Gives users only as much access as they need to do their jobs.
• Device access control: Ensures every device is authorized and assesses devices to ensure they are not compromised.

What you need to adopt zero trust

“Zero trust is no longer a theoretical idea — it’s an active initiative for virtually every company with a digital footprint, though many organizations still have a long way to go to truly reap the rewards of an advanced zero trust security architecture,” stated Okta.

How can you accelerate the process and start reaping the rewards of zero trust? Start with:

1. An understanding of zero trust: The first step is shifting your security mindset toward achieving optimized security.
2. An appropriate architecture: To ensure a secure digital future, you need an architecture designed to support zero trust.

Learn more in our Zero Trust Workshop

A zero trust approach to security can help you eliminate complexity, strengthen visibility into your IT estate and reduce security risks. We cover all these points in our Zero Trust Workshop.

Our Zero Trust Workshop is an interactive service engagement tailored to your needs — delivered by certified security experts from Rackspace Technology®. They’ll explore and uncover your unique business challenges and provide best practice recommendations on how to transform your IT security ecosystem into a zero trust security model.

Through the workshop’s three modules, you’ll learn the following:

Module 1: We show you how zero-trust helps reduce common security problems, including:

• Security complexity
• Excessive access trust
• Lack of 360-degree visibility

Module 2: We help identify how your organization currently provides application security and how to secure user access by conducting an assessment of these areas:

• VPNs, firewalls and networks
• Devices, including IAM, MFA and endpoint security
• Applications and web gateways
• SIEM

Module 3:  We will provide you with a roadmap that supports your journey to zero trust and show you how undertaking them could help you achieve outcomes such as:

• Reducing attack surface by 95%
• Lowering VPN IT tickets by 80%
• Accelerating onboarding by 60%
• Gaining faster user experience by 58%

The final step in our Zero Trust Workshop is providing you with a view of areas for further investigation, including:

• A list of prioritized security use cases to help address your business security priorities
• An overview of how Rackspace Technology can improve your security posture while reducing overall costs

Let our security experts show you how you can avoid the complexities of VPNs, access lists and security solutions — and move your organization to a zero trust environment. Sign up for your Zero Trust Workshop, delivered either in-person or virtually by Rackspace Technology security experts.