Zero-trust networking and secure remote access will be more critical than ever as countries emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Censornet CTO Richard Walters.
Walters, blogging for cloud security platform and products vendor Censornet, has noted that many of the events to which organisations have been forced to adapt have caused long-term changes — as well as speeding up digital transformation.
“Organisations still need to follow the processes put into place during the pandemic as the great unlock gathers pace. Cross-channel attacks will remain a threat, as will advanced phishing scams like CEO fraud,” writes Walters.
Remote workforces will likely continue to operate beyond the network perimeter for “a lot” of the time, moving inside it on occasion.
The Censornet CTO also predicts a growing need for insight into users to manage access and activity on a more granular level, while maintaining data security across all services.
“We’ve learned a lot about securing remote workforces during the pandemic, but cybercriminals have also been developing their skills,” Walters notes.
“We’ll say goodbye to ‘connect, then authenticate’: this trusty old slogan is looking rather long in the tooth and is now being replaced by ‘authenticate, then connect’.”
Technologies like firewalling as a service, software-defined WAN based security, cloud access security brokerage, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) — or Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) — will be increasingly deployed in a bid to support and secure increasingly hybrid infrastructures, according to Walters.
“An entirely new perimeter built on identity and context is needed to protect modern companies.”
According to Censornet, expanding beyond basic security requirements means multiple vectors have to be managed and a robust process-driven environment established — requiring a range of products.
Cybersecurity threats are continuing to advance.
For instance, tech news website MIT Technology Review says the number of zero-day attacks reported appears to have almost doubled since 2020, based on information from several databases, researchers and cybersecurity companies.
( Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash )
