The volume and frequency of ransomware attacks have increased significantly this past year. In fact, the number of ransomware attacks has nearly doubled in 2021 as compared to 2020. The impact of a breach is multi-fold and stretches well beyond the commonly acknowledged risks of downtime cost, impact on the brand, and the actual ransom paid. This has prompted a paradigm shift in how organizations and system integrators look at their cybersecurity strategy.

The pandemic changed the way people work, and many companies have been fast to adapt to this shift in work culture by encouraging and promoting remote and hybrid work. Zero Trust Network Access or ZTNA is gaining popularity as a secure alternative to corporate VPN-based access to the internal application and network services.

Data no longer resides behind the four walls of the traditional enterprise perimeter—it’s everywhere, and can be accessed from seemingly anywhere, thanks to the rapid embrace of cloud by enterprises and the acceleration of hybrid work, or work-from-anywhere, behind the global pandemic.

Despite years of industry efforts to combat insider threats, malicious behavior can still sometimes be difficult to identify. As organizations work towards building a corporate cyber security culture, many have begun looking into zero-trust architectures to cover as many attack surfaces as possible. This action is a step in the right direction, but it also has the potential to raise fears and generate negative responses from employees.

Zero trust is everyone’s favourite topic at the moment. But underneath its appealing phrasing lies a significant amount of market confusion over exactly what it is. Allow me to bust some myths.