The demand for enhanced connectivity has prefaced the growth of Wide Area Networks (WANs), with businesses drawn to their cross-regional data sharing capabilities. As their name would suggest, WANs stretch across geographic regions, connecting multiple components and devices across physical and virtual spaces. But the interconnectivity of WANs must be balanced against robust security measures due to the increased threat surface.
To supercharge WAN security and achieve the ideal of secure connectivity, organisations should look to incorporate the strategies and technologies of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) to fulfil the security function of modern-day corporate networks. But introducing Zero Trust to WAN environments is hugely challenging given their scale and complexity, leaving network security professionals with a headache.
We are here to reassure you that this process doesn’t have to be difficult, and by following these five incremental steps, you can achieve secure connectivity in your WAN.
1. Review your existing architecture
Before you can begin the exciting part of implementing the strategies and technologies of ZTA, you need to consider your existing network infrastructure and work from there. For Zero Trust to be effective within a WAN, you need to account for every single device and component that interacts with the network. This comes by virtue of designing a landing zone, a network architectural blueprint that highlights all the flows of traffic and any potential security vulnerabilities across the WAN.
Vulnerabilities typically arise when networks rely on legacy technology and outdated systems. The presence of toxic technical debt in WANs is a huge burden for network security professionals, with 50% of businesses naming ‘challenges with technology infrastructure’ as the chief internal barrier to cost control, according to Deloitte’s MarginPLUS survey. A thorough review of your existing architecture can help you identify where legacy equipment sits within the WAN, enabling you to take the next step towards secure connectivity and avoiding the potential future resource drain that toxic technical debt can bring.
2. Devise a plan
Once you have reviewed your existing architecture, you are now best placed to begin introducing Zero Trust to your WAN. Due to the huge scope of work, it is impossible to introduce Zero Trust in one full sweep, and so implementation must be phased to minimise disruptions.
As well as considering user experience and risk propensity, scalability needs to be kept in mind when building ZTA in WANs. Business needs change at a moment’s notice, and so there needs to be wriggle room in your plan to accommodate the addition of extra hardware, software, and cloud services. A phased plan gives you the best chance of successfully delivering Zero Trust to your WAN, and as we move onto the practical side of implementing policies and technologies, it’s important we don’t deviate from the fundamental principle of Zero Trust.
3. Everything is untrusted
The guiding philosophy of Zero Trust is ‘Never trust, always verify’. This means that all traffic, irrespective of where it originates from, needs to be confronted with the same stringent verification procedures. This indiscriminate and continuous verification serves to safeguard your WAN, segmenting critical network areas to minimise the risk of lateral movement. In today’s interconnected digital world, there can be no distinction between trusted and untrusted locations as the proliferation of cybercrime has blurred the lines.
Access controls are integral to the success of ZTA, offering layered security to deter cybercriminals from gaining access. Robust Active Directory Management that clearly defines user roles works in tandem with policies such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to identify, authenticate, and authorise all users before granting access. To facilitate secure connectivity, we need to reinforce untrustworthiness across the WAN by encouraging multi-stage verification. Zero Trust serves to bridge the gap between risk propensity and user experience, but for it to be a long-term success, you need to compensate for the arbitrariness of business needs that will impact your WAN.
4. Be prepared for change
Agility is the barometer of a functional WAN and therefore, your ZTA implementation needs to be flexible. Business needs change like the wind and within the space of a few months, your network architecture may be incompatible at best and obsolete at worst, which is why Zero Trust can never be considered a final fixed solution.
Your userbase, for example, is not going to remain a constant as employees change roles or leave the business outright. If left unattended, unused user accounts are a potential entry vector that cybercriminals can exploit, which is why attentive monitoring of your network is imperative to ensuring secure connectivity. Flexibility enables robust and dynamic network security, but in addition to enhancing cyber defences, Zero Trust must also work to deliver interconnectivity.
5. Frame Zero Trust as improving user experience
Secure connectivity is manifested when the user experience and security posture are simultaneously enhanced. For ZTA to achieve that balance, you need to carry as much weight to usability as security during the implementation process.
An improved user experience will be well received by key decision makers and Zero Trust delivers that functionality through dynamic routing. Selecting the optimal path when transferring data over the WAN, ZTA works to optimise network traffic and reduce the risk of latency, all whilst perpetuating the logic of ‘Never trust, always verify’.
Maintaining secure connectivity
Zero Trust is compatible with even the most expansive of WANs, fulfilling the demands of security and connectivity. Underscoring a successful ZTA strategy takes meticulous planning and a thorough understanding of all the various components and devices that make up your corporate network.
For ZTA to stand the test of time in WANs, you must embrace the inevitability of change by accommodating scalability and flexibility into your architecture. The fusion of ZTA and WANs are the breeding ground for secure connectivity and by following these steps, you can simultaneously optimise user experience and cybersecurity posture.