Cybersecurity Mesh is Going to Change How You Approach Cybersecurity

Many businesses continue to rely on a single, centralized server. This is particularly true of organizations with complex IT infrastructures, such as government agencies, banks, and heavy industry.

But major strides in cloud computing, combined with remote working, have made the centralized network model all but obsolete.

Instead, distributed architectures have become the new standard for corporate networks. These configurations allow for greater processing power, increased scalability, and more robust security.

In this article, we’ll discuss cyber security mesh in the context of distributed networks. We’ll also explore the many benefits of security meshing and how it can revolutionize your overall business security strategy.

What is Cyber Security Mesh?

Cyber security mesh is a decentralized approach to IT security. This differs from the standard framework still commonly used today.

Instead of maintaining one large security perimeter around the entire network (a “walled city,” so to speak), a cybersecurity mesh deploys multiple, smaller perimeters.

Each of these modular perimeters defends individual access points. Together, these perimeters constitute what’s known as a mesh.

Pro Tip: In contrast to the top-down approach of traditional security perimeters, the mesh approach to security can be described as holistic and horizontal.

Interestingly, this approach actually encourages centralized policy orchestration, despite the distributed nature of policy enforcement. This is precisely what makes it so flexible, scalable, and reliable regarding cyber control.

The Five Benefits of Cybersecurity Mesh

Implementing a cybersecurity mesh has many benefits. According to a recent Gartner study, the mesh network security model is projected to decrease the financial harm of security incidents by as much as 90%.

What’s more, by 2025, roughly half of digital access control requests will be supported by a mesh system.

Now, let’s turn our attention to some of the specific advantages you can expect from your mesh network.

1. Enhanced Security With a Zero-Trust Strategy

The zero-trust strategy is a prudent approach to network security. The idea is to eliminate the implicit trust that permits a recognized device to gain access to the broader network. This philosophy is best embodied as a cybersecurity mesh.

Instead of a default trust setting, each stage of the digital exchange is continuously validated across devices and users. In other words, the network considers every connection unreliable until authenticated by the security protocol.

But why bother with endless verifications for network devices that are already known? Well, consider that approximately 34% of data breaches and leaks happen within the network itself. This is because the moat-and-castle security design fails to catch internal threats since recognized devices are automatically trusted.

A cyber security mesh, in contrast, is highly flexible; it seamlessly adapts to new threats and evolving access requirements, all in real-time. Whether the threat comes from inside or outside of the network, you can be sure that all systems, data, and devices are treated with equally rigorous security standards.

2. Granular Access Control for Network Managers

The modular configuration of a cyber security mesh allows you to have more granular control over each individual access point and its perimeter. In practice, the mesh enables network managers to authorize user access on a per asset basis differentially.

This goes a long way in preventing unauthorized access. In fact, compared to the traditional framework, which relies heavily on password-protected perimeters, a cybersecurity mesh necessitates a complete reconfiguration. Various security measures are integrated during the actual network development process.

3. Improved Support for Identity and Access Management (IAM) Requests

The work-from-anywhere model has completely transformed the traditional approach to network security. Luckily, cyber security meshing offers a dependable solution for securing the assets, devices, and identities that now exist beyond the physical boundaries of your company.

Gartner predicts that, over time, the bulk of IAM requests will be handled by mesh. Compared to older security models, the mesh framework is more adaptable and unified, making it a secure method for your organization to access and govern its digital asset access.

4. Prevents Cyber Attackers From Exploiting Your Entire Network

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have sought to harden their security posture.

While the work-from-home trend has proved largely beneficial in terms of productivity and cost-efficiency, it has also created a host of new opportunities for cybercriminals.

For instance, a connection to a weakly secured home network or unsecured public Wi-Fi can easily be exploited to gain access to corporate networks. Additionally, vulnerabilities in cloud security were fairly common due to the accelerated cloud migration in 2020.

Cybersecurity mesh can protect against these new threats; how? By making it difficult for hackers to exploit your whole IT network through a single access point.

In the traditional perimeter framework, an attacker who gained entry to any point within your network could effectively roam free.

5. Eliminating Demographic Bias Caused By Identity Proofing

Document-centric identity verification is growing in popularity among companies worldwide. This trend is largely correlated with the work-from-home model.

Simply put, remote access demands increasingly rigorous methods for authenticating user identity.

But the document-centric approach opens the door to demographic bias. Whether race, age, gender, or some other phenotypic trait, bias can become implicit in machine learning algorithms.

The result is that certain people are denied access to applications or services based on immutable and irrelevant demographic criteria.

According to Gartner’s research, 95% of businesses using identity proofing software will require evidence from vendors that they are actively working to minimize and mitigate implicit demographic bias.

Moreover, the distinctive network protection tools associated with security mesh will ensure that networks can be accessed securely without relying solely on document-centric identity proofing.

Conquer Your Business Challenges With Advanced Cybersecurity Solutions

Security meshing isn’t going anywhere. It’s a scalable, flexible, dependable, and robust approach to distributed network security.

Between the increasingly sophisticated cloud technologies and the rising prevalence of remote working, mesh is quickly becoming the best cybersecurity framework for modern IT networks.

Are you ready to take your IT network security to the next level? At Netsurit, we’ve got 23 years of industry experience to help make it happen. Contact us today to kickstart your organization’s digital transformation.