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Zero Trust Has Emerged in Post Pandemic Security

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In addition, roles for employees need to be tightly Another step: Gather and actually analyze
controlled, and different roles should have clearly security log events. ”Zero trust, just like any
defined responsibilities that keep them restricted other cybersecurity framework, requires constant
to certain segments of a network. analysis to find its weaknesses and determine
where to reinforce its capabilities,” he said.
A third step calls for extending the principle of “There’s a lot of data generated by cybersecurity
least privilege to the firewall. Chuan explained: systems, and parsing it for valuable information
“Zero trust isn’t only concerned with users and the can be difficult.”
assets they use to connect to a network. It is also
concerned with the network traffic they generate. According to Chuan, Ricoh recommends using
The principle of least privilege should also be Security Information and Event Management
applied to network traffic both from without and software to do a lot of the analytics legwork,
within a network. Firewalls were designed to keep saving time on the tedious parts so IT leaders can
others out. Now they need to do a lot more. They do more planning for future attacks. He added that
need to be contextually aware of the traffic.” remote monitoring of network infrastructure by a
trusted provider can also support this requirement.
Chuan noted that security cameras store images Chuan advised AASBO members: “People in this
and could be hacked, sending information room are going to have to do something. Schools
elsewhere. “A firewall needs to stop that and alert are targets. Unfortunately, hackers know schools
someone,” he said. “Establish firewall rules that are not on the leading edge of technology, which
restrict network traffic between segments to only has to do with funding and budgets. That’s what
those absolutely needed to accomplish tasks. It’s makes you most vulnerable.”
better to have to unblock a port later than to leave
it open from the get-go and leave an open path for He reminded AASBO members: “What’s most
an attacker.” important is how do we improve student outcome
so they can contribute later on in life.”
Chuan said firewalls should be contextually
aware of traffic. Rules-based firewall setups Chuan also recommended: “Before you buy tools,
aren’t enough. He asked: What if a legitimate app before you do an RFP, get an evaluation. You’ve
or Internet of Things (IOT) device is hijacked got to ask for the right things that schools actually
for nefarious purposes, or a DNS (Domain need. Have an evaluation before you go shopping
Name Service) spoof sends a user to a malicious so you don’t invest in what we call dust shelf-ware.”
webpage?
“To prevent problems like those, it’s essential to Joseph Chuan can be reached at: Joseph.Chuan@
make sure your firewall is looking at all inbound ricoh-usa.com
and outbound traffic to ensure it looks legitimate
for an app or device’s purpose as well as checking
it against blacklists, DNS rules, and other data,”
Chuan said.

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