Home / ITRM Insights / Blog / Zero Trust Cyber Security: Why Your Business Needs It
The UK cyber threat landscape for businesses is continuously changing and with this, more risks become prevalent – putting more and more organisations at risk from a cyber attack.
For businesses operating in professional services industries, finance or healthcare where client and patient data is highly confidential, having a robust cyber security strategy in place is a necessity.
One of the most effective approaches in mitigating cyber attack risk is through adopting a zero trust security approach.
Zero Trust is a security framework that states organisations should not trust any entity inside or outside their perimeter at any time; therefore, requires verification and strict access controls regardless of who the user is.
As an overview, by adopting a zero trust cyber security approach, you are assuming that cyber threats could come from within or outside your network and so trust and access must be continually validated.
There are numerous benefits of implementing a zero trust security stance in your business, in addition to the blanket protection for cyber threats, these include:
Visibility of Access: Using zero trust, you can see insights as to who is accessing the system and network and what specifically they are accessing. This gives you a view of potential vulnerabilities even after access has been granted.
Safe Remote Working: With zero trust, you can rest assured that your employees can work flexibly and remotely, from any location – boosting both their productivity and cyber security.
Cost-effectiveness: Whilst investing in any cyber security measure has an upfront investment, zero trust reduces long-term and unexpected costs associated with cyber attacks and data breaches as your risk is significantly reduced. Falling victim to a cyber attack can be costly, across recovery costs, regulatory fines, legal fees, lack of revenue from downtime to non-monetary associated costs such as damaging your business reputation.
As previously touched upon, the ever-changing cyber threat landscape poses a risk to UK businesses as there is a requirement to keep abreast of changes and maintain a robust level of protection at all times. Zero trust security is designed purposefully for today’s varying landscape and hybrid working environments – where employees, contractors and various devices may need access from multiple locations outside of your head office. Through homing in on identification and verification, with zero trust, your business can reduce the risk of unauthorised access and breaches. In addition to this, adopting zero trust security means you can scale your business, and zero trust will grow alongside you and your demands.
A zero trust cyber security strategy can help protect your business specifically from certain cyber attacks such as ransomware, phishing and insider threats. It can protect your business from ransomware by limiting movement within your network; therefore, reduces the breadth of damage caused. Zero trust can protect from phishing attempts as multi-factor authentication adds an additional layer of protection, even if and when login credentials are compromised. Finally, zero trust can help with insider threats with continuous monitoring of access – making you more aware of potential threats.
If your business operates in a sector whereby you are required to comply with leading regulations such as ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, GDPR, SRA and more, then adopting zero trust security can enhance data protection and ensure your business remains compliant with regulations such as those outlined above.
In a world where cyber threats are increasing, adopting a zero trust security model is essential – its proactive and deny by default approach is a necessity for protecting your organisation’s data, employees, customers and key stakeholders. For businesses across the UK, partnering with a trusted Managed Service Provider (MSP) equips your business with the right tools, expertise and support to implement a zero trust cyber security strategy.
Ready to enhance your organisation’s cyber security posture? Contact our team to learn more about zero trust solutions and what more you can do to safeguard your business...