ZERO TRUST SECURITY: REDEFINING DATA PROTECTION IN THE DIGITAL ERA by IRJET Journal

ZERO TRUST SECURITY: REDEFINING DATA PROTECTION IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Naga Vinod Duggirala

Andhra University, INDIA

ABSTRACT:

ZeroTrustsecurityisabigchangeinthewaydataisprotected.It'samoreflexibleandreliablewaytodealwiththeproblems thatcomewithstandardperimeter-basedsecuritymodels.ThispiecetalksabouttheideasbehindZeroTrust,suchasmicrosegmentation, least privilege access, and continuous verification. It also talksabout the benefits of using this security model, such as better compliance, higher visibility, and stronger security. The article also talks about the problems that companies facewhentheytrytoadoptZeroTrust,suchashowharditistounderstand,howmuchresourcesittakes,andhowtoconnect ittooldersystems.Italsogivesusefuladviceforastep-by-stepapproach.

Keywords: ZeroTrustSecurity,DataProtection,ContinuousVerification,LeastPrivilegeAccess,Micro-segmentation

INTRODUCTION:

Businessesarequicklygoingdigital,andtherearealotofcloudservicesavailable.Thishasmadetheattacksurfacebigger,so standardsecuritymeasuresdon'tworkanymore[1].IBMjustdidastudyandfoundthattheaveragecostofadatabreachin 2021 was $4.24 million, which is 10% more than in 2019 [4]. When you use perimeter-based security models, you trust everythinginsidethenetwork.Thisleavesyourcompanyopentoinsiderrisksandattackersmovinglaterally[2].Somuchso thatthePonemonInstitutefoundthatinsiderriskswereresponsiblefor60%ofdatabreachesin2020[5].ZeroTrustsecurity getsaroundtheseproblemsbytakingthe"nevertrust,alwaysverify"stanceandseeingallusers,devices, andnetworkdataas

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN:2395-0056

Volume: 11 Issue: 05 | May 2024 www.irjet.net p-ISSN:2395-0072

possible threats [3]. In 2020, the global Zero Trust security market was worth $19.6 billion. By 2026, it will be worth $51.6 billion,accordingtoastudybyMarketsandMarkets.Thisisanincreaseof17.4%peryear.

Traditional security steps are no longer enough because cyberattacks are happening more often and are getting smarter. CybersecurityVenturesdidastudythatsaysthecostsofhackingaroundtheworldwillrisefrom$3trillionayearin2015 to $10.5 trillion a year by 2025 [7]. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are working from home, which has made theproblemevenworse.AccordingtoVMware[8],ransomwareattacksrose148%fromFebruary2020toMarch2020.When itcomestoprotectingdata,zerotrustsecurityismoreflexibleandstrong,anditcanadapttonewthreatsandchangesinthe waypeoplework.

PRINCIPLES OF ZERO TRUST:

1. Continuous Verification: Zero Trust needs all users and devices to be constantly authenticated and authorized, no matter where they are or what network they are on [9]. According to a study by Deloitte, the time it took for companiestofindandfixsecurityproblemscutinhalf whentheyusedcontinuoustesting[10].Thisprinciplemakes surethataccessisgivenbasedonreal-timeriskanalysisandanalyticsofhowusersbehave[11].AstudyfromGartner saysthatby2023,60%ofbusinesseswillonlyuseZeroTrustnetworkaccessinsteadofVPNs[12].

2. Least Privilege information: Thismeansthatusersanddevicesonlygettheinformationtheyneedtodotheirjobs [13]. BeyondTrust did a survey and found that 79% of companies think that least privilege access is important for loweringcyberrisks[14].Thistheorylimitsthedamagethatcouldbedonebyaccountsbeinghackedorthreatsfrom inside the company [15]. Varonis did a study that showed that 58% of companies let all employees see more than 100,000files[16].Thisshowshowimportantleastprivilegeaccessis.

3. Micro-segmentation: One idea that Zero Trust supports is breaking networks up into smaller, separate areas [17]. Forrester says that micro-segmentation can cut the cost of a data loss by as much as 29% [18]. This method stops attackers from moving laterally and reduces the damage from breaches [19]. Illumio did a study that found that companiesthatusedmicro-segmentationwereabletofindandcontrolbreaches50%faster[20].

of organizations believing least privilege accessiscrucialformitigatingcyberrisks

of companies with over 100,000 folders open toeveryemployee

in cost of a data breach with microsegmentation

intimerequiredtoisolateandcontainabreach withmicro-segmentation

Table1:KeyMetricsandValuesAssociatedwithZeroTrustSecurityPrinciples[9-20]

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BENEFITS OF ZERO TRUST:

1. Enhanced Security Posture: ZeroTrustlowersthe risk ofdata breachesandunauthorizedaccessbyassumingthat no user or object can be trusted by nature [21]. Forrester did a study that showed that companies that switched to Zero Trust had 50% fewer data breaches than companies that used traditional security methods [22]. Also, Okta's reportshowedthatcompaniesthatusedZeroTrustsawa275%returnoninvestment(ROI)overthreeyearsbecause theyhadalowerchanceofdatabreachesandwereabletoruntheirbusinessesmoreefficiently[26].

2. Improved Compliance: Zero Trust helps businesses follow rules like GDPR and HIPAA by applying fine-grained access controls and keeping thorough audit trails [23]. Cybersecurity Insiders did a poll and found that 72% of companiesthatusedZeroTrustsaidtheywerebetteratfollowingindustryrules[24].Also,Coalfiredidastudythat showed companies that used Zero Trust were able to meet regulatory standards like PCI DSS and NIST SP 800-53 40%fasterthancompaniesthatusedtraditionalsecuritymodels[27].

3. Increased Visibility: Zero Trust gives full information about what users and devices are doing, which helps companies find and stop threats more quickly [25]. A Gartner study says that companies with Zero Trust implementationsfoundandstoppedsecurityincidents63%fasterthancompanieswithoutthem[28].Zscaleralsodid asurveyandfoundthat62%ofcompaniesthatusedZeroTrusthadbetterinsightintowhatusersanddeviceswere doing,whichhelpedthemfindandfixsecurityproblemsfaster[29].

Zero Trust has additional benefits beyond just better security and compliance. Cisco did a study that showed that when companies used Zero Trust, it took 60% less time to set up new people and devices, which made operations run more smoothly [30]. A Microsoft study also showed that when companies used Zero Trust, the number of help desk tickets about accessproblemsdroppedby50%.ThisfreedupITresourcestoworkonmorestrategicprojects[31].

Fig.1:MeasuringtheImpactofZeroTrustSecurityonOrganizationalPerformance[21–31]

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CHALLENGES AND IMPLEMENTATION:

CHALLENGES:

MakingtheswitchtoaZeroTrustplancanbehardandrequirealotofresources[32].TheCloudSecurityAlliancedidasurvey andfoundthat59%ofcompaniessaythatimplementingZeroTrustishardbecauseitistoocomplicated[33].Businessesneed to purchase new technologies like network segmentation tools, identity and access control, and multi-factor authentication [34].Accordingto a studybyGartner,puttingZeroTrusttechnologiesandprocessesinplacewill costabout$1.2millionfor every 1,000 employees [35]. Training employees and changing the culture are also important for Zero Trust to work [36]. AccordingtoastudybythePonemonInstitute[37],humanerrorwasresponsiblefor52%ofdatabreaches.Thisshowshow importantitistoeducateandraiseknowledgeamongemployees.

TheintegrationofoldsystemsandappswithZeroTrustdesignsisanotherbigproblem[38].Itishardtoenforceconsistent access policies in many businesses because their IT environments are complicated and have both on-premises and cloudbased resources[39].Fortinetdida studyandfoundthat67%ofcompanieshavetroubleaddingZeroTrustto their current securitysystems[40].

Challenge Metric Value

Complexity Percentage of organizations citing complexity as the primary challenge in implementingZeroTrust

Table2:MajorChallengesFacedbyOrganizationsinImplementingZeroTrustSecurity[32–40]

IMPLEMENTATION:

To implement Zero Trust, businesses should do it in stages, starting with the most important assets and then moving on to otherareas[41]. TheNational Institute of Standardsand Technology(NIST) says thatZeroTrustshould beputintoplace in fivesteps:identify,protect,detect,act,andrecover[42].IT,security,andbusinessteamsmustworktogethertomakesurethe changegoessmoothlyandstaysinlinewiththecompany'sgoals[43].Onestudy byDeloittefoundthatcompanieswhoseIT, security,andbusinessteamsworkedwelltogetherwere85%morelikelytowinwiththeirZeroTrustprojects[44].

Taking a full inventory of all assets, users, and data is one of the first things that needs to be done to adopt Zero Trust [45]. Thislistshouldincludetoolsthatareon-premises,inthecloud,andfromthird-partyvendorsandpartners[46].Aftermaking an inventory, businesses should put assets in order of importance based on how important they are and how risky they are [47].

Afterthat,businessesshouldsetupstrongaccessandauthenticationmeasures,likemulti-factorauthenticationandrisk-based accessrules[48].AccordingtoareportbyMicrosoft,organizationsthatusedmulti-factorauthenticationsawa99.9%dropin account theft [49]. Segmenting the network is also important for stopping attackers from moving laterally and stopping breaches[50].Illumiodidastudythatshowedcompanieswithproperlydividednetworkswere2.7timesless likelytohavea majordatabreach[51].

To find threats and stop them in a Zero Trust setting, you need to keep monitoring and analyzing data all the time [52]. Companies should set up methods and tools to keep an eye on what users and devices are doing and to look atlog data and

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networktraffic[53].ItwasfoundbyIBMthatcompaniesthatusedadvancedsecurityanalyticswere2.5timesmorelikelyto findandstopadatabreachwithin30days[54].

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, Zero Trust Security is a big change in how companies protect their data in a world where threats are always changing and IT systems are getting more complicated. Companies can greatly improve their security, lower the risk of data breaches, and make sure they follow industry rules by following the "never trust, always verify" philosophy and using principleslike continuousverification, leastprivilegeaccess,andmicro-segmentation.Thechange toa Zero Trustmodel can behardandrequirealotofresources,buttherewardsaremuchgreaterthanthecosts.Companiescanhandlethechallenges andbenefitsofa ZeroTrust securitymodel byputtingitinplacegradually,encouragingteamwork betweenIT, security,and business teams, and spending money on the right tools and training for employees. Since threats are always changing and strong data security is becoming more important, Zero Trust will definitely become an important part of every company's defenseplan.

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Fig.2:QuantifyingtheImpactofZeroTrustSecurityImplementationStrategies[41–54]

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN:2395-0056

Volume: 11 Issue: 05 | May 2024 www.irjet.net p-ISSN:2395-0072

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