PlexTrac ConceptsZero Trust Architecture

Zero trust architecture (ZTA) is a cybersecurity practice that applies strict access controls and continuous verification to protect networks, systems, and data. It’s known for its theme of “never trust, always verify,” meaning no user, device, or application will be granted access without thorough authentication and authorization.

The foundation of ZTA is built on three core principles: continuous validation, least privilege access, and the assumption of breach. To implement these principles, organizations leverage technologies like identity and access management (IAM), multi-factor authentication (MFA), encryption, and real-time monitoring. By integrating these tools and practices, ZTA helps teams restrict access and continuously monitor to prevent data breaches.

While the move to zero trust architecture may be complex, organizations can immediately focus on a few areas for quick results, including:

1. Leverage an isolated VPN: Organizations should have and mandate use of a VPN for securing work-from-home employees. Once a VPN is in place, it’s important to ensure that the subnet for that traffic is isolated from other subnets on the network. This helps isolate remote traffic and assist the security operations team when tracing log traffic.
2. Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA): To prevent common attacks like password spraying, ensure your organization leverages MFA for devices and VPNs.
3. Deploy disk encryption: Full disk encryption ensures that data living on your systems is protected if the system is physically lost or stolen. Be sure to deploy a full disk encryption solution for laptops.
4. Run remote vulnerability scanning: Vulnerability and patch management is vital for remote assets, but can be challenging. When running scans, remote assets may not be accessible by your scanners, or those assets may be off. To aid in these scenarios, organizations should consider more frequent scanning of the subnets for remote assets.
5. Enable continuous assessments: Run continuous scans and assessments. Also, don’t assume that changes in vulnerability count from scan to scan mean that patching was successful. Instead, organizations should verify that the assets were scanned before removing/closing the vulnerabilities from the count.

Benefits of zero trust architecture (ZTA) include:

• Strengthens cybersecurity posture with strict verification and access controls
• Reduces an organization’s attack surface, preventing attackers’ lateral movement
• Restricts sensitive information through encryption and role-based access controls (RBAC)
• Helps organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements

Challenges of zero trust architecture include:

• Implementing any new processes requires investment, time, and a shift in mindset
• Enabling stricter controls and policies may impact user experience if not applied carefully
• Choosing vendors can be difficult as organizations will want to find technologies that adhere to their data policies

Effectively leveraging cybersecurity frameworks and architecture, such as ZTA, requires frequent assessments. Whether your assessments are required for certification or you’re just looking to keep up with security best practices, PlexTrac can help streamline your assessment process.

PlexTrac’s Assessments Module offers up-to-date questionnaire templates for many standard framework assessments. It also helps you create custom templates, which you can implement, update, and integrate into your overall pentesting and risk assessment process.

Some of our most commonly used assessments conducted within PlexTrac include:

CMMC 2.0
NIST 800-53
NIST CSF
CISv8
ISO 27001
FFIEC
NYDFS

Reduce the number of moving parts, simplify collaboration and data collection, and empower your internal team or your clients to understand your findings and take action.

Learn how PlexTrac Assessments work or request a personalized demo today.

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