Concept
What is zero trust? A plain explanation for small and mid-size businesses
Zero trust is a security approach in which simply being on the network isn't treated as trust by itself; every request is re-verified by identity and permission. Although it sounds like a term for large enterprises, its core principles apply to small businesses too.
The old approach to security resembles a castle: inside the walls is safe, outside is dangerous. Anyone who connects to the office network counts as inside. Today employees connect from home, from the field and from their phones, and applications are already on the internet. The distinction between inside and outside the walls has lost its meaning.
The three principles of zero trust
- Verify every request. Just because a person has signed in, every subsequent action is not automatically trusted; the session is checked for validity on every request.
- Grant least permission. Everyone accesses only what they need for their job.
- Assume breach. Design things so that even if one account is compromised, the damage stays small; be able to shut off access instantly.
Practical steps for a small business
- Remove shared passwords; let everyone sign in with their own identity.
- Tie access to department and role, not to the individual.
- Shut off a departing person's access from one place, instantly.
- Give devices such as doors and terminals an identity too, so a lost device can be revoked.
- Keep logs showing who accessed what readily available.
NoteZero trust is not a single product you buy; it is a design approach. How well a product follows these principles is measured by its answers to the questions above.
These principles in the DBLinx family
- Verification on every request: SmartFiles and SmartPass verify the session with SmartID on every request; a session closed centrally becomes invalid immediately.
- No access, no entry: When switching between products, the switch is denied if the person has no active membership in the target product.
- Least permission: Separate permissions per mailbox in SmartMail and per space in SmartFiles.
- Device identity: SmartPass terminals are verified with a certificate; a device revoked from the dashboard is rejected.
