How CDW Services Can Help Organizations Implement Zero Trust

The current cybersecurity landscape can be a headache for IT teams. Data is everywhere, and protecting it from cyberthreats is a major challenge. 

As technology tools evolved, the global pandemic pushed organizations to move data, devices and workloads into widely dispersed environments. Now, users can be anywhere, using any kind of device, accessing data that also could be anywhere.  

Apps also can be anywhere. The increased use of microservices that make up applications means that the flow of data through systems has gotten increasingly complex, making it a challenge for organizations to control access to it. To make matters even more complicated, the vast proliferation of unstructured data across different resources, such as video and sensor data, can create vulnerabilities that often go undetected. 

To address these challenges while dealing with a changing threat landscape, organizations need security tools that follow their data instead of protecting it at a central location. To achieve this objective, many organizations are employing a zero-trust security approach.

Some IT professionals have trouble fully understanding zero trust. Ultimately, it’s a philosophy more than a goal. A zero-trust approach removes the need for implicit trust and ensures that every request for access is validated regarding who is requesting access and what access is being requested. 

Many organizations traditionally have built their cybersecurity defenses to establish a perimeter around an enterprise network, but zero trust sets up a perimeter for each user and system. Access to resources is granted when a user clears a strong authentication hurdle.

Zero trust requires organizations and their cybersecurity teams to adopt a new philosophy and make significant changes to their culture. This can be a major challenge, but the benefit is that organizations are better positioned to keep pace with the evolution of cybersecurity threats. By centralizing security policies, zero trust helps organizations deploy and manage their security efforts more effectively. 

To address the challenges they face in establishing zero trust, many organizations seek help from third-party partners with expertise they may lack within their own IT teams.

At CDW, our security experts have the skills and experience to help any organization deploy or optimize its zero-trust architecture. Here are some of the services we offer.

Readiness assessment: Organizations need to know where they are now regarding their cybersecurity posture, then map out how to achieve their goals for zero trust. CDW experts help organizations follow best practices prescribed by guidance such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Zero Trust Maturity Model or the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Special Publication 800-207, which covers zero-trust architecture. We also can ensure than an organization has the right technologies in place to support zero-trust principles.

Zero-trust workshops: Bringing together an organization’s IT leaders with CDW security experts helps identify ways the organization may benefit by deploying a zero-trust approach. With this in mind, our experts can help devise a plan for optimizing zero-trust efforts. 

Penetration testing: Through this service, CDW security experts take on the role of a cyberattacker looking to break through an organization’s defenses. By exploiting any vulnerabilities they find, pen testers can provide deep insights into the organization’s security controls, including those set up to support zero trust.

Ultimately, CDW’s security expertise can be a valuable resource in helping organizations in a variety of industries achieve their zero-trust objectives and improve their cybersecurity posture.

Story by 

Jeremy Weiss

Buck Bell, Buck Bell leads CDW’s Global Security Strategy Office. He brings 20-plus years of experience in cybersecurity and risk management to the role. Prior to CDW’s acquisition of Focal Point Data Risk, Buck served as executive vice president of Focal Point’s Technology Integration division, leading efforts on identity and access management (IAM), data analytics, SIEM and elements of cloud security. Before joining Focal Point, Buck led IAM Consulting at Optiv Security, where he led a team of 110 across consulting, PMO and India Operations. These experiences have given him insight into all aspects of the risks and opportunities CISOs and security leaders encounter in delivering speed and value to business objectives.

Jeremiah Salzberg