Why Ireland needs to implement a Zero Trust approach for cybersecurity

Irish cybersecurity expert Rob Allen urges Government to follow US example and protect State agencies to potentially save billions

Irish cybersecurity expert and Vice President of cybersecurity company ThreatLocker, Rob Allen, has today (Tuesday 27^th June) called on the Irish Government to follow the example of the United States and mandate that all Government bodies implement the Zero Trust approach, the gold standard in cybersecurity. 

Why Ireland needs to implement a Zero Trust approach for cybersecurity

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021 which set new standards for Federal agencies’ cybersecurity systems in the wake of a crippling attack that year on Colonial Pipeline, one of the country’s largest oil pipelines.

The Zero Trust approach applies the principle of least privilege, removing implicit trust and adding explicit trust. This permits only required software to run on IT systems, while stopping both malicious and unwanted applications from running. Traditional Cyber Security solutions scan for and stop known threats, while the Zero Trust approach denies all unwanted programs from running. This process drastically minimises cyber threats by stopping ransomware and other rogue applications running on a network.

Furthermore, applying Zero Trust principles to allowed applications can stop them from being weaponised and mis-used maliciously. By applying limits and restrictions to what applications can do when running, restricting interaction with other applications, files, and the internet, organisations can massively reduce the potential for their weaponization and prevent attacks.

According to Rob Allen, the Irish Government urgently needs to follow a similar approach; 

‘’By introducing this Executive Order, the US has set the bar in cybersecurity for years to come. Ireland urgently needs to follow suit and protect our state agencies from attack. The HSE attack in 2021 cost an estimated €144 million, and we will likely see other attacks like this in the future which could cost far more in terms of disruption, money, and lives. If we mandate Zero Trust now, we could potentially save billions in the years to come.’’

Rob went on to say; ‘’Lack of regulation with regards to Cyber Security could leave Ireland exposed as easy pickings in the world of cyber-attacks. We are seeing that cyber security is a frontline in modern conflicts, such as in Ukraine, and in the same way we need soldiers, ships, radar, and planes to protect our territory, we need the Zero Trust approach to protect our Government and the vital services it provides on a daily basis. Cyber security is also an increasing problem for many businesses, with the number of cyber-attacks increasing day by day costing businesses huge amounts of money.

A recent report by IBM estimates the cost of a data breach at $2.98m in organisations of less than 500 staff. These costs could be minimised or avoided entirely if Zero Trust baselines, even as the Australian Government’s Essential Eight, were embraced and encouraged by the Irish government.

ThreatLocker was founded in 2017 by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Danny Jenkins, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sami Jenkins and John Carolan. 

ThreatLocker operates a powerful Zero Trust endpoint protection platform designed so that everyone, from businesses to government agencies and academic institutions can stop ransomware and other cyberattacks by controlling what software can run in their environments. ThreatLocker’s combined Application Allowlisting, Ringfencing™, Storage Control, Elevation Control, Network Control, Configuration Manager and Operational Alert solutions are leading the cybersecurity market towards a more secure approach of blocking the exploits of unknown application vulnerabilities. 

ThreatLocker recently opened their EMEA headquarters in Dublin, creating 120 new jobs in the sector, and marking their first major step towards European expansion as the EU prepares to introduce new legislation ‘The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)’.   

About Rob Allen:

Rob Allen is an IT Professional with almost two decades of experience assisting small and medium enterprises embrace and utilise technology. Rob’s background is technical – first as a system administrator, then as a technician and an engineer. His broad technical knowledge, as well as an innate understanding of customer’s needs, made him a trusted advisor for hundreds of businesses across a wide variety of industries. 

Rob has been at the coalface, assisting clients in remediating the effects of, and helping them recover from cyber and ransomware attacks. Rob joined the ThreatLocker team in 2021, helping deliver ThreatLocker’s enterprise-level security products to customers throughout the EMEA region.

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