Instead of assuming everything behind the corporate firewall is safe, the Zero Trust model assumes breach and verifies each request as though it originates from an open network. Regardless of where the request originates or what resource it accesses, Zero Trust teaches us to “never trust, always verify.” Every access request is fully authenticated, authorized, and encrypted before granting access. Microsegmentation and least privileged access principles are applied to minimize lateral movement. Rich intelligence and analytics are utilized to detect and respond to anomalies in real time.
Zero Trust principles
Verify explicitly: Always authenticate and authorize based on all available data points, including user identity, location, device health, service or workload, data classification, and anomalies.
Use least privileged access: Limit user access with just-in-time and just-enough-access (JIT/JEA), risk-based adaptive polices, and data protection to help secure both data and productivity.
Assume breach: Minimize blast radius for breaches and prevent lateral movement by segmenting access by network, user, devices, and app awareness. Verify all sessions are encrypted end to end. Use analytics to get visibility and drive threat detection and improve defenses.
Zero Trust components
This course addresses security in Microsoft 365. The following are the six primary components of a Zero Trust model:
Identities: Verify and secure each identity with strong authentication across your entire digital estate.
Devices: Gain visibility into devices accessing the network. Ensure compliance and health status before granting access.
Applications: Discover shadow IT, ensure appropriate in-app permissions, gate access based on real-time analytics, and monitor and control user actions.
Data: Move from perimeter-based data protection to data-driven protection. Use intelligence to classify and label data. Encrypt and restrict access based on organizational policies.
Infrastructure: Use telemetry to detect attacks and anomalies, automatically block and flag risky behavior, and employ least privilege access principles.
Network: Ensure devices and users aren’t trusted just because they’re on an internal network. Encrypt all internal communications, limit access by policy, and employ microsegmentation and real-time threat detection.
