Adopting the “Zero Trust Security” Mindset for Your Small Business

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With the cyber landscape getting more and more complex as the days go by, cybersecurity deserves more attention than it ever has before. You can no longer put all your faith and trust in just applications, interfaces, networks, devices, traffic and users. Misplacing your trust can lead to severe losses and breaches that will hurt your business. Zero Trust Security practices, however, can go a very long way towards helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) minimize their cybersecurity risks and prevent these horrible, business-threatening data breaches.

Zero Trust was introduced in 2010 by John Kindervag, who was a former analyst for Forrester. The concept has gained wide-spread acclaim and approval in the IT community as a trusted framework for cybersecurity. The Zero Trust approach trusts nothing within or outside its boundaries, and must verify everything attempting to connect to the company’s systems before it will be granted access. In simple terms, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) calls it a “never trust, always verify” approach.

Implementing Zero Trust Security within your business can help provide safeguards against data breaches, downtime and productivity loss caused by said downtime, customer turnover and severe reputation damage. Over 70% of businesses implemented a Zero Trust policy in 2020, and it is even more critical for SMBs to implement some standard today, in an era where workforces and networks are still heavily remote.

The 3 Misconceptions and Facts About Zero Trust

1.     Misconception: Zero Trust Security isonly for large corporations and enterprise level businesses.

The Zero Trust cybersecurity method is a proven counterthreat strategy. While it is true that enterprises can prioritize protection of their data and networks by deploying the best of the best solutions and approaches, small businesses must also protect sensitive data and networks by taking mindful measures to minimize internal and external threats and vulnerabilities. Thus, Zero Trust Security isn’t only for enterprises. It is equally significant and important for SMBs as well.

2.     Misconception: Zero Trust Security is verycomplex, often too complex for small businesses to need.

By applying Zero Trust concepts at a level that makes sense for your business size, you will realize it isn’t as complex as you might have once thought. It’s a “necessary evil” and cost to your business, but when you ask a business owner who suffered a breach previously, the expense to the business is nothing compared to the cost of a data breach.

3.     Misconception: The cost of implementing Zero Trust is too high.

Zero Trust adoption is feasible if you focus on your most critical applications and data sets first. Working with an IT company like Tekie Geek can help you understand which processes are most important to protect, and take the time to explain what goes on within each of these processes.

Not Convinced Yet?

Ok, let’s take a look at a few statistics that should convince you of the seriousness of the threats that lie within today’s digital landscape, as well as the need for a Zero Trust (trust nobody) approach to your business’ security:

·       Human error causes close to 25% of databreaches.

Unfortunately, you can’t completely mistrust an external network nor can you fully trust even a single employee within your network.

·       Experts say that ransomware attacks occurapproximately every 11 seconds.

There’s no time to be complacent. When one of your employees comes running into your office, panicking that their computers are locked up and all your data has been breached, you will be in for a rude awakening you haven’t mentally prepared for. When you’re properly protected, the stress of even a potential massive network-wide virus holds no weight in your business operations, because you’re confident you’re properly secured and backed up.

·       Over 40% of employees are still working fromhome, and will remain post-pandemic.

When working remotely, many devices, resources interact entirely outside of the corporate perimeter. This increases the risk of an incident occurring, which is why proper safeguards in place within your company’s important data and network is even more important.

·       Phishing attacks have increased by over 60%since the pandemic started.

One of the most common ways ransomware makes its way into your systems, is through phishing attacks and scams. Making sure your employees are properly educated on identifying and handling phishing attempts is half the battle in trusting your employees to make the right decision when faced with a potential issue. We provide Cyber Security training to your whole staff when working with Tekie Geek on managing your company’s IT.

If your business is not equipped with a solid defense against these insane cyberthreats affecting companies every day, you WILL regret it later when a breach happens. Chances are, your current approach to cybersecurity falls very short of stopping cybercriminals from accessing your network. The Zero Trust approach can change all of that.

Adopting Zero Trust Security within your business does not mean you throw away your existing security tools and technologies. In fact, according to NIST, a proper Zero Trust Security strategy will incorporate your existing security tools and technologies, to create a more systematically positive environment.

Build an effective Zero Trust model that encompasses governance policies—like giving users only the access needed to complete their tasks—and technologies such as:

1.     Multifactor authentication

2.     Identity and access management

3.     Risk management

4.     Analytics

5.     Encryption

6.     Orchestration

7.     Scoring

8.     File-system permissions

Taking your business down the path of Zero Trust may not be easy, but it is definitely achievable and very well worth it. Don’t worry about where and how to begin. With Tekie Geek by your side, this journey becomes easier and much more successful. Contact us now to get started!