Leveraging Microsoft 365 for Your Zero Trust Security Strategy

It's vital for organizations today to reconsider their cybersecurity measures to keep their data safe during this growth of modern cyber threats businesses are subject to daily.

In 2021, cybercrime cost over $6 trillion globally.

Sadly, the days of companies being able to restrict information flow by constructing literal and metaphorical barriers between their offices and networks are long gone. Firewalls and run-of-the-mill malware cannot protect your business anymore.

A key contributing factor to the vulnerability of company data is the required mobility of data in hybrid and remote work environments. Even with strict protocols, the screens that can access your data extend far beyond your company’s closed-network system.

The modern worker is mobile and relies heavily on cloud services to get the job done. Suppose you want to keep sensitive data safe in this setting. In that case, you will have to abandon the traditional trust paradigm based on physical locations inside a network and prioritize the needs of the people using that data for their businesses.

This opinion is precisely the stance taken by the zero-trust paradigm of cybersecurity. The zero-trust paradigm gets based on the trifecta of identity, governance, and compliance. As businesses shift toward this strategy, they will need zero-trust IT platforms.

In this context, Microsoft 365 offers all you need to take the first steps toward a zero-trust cybersecurity strategy.

What is Zero Trust?

While the Zero Trust cybersecurity paradigm has existed for over a decade, it has only just started to gain traction in actual implementation.

Never trust; always verify. That is the gist of Zero Trust. In practice, this involves checking the credentials of every user before allowing them access. Everyone making a request, whether inside or outside your security perimeter, must be verified immediately after completing their request.

In essence, Zero Trust is a game-changer since it helps cut down on complexity, prices, the number of cybersecurity technologies, and the rising shortage of experienced cybersecurity workers.

The Bases of Zero Trust in Microsoft 365

The zero-trust mentality must be applied across the board in Microsoft 365, not just in special places. Furthermore, Microsoft 365 zero trust should enhance other parts of the setting to provide the highest possible level of safety. With that, your own zero trust deployment strategy planning should similarly focus on the following aspects:

Identity

Today, amid a global pandemic, it has become crucial to safeguard the identity part of your ecosystem. Every organization needs to ensure that its users, services, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices all comply with the same identity security requirements. Microsoft offers several features and tools designed to assist in verifying and securing identities.

Endpoints

Protecting the various Microsoft 365 endpoints should be a top priority. Users can connect to your networks and access your internal data using any tools, including their own personal or company-issued gadgets. Regardless of the destination type, it is important to adopt a “Zero Trust” mentality and check everything. You can use it on desktops, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and IoT devices. Even if the user already gets connected to the company’s internal Network, you must still check their device.

Data

Data is a resource you should protect. It goes through the infrastructure, including the networks, endpoints, applications, and infrastructure. In essence, data in Zero Trust Security is protected by:

• Knowing your data
• Preventing data loss
• Protecting your data
• Governing your data

Apps

Several programs and APIs could be looking to get their hands on your private information. The information accessed by these requests must be subject to your discretion. In light of that, here are some things you need to do to implement Zero Trust Security for Applications:

• Obtain visibility into the processes and data that are being handled within them by linking your applications using application programming interfaces (APIs).
• Limit the utilization of Shadow IT.
• Implement policies that will ensure that sensitive information and activities are protected automatically.
• Implement dynamic access and session controls across all of your applications.
• Increase the safeguards against malicious software and malicious websites.
• Conduct a security risk assessment on your various cloud settings.

Infrastructure

Another essential element for every zero trust implementation is the security of the infrastructure. Hardware, software, and the underlying Network are crucial parts of every functional IT system.

There are two possible locations for these: on-premises or in the cloud. The plan is to determine whether or not the infrastructure complies with the standards, note any gaps, select the appropriate mitigation activities, test those actions, and then put them into operation.

Network

“Zero Trust” requires testing and verification of each identity and endpoint. Even if they get located within the Network, zero trust is still applied. The strategy consists of anticipating and preparing for potential attacks.

The implementation of zero-trust security in networks necessitates the following:

• Network segmentation
• Threat protection
• Encryption
• Network segmentation
• Threat protection

Malicious actors have the potential to target each of these entry points to obtain access to confidential data. Thus, you must protect each of these points at all times.

The Deployment of Zero Trust for Microsoft 365

A Zero Trust model offers protection against ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks by granting only the minimum amount of access necessary to carry out particular operations.

Microsoft 365 was developed on purpose to include a large number of security and information protection features to assist you in implementing Zero Trust in your environment. With Microsoft 365, you can expand many capabilities to protect data access within your firm’s other SaaS applications.

Conclusion

Companies in the modern day are obligated to adhere to a plethora of national, state, and industry laws and regulations about the handling of private information. Keeping up with these regulations places a heavy technological and bureaucratic load on businesses. Good thing that many tools within Microsoft 365 make this job easier.

In the end, zero-trust computing promises to supply businesses with a long-term security architecture to safeguard data and infrastructure against new dangers. Consequently, companies that use Microsoft 365 services will be in an ideal position to implement a zero-trust policy.