{"id":160197,"date":"2022-04-18T15:08:27","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T22:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/?p=160197"},"modified":"2022-04-21T14:56:37","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T21:56:37","slug":"actionable-zero-trust-for-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/2022\/04\/actionable-zero-trust-for-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Actionable Zero Trust for Higher Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

The buzz around Zero Trust is amplifying across the higher education community as institutions look to fortify their cyber defenses against threats, like ransomware, and adopt processes to meet the security challenges of remote work. Your institution may be among those wondering how to make Zero Trust actionable, and how doing so can help you meet the data protection and security priorities<\/a> outlined by EDUCAUSE in its 2022 Top 10 IT Issues<\/a> list.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re struggling to understand what Zero Trust is all about, you\u2019re in good company. We\u2019re getting a lot of questions from our customers in higher education, and across many other industries, about what Zero Trust<\/a> means and what the Zero Trust journey entails. To help get your arms around Zero Trust, let\u2019s start from the top.<\/p>\n

<\/a>What Is Zero Trust?<\/h2>\n

Zero Trust is a strategic approach to cybersecurity, not a single product, that secures an organization by eliminating implicit trust and continuously validating every stage of a digital interaction. It\u2019s a way for higher education institutions to build resilience into their IT networks and environments.<\/p>\n

The Zero Trust mantra is \u201ctrust nothing, validate everything.\u201d By embracing a Zero Trust Model, your organization commits to moving away from inherently trusting whatever is inside your security perimeter \u2013 users, applications and infrastructure. You transition over time to continually authenticate, authorize and verify who and what can access your environment, granting \u201cleast-privilege\u201d access all along the way. Authorization is based on who or what is requesting access, the context of the request and the risk level.<\/p>\n

At Palo Alto Networks, we refer to users, applications and infrastructure as the three \u201cpillars\u201d of a Zero Trust Model. The figure below outlines the actions that must be taken consistently with these pillars: establishing identity by using the strongest authentication possible \u2013 verifying the device and workload, securing access and securing all transactions.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/span><\/div><\/p>\n

<\/a>Zero Trust Is a Journey<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s important for your higher education institution to understand that by implementing a Zero Trust approach, you\u2019re adopting an iterative process, and your strategy will need to keep evolving as new threats, technology and ways of working change. Because Zero Trust is a methodology, it requires a mindset shift, which takes time to unfold and solidify.<\/p>\n

Your organization can still make meaningful progress with Zero Trust in the near term; however, by determining where it can reduce acute risk and achieve resilience. There are some immediate actions to consider:<\/p>\n