Blog: How ZTNA Ensures Secure Remote Access

Zero trust security is quickly becoming the standard for secure network access. From multinational private corporations to the United States federal government, zero trust continues to gain popularity across sectors where safe access to information remains a key concern.

According to Gartner, by 2022, 80% of new digital business applications¹ opened up to ecosystem partners will be accessed through zero trust network access (ZTNA). ZTNA will also replace traditional remote access tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) and fulfill the increasing scalability demands of the remote workforce. Estimates suggest that 60% of enterprises will swap VPNs in favor of ZTNA by 2023.

Let’s find out how ZTNA enables secure user access to private and public networks and fosters a safer digital environment for digital enterprises.

Core Functions of ZTNA

Zero trust network access significantly reduces the attack surface and takes a fundamentally different approach to safer remote access for internal applications based on the following principles:

• ZTNA provides application access and network access separately, and only grants access to specific applications based on permissions, authentication, and behavior.
• The security framework only carries out outbound connections to ensure networks and applications are invisible to unauthorized users while IPs remain concealed.
• ZTNA’s app segmentation only gives access to use specific applications rather than full entry to the network. This segmentation reduces the risk of lateral movement of malware and other threats.
• ZTNA follows a user-to-application method where the internet is treated as a corporate network. It leverages end-to-end encrypted TLS microtunnels instead of MPLS.

Six Advantages of ZTNA

ZTNA reduces the number of places exposed to risk as it typically communicates with the service provider’s access point. No other ports are open or vulnerable to unauthorized access.

It minimizes damage in the event of a breach by controlling access at the application and resources level. In the case of an infected user terminal or third-party access, a malicious user can only access limited resources.

With ZTNA, the location does not limit security since authentication and authorization are managed centrally. In addition, security functions like CASB and SWG, along with other tools, provide constant internal and external protection.

Zero trust network access enables a comfortable working environment where remote users are allowed to connect seamlessly. For vast corporate networks, it enables users to maintain privacy while maintaining low latency and high compliance.

ZTNA offers high scalability and reduces management efforts as it is software-controlled, easily deployable, and expandable. With better management of servers and networks, information system workloads also come down.

Centralized security policy management improves safety and makes risk management more efficient. With centralized control, applying, exercising, or updating security policies becomes effortless.

ZTNA grants all these benefits to the corporate network while also being flexible enough to meet future scalability requirements. However, since ZTNA has gained popularity only recently, it is natural to have many questions on this topic.

If you want to learn more about ZTNA, download our ebook and find answers to some commonly asked questions.

Begin Your ZTNA Journey With Safous

As cyber attacks become more and more sophisticated, industry leaders are moving toward better security alternatives such as zero trust and SASE. Safous helps you better understand what zero trust network access is all about and how the world moves toward zero trust to protect its digital ecosystems. At Safous, we offer the latest ZTNA functions while enabling zero trust access to corporate resources from any location or device.

Schedule a demo to see how ZTNA works. If you’re ready to secure your remote access points, check out our pricing options and get started for free.

References:

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/10/01/why-sase-and-ztna-are-even-better-together-when-tightly-integrated/