Integrity: The Missing Component of Zero Trust

To deliver Zero Trust principles at all four layers, organizations need three things:

1. Zero Trust-style access and authorization capabilities
2. A foundation in basic cyber hygiene
3. System integrity

Zero Trust access and authorization is well understood. Basic cyber hygiene—while sometimes challenging to implement—is simple to understand. But how does system integrity fit in?

What is Integrity?

Integrity is a core concept within cybersecurity—one pillar of the coveted CIA Triad.

• Confidentiality: only those who are authorized can access data.
• Integrity: data is in a trusted, accurate, and complete state and is only altered in expected ways.
• Availability: data (and the systems and applications that rely on it) remain accessible.

Note that data doesn’t just mean documents and databases. Everything that allows an IT environment to function is stored in a file somewhere as data. This includes data stored in configuration files, system files, network devices, endpoints, directory services, cloud (Read more...)