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For the specifics of the components or input data see NIST SP 800-207.įigure 1: Zero Trust Architecture Components and Inputs. Policy is dynamically developed by an engine that consumes multiple inputs, including public key infrastructure (PKI), identity management, threat intelligence, security information and event management (SIEM), compliance, and data access policy as shown in Figure 1 below. These components work together to apply policy and control a subject's access to a resource. It comprises three core components: a policy engine (PE), policy administrator (PA), and policy enforcement point (PEP). Zero trust architecture is an enterprise cybersecurity plan that incorporates zero trust tenets into component relationships, workflow planning, and access policies. Each organization must therefore architect and engineer its tenets into its culture and enterprise. Zero trust isn't an acquisition item that can be purchased off-the-shelf. In practice, however, practitioners must keep in mind that zero trust represents a best-effort approach to reduce risk, even with widespread industry interest, support, and adoption. Standards committees, such as the IEEE Zero Trust Security Working Group, have also started development of recommended zero trust security practice. The NCCoE Implementing a Zero Trust Architecture Project builds on NIST by demonstrating zero trust principles through development of zero trust architecture with general-purpose enterprise IT infrastructure. For example, NIST Special Publication 800-207: Zero Trust Architecture documents zero trust architecture principles, deployment models, and use cases.
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Industry is adopting these tenets through various projects, products, and publications.
#JJ RISK ENGINE SERIES#
In this and a series of future posts, we provide an overview of zero trust and management of its risk with SEI's cybersecurity engineering assessment framework. This alignment is always a complex undertaking and requires cybersecurity strategy and engineering to succeed. Enterprise security initiatives are never simple, and their goal to improve cybersecurity posture requires the alignment of multiple stakeholders, systems, acquisitions, and exponentially changing technology. It isn't a specific technology to adopt, but a security initiative that an enterprise must understand, interpret, and implement. Zero trust adoption challenges many organizations.
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