Zero Trust

Embracing Zero Trust

As organizations embrace new technologies, their data frequently shifts outside the reach of traditional security measures, creating vulnerabilities.

Storata’s Zero Trust Strategy enables organizations to modernize their security practices, facilitating secure digital transformation. This approach allows businesses to confidently adopt new technologies while safeguarding their critical data.

Understanding Zero Trust

Zero Trust is the principle that no user, device, application, or network is trusted by default. Access is only granted after thoroughly verifying the identity and context of the entity requesting it. This approach ensures that every action undergoes strict scrutiny, reducing assumptions about trustworthiness.

Beyond being just a security framework, Zero Trust is a vital shift that organizations must embrace to align their security measures with the evolving technological landscape, which has significantly transformed the threat environment. At Storata, we believe that implementing a Zero Trust strategy is crucial for effectively protecting assets in today’s dynamic world.

In 2022, IBM highlighted a staggering average cost of $4.35 million for data breaches, a figure that continues to rise. As organizations adapt to the demands of remote work, cloud migration, and SaaS solutions, they are unlocking new levels of productivity. However, this transformation brings significant risk exposure. Many organizations find that their existing security frameworks are ill-suited to the modern technological landscape, often struggling to keep pace with evolving threats.

According to Avast, a significant 59% of IT leaders report challenges in securing remote devices. The traditional perimeter-centric security models are becoming increasingly ineffective and can hinder productivity. This challenge isn’t limited to remote workers; businesses are realizing that their critical data, applications, and infrastructure now span beyond their physical offices.

To address this shift, organizations must adopt a holistic security approach that protects data, networks, users, and devices, both inside and outside the traditional perimeter. Storata is committed to providing solutions that empower organizations to navigate this complex security environment effectively, ensuring robust protection in an increasingly distributed world.

To foster innovation in our businesses while minimizing risk, we must embrace Zero Trust. This modern security approach effectively tackles today’s complex threat landscape, supporting your organization’s digital transformation without stifling creativity and progress. With Zero Trust, you can ensure robust protection while continuing to innovate.

Advantages of Zero Trust

Navigating the Modern Threat Landscape

In the current landscape, organizations are embracing advanced technologies and platforms to enhance productivity and foster greater agility. However, this transformation introduces significant cyber risks. By leveraging innovative Zero Trust principles, methodologies, and architectures, your cybersecurity strategy can effectively tackle the complexities of today’s threat environment.

Defense Beyond the Perimeter

Traditionally, organizations focused heavily on perimeter security, viewing themselves as fortified castles. While this method served its purpose in the past, it has become inadequate as data, users, devices, and systems increasingly operate outside these confines. A contemporary Zero Trust strategy ensures that security follows users, devices, and data, no matter where they are located.

Defense Within the Perimeter

Despite many assets moving outside our perimeter, it’s essential to remember the significance of our internal resources. Previously, we trusted our internal networks too much, relying on the security of our external defenses and limited access points. With more entry points than ever, it’s vital to abandon this assumption of trust, as it can leave our organization vulnerable if an asset is compromised. A Zero Trust approach allows for precise access segmentation within your network, reducing the potential impact of any security incident.

Securing Digital Transformation

As organizations pursue digital transformation through modern technologies like cloud services, SaaS, and productivity tools, their cybersecurity measures often struggle to keep pace. A well-implemented Zero Trust strategy enables businesses to innovate securely, ensuring that speed and usability are not sacrificed for security.

Aligning Security with Business Enablement

Zero Trust offers a unique opportunity to enhance both user experience and security simultaneously—something that has often been challenging. With the context and insights that Zero Trust provides, we can confidently support business initiatives while managing risk effectively. This shift allows your security program to transition from a barrier to a protective ally, fostering progress without compromise.

Storata's Zero Trust Model

At Storata, our proprietary Zero Trust Strategy framework is meticulously developed in-house to define our approach to cybersecurity. This framework emphasizes key areas that deliver substantial security benefits, remaining practical and attainable for organizations of all sizes. Crafted by seasoned security professionals with extensive experience in cybersecurity engineering, architecture, and leadership across private and public sectors globally, our strategy is rooted in real-world expertise.

Our Zero Trust Strategy features 8 essential pillars organized into 3 maturity levels, providing a comprehensive evaluation of your organization’s cybersecurity posture. With this tailored approach, Storata ensures clarity, actionability, and meaningful enhancements to your security landscape.

What are the 8 Fundamental Aspects of Storata's Zero Trust Strategy?

At Storata, we strongly advocate for the integration of Zero Trust principles across all facets of an organization—encompassing systems, workflows, people, and infrastructure.

To facilitate this approach, we’ve developed a comprehensive Zero Trust Strategy centered around eight essential pillars, providing an in-depth assessment of your organization’s cybersecurity framework.

People

Foster a culture of threat awareness and resilience, empowering your team to recognize risks while continuously evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives.

Identities

Establish multi-factor authentication and ongoing user verification, along with automated processes for continuous onboarding and offboarding.

Endpoints

Deliver robust protection for devices, regardless of location, operating system, or user.

Networks

Segment and isolate networks to protect critical assets from potential threats.

Infrastructure

Guard essential infrastructure against data breaches, misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and alterations.

Applications

Maintain a detailed inventory of applications, perform risk assessments, restrict access, and secure applications and APIs.

Data

Ensure comprehensive protection for data through classification, labeling, restricted access, data loss prevention (DLP), and full encryption.

Analytics

Implement real-time monitoring across all pillars to gain insights into interactions, identify anomalies, and enhance threat visibility.

What are the ten key principles of Zero Trust at Storata?

At Storata, we adopt a principles-driven approach to Zero Trust, ensuring our cybersecurity programs are customized to meet the diverse needs of our clients across multiple domains.

1. Contextual Authentication

2. Temporary Least Privilege

3. Breach Preparedness

4. Security Everywhere

5. Continuous Threat Evaluation

6. Cloud-Ready, Enhanced Security

7. Ongoing Compliance Assessment

8. Reduced Attack Surfaces

9. Efficient Automation

10. Identity-Focused Access Control

Storata's Zero Trust Approach

Exploratory Workshops at Storata

At Storata, we organize exploratory sessions and discussions with your organization’s crucial team members to gather important information about the present condition of your security program. This collaborative effort enables us to create a thorough overview of your current environment while involving key stakeholders.

Organizational Maturity Assessment at Storata

We will consolidate the insights gathered about your organization’s overall maturity and scoring across the eight pillars in our final report. Moreover, we will evaluate your organization’s standing relative to industry peers, highlighting whether your current position is below, on par with, or exceeds that of comparable organizations.

Visioning Workshop at Storata

During our interviews or in subsequent discussions, we will evaluate your organization’s present position on the maturity scale and recommend an aspirational maturity level for each pillar. This proposal will be collaboratively developed with Storata and your organization, and it will be documented in the final report.

Future State Plans and Dependencies at Storata

The report will provide a comprehensive overview of actionable, vendor-independent projects for the future, following the completion of the current and future state assessments. It will outline the necessary resources, establish priority rankings, and indicate the corresponding maturity levels for each proposed project, while also highlighting how Storata’s services and technology partners can contribute.

Strategic Implementation Roadmap at Storata

Storata will present a timeline-driven roadmap for prioritizing the rollout of each designated control. This framework will take into account the connections between initiatives, security enhancements, organizational goals, and low-effort quick wins.

Strategic Security Report

Storata will aggregate and assess all gathered data to generate an overview report. This document will detail the existing condition of your organization’s security framework, compare it to peer organizations, and outline the envisioned future state.

Concluding Transition Sessions

Storata will assist your organization in navigating the findings and strategy, delivering expertise from our Zero Trust professionals. Extra sessions are also available, including Leadership and Technical workshops.

Additional Engagement Sessions

TECHNICAL STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION

Implementing Zero Trust can be a significant transformation that requires support and collaboration from your organization’s technical teams. Storata can lead a comprehensive session to explore Zero Trust principles, concepts, diagrams, and benefits, fostering alignment and addressing any questions or concerns.

ZERO TRUST STRATEGY & ARCHITECTURE CONSULTATION

After the handover, Storata is here to help your organization implement the multi-year roadmap by providing tailored Zero Trust consulting services, available in flexible pricing and package options.

EXECUTIVE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Storata can enhance your executive engagement by creating a Zero Trust Strategy briefing presentation and partnering with your leadership team to deliver it effectively.

A customized strategy for every Organization

Storata understands that organizations have diverse capabilities and varying requirements when it comes to cybersecurity. To accommodate these differences, we offer three maturity tiers that enable organizations to align with a Zero Trust target state tailored to their unique objectives.

Level 1 – Basic Foundation:

At this level, the organization has established essential capabilities and technologies necessary for initiating a Zero Trust environment. There are opportunities for further development to enhance technology effectiveness and overall security.

Level 2 – Practical Implementation:

Here, the organization has implemented practical Zero Trust cybersecurity measures, focusing on solutions that deliver strong protection while balancing costs, efforts, and resources. The emphasis is on mitigating significant risks effectively.

Level 3 – Advanced Security:

Organizations at this tier have adopted comprehensive Zero Trust cybersecurity protocols, prioritizing robust security, continuous monitoring, automation, and coordination. This level aims to minimize all forms of risk across the organization.