ZERO TRUST NETWORKS: EMPLOYEES INTERLINKED
According to Forrester: “Zero trust security is an IT security model that requires strict identity verification for every person and device trying to access resources on a private network, regardless of whether they are sitting within or outside of the network perimeter. No single specific technology is associated with zero trust; it is a holistic approach to network security that incorporates several different principles and technologies”.
Forrester developed this concept based on the understanding that it is impossible to ensure that single parts of a network have not been hacked. For this, the best protection is to keep all parts as isolated as possible. This contrasts with the earlier philosophy ‘trust but verify’.
Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel ‘Pale Fire’ included a 999-line poem by a fictional poet. Four lines from that poem prominently appeared more than 50 years later in the science fiction movie ‘Blade Runner 2049’: “A system of cells interlinked within. Cells interlinked within cells. Interlinked within one stem. And dreadfully distinct, against the dark, a tall white fountain played”.
The book’s fictional author shortly interpreted these lines: “A system, the fitting-in of the threefold ‘cells interlinked’ is most skillfully managed, and one derives logical satisfaction from the ‘system’ and ‘stem’ interplay”.
The movie uses this small part of the poem as a test-procedure for the replicant K to ensure that he did not develop emotions as a reaction to his job of eliminating other replicants. Such would question his ability to continue with the task. Only zero emotions ensure the efficient execution of the job, as a perfect part of the system.
Oct-Dec 2020 Issue
Patrick Henz