Many organizations rely on non-employees—vendors, contractors, partners, and service providers—to support their daily operations. However, this reliance can cause challenges in managing and securing non-employee/third-party identities.
Cybercriminals will often exploit non-employee access to compromise systems due to weak credentials, excessive permissions, or available devices. The Zero Trust model mitigates these vulnerabilities through an approach that applies strict access controls, multi-step validation, and real-time tracking of activities.
This blog explores how Zero Trust principles can help secure non-employee identity lifecycle management and reduce risks associated with external access.
Zero Trust is a security approach based on the principle of "never trust, always verify”. This approach views each access request as a possible danger, in contrast to conventional security models that assume internal systems and users are reliable. This calls for more identity verification, limited access rights, and ongoing supervision.
By restricting access and regularly examining their operations, Zero Trust helps manage risks for non-employees/external users that frequently function outside the organization's control.
The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to the risks:
Given these risks, adopting Zero Trust principles has become a key step for organizations.
With least-privilege access, non-employees/external users are granted only the minimal permissions required to perform their duties. This reduces the possibility of unintentional or deliberate misuse of access.
Why it matters:
Excessive access raises the risk of data breaches, particularly in the event that a non-employee account is compromised. Organizations can reduce the risk of harm by only granting the required permissions.
Steps to implement:
Zero Trust goes beyond just access controls. It also focuses on managing the whole lifecycle of non-employee identities, from onboarding all the way to deprovisioning. Without clear processes, inactive accounts or unmanaged credentials can become vulnerabilities.
Why it matters:
Unmanaged or unused accounts are often left open after contracts end, providing attackers with easy access points. Maintaining security throughout these accounts' use is ensured by actively managing their lifecycle.
Steps to implement:
By limiting access, non-employees can only engage with the resources they need to perform their duties. This restricts their mobility within the network and prevents them from accessing unrelated systems.
Why it matters:
Segmentation keeps attackers from accessing other parts of the network and helps limit the possible harm in the event that a non-employee account is compromised.
Steps to implement:
Monitoring non-employee activities is important in helping detect and respond to potential security incidents. Logging identity-related events provides insight into how credentials are being used and ensures lifecycle accountability.
Why it matters:
If it’s not monitored, suspicious activity can be missed and organizations may fail to meet regulatory compliance requirements.
Steps to implement:
Protecting sensitive data is important in Zero Trust. Encryption, tokenization, and strict data governance all help in minimizing risks.
Why it matters:
Non-employees/external users often access or interact with sensitive data, which is a main target for attackers. Securing this data reduces the potential of exposure.
Steps to implement:
Ensuring that non-employees understand your security policies and practices is essential. A lack of awareness among vendors or contractors can undermine even the best Zero Trust measures.
Why it matters:
Human error remains one of the top causes of breaches. Educating non-employees/third parties helps minimize this risk.
Steps to implement:
In addition to its foundational principles, there are other additional strategies based on the Zero Trust philosophy for securing non-employee identities.
Identity governance tools simplify how organizations manage non-employee identities. These tools help ensure that non-employee accounts are properly created, managed, and terminated.
Key features:
Rather than providing users with general network access, ZTNA gives them secure, application-specific access. This guarantees that only the resources that non-employees/external users require are visible to them.
Benefits of ZTNA:
Automation helps organizations identify and address security risks faster. It reduces reliance on manual processes, making it easier to secure non-employee/third-party identities at scale.
Examples of automation:
While Zero Trust offers a strong security framework, implementing it for non-employee identity management can present some challenges.
Shifting to Zero Trust may require changes to infrastructure, policies, and workflows. Especially for organizations with legacy systems, this can be resource intensive.
How to address:
Begin by applying Zero Trust to high-risk non-employee accounts and scale up gradually.
Vendors and contractors may push back against stricter access controls, especially if they view them as overly restrictive or inconvenient.
How to address:
Educate non-employees about the importance of these controls and use user-friendly tools like SSO to simplify their experience.
Strict access controls can sometimes slow down non-employee work, creating friction between security and operational needs.
How to address:
Adopt adaptive access policies that adjust based on risk, ensuring security without unnecessary restrictions for trusted users.
Implementing Zero Trust for non-employee identity management can be challenging, but with our consulting services, we can help you:
Contact us at info@anomalix.com to learn how we can help.
