What is
Zero Trust?

Mitigates risks by verifying users and devices before they access your networks, apps, and data

Trust no one.

Zero Trust is a security model based on the premise that no one should be blindly trusted inside the network and allowed to access anything until they have been validated as legitimate and authorized. It supports the implementation of ‘least privilege access’, which is designed to selectively grant access to only the resources that users or groups of users require, nothing more.

Zero Trust was conceived primarily in response to the rapid rise of mobile and remote workers, the bring your own devices (BYOD) trend, shadow IT, and the rapid rise of cloud services. While these trends benefited users and brought new levels of flexibility to IT, they also reduced the ability of the organization to control and secure access to data and network resources. Zero Trust brings this control back, tightening up security in the face of a dissolving network perimeter.

Benefits of Zero Trust

Implementing a Zero Trust model protects private applications and network assets, while drastically reducing risks from malicious insiders and compromised accounts.

When designing a Zero Trust strategy for remote access to an environment, it is commonly referred to as zero trust network access (ZTNA). A ZTNA solution offers the following capabilities:

Efficiently secures remote user access
Protects sensitive data and intellectual property
Ensures strong authentication
Implements effective resource access governance
Reduces breach potential and damages
Supports compliance audit initiatives
Accelerates a transition to the cloud
Transforms security – initiating VPN replacements and adopting software-defined solutions

Most enterprise organizations are adopting a Zero Trust model to provide both full visibility and control over users and devices that have access to a growing number of cloud applications and data services. This includes both managed applications within an enterprise’s ecosystem as well as unmanaged applications used by lines of business and individuals within the enterprise.

Fast answers to common
ZTNA questions

In a nutshell, what is Zero Trust?

Zero Trust is a security concept centered around the belief that organizations should never trust users or devices attempting to access data and systems within the network until their legitimacy has been verified. It is designed to enable least privilege access, narrowly limiting the application or resource a user or device can connect to. This protects data from unauthorized use and limits the impact of breaches perpetrated by malicious insiders or compromised accounts.

Why has it taken 10 years for Zero Trust to catch on?

Initially, zero trust focused on network-centric security. With the adoption of cloud and mobile technologies, the network perimeter dissolved, leading to ineffective security. Today, zero trust applies to all users and devices inside and outside the traditional perimeter, making it far more effective.

What is ZTNA?

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a way to implement a zero trust model to control access to internal data and resources from outside the organization.

What is SDP?

Software Defined Perimeter is sometimes referred to as ZTNA. It’s a modern way to secure access to the network, which uses a cloud-first, software-based approach to replace the hardware of legacy VPNs. It creates an overlay network that securely connects users and devices over the Internet to the servers and applications they need in the data center or public cloud.

A cloud-first security mindset

The zero trust model is here to stay, but it requires a new, cloud-first security mindset and approach to implement. Thanks to the growth of remote workers and the adoption of cloud environments, network-centric strategies are simply not as effective as they once were at mitigating cybersecurity threats. The new dynamic nature and requirements of these remote users and dynamic cloud environments challenge legacy security architectures from every angle.

With the exploding number of remote workers needing access to corporate data and resources and the increase in private apps hosted in public clouds, organizations are finding their security perimeter must extend far beyond the four walls of their enterprise. This means legacy access control approaches are inadequate – they can’t keep data safe from unauthorized use or protect against modern, elusive threats that are increasingly sophisticated and targeted.

Luckily, zero trust technologies have been maturing to address these new requirements. Zero trust essentially adopts a “default-deny” approach to security that requires all users and devices attempting access to be verified first. New cloud-based zero trust network access solutions are highly scalable and give users safe access to applications, as opposed to the network, to effectively protect private applications and data from breaches or misuse.

Modern secure remote access

Netskope is a proven leader in the cloud access security broker (CASB) industry and extends that leadership and innovation into Zero Trust and beyond. The Netskope ZTNA cloud-native solution provides secure access to applications in hybrid IT environments while reducing the “appliance sprawl” of legacy point-to-point access solutions like VPNs. The solution is called Netskope Private Access, and it provides secure access to applications in AWS, Azure, and Google public clouds, as well as on-premises data centers.

Zero Trust requires multi-level integration

To be effective in today’s cloud-first, increasingly mobile and distributed environments, Zero Trust solutions must blend a wide array of capabilities and technologies, from Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), to Identity and Access Management (IAM), to encryption, to scoring, to file system permissions and more.

Netskope Private Access is specifically designed to support diverse environments as a cloud-native ZTNA solution. It combines comprehensive access policy management, compliance assessment, integration with existing IAM and security information and event management (SIEM) solutions; and it supports any application, and any protocol – to simplify network and security operations.

The solution also provides extended protection through integration with the Netskope Next Generation Secure Web Gateway (NG SWG), which is comprised of several integrated cloud-native technologies, including an inline CASB, data loss prevention (DLP), SWG, and advanced threat protection (ATP). This allows the offering to be uniquely capable of providing unified visibility and protection of hybrid-cloud environments and enhancing latency-sensitive security functions such as DLP and ATP.

Simply put, Netskope Private Access provides a next generation approach to Zero Trust accessibility, for any app, in any environment.

ZTNA top must-have capabilities

Zero trust access to corporate applications

Protects data and network resources with application-level access control, based on user identity, group membership, and device security posture.

Direct multi-network access without hairpinning

Allows access to private applications in the cloud and in the data center seamlessly without the latency of routing traffic through the corporate network.

Authorization before connection

Authenticates and authorizes users and devices before connecting them to any IT services or applications.

Protection of internal resources

Blocks inbound access to physical or virtual networks and shield internal corporate resources from outside threats.

Support for any application, protocol, and device

Enables transparent, secure access to data and resources with browsers, apps or native clients on Windows, Mac, and iOS.

Seamless, transparent user experience

Provides users simultaneous, consistent secure access to enterprise private applications in public clouds and data centers.

No hardware or network changes

Simplifies rather than complicates IT operations and integrates with existing IAM and SIEM solutions.

Zero Trust predictions and insights from Gartner

80%

of new digital business applications will be accessed through ZTNA

Source: Gartner report: The Future of Network Security is in the Cloud

60%

of enterprises will phase out most of their remote access VPNs in favor of ZTNA