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A Confident Approach to Network and Remote Access Security

Hein Pattyn

Product Officer SD-WAN, SASE & Security

Gain Organizational Peace of Mind with ZTNA

In today's business world, it's increasingly important for organizations to keep up with the latest network security innovations to safeguard their digital assets. As more people opt to work remotely, many enterprises are turning to cloud-based solutions like zero trust network access (ZTNA), which makes it easy to implement a zero trust security approach and protect your organization against attacks.

Gartner predicts 80% of new cloud applications will be accessed through ZTNA by 2022 – and that just a year later it’ll replace remote access virtual private networks (VPNs) for 60% of enterprises. A key reason is that its approach fits the fast-growing secure access server edge (SASE) model like a glove but its advantages go far beyond that.

SASE architecture is a converged network. This model integrates the functions traditionally delivered in siloed point solutions into one, cloud-based service. Zero trust networking operates on top of SD-WAN as a component of this model. It provides secure access control, ensuring your users access only what they're authorized to see.

SD-WAN can now offer services that were not possible with a traditional network, enhancing performance, security, and network monitoring. ZTNA is an extension of SD-WAN's capabilities by providing the visibility and control needed for enhanced security in a hybrid cloud environment.

Organizations are shifting away from traditional network access to ZTNA. This is driven by the following top benefits of ZTNA:

ZTNA provides secure and seamless access for employees to specific corporate resources, from anywhere in the world. It delivers a simple, secure, and efficient user experience to cloud applications and services.

Scalable service provisioning is quick and easy using a cloud-based ZTNA service. 90% of companies prefer ZTNA as a cloud-hosted service, outsourcing the heavy lifting of authenticating users to expert providers like us. We leverage additional licenses and can scale up or scale down their service capabilities, in a few seconds, with just a click – no on-site equipment required.

Empower your employees to do their jobs remotely while reducing the risk of a security breach. With zero-trust networking, you can block all remote access by default and only grant access when an employee needs it. In a zero-trust model, every user is treated as an outsider who must be identified and authorized before they can access the network.

With ZTNA, your employees no longer need to sign into VPNs for remote access. This means that if a user changes devices or even operating systems, they will still be able to access their account without having to reset all of their passwords. ZTNA supports all major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and mobile devices such as iPhone, Android, and iPad.

ZTNA provides visibility into who is accessing enterprise data so that your organization can take action if suspicious behavior patterns are noticed. Adaptive risk analysis also protects enterprise data from malicious attacks, dynamically.

By authenticating the user and device, network security is significantly improved. If a bad actor manages to get in, they're faced with an encrypted tunnel - with access to only specific areas of the corporate network. And with dynamic network security, they'll be flagged and cut off as soon as any red flag goes up.

By eliminating the need for passwords or other forms of strong authentication, your business will simplify your user management processes while simultaneously increasing network security. This means that your business can now focus on delivering value-added services to its customers rather than spending time managing passwords or other forms of authentication.

ZTNA employs the software-defined perimeter (SDP) principle to provide a more secure environment. Here, employees are authorized to see only the information required by their role. For example, a bookkeeper in Finance can only access financial data, not employee records. And even if you get past the perimeter guard, employee applications will prevent you from going to areas where you're not authorized.

Even if a single user has been given numerous permissions, they still use a single login. This provides them access to apps and data relevant to their status under the umbrella service at the perimeter.

ZTNA is a security model for today’s diverse world. To the end user, it won’t seem far different from the enter-your-password scenario of the past. But on a technical level, the thinking behind ZTNA is an innovative and exciting way to address modern security issues and the need to scale to your organization's needs, instantly. To learn more about how Expereo can help your enterprise implement zero-trust networking access, click the button below.