Cybersecurity Mesh:
Unifying network security

Introduction

The onset of cloud adoption has enabled organizations across the world to scale their conventional organizations. With digital transformation at helm, most organizations leverage multi-cloud or hybrid environments that consist of on-premises infrastructure, cloud services and applications, and third party entities, besides the user and machine identities operating within the network. In such a scenario, protecting organizational assets from threats involves implementing a consolidated framework that provides security in accordance to the context of each entity within the organization.

Besides, fortifying composite environments require interoperable cross-domain capabilities that enhance collaboration so that there is no need for multiple solutions contributing to the same function. In such cases, Cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA) lends a scalable approach towards improving an organization's security posture.

What is a cybersecurity mesh?

Conceived by Gartner, CSMA is an architectural approach that lends interoperability, consistent application of policy management, and real-time collaboration of services across multiple applications operating within the organizational network. Gartner defines cybersecurity mesh as "a collaborative ecosystem of tools and controls to secure a modern, distributed enterprise. It builds on a strategy of integrating composable, distributed security tools by centralizing the data and control plane to achieve more effective collaboration between tools."

Cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA) is one of the top strategic technology trends that has emerged post-COVID in the cybersecurity landscape. Gartner added cybersecurity mesh to its list of 'top seven cybersecurity trends of 2022,' and noted that it can pave a secure way for organizations to move into the future.

Cybersecurity mesh architecture components:

One of the main objectives of a cybersecurity mesh is to make security services accessible to every entity associated with the organizational network, irrespective of their native configuration. Cybersecurity mesh contains the following components:

• Consolidated dashboards:
  Provide better visibility to the logistical and managerial aspects of cybersecurity, which include the number of tickets, monitoring systems, and communication channels to other internal stakeholders. Through modular dashboards, network security administrators find it easier to identify threats quickly while enabling single window clearance of the tickets raised by users.
• Integrated policy and posture management:
  CSMA interprets policies to the native configuration of every security tool governing the network. This makes authorization more granular and context-aware as it takes compliance risks and misconfiguration into account.
• Distributed identity fabric:
  Provides unified access to directory services, identity and access management related tools and other solutions that contribute to a user's identity lifecycle, accelerating the process of authentication and authorization. Federated identities and single sign-on solutions offer higher compatibility with CSMA as they create a one-stop authentication window that encompasses a myriad of applications.
• Security analytics and intelligence:
  Refers to tools that leverage data science to derive analytical and predictive results of perceived and active threats for event management, and deliver an effective response. Major examples include Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR), and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) powered tools that specialize in threat intelligence.

How CSMA improves an organization's security posture

Many cybersecurity professionals view CSMA adoption as a realistic leap for organizations to revamp their existing security strategies. This is supported by Gartner's overwhelmingly positive prognosis that organizations adopting CSMA can reduce the financial impact of cyberattacks by 90%. Predictions aside, companies must consider adopting CSMA for the following benefits:

Eliminating security silos:

With 'location independence' and 'work from everywhere' models increasingly adopted by organizations, cybersecurity controls are expected to be cross-functional and platform-agnostic in its capabilities. CSMA presents a viable alternative to concentrated network security infrastructures by offering a distributed fabric of security services across the network.

Compatibility with IAM requests:

Gartner anticipates that by 2025, "Cybersecurity mesh will support more than 50% of IAM requests." By leveraging identity fabric to secure endpoints, CSMA emerges as an IAM-friendly strategy that can cater to device and user specific security requirements.

Supply chain protection:

Software supply chain attacks have created a devastating impact across organizations in recent times, and a secure third-party vendor amounts to a secure supply chain. By implementing CSMA, organizations can also extend their security provisions to third-party vendors and their services, ensuring that network security proliferates throughout the software supply chain of an organization.

Improving collaborations:

CSMA features a myriad of domain-specific analytical tools that work with each other to develop cross-domain security analytical solutions. Additionally, CSMAs collaborative approach to security can push the envelope for decentralized protocols, and identity and security standards such as OpenDXL. By deriving and correlating information from multiple data sources, organizations can create dynamic incident response plans, and mitigation measures.

Optimizing managed security service providers (MSSPs):

Gartner's estimates show that by 2023, 40% of IAM-based operations will be driven by MSSPs. CSMA capabilities ensure that MSSPs can function harmoniously with their parent companies, and reduce operational friction between them.

CSMA vs Zero Trust: How do they compare?

Zero trust network architecture (ZTNA) refers to a cybersecurity strategy that secures a network by continuously evaluating the user's activity and access privileges. Although both are complementary in desgn, the two security frameworks differ at a policy level. Zero Trust implements continuous monitoring to remove automatically assumed trust within a network, whereas CSMA applies cybersecurity functions at an entity level, ensuring that the devices connected to a network are secured. Therefore, cybersecurity mesh can be conflated with ZTNA to create a unified strategy that encompasses network and endpoint security needs.

Implementing CSMA: Best practices to consider

To ensure a smooth adoption, organizations must repurpose their existing IAM strategies to align with core CSMA principles. Other steps to scale up existing infrastructures with CSMA include:

Optimizing intermediary software

Optimizing intermediary software(such as APIs, plugins) to ensure seamless communication between applications cutting across various domains. To achieve cross-domain integration, organizations should build and incorporate technologies that are compatible with intermediary software and other interoperable technologies such as security analytics, and identity fabric architecture.

Practicing goal-oriented vendor consolidation

Organizations should engage with vendors who adhere to their CSMA-oriented cybersecurity policies. They should also bridge interoperability gaps using tools that bolster integration.

Training:

CSMA adoption depends on stakeholders and employees being trained on mesh-focused cybersecurity concepts so they can execute, improvise, innovate, and administer the CSMA infrastructure. To facilitate mesh training, organizations should apply the DataSecOps approach of implementing the continuous collaboration of security teams and data scientists throughout the life cycle of a project.

How does CSMA supports composable infrastructure?

Composable infrastructure appears to be 2022's most favored buzzword amongst companies for the right reasons. It reinforces the idea that organizations can expand their operational and technological capabilities by leveraging their basic in-house software tools, known as packaged business capabilities (PBCs). Additionally, Market Research Future has predicted that by 2024, the market for composable infrastructure will reach $5.8 billion with a CAGR of 58.10%.

According to Gartner, PBCs are "software components representing a well-defined business capability, functionally recognizable as such by a business user. Technically, a PBC is the bounded collection of a data schema and a set of services, APIs, and event channels."

CSMA, with its capabilities of interoperability and consolidation, can lay groundwork for a composable organizations that features the following capabilities:

Scalability by design:

CSMA consists of a decentralized architecture that offers inherent flexibility in its distribution of controls. Composable environments provide an extensive set of APIs that encourage the creation and integration of advanced meshes and architecture designs that enhance the efficiency of the IT infrastructure. This paves the way for an infrastructure that is more receptive to adopting the ever-changing business and security needs of the organization.

Third-party collaborations:

When an organization implements CSMA, its services extend to third-party applications and improve their cybersecurity postures too. The API and other software services of composable environments can be extended to third-party vendors to aid in the customization of functionalities in third-party applications. This symbiotic approach to collaboration can foster the unified use of APIs and other solutions between the parent and third-party organizations, resulting in an enhanced user experience and other benefits.

Conclusion

At the core of crucial innovations today is decentralization. Be it web3, blockchain, or cryptocurrency, the goal to democratize functionalities also applies to cybersecurity, and CSMA is at the forefront of this movement. Moving beyond the confines of physical locations, the integration of CSMA can deliver a wider and more granular safety net that meets the unique contextual needs of every endpoint in an organization.