Zero Trust Is a Hot Topic: Understand It and Use It to More Easily Achieve Your Institution's Goals

Zero Trust is one of the hottest topics in cybersecurity. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most used and often abused buzzwords in cybersecurity these days. But if you understand it, you don’t have to roll your eyes every time you hear it! This session will review the newly released article in the Cybersecurity and Privacy channel of the EDUCAUSE Review on Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). We’ll give you a brief overview of where ZTA came from and why it's needed. Then we’ll cut through the hype and help you understand it based upon a simple definition from NIST SP800-207. Your path to Zero Trust will vary depending on your institution’s goals, culture, and resources. We’ll give you suggestions on how to develop a plan and ideas to get started while accounting for your institution’s unique needs. If you have already started down a Zero Trust path, we’ll highlight some critical success factors to help make your journey more successful. Zero Trust can also be a transformational enabler. With the ability to protect every connection, you can confidently introduce new capabilities to students, faculty, and staff to give them greater flexibility and productivity.