Looking to achieve zero trust security for your business?

You’re not alone.

The White House recently released an edict declaring the implementation of a federal zero-trust architecture (ZTA) requiring all agencies to comply with specific cybersecurity standards and objectives by the end of 2024.

The Federal strategy, declared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), aims to bolster the defense against increasingly sophisticated — and seemingly omnipresent — threats facing technology infrastructure today. Outlining the public safety and privacy vulnerabilities associated with these continued threats, the adoption of regulatory standards is a large step forward in efforts to curb cybersecurity attacks.

This strategy places an emphasis on improving the enterprise identity and access controls for agencies, including the mandatory deployment of multifactor authentication (MFA) protocols. The deployment of this zero trust strategy will enable agencies to defend against threat actors and cybersecurity vulnerabilities while providing a comprehensive roadmap that will help organizations protect the private information of the nation’s populace.

Access can strengthen your security posture with location-based security and provide zero trust network access to critical business apps — all inside a simplified user experience.

Many companies are looking to protect their valuable data by installing a secure framework that requires all users with network access to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated. After all, whether you’re managing a staff that has transitioned to a remote work environment or overseeing employees in your company’s office, individual equipment, and workstations can present a number of critical vulnerabilities.

Let’s take a look at how integrating zero trust network access (ZTNA) can safeguard your critical data.

But How Do I Get Started?

Getting started with zero trust network access is easier than you think. When considering the protection of your valuable business information, first ask yourself a simple question: What specific outcomes are you looking to achieve?

ZTNA is able to handle the toughest security challenges facing businesses today. Here are some of the commonly tasked functions — chances are, these are problems you’re familiar with.

  • VPN to ZTNA Transition. 60 percent of enterprises will phase out most of their VPNs for a ZTNA by 2023. Traditional VPNs are restricted to remote access, requiring the continued configuration and deployment of individual VPNs across locations to secure on-premises users. Today’s increasingly remote-capable workforce requires a solution that can protect critical data while authorizing and authenticating remote access.
  • Secure Access for Contractors, BYOD. The deployment of a zero trust architecture allows your business to provide VPN-less access to your infrastructure and resources without connecting devices to a shared network. This ensures your network remains secure while empowering remote users and personal or bring-your-own devices (BYOD).
  • Vendor Consolidation in Cybersecurity. Today’s business leaders are searching to procure end-to-end cybersecurity solutions from a small group of providers — or a single source, if a service is willing to tailor their offerings to suit the unique needs of its clients. According to a recent report published by CIO, approximately 80 percent of enterprises are seeking a consolidation strategy for their cybersecurity platforms.

Your business has likely faced some form of challenge with these “big three.” You may even have implemented some security measures to combat cyber threats — but are you aware that legacy solutions, like secure sockets layer (SSL) and virtual private networks (VPN) don’t continually authenticate the devices on your network?

Or, that a data breach on one of your devices could raise compliance issues with organizations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which could have severe financial penalties?

You may not even realize the extent to which bad agents can infiltrate vulnerable connected hardware on your network.

A zero trust framework delivers secure access to all corporate apps, modernizes your IT security, and allows you to securely support your hybrid workforce.

Oversight, Overlooked

You can’t be everywhere. Whether you’re able to maintain line-of-sight on your workforce or not, chances are you’re not aware of all the devices interacting simultaneously with your corporate apps. To say nothing of the remote logins or secondary devices your team is using to check that last email from home. In order to create a zero trust security network for your operational infrastructure, you need to consider all of the possible devices that could attempt to access your valuable data.

Consider this: Your rockstar employee, Jay, is always on time for his shift, and delivers quality work for your organization.

The only issue with Jay?

His laptop is running an outdated operating system (OS). Let’s examine how this oversight puts your whole organization at risk.

Mitigate Threats Targeting Outdated Operating Systems Scenario: Jay uses a personal laptop to access an order processing internal app. His laptop is running an outdated Windows OS version that is already past its end-of-life (EOL).

What is at risk: An outdated OS is one of the key risks for any organization. When a new OS is released, its vendor often announces end-of-support or end-of-life for their much older products. This leaves old operating systems with unpatched security vulnerabilities, making it easy for bad actors to launch cyberattacks. The burden is placed on the user, and unless they update their personal devices, bad actors can wreak havoc using attacks that would be protected with OS updates. The 2017 WannaCry outbreak, for example, impacted over 160,000 outdated Windows users. Because Jay has not updated his OS version, he is left vulnerable to attacks and data is exposed. Many times, once a device is infected with malware, it can propagate laterally from one device to another.

How Citrix ZTNA Protects: Citrix Secure Private Access automatically identifies which OS every device is running. Policies can be put in place that determine the minimum acceptable software and its version. That way, if a device does not meet these requirements, it will have its access restricted or even fully denied. This protects the application and the rest of the company’s network from bad actors exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities of an outdated OS.

Remember, by enlisting the services of a ZTNA solution, you’re not only insulating your business — you’re also protecting the security of your trusted workforce. Whether you’re providing an alternative to VPN or protecting the direct internet access for your remote or office employees, they’ll surely appreciate knowing their work data is safe from vulnerabilities or outright losses.

Citrix ZTNA Solutions

Now that you’ve identified the risks of operating without ZTNA security and learned the benefits of insulating your business operations, it’s time to get started.

Citrix provides a variety of comprehensive solutions that can be tailored to your specific organizational needs. We’re here to provide detailed analytics for security, establish a secure browser for your workforce, and protect the internet access that drives your business.

To learn more about how Citrix provides complete ZTNA solutions, take a look at our Comprehensive Guide to Zero Trust Network Access Use Cases. It’s packed with scenarios like the one poor Jay found himself in and can illuminate security vulnerabilities you might not even realize you have.

From there, we encourage you to contact one of our worldwide experts.

After all, the first step in getting started with a ZTNA solution is recognizing that you need to.