Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) refers to a category of products or services combining zero trust architecture with network-level access control to grant access based on identity and certain forms of context. Gartner's definition make it sound similar to Cloud Access Security Brokers and Identity and Access Management tools.

Zero trust is a security concept that assumes that no entity, inside or outside the network, is inherently trustworthy. In a ZTNA approach, all network access is treated as untrusted, and each access request is verified and authenticated before granting access to network resources. The aim of ZTNA is to reduce the attack surface and improve the overall security posture by minimizing the trust placed in any one component of the network.

ZTNA Use Cases

• Authentication

• Access Control for Remote Access

• Observability and Monitoring

Pros:

1. Improved security: ZTNA assumes that all network traffic is untrusted, which makes it more secure than traditional security models that trust internal network traffic. See the Perimeter Problem.

2. Reduced attack surface: ZTNA reduces the attack surface by restricting access to only the resources that a user needs, reducing the risk of a successful attack. Certain implementations also limit lateral movement.

3. Improved compliance: ZTNA can help organizations meet compliance requirements by enforcing security policies and logging all access attempts. See Observability.

4. Flexibility: ZTNA is intended to provide a flexible solution that plugs into most infrastructure, whether cloud, hybrid, on-premise, or even multi-cloud.

5. Prevent malicious insiders: Through use of context-aware access, a ZTNA solution can theoretically mitigate damage done by privileged insiders.

Cons:

1. Limitations in security posture: ZTNA is only as secure as the policies and configurations that are implemented, making it vulnerable to misconfigurations and other security weaknesses.

2. Drastic change from the perimeter-security model: ZTNA fundamentally rethinks previous understandings of security, completely shifting away from the perimeter-security model. Organizations adopting ZTNA will need to do phased rollouts for the organizations to become accustomed to the change.