Supporting Network Security Practices and the Modern Employment Model With ZTNA

Ariana Lynn / The Fast Mode / 5 December 2023

The Fast Mode spoke to Chris Cap, System and Architecture Engineer at QuSecure on the impact of traffic visibility on ZTNA networks. Chris joins us in a series of discussions with leading cybersecurity and networking vendors, assessing the evolution of ZTNA technologies, the roadmap for ZTNA deployments, the benefits of ZTNA for enterprise and telco networks, and the need for real-time traffic visibility technologies such as DPI for ZTNA.

Ariana: How important is traffic visibility for ZTNA vendors?

Chris: To properly operate a ZTNA, a record of all network traffic must be maintained. Furthermore, all network traffic must be examined at time of receipt. This allows for real-time monitoring of possible threats, and in some cases, a response to those threats. Deep packet inspection may be implemented to address these concerns. However, some network segments will be resistant to this type of packet inspection, possibly due to encryption or other obfuscation. In that case organizations must employ alternative methods, typically reliant on packet metadata. More sophisticated methods, such as those reliant on machine learning, may also be implemented to gain as much visibility and knowledge as possible about transmitted packets. The end goal of all forms of packet inspection is to identify and discard or reroute malicious packets before they have the chance to negatively impact the network’s integrity, and for that visibility of traffic is a necessity.

Read the full article from The Fast Mode here.