As organizations modernize their IT environments, applications have become both essential business enablers and gateways to sensitive data. However, they also represent a growing attack surface in today’s dynamic threat landscape. To safeguard business operations and protect sensitive information, organizations must extend Zero Trust principles beyond networks and users to the applications and workloads that power the enterprise.
Understanding the Challenge
Applications connect users, data, and services across complex ecosystems, creating potential points of vulnerability. Threats such as unauthorized access, lateral movement, and API exploits can expose confidential data or disrupt operations. Traditional perimeter-based defenses are no longer sufficient; security must travel with the data and be enforced wherever it resides or flows.
A Data-Centric Approach to Application Protection
NextLabs advocates a Zero Trust Data-Centric Security (DCS) approach to application protection. By embedding security policies directly at the data level, DCS ensures that protection remains consistent across environments. Access decisions are dynamic, based on identity, device posture, context, and risk, which ensures least-privilege enforcement at every interaction.
This approach aligns with both CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model and the Department of Defense’s Zero Trust Reference Architecture, which identify Applications and Workloads as a core pillar of Zero Trust. Through logical segregation, runtime protection, workload isolation, and continuous monitoring, organizations can secure their applications while enabling agility.
Implementing Zero Trust for Applications
A successful Zero Trust implementation follows five key steps:
- Identify applications and data that require protection.
- Understand data flows, access paths, and dependencies.
- Control access with least-privilege and segregation of duties.
- Enforce policies through contextual, runtime controls and strong authentication.
- Audit continuously to detect anomalies and refine policies.
NextLabs' Solution
NextLabs operationalizes Zero Trust through an integrated suite of solutions:
- CloudAz provides dynamic policy enforcement for applications and cloud environments.
- Application Enforcer delivers runtime enforcement of contextual data security.
- SkyDRMÂ extends protection to files beyond application boundaries.
- Data Access Enforcer (DAE)Â controls and secures data access across sources and interfaces.
Together, these solutions enable organizations to minimize risk, comply with regulations, and secure applications without sacrificing performance or innovation.
Zero Trust Application Protection marks a shift from perimeter-based defenses to continuous verification and adaptive control. By adopting a data-centric strategy, organizations ensure that protection follows the data across applications, workloads, and cloud environments, empowering secure and resilient digital operations.
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