World Bank Group Leans on Zero Trust to Secure Global Digital Infrastructure

The World Bank Group is relying on zero trust principles as it works with governments around the world to strengthen digital infrastructure and secure critical assets, Remy Faures, head of information security at the World Bank Group, said Tuesday at GovCIO Media & Research’s Federal Zero Trust Forum in Arlington, Virginia.

The World Bank Group consists of five institutions that collaborate to help developing countries design and fund policies and programs aimed at reducing poverty and promoting prosperity. A major focus of that work involves helping countries build and modernize digital infrastructure and digital economies, including the safeguards needed to protect them.

Faures said it can be difficult to buy-in for zero trust, but framing it as a tool to prevent ransomware attacks has proven to be effective.

“This can be a little abstract, a little boring, not necessarily really appealing. It certainly doesn’t have the appeal of AI,” he said. “As we started really looking into zero trust principles … we realized that the principles and the application of these principles were actually a pretty good strategy to help mitigate the risk of a catastrophic ransomware event, and by extension any large scale cyber disruption.” 

When working with developing countries and institutions, Faures said conversations about zero trust often fall flat until those organizations establish foundational cybersecurity basics.

“When we pivot to supporting some of these developing countries, some of the poorest countries in the world, then we really have to rethink, ‘how do we get there?’ And the challenges these countries face are the same threats we all face,” he said.  

Artificial intelligence amplifies many of those threats by giving adversaries greater speed, scale and sophistication, Faures warned.

“AI opens new pathways for data leakage, data exposure and so on. So AI creates a lot of challenges for security and security practitioners,” he said. “This is both extremely exciting and extremely scary. And if we don’t manage it really well, from a security standpoint, then we will have a catastrophe on our hands,” he said.  

Alternatively, Faures said AI could help make zero trust solutions more effective. 

“The ability to look at this very large data set, very weak signals, and connect the dots is something we’ve been chasing for a long time, [and] that the AI revolution is doing.”