Zero trust (ZT) is the term for an evolving set of cybersecurity paradigms that move defenses from static, network-based perimeters to focus on users, assets, and resources. A zero trust architecture (ZTA) uses zero trust principles to plan industrial and enterprise infrastructure and workflows. Zero trust assumes there is no implicit trust granted to assets or user accounts based solely on their physical or network location (i.e., local area networks versus the internet) or based on asset ownership (enterprise or personally owned).
A zero trust architecture (ZTA) focuses on protecting data and resources. It enables secure authorized access to enterprise resources that are distributed across on-premises and multiple cloud environments, while enabling a hybrid workforce and partners to access resources from anywhere, at any time, from any device in support of the organization’s mission.
Each access request is evaluated by verifying the context available at access time, including criteria such as the requester’s identity and role, the requesting device’s health and credentials, the sensitivity of the resource, user location, and user behavior consistency. If the enterprise’s defined access policy is met, a secure session is created to protect all information transferred to and from the resource. A real-time and continuous policy-driven, risk-based assessment is performed to establish and maintain the access. In this project, the NCCoE (National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence) and its collaborators use commercially available technology to build interoperable, open, standards-based #ZTA implementations that align to the concepts and principles in NIST (National Institue of Standards and Technology )Special Publication (SP) 800-207, Zero Trust Architecture. This NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide explains how commercially available technology can be integrated and used to build various ZTAs.