SECURITY

Citrix Secure Access - Zero Trust Network Access

Securing modern day environments has become extremely complicated. Hybrid working has increased security vulnerabilities, it just takes ONE infected malware, from an unmanaged device, to put the entire infrastructure at risk. 

N.B. It is also important to note that threats can be both external and internal.

Therefore, Citrix has simplified infrastructure security with their Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution.

The Citrix ZTNA solution protects the network by authenticating at the application layer and continuously monitors activity /user behavior based on device posture, location, and risk score. This allows for suspicious activity to be blocked before it leads to a breach.

Potential security risks in a Hybrid Working environment:

• Employees using a variety networks and devices not managed by the organization.
• Applications and data are no longer confined to corporate datacenters – but can be distributed across multiple cloud services and on-premises locations.
• Moving to the cloud increases the attack surface which includes devices, applications, files and networks used by remote workers.

Therefore, Citrix recommends the seven keys to securely deliver applications for hybrid work:

• Implement Citrix ZTNA solution - Zero Trust assumes all users and URLs are suspicious unless they prove otherwise. Zero Trust thus enables companies to continuously monitor and assess user activities throughout the session and automate security controls based on anomalies detected.
• Exceptional experiences – Poor user experiences will lead to the user utilizing a work-around, remote work and appliance-based solutions are hard to scale, requiring backhauling traffic and a separate login experience which can lead to a poor working experience. Therefor it is imperative that the solution provides a balance between secure access and delivering a good working experience.
• Single Sign-On (SSO) to all IT-sanctioned applications - Features like SSO provide secure access to all IT-sanctioned applications, virtual apps and desktops, and document repositories. SSO solutions also simplify access for users as they do not need to remember nor manage multiple usernames and passwords. Furthermore, users can leverage a single pane of glass for all their applications and files, minimizing the burden on IT to resolve password problems or reset expired access privileges.
• Adaptive authentication and device posture checks - Adaptive authentication with device posture assessment intelligently routes the user to the suitable authentication mechanism based on role, geo-location, and device posture check. With device posture assessment, IT can scan endpoints based on various factors such as anti-virus, OS, firewall, registries, and more.
• Application performance – Embrace technology that increases visibility and control across application performance, IT can reduce application, network latency and outages. This results in better uptime, improved helpdesk SLAs, and reduced likelihood that users work around security controls because of poor application performance.
• Automatically detect and defend against potential risk (ZTNA combined with CItrix Analytics for security). Citrix Analytics for security is designed to proactively detect and resolve security threats with real time security analytics, using machine learning it analyzes, detect and prevent risks.
• IT consolidation and M&A - Consolidating management of IT services, networks, clouds, and applications into a unified platform helps reduce IT complexity, improve employee productivity in a better end-user experience, lower the total cost of ownership, and prevent security gaps in the infrastructure that could increase compliance risks.