Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security protocol that requires users to validate their identity through two or more different types of factors. In MFA security, a factor may be something you know, like a password or a PIN; something you have, like a smartphone or a push notification; or something you are (identity-based), including a fingerprint or facial recognition. By requiring two-factor authentication or three-factor authentication, companies can dramatically reduce the likelihood of a data breach due to stolen credentials. MFA services can play an important role in supporting Zero Trust networking.
The need for Zero Trust networking
Zero Trust architecture has recently become a preferred security standard as corporate networks grow more distributed and as employees increasingly work remotely. In contrast to the traditional castle-and-moat approach to security — where any user and device already inside the network was assumed to be safe — the Zero Trust framework takes a “trust nothing, verify everything” approach to cybersecurity. This means that every user or device seeking remote access to applications and data is assumed to be already compromised and must be continually authenticated.
Successful implementation of Zero Trust networking requires access to critical assets to be tightly managed. To accomplish this, organizations must establish microperimeters of control around these assets, with access policies permitting entry based on context and only after secure authentication has been established.
In the past, this level of control would have involved enormous complexity, time, and cost. Today, organizations can easily implement Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) into their security strategy with microsegmentation capabilities from Akamai Guardicore Segmentation.
Zero Trust networking relies on strong authentication and authorization for every device and every person before any access is granted or data is transferred, regardless of whether the request comes from inside or outside the network perimeter. The authentication process combines analytics, filtering, and logging to verify behavior and identify vulnerabilities and signs of compromise.
There are five core principles behind the Zero Trust security model:
Every user is always assumed to be hostile.
External and internal threats are always present on the network.
Every device, user, and network flow must be authenticated and authorized.
Network locality is not enough to justify trust in a network.
Security controls and policies must be dynamic and calculated from as many data sources as possible.
Microsegmentation is an essential workflow tool that can help organizations apply these Zero Trust networking principles. The microsegmentation process starts by understanding the dependencies and communications that are unique to the IT environment. By establishing microperimeters around sensitive data and critical assets, IT teams can limit access to only those activities that have a legitimate business purpose.
Our solution enables deep, process-level visibility that lets you find and identify all the applications and workloads running within your environment. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation also makes it easy to graphically map the dependencies between assets, which is essential for creating microperimeter groupings as well as accurate policies. Real-time and historical visibility into all transactions are captured by comprehensive logs, providing continuous validation that eliminates guesswork and exposure to risk.
Achieve Zero Trust with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is the fastest way to visualize and segment assets in the data center, cloud, or hybrid cloud infrastructure. With a software-based segmentation solution, Akamai enables organizations to achieve a higher level of security more quickly and easily, with no downtime. With Akamai, organizations can reduce the attack surface, prevent lateral movement, and secure critical IT assets more effectively.
In contrast to legacy firewalls, VLANs, and other segmentation solutions, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation integrates deep visibility of the entire IT environment into its policy engine. This enables security teams to establish granular security policies with greater accuracy and certainty. After understanding how applications communicate in a visual map, IT teams can prioritize business-critical applications and apply segmentation policy with just a few clicks. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation also provides tools to detect high-risk endpoints and servers, to assess their level of exposure, and to immediately secure them with granular segmentation policies.
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides:
Broader coverage. Akamai protects critical assets no matter where they are deployed — in the cloud, on-premises, virtual servers, bare-metal, or containers.
Faster segmentation. A flexible allowlist/denylist model enables fast risk reduction with a few rules.
Consistent enforcement. With Akamai, IT teams can apply the same level of granular, process-level rules across different operating environments like Linux and Windows.
No changes. Akamai’s software-based approach to segmentation delivers results with no changes to networks or applications and no downtime.
Breach detection. Comprehensive breach detection capabilities include dynamic deception, reputational analysis, and a threat intelligence firewall.
Support for legacy systems. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation supports more legacy operating systems, including Windows 2003, CentOS 6, RHEL 5, and AS/400.
Five steps to Zero Trust networking with Akamai Guardicore
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation enables organizations to move to a Zero Trust architecture in five critical steps.
1. Map connections and data flows. Zero Trust networking depends on total visibility into applications, workloads, and devices. Akamai delivers real-time and historical maps that help teams identify sensitive connections and flows across any infrastructure. By revealing application dependencies, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides the insight required to create secure Zero Trust microperimeters.
2. Architect microperimeters. Akamai Guardicore provides automatic validation and recommendations that help security teams rapidly design secure perimeters around critical applications.
3. Enforce microsegmentation with a software-based approach. Zero Trust security requires fast, effective microsegmentation. A software-defined solution offers a more agile approach to network segmentation than internal firewalls and VLANs. Since Akamai Guardicore is decoupled from the network, it enables segmentation down to the application level while ensuring policies follow the workload across any infrastructure.
4. Embrace automation and orchestration. To meet Zero Trust principles in complex environments, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers rich, built-in integration with orchestration tools that simplify deployment and enable permissions through automation. An extensive, well-documented, open REST API allows teams to create their own private network integrations when needed to build an effective Zero Trust policy.
5. Monitor workload security. Along with strong network segmentation capabilities, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides tools to detect malicious behavior. These include a proprietary threat intelligence firewall that blocks malicious traffic to and from attackers (including different types of malware and ransomware), dynamic deception to identify and analyze lateral movement attacks, and signature-based reputational analysis to identify malicious processes and traffic.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Zero Trust networking is a new framework for network security. Rather than the traditional approach to security where users and technologies are considered trusted if they’re inside a secure perimeter, a Zero Trust approach assumes least-privilege access — where every person, device, system, and connection inside or outside of the network — is already compromised. This allows security teams to adopt a more rigorous security posture to deal with a threat landscape that is increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. Along with secure access service edge (SASE) technology, Zero Trust solutions are an important part of remote work security as workforces become more mobile and flexible through digital transformation efforts.
To establish a Zero Trust network, security teams establish microperimeters around critical assets, providing access control through granular security policy. To accomplish this, IT teams must be able to view assets, user identity, application dependencies, and normal traffic flows that will be governed by security policies. Microsegmentation capabilities are essential for quickly and effectively creating microperimeters and enforcing data protection and security policies that govern the assets within an IT environment.
Why customers choose Akamai
Akamai powers and protects life online. Leading companies worldwide choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital experiences — helping billions of people live, work, and play every day. Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform, puts apps and experiences closer to users and keeps threats farther away.