Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we're tackling zero trust.
Speaker 1: You've probably heard the term, maybe seen it as a
Speaker 1: bit of a cybersecurity buzzword, but honestly, it's actually changing everything.
Speaker 1: It's gaining immense traction. But you know, it can often
Speaker 1: feel like this riddle wrapped in complex terms. So our
Speaker 1: goal for this deep diet is to really pull back
Speaker 1: the curtain. We want to unpack where this idea came from,
Speaker 1: what really makes it tick, and how it's well fundamentally
Speaker 1: shaking up digital security in our crazy evolving world. We've
Speaker 1: pulled from some truly comprehensive and frankly expert driven sources
Speaker 1: to get right to the heart of what you need
Speaker 1: to know. All right, so let's start by digging into
Speaker 1: this What exactly is zero trust and maybe how did
Speaker 1: this pretty radical idea even come about?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, good place to start. So at its core,
Speaker 2: zero trust is a cybersecurity framework, and it completely flips
Speaker 2: the script on traditional network security. For decades, we operated
Speaker 2: on a model that was basically trustpit.
Speaker 1: Verify right the old way. Once you're inside the castle walls,
Speaker 1: you're good.
Speaker 2: Exactly, once you were inside that network perimeter, you were
Speaker 2: well largely trusted. Zero trust is nope, never trust always
Speaker 2: verifying never trust never.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Entity doesn't matter if it's a user, a device, an application,
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it's inside or outside your network.
Speaker 2: Nothing is trusted by default. So every single access request
Speaker 2: has to be rigorously authenticated, authorized, and crucially continuously validated.
Speaker 2: Continuously yes, based on context, things like who is the user,
Speaker 2: what's the health of their device, where are they connecting from,
Speaker 2: even their typical behavior patterns. The core tenets they sound simple,
Speaker 2: but they're profound. Verify identity, grant only the least privilege necessary,
Speaker 2: and continuously monitor everything.
Speaker 1: That's a huge shift from that old castle and mode idea.
Speaker 1: This sounds like a complete overhaul really of how we've
Speaker 1: thought about security for decades. So why now, Why is
Speaker 1: this shift so critical right now? What's driving this urgency?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's critical because that additional parameter based security model
Speaker 2: it's just not adequate anymore, not for today's digital landscape.
Speaker 2: I mean, think about it, our tax services. It just
Speaker 2: exploded everywhere, right everywhere.
Speaker 1: We're talking about the massive shift to cloud computing, a
Speaker 1: truly mobile workforce. Now, the proliferation of Internet of Things
Speaker 1: or IoT devices and even integrating artificial intelligence AI into
Speaker 1: our systems. All of these just dramatically increase the potential
Speaker 1: entry points for cyber criminals. Okay, and the attackers themselves,
Speaker 1: they're evolving rapidly too. They're leveraging really advanced techniques, things
Speaker 1: like AI powered malware, highly targeted ransomware, and increasingly elaborate
Speaker 1: social engineering and deep fix scams.
Speaker 2: Oh, the deep fis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw that shocking example with the British design
Speaker 1: firm or Up, didn't we. They unfortunately lost what twenty.
Speaker 2: Five million dollars twenty five million, yeah, all.
Speaker 1: Due to a deep fake imposter pretending to be their CFO.
Speaker 1: Just incredible.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And on top of all that, you've got these emerging
Speaker 1: risks like quantum computing, which you know, could potentially render
Speaker 1: our current cryptographic standards ineffective down the road.
Speaker 2: That's a scary thought, it is. And then they're insider risks.
Speaker 2: Traditional measures often overlook those, whether they're malicious or even
Speaker 2: just accidental. Plus, modern IT environments are just incredibly complex now,
Speaker 2: highly interconnected, multiple vendors, third party services. It all demands
Speaker 2: a much more granular, much more dynamic approach to security.
Speaker 2: Makes sense, and it's interesting. This concept actually originated from
Speaker 2: John kindervag Hees it forced to research back in twenty ten,
Speaker 2: and you can see its importance growing right with the
Speaker 2: development of industry standards like NISK Special Publication eight hundred
Speaker 2: two oh seven and the CSAs Zero Trust Maturity Model.
Speaker 2: These give clear guidance.
Speaker 1: That air up example is just staggering. It really highlights
Speaker 1: these aren't just like theoretical threats anymore. But it sounds
Speaker 1: like technology is maybe just one piece of this puzzle.
Speaker 1: Though we often hear that phrase people, processes, and technology
Speaker 1: as core pillars and security. What does that really mean
Speaker 1: for zero trust, especially when, let's face it, the human
Speaker 1: element often feels like the weakest link.
Speaker 2: You've absolutely hit on a crucial point. There a successful
Speaker 2: zero trust implementation. It isn't just about throwing new tech
Speaker 2: at the problem. It fundamentally aligns those three elements, people, processes,
Speaker 2: and technology. Let's start with people, because you're right, social
Speaker 2: engineering is still a primary attack factor. Why because malicious
Speaker 2: messages can look almost indistinguishable from legitimate communications scary stuff.
Speaker 2: It is so zero trust demands clear roles and responsibilities.
Speaker 2: This ensures the right security rules get applied to the
Speaker 2: right people. It forces you to ask those questions like,
Speaker 2: should someone who works at reception really have access to, say,
Speaker 2: the public financial forecasting information. Probably not exactly. The answer
Speaker 2: is usually know and zero trust helps enforce that. It's
Speaker 2: about empowering people with the right level of access and
Speaker 2: absolutely no more to minimize those accidental or malicious missteps.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's people. What about processes?
Speaker 2: Right processes. You absolutely need redust incident response and recovery processes.
Speaker 2: And this isn't just about reacting after the fact. It's
Speaker 2: about rapid identification and detection of security incidents, followed by
Speaker 2: swift containment and system remediation get things back online safely.
Speaker 2: Organizations must have well defined action plans disaster recovery strategies,
Speaker 2: especially in these complex multi cloud environments, because even with
Speaker 2: the best laid plans, unexpected things can still happen. Always,
Speaker 2: So if a breach occurs, how quickly can you isolate it?
Speaker 2: How fast can you restore affected systems without letting the
Speaker 2: threat spread further. These processes ensure resilience even when you
Speaker 2: assume a breach will happen.
Speaker 1: Assume breach.
Speaker 2: That's key, it is And finally, that brings us to technology.
Speaker 2: This really forms the core of the practical implementation, giving
Speaker 2: us the tools to enforce these principles, these people and
Speaker 2: process decisions.
Speaker 1: That's a perfect setup. Okay, Now let's really dive into
Speaker 1: that technological backbone. What are the core components, what actually
Speaker 1: brings zero trust to life and enforces those decisions we
Speaker 1: just talked about.
Speaker 2: Right, the tech foundation, it's robust and it's all interconnected.
Speaker 2: First up, you have Identity and Access Management or IAM. Now,
Speaker 2: this isn't just about verifying who you are once when
Speaker 2: you log in. It's the whole framework of policies and
Speaker 2: technologies ensuring appropriate continuous.
Speaker 1: Access continuous again, yes, and.
Speaker 2: It involves several key things. First, multi factor authentication MFA
Speaker 2: and continuous MFA CMFA. You're likely familiar with MFA proving
Speaker 2: your identity to say, a password and a code.
Speaker 1: From your phone, right, yep, use it all the time.
Speaker 2: Continuous MFA takes that concept further. It continuously reverifies identity
Speaker 2: throughout a session, adapting if your behavior or context changes.
Speaker 2: Then there's role based access control our BAC. This ensures
Speaker 2: users only get the minimum resources they need based on
Speaker 2: their specific job role least privilege precisely so a marketing
Speaker 2: team member, for example, should absolutely not have access to
Speaker 2: financial systems. Our BAC enforces that, and tied into that
Speaker 2: is just in time GIIT and just enough access. This
Speaker 2: is a really crucial zero trust principle. Access is granted
Speaker 2: only when it's specifically needed and only for the exact duration.
Speaker 1: Required, like for a specific task, exactly.
Speaker 2: Like during a defined maintenance window. For apps. A practical
Speaker 2: example might be, should users be able to print documents
Speaker 2: to an office printer outside of normal business hours when
Speaker 2: the building isn't even open. Probably not GIT access would
Speaker 2: likely say no. It limits the window of opportunity for misuse.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not just authenticating who you are, but
Speaker 1: very specifically what you're allowed to touch and when at
Speaker 1: any given moment. That's a powerful distinction.
Speaker 2: Exactly and intrinsically linked to that is segmentation. This is
Speaker 2: all about isolating security threats to prevent them from spreading.
Speaker 2: Think of it like creating watertight compartments on a ship.
Speaker 2: If one area of floods, it doesn't sink the whole vessel.
Speaker 2: Good analogy. We have two main types macro segmentation. This
Speaker 2: is broader network separation typically done with traditional firewalls or
Speaker 2: maybe virtual routing and forwarding VRF, which essentially creates separate
Speaker 2: virtual networks on the same physical infrastructure. But then there's
Speaker 2: micro segmentation. This is where zero trust gets really granular.
Speaker 2: It provides control within those macro segments. It allows you
Speaker 2: to separate individual devices, applications, even identities, without needing everything
Speaker 2: to funnel back through a central firewall.
Speaker 1: How does that work?
Speaker 2: Technically, it's often achieved through identity to tag mapping, things
Speaker 2: like security group tags sgts or endpoint groups EPGs. These
Speaker 2: tags act almost like well, an individual's driver's license or passport.
Speaker 2: They travel with the user or device and define what
Speaker 2: they can access anywhere on the network based on policy.
Speaker 1: Very cool, think a digital passport.
Speaker 2: Kind of Yeah, then we have endpoint security. This focus
Speaker 2: is on securing all those client devices, your laptops, phones,
Speaker 2: IoT gadgets.
Speaker 1: The things people actually use exactly, which.
Speaker 2: Are essentially everywhere and constantly on the move, all them supplicants,
Speaker 2: and because they're always moving and connecting from different places,
Speaker 2: they're like pervasive moving targets for attackers.
Speaker 1: Makes sense.
Speaker 2: So this involves things like endpoint detection and response EDER systems.
Speaker 2: These constantly monitored devices for threats, not just waiting for
Speaker 2: something to hit the network edge, Network access control and
Speaker 2: AC which verifies devices and users before they even get
Speaker 2: onto the network, and Mobile Device Management MDM for securing
Speaker 2: and managing mobile devices specifically. All these work together to
Speaker 2: validate device health and make sure it adheres to security policy.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've got identity segmentation endpoints.
Speaker 2: What else network visibility and analytics. These are absolutely crucial.
Speaker 2: You need to understand what a normal and healthy baseline
Speaker 2: looks like in your network. Tools like security information and
Speaker 2: Event Management or SEAM systems aggregate and assess security information
Speaker 2: from all over. They identify anomalies or potentially malicious behavior
Speaker 2: by comparing the current state to those benchmarked good.
Speaker 1: States, like spot unusual activity.
Speaker 2: Exactly, for instance, detecting a sudden unusual increase in data
Speaker 2: transfers from a particular users machine that deviates from their
Speaker 2: normal pattern that would raise a flag, and finally, policy enforcement.
Speaker 2: This isn't static, It's about the dynamic nature of these
Speaker 2: security policies. They need to adapt constantly to evolving security
Speaker 2: standards based on real time factors like user roles, endpoint
Speaker 2: types and even usage patterns.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, so if we connect all these pieces identity, segmentation, endpoints, visibility,
Speaker 1: dynamic policies, back to the bigger picture, it really sounds
Speaker 1: like managing all these intricate security layers dynamically and especially
Speaker 1: at scale, is where automation and orchestration become absolutely critical.
Speaker 1: You can't do this manually, can you?
Speaker 2: Absolutely not? You're spot on. If you had to manually
Speaker 2: configure every policy for every user, every device across all
Speaker 2: these systems, it would just become unmanageable instantly.
Speaker 1: So what does this actually mean for daily operations? Then
Speaker 1: we're talking about something much more so sophisticated than just
Speaker 1: simple scripting, right.
Speaker 2: Oh, much more exactly. We're talking about network automation and orchestration.
Speaker 2: This basically involves using specialized software and tools to manage, configure,
Speaker 2: monitor and optimized network operations, ideally with minimal human invention.
Speaker 1: Right. Let the machines handle the complexity.
Speaker 2: Precisely, and the benefits are huge faster deployments of services
Speaker 2: and policies, dramatically improved security consistency across the board, and
Speaker 2: a significant reduction in human error, which is often a
Speaker 2: major vulnerability. A major evolution here is something called net DevOps.
Speaker 1: Net DevOps like DevOps.
Speaker 2: But for networking exactly that it applies those rapid iterative
Speaker 2: principles of DevOps collaboration, automation, integration directly to networking. A
Speaker 2: key part of this is treating network configuration as code.
Speaker 2: This is often called infrastructure's code or.
Speaker 1: IAC infrastructure's code okay.
Speaker 2: And crucially, net DevOps integrate security much earlier in the
Speaker 2: development and deployment cycle as an.
Speaker 1: Afterthought, shifting security left, as they say, that's the.
Speaker 2: Term, yes, shifting left. The benefits are pretty clear. It
Speaker 2: enables smaller, more frequent changes, which are less risky than massive,
Speaker 2: infrequent updates. It offers reliable updates with automated rollback capabilities
Speaker 2: if something goes wrong. It helps avoid network disruption through
Speaker 2: rigorous validation testing at multiple phases of the process. And critically,
Speaker 2: it integrates security practices directly into the continuous integration, continuous
Speaker 2: delivery continuous testing pipeline the CICDCT pipeline.
Speaker 1: So catching problems early exactly.
Speaker 2: This means you can detect vulnerabilities, configuration errors, or compliance
Speaker 2: issues early in the pre production stage, rather than finding
Speaker 2: them after a breach or when something breaks in production.
Speaker 2: With infrastructure as code, you're literally defining your enterprise security
Speaker 2: policies as these automated playbooks, maybe using tools like ansable
Speaker 2: or Terraform, and the CICDCT pipeline ensures automated checks along
Speaker 2: the way for syntax errors, compliance adherence, security best practices,
Speaker 2: and so on.
Speaker 1: That sounds incredibly powerful for maintaining consistency and security posture.
Speaker 2: It is, and one more critical point here, it's vital
Speaker 2: to apply these same zero trust principles to API security.
Speaker 1: APIs, right, application programming interfaces.
Speaker 2: They're everywhere now, absolutely everywhere. They're how different software systems
Speaker 2: talk to each other, and unsecured APIs pose really significant risks.
Speaker 2: Gartner identified them way back in twenty nineteen as a
Speaker 2: critical new attack factor. So every single API call also
Speaker 2: needs to be treated with that never trust, always verify, mindset, authentication, authorization,
Speaker 2: monitoring the whole package.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating how security is being woven into the very
Speaker 1: fabric of network operations through automation and code. Now, zero
Speaker 1: trust clearly isn't just for traditional on premises networks anymore,
Speaker 1: is it. How does it extend to the really dynamic
Speaker 1: world of cloud computing. And also what about those emerging
Speaker 1: maybe more futuristic threats like quantum computing.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. Zero trust is incredibly relevant, maybe even
Speaker 2: more relevant in modern cloud native environments. These architectures, with
Speaker 2: their micro services, containerization, and ephemeral workloads meaning things that
Speaker 2: spin up and down quickly, they present unique security challenges.
Speaker 1: Right, it's not a static environment, not at all.
Speaker 2: First, you have the shared responsibility model in the cloud.
Speaker 2: This means security dutis are divided between the cloud provider
Speaker 2: like Aws, Azure, Google Cloud and the customer. The provider
Speaker 2: secures the underlying infrastructure, but the customer must implement strong
Speaker 2: security for their own applications, data and configurations. Zero trust
Speaker 2: is key for the customer's part.
Speaker 1: So you can't just rely on the cloud provider.
Speaker 2: Definitely not. And the way services communicate changes too. We
Speaker 2: shift from relying solely on traditional centralized firewalls at the
Speaker 2: edge to needing more dynamic, fine grained security policies between
Speaker 2: individual microservices. This often involves unique encryption and authentication for
Speaker 2: every single service to service communication path. So like service
Speaker 2: mesh technologies, SDO is a popular example, can offer an
Speaker 2: additional layer of security specifically for these interactions okay.
Speaker 1: Securing the communication between services.
Speaker 2: Exactly and managing the keys for all that encryption is vital.
Speaker 2: That's where key management systems CAMS come in. They're crucial
Speaker 2: for managing cryptographic keys, often with features like automated key
Speaker 2: rotation to reduce risk and simplified interfaces. Hechey Corp Vault,
Speaker 2: for instance, is known for its ability to generate dynamic
Speaker 2: short lived secrets, which fits the zero trust model perfectly
Speaker 2: short lived secrets okay. And to protect the entire application
Speaker 2: life cycle in the cloud from development to production. We
Speaker 2: now have these integrated platforms called Cloud Native Application Protection
Speaker 2: platforms or cnapps. These provide holistic security, covering things like
Speaker 2: API security, compliance management, and even securing container images before
Speaker 2: they're deployed.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a lot to manage.
Speaker 2: It can be, which leads to another important concept, Continuous
Speaker 2: threat exposure management CETEM. Gartner unveiled this in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: It's a proactive cybersecurity approach. Instead of just scanning for
Speaker 2: known vulnerabilities, CTEM continuously simulates attacks to identify both known
Speaker 2: and unknown vulnerabilities and exposures. Across your environment. It goes
Speaker 2: beyond traditional vulnerability scanning, so it's.
Speaker 1: Not just about building walls, but actively constantly looking for
Speaker 1: weaknesses even in the cloud. That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: What about the role of AI and machine learning and
Speaker 1: all this. Are they friend or foe in this zero
Speaker 1: trust landscape?
Speaker 2: Oh, they're definitely a powerful friend. AI and machine learning
Speaker 2: mL are really transforming cloud native security, especially with real
Speaker 2: time detection and response capabilities. Well. Techniques like unsupervised learning,
Speaker 2: often using methods like clustering, can detect anomalous traffic patterns
Speaker 2: by spotting deviations from established norms, even without knowing what
Speaker 2: a specific attack looks like beforehand. In neural networks can
Speaker 2: be trained to classify network traffic as malicious or benign
Speaker 2: with impressive accuracy, helping sift through massive amounts of dats.
Speaker 1: Is that related to generative AI?
Speaker 2: Generative AI or GENAI is actually a broader field focused
Speaker 2: more on creating new content like text or images, but
Speaker 2: the underlying AI and mL technologies are being heavily leveraged
Speaker 2: for these kinds of security applications. Detection, classification, anomaly spotting.
Speaker 1: Got it? Okay? Now for that more futuristic but potentially
Speaker 1: disruptive threat quantum computing. What's the concern there? From a
Speaker 1: zero trust and security perspective.
Speaker 2: Right quantum computing. Our sources highlight a key point. Quantum
Speaker 2: computers can perform certain types of calculations, specifically probabilistic work,
Speaker 2: in a fraction of the time compared to.
Speaker 1: Classical computers faster calculations.
Speaker 2: Much faster for specific problems, and this capability poses a
Speaker 2: significant existential threat to many of our current cryptographic algorithms,
Speaker 2: especially asymmetric encryption. Think about things like the Diffie Hellman
Speaker 2: key exchange, or the digital certificates underpinning secure websites HTTPS.
Speaker 1: The ones we rely on every day.
Speaker 2: Exactly, these rely on the mathematic difficulty of factoring very
Speaker 2: large numbers. It's easy to multiply two large primes, but
Speaker 2: incredibly hard for classical computers to find those primes if
Speaker 2: you only have the product. Quantum computers using algorithms like
Speaker 2: shores algorithm could theoretically crack this kind of encryption relatively easily,
Speaker 2: breaking much of today's public key cryptography.
Speaker 1: Yikes, So what's safe?
Speaker 2: Well, symmetric key encryption like AES Advanced Encryption Standard, which
Speaker 2: uses the same key for encryption and decryption is generally
Speaker 2: considered more resilient against known quantum attacks. It would require
Speaker 2: larger key sizes, but the fundamental approach holds up better.
Speaker 2: The good news is there's a huge global effort underway
Speaker 2: by cryptographers to develop and standardize new quantum safe cryptographic algorithms,
Speaker 2: sometimes called post quantum cryptography. It's a very active area
Speaker 2: of research and development.
Speaker 1: Okay, good to know people are working on it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: This all sounds incredibly complex to actually implement across an
Speaker 1: entire organization, especially if you're not starting fresh. How do
Speaker 1: companies actually do this? Do they have to rip everything
Speaker 1: out and start from scratch or can they adapt their
Speaker 1: existing systems? What does that look like in practice?
Speaker 2: That's a great question, and it's usually a mix. Really.
Speaker 2: Each path has its own set of challenges and advantages.
Speaker 2: Organizations might face a greenfield deployment, meaning they're building something
Speaker 2: entirely new, maybe a new cloud environment or a new
Speaker 2: facility that allows for a more streamlined zero trust implementation
Speaker 2: right from day one. Designing it in.
Speaker 1: That sounds ideal.
Speaker 2: It often is, but it's less common. More often companies
Speaker 2: are dealing with brownfield deployments. This means integrating zero trust
Speaker 2: principles and technologies into their existing, often very complex, legacy infrastructures.
Speaker 2: This requires really careful planning and feezing to avoid disrupting
Speaker 2: ongoing operations.
Speaker 1: Okay, Brownfield is probably the reality for most.
Speaker 2: For many, Yes, and a huge enabler in practice for
Speaker 2: both Greenfield and Brownfield to some extent is automated network deployment.
Speaker 2: This is often called plug and play or P and
Speaker 2: P technology solutions like Cisco Catalyst Centers, Land Automation, or
Speaker 2: Maraki Zero Touch PROVISIONINGZTP. They really revolutionize how networks are deployed,
Speaker 2: especially at scale.
Speaker 1: How did they work?
Speaker 2: Essentially, they allow new network devices, switches, routers, access points
Speaker 2: to automatically register with a central controller and configure themselves
Speaker 2: correctly upon first boot up. This significantly reduces or even
Speaker 2: eliminates the need for highly skilled IT technicians to be
Speaker 2: physically on site for basic setup ah.
Speaker 1: That saves time and money.
Speaker 2: And addresses skills gaps. Think about a large banking customer
Speaker 2: we heard about doing a Pan African deployment. They had
Speaker 2: branches across many countries. PNP solutions were absolutely critical for them,
Speaker 2: especially in remote locations. Some perhaps unsafe, where finding skilled
Speaker 2: personnel locally was a major challenge. It allowed their st
Speaker 2: one devices, these are network devices at the edge, to
Speaker 2: just connect to the Internet, find the controller, download their configure,
Speaker 2: and establish necessary connections like BGP peerings for routing, all
Speaker 2: without complex annual intervention on site.
Speaker 1: That's a massive operational win. Solves a real world problem
Speaker 1: with scale and personnel availability.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Another example is a global enterprise software company. They
Speaker 2: demployed something like four hundred sites using a sophisticated network
Speaker 2: architecture LAESPE based sd access. This allowed them to maintain
Speaker 2: consistent end to end micro segmentation and macro segmentation applying
Speaker 2: those zero trust principles even when parts of their network
Speaker 2: connected through third party SD one solutions that didn't natively
Speaker 2: support their specific security tagging technology called.
Speaker 1: Trustsec, so they could extend zero trust across different vendors exactly.
Speaker 2: It shows how advanced technical solutions can enable that granular
Speaker 2: segmentation across complex multi vendor environments, which is common today.
Speaker 1: Okay, those are great examples of deployment and segmentation. What
Speaker 1: about applying those dynamic policies you mentioned earlier? Any examples
Speaker 1: of that in action?
Speaker 2: Yes, definitely. We see dynamic policy enforcement used in some
Speaker 2: really interesting ways, sometimes beyond typical enterprise security. Take a library,
Speaker 2: for instance, in a small beach town on the northeast
Speaker 2: coast of Australia. A library, Yeah, they used time based
Speaker 2: network authorization policies to restrict guest Wi Fi access strictly
Speaker 2: to their operating hours. This specific problem, they had tourists
Speaker 2: and backpackers hanging around the building perimeter after hours using
Speaker 2: the free Wi Fi and well leaving a mess.
Speaker 1: Huh practical application.
Speaker 2: Very practical. This policy automatically cut off access outside library hours.
Speaker 2: It required precise network time Protocol ANTIP synchronization across their
Speaker 2: network devices to ensure the time restrictions were enforced accurately.
Speaker 1: Clever What else?
Speaker 2: Another innovative approach came from an IT team trying to
Speaker 2: expedite essential system patches and software updates. They implemented a
Speaker 2: policy where users who repeatedly deferred mandatory updates, say, passed
Speaker 2: two notification periods, had their network bandwidth dynamically reduced via
Speaker 2: a quality of service or QoS policy.
Speaker 1: Seriously, they throttled.
Speaker 2: Them gently, yes, not cut off, just slowed down and
Speaker 2: it worked. It apparently reduced the average number of times
Speaker 2: users deferred updates from around ten times down to just
Speaker 2: four times. It nudged user behavior effectively.
Speaker 1: That's smart using policy to influence.
Speaker 2: Behavior, and one more mitigating MAAC spoofing. This is where
Speaker 2: an attacker tries to impersonate a legitimate device by copying
Speaker 2: its unique hardware address. It's a MANSI address. Zero trust
Speaker 2: environments often employ safeguards like advanced device tracking policies, dynamic
Speaker 2: ARP inspection, which you see in Cisco Catalyst and Marakei
Speaker 2: switch it to validate mappings between IP and MAAC addresses,
Speaker 2: and even AI endpoint analytics like a feature in Cisco
Speaker 2: Catalyst Center can detect if the same MAAC addresses somehow
Speaker 2: being used concurrently in different parts of the network of state,
Speaker 2: which is a huge red flag for spoofing.
Speaker 1: So it's constantly watching for those kinds of anomalies.
Speaker 2: Constantly verifying. Right back to the core principle.
Speaker 1: These real world examples really bring zero trust from theory
Speaker 1: into practice, makes it much clearer. So let's bring it
Speaker 1: back to the listener. What does all of this mean
Speaker 1: for you, Whether you're maybe preparing for a meeting on
Speaker 1: this topic, trying to catch up on the field, or
Speaker 1: perhaps you're just insanely curious. How can you apply these
Speaker 1: insights from our deep dive today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the key question. I think the main takeaway
Speaker 2: is that zero trust isn't fundamentally a product you buy
Speaker 2: off a shelf or just a single tool. It's really
Speaker 2: a strategic approach. It's a mindset shift centered on that
Speaker 2: core principle assume breach, continuously.
Speaker 1: Verifying, assume breach, assume breach.
Speaker 2: It's all about minimizing risk and building resilience across these
Speaker 2: incredibly diverse and dynamic IT environments we all operate in now,
Speaker 2: whether you're dealing with traditional on premises networks, complex cloud setups,
Speaker 2: or hybrid environments combining both Understanding the importance of identity,
Speaker 2: the power of granular segmentation, and the necessity of automation.
Speaker 2: These are foundational elements for building robust security and pretty
Speaker 2: much any context.
Speaker 1: Today, So it changes how you think about security absolutely.
Speaker 2: Grasping these principles helps you think critically about security beyond
Speaker 2: that old, increasingly ineffective fortified perimeter mindset. It encourages you
Speaker 2: to consider multiple perspectives and layers of defense and ultimately
Speaker 2: this knowledge empowers you. It helps you ask more informed questions,
Speaker 2: make better decisions related to security, and just navigate the
Speaker 2: evolving digital landscape with greater confidence. And that's true regardless
Speaker 2: of your specific technical expertise. Understanding the why and the
Speaker 2: what is crucial for everyone.
Speaker 1: That's a great summary, very actionable. Okay, as we wrap
Speaker 1: up this deep dive into zero trust, here's a final
Speaker 1: thought for you to moull over.
Speaker 2: Yeah, something to think about. If this never trust, always
Speaker 2: verified principle is so paramount for our digital defenses for
Speaker 2: securing our networks and data, what might it imply for
Speaker 2: how we establish and maintain trust and other increasingly complex
Speaker 2: and interconnected aspects of our lives and systems. Think about
Speaker 2: things beyond it, like global supply chains, financial systems, even
Speaker 2: just how we verify information in our daily interactions online
Speaker 2: and offline. Where else might this verified first mindset be needed?
Speaker 2: Start to apply?
Speaker 1: A truly fascinating question to consider as our world gets
Speaker 1: more complex and well less inherently trusting. Thank you for
Speaker 1: joining us on this deep dive into zero trust. We
Speaker 1: really hope you feel more informed and may be ready
Speaker 1: to explore these critical topics. Further