Cybersecurity mesh is a new security framework that addresses the challenges of securing modern organizations’ expanding and diverse IT infrastructures. It is a composable, flexible, and scalable approach that involves security controls for any asset, regardless of location or network perimeter. Cybersecurity mesh offers a solution that can adapt to the changing needs and risks of the distributed IT environment. It allows organizations to apply security policies and controls to any asset, regardless of where it is located or accessed. It also provides security tools to interoperate and collaborate through several layers, such as identity fabric, policy management, and security intelligence. Let’s dive into this article to learn about “How cybersecurity mesh can protect your distributed it environment.
What is Cybersecurity Mesh?
Gartner states cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA) is “a composable and scalable approach to extending security controls, even to widely distributed assets. Its flexibility is especially suitable for increasingly modular approaches consistent with hybrid multi-cloud architectures. CSMA enables a more composable, flexible, and resilient security ecosystem. Cybersecurity mesh uses distributed, composable security controls by centralizing data and control to achieve more collaboration between the security tools you implement. Consequently, organizations increase their capabilities to detect security incidents, improve their responses to threats, and have a consistent policy, posture, and playbook management. Moreover, CSMA enables companies to have adaptive and granular access control to protect their IT assets better.
Why is Cybersecurity Mesh Important?
Cybersecurity mesh is essential because it helps organizations cope with the rapid digital transformation and the emergence of new threats and vulnerabilities. Traditional security architectures are based on the assumption that there is a single, well-defined network perimeter that a firewall or a VPN can protect. However, this assumption is no longer valid in the current scenario, where resources, such as data, devices, applications, and users, are located and operating outside conventional network boundaries. For example, remote work, cloud computing, edge computing, IoT devices, and virtual networks have created a distributed and dynamic IT environment that requires a different security approach.
It also enables security tools to collaborate and share information rather than in isolation. Thus, it can provide organizations with a more comprehensive and effective security posture.
How to Implement Cybersecurity Mesh?
To implement cybersecurity mesh, organizations need to adopt a security framework that is scalable, interoperable, and composable, allowing diverse security controls and tools to work together seamlessly. The four foundational layers of the cybersecurity mesh define core security goals and functions. They are:
Security Analytics and Intelligence
This layer collects and analyzes data from different security solutions in an organization. It provides centralized administration, aggregation, and analysis of vast data from various sources. It also enables security information and event management (SIEM) to detect and respond to threats.
Distributed Identity Fabric
This layer provides decentralized identity and access management, directory services, adaptive access, identity proofing, and entitlement management. It helps organizations differentiate between legitimate and malicious users and devices and enforce granular and context-aware access policies.
Consolidated Policy and Posture Management
This layer translates the central security policy into rules and configuration settings for each environment or security tool. It ensures that the security policy is consistent and enforced across the distributed IT infrastructure.
Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR)
This layer automates and coordinates the actions and workflows of different security tools and teams. It helps organizations streamline their security operations, reduce human errors, and improve their incident response time and efficiency.
Benefits of cybersecurity mesh
Cybersecurity mesh provides better protection for distributed and diverse IT assets by applying security controls to a person or machine’s identity rather than a single network perimeter. It enhances the collaboration and interoperability between security tools.Resulting in a more integrated and dynamic security ecosystem. It improves the agility and scalability of the security posture, enabling organizations to deploy. And maintain security solutions more rapidly and conveniently. It reduces the complexity and cost of security management. By consolidating and centralizing the security policy, data, and intelligence.
Challenges of cybersecurity mesh
Some of the challenges of cybersecurity mesh arethat It requires a significant shift in the security mindset and culture from perimeter-based to identity-based. It demands high coordination and integration between security solutions and vendors, which may pose technical and operational difficulties. It involves extensive data collection and analysis, which may raise privacy and compliance issues.It relies on the networks and the cloud’s availability and reliability, which may introduce new risks and vulnerabilities.
Some examples of cybersecurity mesh
Some examples of cybersecurity mesh are:
Healthcare organization: A healthcare organization that uses cybersecurity mesh to secure its medical devices.And patient records, and telehealth services, regardless of where they are located or accessed.
Manufacturing company: A manufacturing company that uses cybersecurity mesh to protect its industrial IoT devices, edge computing nodes, and cloud applications from cyberattacks and sabotage.
Financial institution : A financial institution that uses cybersecurity mesh to enforce adaptive and granular access policies for its employees, customers, and partners based on their identity, location, and context.
Best practices for cybersecurity mesh
Some best practices for cybersecurity mesh are:
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- Adopt a zero-trust security model, which assumes no user, device, or network is trustworthy by default and requires continuous verification and validation.
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- Implement a security-by-design approach, which incorporates security principles and practices into every stage of the development and deployment of IT assets.
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- Leverage artificial intelligence and machine knowledge to improve security analytics and intelligence and automate security orchestration, automation, and response.
- Partner with trusted and experienced security vendors, which can provide comprehensive and integrated security solutions and services and support the it’s implementation.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity mesh is a new security framework that can help organizations protect their distributed and diverse IT infrastructures from cyber threats. It is a composable, flexible, and scalable approach that enables security. That controls to be applied to any asset, regardless of location or network perimeter. It also allows security tools to interoperate and collaborate through several layers. Such as identity fabric, policy management, and security intelligence. It can provide a more comprehensive and effective security posture for organizations. Still, it also requires a significant shift in the security mindset and culture and a high level of coordination and integration between different security solutions and vendors.
