Why banks are adopting a modern approach to cybersecurity—the Zero Trust model
Many banks today still rely on a “castle-and-moat” approach—also known as “perimeter security”—to protect data from malicious attacks. Like medieval castles protected by stone walls, moats, and gates, banks that use perimeter security invest heavily in fortifying their network perimeters with firewalls, proxy servers, honeypots, and other intrusion prevention tools. Perimeter security guards the entry and exit points to the network by verifying the data packets and identity of users that enter and leave the organization’s network, and then assumes that activity inside the hardened perimeter is relatively safe. Savvy financial institutions are now moving beyond this paradigm and employing a modern approach to cybersecurity—the Zero Trust model. The central tenet of a Zero Trust model is to trust no one—internal or external—by default and require strict verification of every person or device before granting access. The castle’s perimeters continue to be important, but instead of ju...