Forrester Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network Oct 2018
Forrester Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network Oct 2018
Forrester Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network Oct 2018
This PDF is only licensed for individual use when downloaded from forrester.com or reprints.forrester.com. All other distribution prohibited.
FORRESTER.COM
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS
4 Five Steps To Zero Trust Information The Future Of Data Security And Privacy: Growth
Security And Competitive Differentiation
Step 1: Identify Your Sensitive Data Future-Proof Your Digital Business With Zero
Trust Security
Step 2: Map The Flows Of Your Sensitive Data
The Zero Trust eXtended (ZTX) Ecosystem: People
Step 3: Architect Your Zero Trust
Microperimeters
Recommendations
10 Use Zero Trust To Unite Technology And
Business Stakeholders
›› Ensure you have a documented security strategy. Your security strategy must document the
scope of the security organization’s functional and technical responsibilities, structure, and staffing;
describe the overall technical security architecture; and lay out the road map for capital and
operating investments.2
›› Use Forrester’s Zero Trust Model as the security architecture blueprint . . . ZT is an architectural
model for building secure microperimeters, using obfuscation to increase data security, curbing
excessive user privileges to limit risk, and employing automation and analytics to improve security
detection and response. It requires S&R pros to discard the idea of a trusted internal network and
an untrusted external network. It demands that security teams verify and secure all resources
regardless of location; limit and strictly enforce access control for all users, devices, channels, and
hosting models; and log and inspect all internal and external traffic (see Figure 1).3
›› . . . and apply it to the entire business ecosystem. Apply ZT throughout the extended business
ecosystem, including all hosting models, locations, users, and devices. If you don’t address
mobile device and app proliferation, cloud service adoption, social media use, and third-party
dependencies, you have no hope of detecting or responding to a targeted attack. An architectural
approach will help you focus on the security of your data, workforce, and workloads (whether they
run on-premises or in the public cloud).4
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 2
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
App hosting
and sourcing
SaaS apps
Partner apps
All
Apps in private clouds networks
(untrusted)
On-premises enterprise apps
App User
access channels populations
Data control — the ability to apply universal security policies to protect sensitive data regardless of
location, device type, hosting model, or user population. This requires the ability to:
• Inventory and classify data across networks, devices, and apps.
• Encrypt data in flight to and at rest in any application, device, or network regardless of location.
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 3
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
You can’t protect what you can’t see. If you don’t know where your firm stores data; how employees,
partners, and customers use it; who specifically uses it; and how sensitive it is; you’re depending on
blind luck to protect you from a data breach. Before investing in security controls, identify the data you
need to protect.7 Zero Trust starts at the data to ensure that S&R pros’ technology investments have a
specific purpose and are not guided by expense-in-depth principles. S&R leaders must:
›› Identify and classify sensitive data. By defining your data, you can identify sensitive data sources to
protect. Forrester’s data security and control framework can help you get a handle on sensitive data
and create a strategy for becoming more data-centric.8 Next, simplify your data classification. Many
data classification policies are based on complex analog models of classifying documents that are
impossible to implement. Prevent this by using Forrester’s simplified data classification model, which
sorts data into three categories: public, internal, and confidential. Classifying data according to the
way you will protect it can make your data classification project a reality (see Figure 2).9
›› Segment the network based on data sensitivity. When designing ZT networks, it’s important to
do it in consumable chunks. Zero Trust is an object-oriented network design. The goal is to create
small segments of network elements — microperimeters — that you can bind together to create
a larger ZT network. When creating your first ZT microperimeter, start with a well-understood
data type or system such as the HR system, which contains highly sensitive data in the form of
employees’ personally identifiable information.10 If you’re a hospital or medical provider, start with
your clinical systems; a pharmaceutical company, your drug discovery systems.
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 4
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
You need to understand how data flows across your extended network and between resources and
people: employees, partners, and customers (see Figure 3). To map transaction flows, engage multiple
stakeholders: application architects to see how the application interacts with users; network architects
to understand network interconnections; enterprise architects to pull everything together; and business
reps to identify the business value of the application. Designing an HR ZT network, for example, would
use a typical three-tiered application architecture: The web server tier provides the application interface
to users; the app server tier translates web server requests into business logic; and the database
server tier holds the sensitive data necessary for the application to function. As you begin mapping, the
cross-functional ZT design team must:
›› Locate and map all dependent network and system objects. In an HR system, for example, this
means locating all of the network and system objects that a successful application needs. It’s not
uncommon to discover legacy hardware or software in the flow. Mapping the application flow is useful
for disaster recovery planning and can reveal sanctioned and unsanctioned third-party and cloud-service
dependencies. In an HR system, this might include third-party identity verification services and employee
due diligence services. The data flow mapping exercise can’t stop at the corporate perimeter: Sensitive
data flowing to a third party requires security controls including encryption in flight and at rest.11
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 5
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
›› Design a more optimal flow if necessary. Application flow mapping will show you how the
application works today. The design team must take that version of the transaction flow and design
an optimized version that disregards the current network state. Remember, you’re building a new
micronetwork for this application that you will join with other elements to make a functioning
application or technology service.12
›› Leverage existing data and network flow diagrams. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data
Security Standard requires firms to create diagrams to help understand cardholder data flows and
ensure that network segmentation isolates the cardholder data environment.13 You can use PCI
cardholder data flow diagrams to help map your own sensitive data transaction flows. Many firms
also undertake data flow mapping exercises as part of their efforts to comply with the EU’s General
Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in May 2018. Data protection authorities across the
EU have geared up to enforce these new data privacy protections for EU residents — including
fines of up to 4% of a violator’s global revenues.14
Account
management
Application
Data sharing
partner
Data
Sales DB
Client Mobile
app
Client information DB
Security architects will base the actual design of a Zero Trust network on how the transactions flow
across the extended business ecosystem and how people and applications access sensitive data.
Individuals can only use, abuse, or misuse data — so define and optimize a transaction path that
characterizes proper data use and flags or denies transactions when someone is potentially abusing or
misusing it. To do this:
›› Define microperimeters around sensitive data. Once you determine the optimal flow, identify
where to place the microperimeters. As the primary goal is to protect sensitive data, S&R pros
usually create microperimeters around sensitive data repositories and systems of record (see Figure
4). The ability to create virtual networks via software-defined networking is useful in ZT design, but
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 6
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
it’s important to enforce the segmentation with a security control. Virtual networks are designed
to optimize network performance; they can’t by themselves prevent malware propagation, lateral
movement, or unauthorized access to sensitive data.
›› Enforce microperimeters with physical or virtual security controls. There are multiple ways to
enforce microperimeters. In some instances, you’ll want to use a physical or virtual NGFW from
a vendor like Check Point, Cisco, Fortinet, or Palo Alto Networks. If you’ve adopted a network
virtualization platform because you have a highly virtualized compute environment, opt for a virtual
NGFW to insert into the virtualization layer of your network. You don’t always need a NGFW to
enforce network segmentation; there are software-based approaches to microsegmentation from
vendors such as Edgewise Networks, Illumio, Safe-T, ShieldX, and even established vendors such
as Akamai and VMware.15
›› Limit and strictly enforce access to microperimeters. The Zero Trust approach requires you to
minimize and strictly control this access. To define rules, the ZT design team must have a detailed
understanding of user entitlements — fine-grained authorizations that dictate what kind of access
a user has to a resource after authentication. Security teams also need a commercial solution for
identity management and governance to frequently review and recertify these entitlements.16
›› Automate the rule and policy base. Zero Trust requires firms to define and enforce data security
and access policies across hosting models, locations, users, and devices, requiring you to carefully
define rules and policies within key security controls such as NGFWs, email and cloud security
gateways, and DLP.17 These controls combine to enforce microperimeters that transcend hosting
models and locations. While today you may have to go to each solution’s management console
to do this, vendors are working on product integrations that automatically update policy and
centralized consoles that define and update policies across products. Cisco’s Defense Orchestrator
unifies policies across its NGFWs, web security appliances, and solutions that are part of Cisco
Umbrella. Most security portfolio vendors are taking a similar approach.
›› Use auditing and change control tools. If you’re using heterogeneous firewalls, one best practice
is to use a firewall auditing and change control solution such as AlgoSec, FireMon, Red Seal,
Skybox Security, or Tufin to continuously audit and optimize your NGFW rule base. Many security
teams have a change control mechanism that provides a process for adding firewall rules but
doesn’t delete expired rules. Don’t forget to look for unused rules in your policy; malicious actors
could exploit these.
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 7
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
Active Security
directory analytics
DB microperimeter
Step 4: Continuously Monitor Your Zero Trust Ecosystem With Security Analytics
Another core tenet of Zero Trust is to log and inspect all internal and external traffic for malicious
activity and areas of improvement. S&R pros can use a variety of solutions to monitor the entire
ecosystem for signs of malicious activity. Many security information management (SIM) solutions have
evolved into robust security analytics (SA) solutions that can ingest and correlate not only logs but also
data from disparate sources such as networks, applications, endpoints, and DLP and IAM solutions.18
Instead of relying solely on rules, SA uses data science techniques to detect unknown threats and
complex attacks; the deeper context, built-in workflows, and embedded remediation capabilities
dramatically improve investigations and response.19 To better monitor ZT environments:
›› Evaluate where you may already have SA. Are you making the most of tools you already own? SIM
vendors now include features like network analysis and visibility and security user behavior analytics
(SUBA) — so ask your SIM vendor what functionality is available through your current solution. If you
can avoid adding yet another product or interface, your security operations team will thank you.20
›› Determine the best deployment model for your business. If much of your business has already
moved to the cloud, a cloud deployment from a vendor like AlienVault (recently acquired by AT&T),
IBM, Securonix, or Splunk may be a better fit for you, especially if your security team is already
overtaxed.21 On-premises deployments can be a better fit in sensitive environments or where data
volumes are a concern. Hybrid deployments, where some monitoring is performed in the cloud and
some with on-premises equipment, are also popular.
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 8
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
›› Find a vendor that will move you along the automation path. SA vendors are building
automation into their solutions and integrating with tools like IAM, NGFWs, intrusion prevention,
and endpoint detection and response to give security operations center (SOC) analysts the ability
to initiate remediation from the SA console. The next step is to automate remediation to take
immediate action based on confidence level and business impact.22 Challenge your vendor to
demonstrate how it’s automating SOC processes.
Technology is increasingly automated, but security teams at many firms still use manual processes,
relying on spreadsheets and email for much of their investigative work and collaboration. Manual
security operations slow breach detection and response, leaving data and systems vulnerable to
attacks or giving attackers more time to exfiltrate data and cause lasting damage to the environment.
To embrace automation:
›› Work with business leaders to define policies for automation. In the past, security teams were
hesitant to automate anything for fear of blocking a legitimate transaction or affecting the customer
or employee experience. Today, the potential business impact of a security breach or incident is
so great that both business leaders and S&R teams are embracing automation — which requires
defining the firm’s tolerance for risk. If a monitoring solution like SA has a high degree of confidence
that an employee’s behavior is malicious, a predefined policy or SOC analyst automatically triggers
a reset of that user’s password and the isolation of his devices from the network. The confidence
threshold could be lower for privileged users with the potential to inflict significant damage.
›› Assess and document your SOC processes. Many security teams lack defined workflows and
SOC processes. Automating poor processes will only allow you to make bad decisions faster.
Before fully embracing security automation and orchestration (SAO), assess the maturity of your
processes, document them, and standardize them across the security team. You may be surprised
to learn how many steps your analysts go through to conduct an investigation or close a ticket.
›› Check with your SA vendor to see what automation options are available. SA vendors like
IBM and Splunk already have or are adding SAO to their solutions. Splunk recently acquired one of
the better-known dedicated SOA vendors, Phantom. Before investing in yet another security tool,
ask your existing vendor if it can support your needs. Depending on the capabilities and road map
of your current SA vendor, you may decide to go with a dedicated SAO solution like those from
Demisto, Siemplify, and SwimLane.23
›› Confirm that the SAO vendor supports your security infrastructure. A SAO tool will do you
no good if it doesn’t work with your current technology stack. Before deploying, ask for a proof of
concept to demonstrate that the solution works with your infrastructure.
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 9
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
Recommendations
›› Work with I&O leaders to define microperimeters and enable automation. At many firms,
the infrastructure and operations (I&O) team controls much of the technology budget; develops
strategy; manages cloud initiatives and core infrastructure for computing, network, and storage;
and is at the forefront of initiatives like DevOps, infrastructure-as-code, and the internet of things.24
Traditionally, I&O and security teams have operated as distinct silos, but now they must fuse their
talents and automation initiatives to deliver efficient risk management with unprecedented speed,
agility, and dependability.25
›› Engage business leaders in data inventory, classification, and mapping. Data is the currency
of digital businesses, and a data breach is a catastrophic event. Because ZT is data-centric, it can
play a key role not only in shoring up an enterprise’s reputation for security, privacy, and trust with
its customers, but also in aligning the objectives of the CMO, CIO, and CISO. By understanding
the critical data that drives a company’s business, Zero Trust efforts can help these execs prevent
a data breach that drives customers away and costs millions. It can also aid chief privacy and data
protection officers to ensure the firm not only meets but exceeds the spirit of consumer privacy
objectives in regulations like GDPR and the recently passed California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.
›› Extend Zero Trust thinking to include their people. Use security awareness training as an
opportunity to increase the security IQ of your employees, engage them in identifying and
compartmentalizing sensitive data, and leverage them as a first line of defense to recognize when
sensitive data is flowing outside of appropriate channels. Once your people are engaged in these
processes, they will be more comfortable as you roll out SUBA to detect anomalous activity in your
network and act on it before it becomes a breach.26
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 10
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
To help you put research Translate research into Join our online sessions
into practice, connect action by working with on the latest research
with an analyst to discuss an analyst on a specific affecting your business.
your questions in a engagement in the form Each call includes analyst
30-minute phone session of custom strategy Q&A and slides and is
— or opt for a response sessions, workshops, available on-demand.
via email. or speeches.
Learn more.
Learn more. Learn more.
Endnotes
Cyberthreats, complex technology environments, and the struggle to hire experienced staff are finally forcing S&R
1
pros to seek out security automation solutions. See the Forrester report “Breakout Vendors: Security Automation And
Orchestration (SAO).”
Forrester’s CISO Strategic Canvas guides security leaders in developing a strategy that aligns with business
2
objectives. Expand outside security if you want to anticipate where the business is going and how to help get it there.
See the Forrester report “Use Forrester’s CISO Strategic Canvas To Align Security With Business.”
There’s an old saying in information security: “We want our network to be like an M&M, with a hard crunchy outside
3
and a soft chewy center.” For today’s digital business, this perimeter-based security model is ineffective. See the
Forrester report “No More Chewy Centers: The Zero Trust Model Of Information Security.”
See the Forrester report “The Zero Trust eXtended (ZTX) Ecosystem: People.”
4
As the threat landscape continues to evolve, S&R leaders must adjust their risk management strategies to counter
5
the next frontier: intellectual property theft. Theft of IP, such as trade secrets, new product designs, financial
information, and source code, can lead to a permanent loss of competitive advantage. See the Forrester report “The
Cybercriminal’s Prize: Your Customer Data And Intellectual Property.”
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 11
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
6
To help S&R professionals navigate the complex landscape of privacy laws around the world, Forrester created the
Data Privacy Heat Map, which explains the data protection guidelines and practices for 54 countries. See the Forrester
report “Forrester’s 2017 Interactive Data Privacy Heat Map.”
7
Data identity is the missing link that S&R leaders must define to create actionable policy. See the Forrester report
“Develop Effective Security And Privacy Policies.”
8
Forrester’s Data Security And Control Framework breaks down the problem of controlling and securing data into three
areas: defining the data; dissecting and analyzing the data; and defending and protecting the data. See the Forrester
report “The Future Of Data Security And Privacy: Growth And Competitive Differentiation.”
9
S&R pros can’t expect to adequately protect customer, employee, and sensitive corporate data and IP if they don’t
know what data exists, where it resides, how valuable it is to the firm, and who can use it. See the Forrester report
“Rethinking Data Discovery And Classification Strategies.”
10
See the Forrester report “Build Security Into Your Network’s DNA: The Zero Trust Network Architecture” and see the
Forrester report “Jump-Start Zero Trust With Forrester’s Reference Architecture.”
11
Due to growing concerns regarding data theft, privacy, and government surveillance, security pros are increasingly
using all forms of encryption (cloud gateway, file, full disk, app-level, database-level, etc.) throughout their digital
businesses. See the Forrester report “TechRadar™: Data Security And Privacy, Q4 2017.”
12
See the Forrester report “Future-Proof Your Digital Business With Zero Trust Security.”
13
For more information, consult the PCI DSS v3.2 Requirement 1.1.3. Source: “Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data
Security Standard (DSS) and Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS),” PCI Security Standards
Council, April 2016 (https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/documents/PCI_DSS_v3-2.pdf?agreement=true&ti
me=1510065355049).
14
“Infringements . . . shall . . . be subject to administrative fines up to 20,000,000 EUR, or in the case of an undertaking,
up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.” Source: “Art.
83 GDPR: General conditions for imposing administrative fines,” General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (https://
gdpr-info.eu/art-83-gdpr/).
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 12
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
FOR SECURITY & RISK PROFESSIONALS October 1, 2018
Five Steps To A Zero Trust Network
Road Map: The Security Architecture And Operations Playbook
See the Forrester report “Become A Unicorn With With Infrastructure-As-Code” and see the Forrester report “Pick The
24
© 2018 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. 13
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
We work with business and technology leaders to develop
customer-obsessed strategies that drive growth.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
›› Core research and tools
›› Data and analytics
›› Peer collaboration
›› Analyst engagement
›› Consulting
›› Events
CLIENT SUPPORT
For information on hard-copy or electronic reprints, please contact Client Support at
+1 866-367-7378, +1 617-613-5730, or clientsupport@forrester.com. We offer quantity
discounts and special pricing for academic and nonprofit institutions.
Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We work with
business and technology leaders to develop customer-obsessed strategies that drive growth. Through proprietary
research, data, custom consulting, exclusive executive peer groups, and events, the Forrester experience is about a
singular and powerful purpose: to challenge the thinking of our clients to help them lead change in their organizations.
For more information, visit forrester.com. 120510