Since 2020, several market factors have driven a surge in Zero Trust Security initiatives. Last year, the scope, scale, and perception of remote work went through a massive shift. Now, 82% of organization leaders plan to allow employees to work at least part of the time remotely after the pandemic, and 47% will allow them to work from home permanently.
While companies have been adjusting to the increase in remote workers, malicious actors wasted no time targeting companies with weaknesses in their endpoint security. According to a 2021 Endpoint Protection study by Forrester, 34% of companies had a corporate data breach over the past year due to lateral movement or a personal device. A further 32% experienced a breach due to a corporate-owned device.
With organizations now increasingly focused on endpoint security, corporate and customer data is front of mind. Endpoints are the spokes enabling access to all that infrastructure and data. The rapid increase in remote and hybrid workforces expanded most organizations’ attack surfaces, highlighting a need to secure all endpoints with the corporate network and data access.
A Zero Trust approach to endpoint security allows IT teams to detect current threats and bring them to resolution. It also enables teams to act proactively to prevent breaches before they happen. More than 50% of the organizations surveyed by Forrester are confident a Zero Trust approach to endpoint security will address lateral movement between consumer/ corporate applications, devices and ransomware.
With the adoption of a Zero Trust security framework:
- Organizations saw a 51% increase in the prioritization of security
- Reduced overall risk by 47%
- Increased BYOD flexibility by 48%
- 53% reduction in time spent on security-related activities such as VPNs by users
To ensure you’re delivering a solid user experience through Zero Trust without the need for draconian blanket policies with no flexibility, watch my latest FastTrack Update, where I explain the recommended security features available through Azure AD and Intune. Following these recommendations will help meet your Endpoint Zero Trust objectives and ensure your devices are securely accessing corporate data to prevent any form of lateral movement by malicious actors across your organization and network.
If you missed it, check out my previous FastTrack Update, where I explored the capabilities available across Zero Trust’s foundational pillar of Identity.
Cheers,
Hambik
Senior Consultant