FEATURE
TRUST NO ONE HOW A ZERO TRUST MODEL CAN BOLSTER YOUR SECURITY ENVIRONMENT
T
he pandemic has triggered an unprecedented rise in cyber-attacks. The growing reliance of digital platforms has opened up new avenues for bad actors to exploit. Cybercriminals have used the trend of remote work to launch phishing and ransomware attacks targeting employees working from home. This has sharpened the need for zero trust security, a model that calls for strict authentication and verification of access to all resources. Zero trust is starting to become an integral part of basic security architecture and according to industry experts, will soon become the new normal for cybersecurity. “The age of the corporate network
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CXO INSIGHT ME
MARCH 2021
and single security perimeter is coming to an end,” says Ajay Nawani, Director Sales Engineering, MEA, Sophos, explaining why zero trust will become the new normal in 2021. “In today’s time of fluctuating lockdowns and the new normal of work life, users are increasingly working remotely, conducting their work over the public internet. The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation needs and has given rise to usage of software-asa-Service (SaaS) apps, cloud platforms, and other cloud-based services that have eroded the efficacy of using the network as the primary element to secure a resource. In this new normal way of working, organisations can no longer rely on a single, sealed-off corporate network and afford trust to
all the systems that reside within it. All these have made zero trust the only approach for cybersecurity in today’s dynamic times.” Emile Abou Saleh, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa at Proofpoint, say zero trust was already a buzzword in cybersecurity before the pandemic. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for organisations to look more closely at zero trust security. “COVID-19 has triggered a shift to
Ajay Nawani
