Zero trust private application access via social media based validation for government applications

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform steps of:

• receiving, at a cloud-based system, a request from a user to access an application;
• determining, by the cloud-based system, whether the user meets one or more authentication or contextual requirements;
• responsive to the user meeting the one or more requirements, presenting, by the cloud-based system, the user with a login page that is hosted by the cloud-based system and not by the application;
• validating credentials of the user with one or more additional identity sources including at least one federated identity provider configured by an administrator;
• responsive to successful validation of the users' credentials, authenticating the user and evaluating, at the cloud-based system, one or more access policies for the user;
• and
• initiating, by the cloud-based system, a per-session connection between the user and an application connector associated with the application, the application connector being configured to establish only outbound connections to the cloud-based system such that the application is not exposed to inbound connections, wherein the user is not placed on a network containing the application, and the application remains undiscoverable from the Internet, and a path between the user and the application is stitched only for a duration of an authorized session.

A cloud-based system comprising:

• a plurality of nodes each having at least one processor and memory comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:
• receive, at the cloud-based system, a request from a user to access an application;
• determine, by the cloud-based system, whether the user meets one or more authentication or contextual requirements;
• responsive to the user meeting the one or more requirements, presenting, by the cloud-based system, the user with a login page that is hosted by the cloud-based system and not by the application;
• validate credentials of the user with one or more additional identity sources including at least one federated identity provider configured by an administrator;
• responsive to successful validation of the users' credentials, authenticate the user and evaluate, at the cloud-based system, one or more access policies for the user;
• and
• initiating, by the cloud-based system, a der-session connection between the user and an application connector associated with the application, the application connector being configured to establish only outbound connections to the cloud-based system such that the application is not exposed to inbound connections, wherein the user is not placed on a network containing the application, and the application remains undiscoverable from the Internet, and a path between the user and the application is stitched only for a duration of an authorized session.