More than 20 months have passed since the global pandemic, and the best way to keep organizations and critical networks safe is to accept zero trust, which has become a creed. Under this framework, it is assumed that all network access requests come from insecure locations, and each user should be verified based on their location, identity, and device health. During the ongoing pandemic, the mantra of “never trust, always verify” has never been more important.
To recap, the key to the Zero Trust Framework is the principle of least privilege, which is the concept of providing all users with the lowest level of access required to complete tasks. Similarly, users should only be granted access to specific applications, systems, or networks when they need access.
But the point is: the zero-trust policy must apply to everyone-even those at the top of the organization chart, every CXO, director, and line-of-business leader. Many C-level employees may be dissatisfied that they do not always have access to all content on the network; however, this is the best approach. If C-level users do not need to access the data to complete the task, they should not be granted access.
C-level executives are the main target
Failure to allow C-level users to maintain the same standards as other employees can be a fatal mistake. After all, bad actors are savvy; they realize that the best entry point into the network is usually through C-level users-because many times these users can access sensitive data unscrupulously.
In addition to often having privileges to access sensitive company data, C-level executives often work long hours, receive a large number of e-mails, and enjoy a valuable reputation. If the information of the senior management is leaked, bad actors will get a bargaining chip. After all, if the cause of the data breach is a C-level executive, then the bad guys are likely to cause some damage to their reputation just by disclosing this fact. Therefore, it is not surprising that few people know the exact cause of the data breach.
As Frank Satterwhite, chief cyber security consultant at 1600 Cyber in Frankfurt, explained: “Every time you hear that a large company has been hacked, you will see the CEO go on TV and say, “We’re sorry. We’re Implement these new technologies. We will be protected more than ever before. But they never solve one thing: Almost 90% of attacks require someone to do something wrong or make a mistake.” Perhaps the CEO rarely mentioned this. The human factor is because C-level executives are the culprit
Given that C-level executives are most likely to be targeted, it is reasonable to assume that some whaling and social engineering attacks on C-level personnel have been successful. However, the spread of this tidbit will further damage the company’s reputation.
Monitoring and analysis are the key
Within the network, all communications should be encrypted, and all abnormal activities should be flagged. Through a unified endpoint management solution, IT staff can easily verify the identity of users and the health of their endpoints. Seeing that many C-level employees believe that they have the right to access all applications at any time, it is particularly important to participate in privileged session monitoring.
By monitoring all privileged sessions, IT staff can identify any abnormal behavior or failed login attempts from the C-level user’s account. These data points can help eliminate any C-level notion that they should always have access to sensitive information. In addition, according to the principle of least privilege, all privileged sessions should be closed as soon as possible.
By using a good VPN monitoring solution, IT staff can extract VPN logs from the firewall and then generate security reports for all C-level executives. These privileged user behavior analysis helps to create context-aware associations. When IT personnel combine privileged access data points with endpoint event logs, a heuristic correlation can be generated.
Given that senior managers often have high-privileged accounts, their actions may lead to greater consequences; for example, if the CEO accidentally clicks on a malware link, the malware will take effect immediately due to the inherent high permissions of the CEO’s account. When monitoring the access rights of the CEO, any actions that occur due to their actions will appear in the event log. These data points are then correlated to coordinate the threats and determine that the launch of the malware is indeed due to the CEO’s visit. Again, these data points help convince C-level employees that they don’t need to access everything all the time.
Embrace zero trust without exception
According to a Polls We conducted a survey and 58% of North American respondents indicated an increase in phishing attacks. In addition, 46% of North American respondents indicated an increase in endpoint cyber attacks, and 37% indicated an increase in malware attacks.
The unfortunate reality is that the recent migration to remote work has brought some security challenges, and C-level employees need to work with IT staff to ensure their network security. The last thing organizations need is for C-level users to refuse to adopt the zero-trust framework and act as if the rules do not apply to them.
