Extending Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Safeguarding Against Insider Threats

Identity & Access: Extending ZTNA to Protect Against Insider Threats

The Importance of Zero Trust Network Access

Cyberthreats are continuously evolving in their pervasiveness, stealth, and severity, and the potential consequences of a breach are more severe than ever before. In response to this ever-changing landscape, security teams are increasingly adopting the “never trust, always verify” principle, known as Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). ZTNA aims to authenticate and authorize every user and device, regardless of their location, before allowing access to the necessary applications and assets. By granting access only to the resources that are absolutely required for their jobs, the risk of data theft and exfiltration is automatically reduced. However, recent data suggests that despite organizations feeling confident about their understanding of ZTNA, a significant number still experienced cyberattacks in the past year, highlighting the need for further improvement.

The Failure of ZTNA and Insider Threats

One of the main reasons why ZTNA fails to fully protect organizations is because most implementations focus solely on securing remote access. This approach overlooks the threats posed by insiders, including disgruntled employees and IT staff, who have authenticated credentials but may have malicious intent. Even well-intentioned employees are still prone to errors in judgment and everyday operations. Additionally, the remote-only approach to ZTNA creates challenges in constructing a single application access policy for both on-site and off-site users, potentially leading to operational inefficiencies and security loopholes.

Challenges and Solutions for Extending ZTNA to Internal Users

Despite these challenges, extending ZTNA capabilities to users within the office is crucial for providing secure access and improving overall security posture. However, there are several hurdles that organizations must overcome:

Network Infrastructure:

To implement ZTNA within the office, organizations need to ensure that their network infrastructure supports the necessary technologies and protocols. This may involve deploying SDP (software-defined perimeter), VPNs (virtual private networks), or secure access gateways that can enforce the principles of ZTNA within the local network.

Network Segmentation:

ZTNA relies on the segmentation of networks and resources to limit access based on user identity and device posture. Administrators may need to reconfigure their internal network architecture to implement proper network segmentation and access controls.

Legacy Devices and Applications:

Agent-based ZTNA can be incompatible with certain devices already in use within the organization. Legacy systems and applications hosted on internal data centers may also not seamlessly integrate with ZTNA.

Despite these challenges, organizations must strive to extend ZTNA capabilities to internal users in order to achieve secure access and mitigate insider threats.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC+) for Secure Internal Access

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC+) extends the capabilities of traditional RBAC by incorporating user attributes, environmental factors, and just-in-time situational awareness to implement dynamic, context-aware, and fine-grained access control policies. RBAC+ allows organizations to map job roles to access policies within the ZTNA framework, ensuring that access to IT resources is determined by the same ZTNA policy and user identity, regardless of whether the user is in the office or remote. RBAC+ takes into account factors such as device posture, user location, and time of day to provide real-time anomaly detection and prevent abuse of privileges.

Continuous Monitoring and Advanced DNS Protections

At the heart of ZTNA is the ability to continually inspect traffic flows once users are granted access. Successful ZTNA implementations leverage AI and ML algorithms to identify suspicious activities based on historical data and threat intelligence, enabling the detection and mitigation of suspicious access attempts or deviations from normal behavior by authenticated and authorized users. Advanced DNS protections also play a crucial role in fortifying ZTNA, as cybercriminals often attempt to manipulate DNS requests to mine credentials or exfiltrate data. By implementing advanced DNS protections, such as DNS filtering, DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions), and DNS monitoring and analysis, organizations can detect malicious DNS activities and block domains used for phishing and other cyberattacks, thus enhancing the overall effectiveness of ZTNA and mitigating risks to internal IT resources.

Comprehensive ZTNA Capabilities for Enhanced Access Control

Access control must go beyond credentials and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to effectively combat threats posed by attackers. While ZTNA is a crucial strategy for implementing continuous verification and stringent access controls, it should be complemented with additional components for comprehensive security. Comprehensive ZTNA should extend zero-trust access to both in-office and remote users consistently and seamlessly. It should also incorporate continuous monitoring and advanced DNS protections to address insider threats and attacks that bypass authentication and authorization mechanisms. By adopting these comprehensive ZTNA capabilities, organizations can strengthen their access control measures and minimize vulnerabilities.

Conclusion and Recommendations

As cyberthreats continue to evolve, organizations must adapt their security strategies to effectively protect against insider threats as well as external attacks. Extending ZTNA to internal users is a critical step in achieving this goal. By implementing RBAC+ for secure internal access, organizations can ensure consistent and context-aware access control policies. Continuous monitoring and advanced DNS protections are also essential for detecting suspicious activities and fortifying ZTNA. Finally, comprehensive ZTNA capabilities that go beyond traditional access control measures are necessary for strengthening security posture. Organizations should prioritize these strategies to mitigate insider threats and protect their valuable assets and data.