Cybersecurity expert Ross Haleliuk recently posed an interesting question related to this topic on LinkedIn.

“With identity taking center stage and the cloud transforming infrastructure,” he asked, “is network security becoming a dying category?”  

There’s a lot of buzz around identity being the new perimeter and the cloud making traditional networks obsolete. It’s certainly a thought-provoking idea, and Haleliuk’s conversation generated some great insights.

Here’s my take.

Securing identities vs. securing networks: why not both?

Protecting identities and networks are both important parts of a strong security plan.

Identity security is about deciding who can do something (whether it’s a person or a system) and what they are allowed to do. Network security, on the other hand, controls where they can go and how they get there.

These two types of security work best together. If you focus only on identity security, hackers might find ways to sneak through weak spots in your network. But if you only focus on network security, you could miss places where bad actors can move around without being noticed.

To keep attackers out and make your organization as safe as possible, you need both identity and network security working together.

Zero Trust: the glue that binds them

Zero Trust is a modern security strategy that helps organizations end implicit trust and enforce least-privilege access instead. It follows the principle of “never trust, always verify.” This applies to everything in the organization, from identities to the network itself.

In a Zero Trust architecture, checking who or what is accessing resources (identity security) is only part of the job. The other part is controlling how they move through your network (network security).

These two parts work together to create a strong and flexible security system that can handle modern threats.

Network security is super important in a Zero Trust strategy because it helps break the network into smaller sections and controls how data moves. This is especially helpful in cloud environments where things change quickly.

Without strong network controls, it’s hard to see what’s happening and make sure security rules are being followed.

You need identity and network controls

Just focusing on network security without strong identity controls can also put your company at risk.

Identity-based policies help security teams make smarter decisions about who gets access to what. These policies look at a person’s role, behavior, and what they are doing in real time. This makes it possible to change security rules based on what the user is doing or where they are, giving a strong and flexible defense.

When identity and network security work together as part of a Zero Trust strategy, they build a strong defense system that doesn’t just find threats but also stops them.

Organizations need to find the right balance where identity rules and network controls support each other. This way, they can see who is accessing resources and how they are moving around the network.

Network security isn’t going anywhere

A real Zero Trust approach assumes that identity security alone isn’t enough to keep your organization safe.

Hackers are always looking for weak spots. They might try to steal passwords or move through your network without being noticed. Even strong identity controls can fail if an attacker gets access to a user’s account or gains extra permissions.

That’s where network security comes in. Using strategies like microsegmentation can add an extra layer of protection. Microsegmentation breaks the network into smaller, separate sections. Even if hackers get in, their movement is tightly restricted.

This can really cut down the damage if a breach happens and gives security teams more time to react and stop the attack.

Two sides of the same Zero Trust coin

The debate about identity vs. network security shouldn’t be about picking one over the other. Instead, it’s important to see how they work together in a Zero Trust strategy.

A strong Zero Trust approach means always checking both who is accessing your systems and how they are moving through your network. This helps make your organization harder to attack and contains the damage if a breach does happen.

Network security isn’t going away — it’s changing. And with Zero Trust, it’s more important than ever. We need to think of identity and network security not as separate things but as two parts of the same big picture. By doing this, we can build a security plan that is not only strong but also ready for whatever comes next.