How does RBAC help with Zero Trust?

In Zero Trust, it is not only important to continuously verify user identities. We must also ensure that users receive access only to the applications and data they truly need to do their jobs. As an organization grows, this remains manageable only by defining roles and clearly specifying which systems and data are required for each role. With Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), users are automatically granted access only to the data and applications required for their role.

What role does Least Privilege play in Zero Trust?

Zero Trust assumes that no one can be trusted by default. Consequently, you should not grant people more access than is strictly necessary for their work. This is called the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP), and it helps make your Zero Trust approach more effective. Users receive access to their applications and data on a need-to-know basis. A modern IAM system can help you enforce the principle of least privilege.

Are there alternatives to Zero Trust?

Not really. With perimeter-based security and techniques such as VPN, you quickly revert to the castle-and-moat model. In many cases, that approach no longer suffices. Almost all modern security approaches, therefore, apply Zero Trust concepts. Zero Trust primarily focuses on continuously verifying users. Other concepts, such as Least Privilege and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), focus on ensuring that even when you trust someone, you grant access only to the systems and data they need.

Zero Trust

What is Zero Trust?

Zero Trust is a security principle where users and systems never trust each other by default. In traditional corporate networks, only internal users have access, and a single sign-in check is sufficient. In open cloud environments, however, everything communicates with everything over public networks, and identities must be continuously verified. That is the idea behind Zero Trust.

Why is Zero Trust Security the Best Approach?

To understand why Zero Trust is the best approach today, it is useful first to examine how IT security has traditionally been organized. That traditional model is best compared to a castle. Defense focused on the walls, the drawbridge, and the gate. However, once a breach was made in the wall or the gate was forced open, the adversary was definitively inside.

Traditional IT networks are secured in a similar way. Firewalls and VPNs secure primary access to a corporate network. Once inside, it is often possible to roam through connected systems and data without restriction. Oversight is limited or absent, which makes this approach obsolete in modern IT environments. Ideally, as in Zero Trust, you should continuously verify users.

Zero Trust Principles

The modern IT landscape is literally borderless. Some or all applications and data run in the cloud. Systems are accessible at any time, from any location, and with any device; not only for employees but also for contractors, customers, and partners. Applications also exchange data directly with each other. In practice, the only way to secure your digital environment is to verify every individual session between users, applications, and data. Nothing and no one is trusted by default; that is Zero Trust. As the originator of the concept, John Kindervag, put it: 'never trust, always verify'.

Zero Trust Framework

The Zero Trust approach has existed for more than 10 years. It is now a key concept in information security for many enterprises and public sector organizations. Our own Dutch Cyber Security Center (NSCS) emphasizes the importance of a Zero Trust framework. For example, in the United States, a White House memo (Executive Order 14028) calls on government agencies to "Improve the Nation's Cybersecurity" by implementing a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has also published guidelines for a Zero Trust framework in NIST SP 800-207.

Zero Trust Architecture

In a blog, the NSCS translates the Zero Trust principles into three overarching core concepts for such a Zero Trust architecture:

Authentication and Authorization: 'Never trust, always verify' begins with strong identity verification. Before a user or application is granted access to data and functionality, the claimed identity must be verified. When authentication succeeds, authorization grants the user access to the required data and applications. By limiting permissions to a need-to-know basis, you avoid exposing unnecessary information.
Network Segmentation: Network segmentation helps organize secure access. Networks are divided into zones, also called implied trust zones. An administrator is responsible for each zone and determines who is granted access and which security requirements apply. The key is to work with relatively small zones so the impact of a potential breach remains limited.
Monitoring: Finally, the Zero Trust model assumes continuous monitoring of all devices, users, services, and their communications. Only then can you detect abuse and violations of roles and policies in time and take action, such as automatically blocking certain zones.

In addition to these three pillars, all data must be encrypted. Data must be encrypted at rest, and communications must always be encrypted in transit.

Implementing Zero Trust Security

We have already seen that Identity and Access Management (IAM) capabilities play a key role in implementing Zero Trust security. IAM supports your Zero Trust plans in several ways:

Provisioning access rights is critical. By automating this based on a person's role or function, you ensure that users have access only to the applications and data they need. This directly strengthens your Zero Trust security.
A modern IAM solution also streamlines other access requests, including secure approval workflows. You can also temporarily grant access rights so they do not remain valid indefinitely.
Multifactor Authentication (MFA) further strengthens access security. Passwords are always a weak link, but MFA minimizes the likelihood of a breach.
In a professional IAM solution, access to your applications and data is fully auditable. All access attempts and all changes to business rules and access rights are logged for audit trails.

Learn more about Zero Trust security with IAM?

On our site, you will find a use case about the role of modern IAM solutions in implementing a Zero Trust network. With our cloud-based IAM solution HelloID, you not only have Identity-as-a-Service, but you also take a major step toward a 'Zero Trust as a Service' solution.