Zero Trust Security Guide

1. Zero Trust Principles

Zero Trust is a security model that eliminates implicit trust. Instead of "trust but verify," it's "never trust, always verify." Every access request is fully authenticated, authorized, and encrypted.

Core Tenets

• No implicit trust: Network location doesn't grant access
• Continuous verification: Check every request
• Least privilege: Minimum necessary access
• Assume breach: Limit blast radius

2. Five Pillars of Zero Trust

3. Identity-Centric Security

# Identity is the new perimeter

# Strong identity foundation:
# - Single identity provider (IdP)
# - Multi-factor authentication (MFA) everywhere
# - Passwordless authentication
# - Risk-based conditional access
# - Privileged Access Management (PAM)

# Conditional access policies:
IF user location = untrusted country
   AND device compliance = unknown
   THEN require MFA + limit access

4. Device Trust

• ✅ Device registration and enrollment
• ✅ Health attestation (patched, encrypted)
• ✅ Compliance policies enforced
• ✅ Managed device preference
• ✅ BYOD with limited access

5. Network Micro-segmentation

# Move from network perimeter to micro-segments

# Traditional:
# Firewall at edge → everything trusted inside

# Zero Trust:
# Segment every workload
# East-west traffic encrypted
# Service-to-service authentication

# Implementation:
# - Software-defined perimeter (SDP)
# - Next-gen firewalls with identity awareness
# - Service mesh (Istio, Linkerd)

6. Data Protection

• Classification: Know your sensitive data
• Encryption: At rest and in transit
• DLP: Prevent unauthorized sharing
• Rights management: Control after sharing
• Monitoring: Track data access

7. Implementation Roadmap

1. Phase 1: Strong identity foundation (MFA, SSO)
2. Phase 2: Device compliance and visibility
3. Phase 3: Network segmentation
4. Phase 4: Application and data protection
5. Phase 5: Continuous monitoring and analytics

8. Zero Trust Solutions

FAQ

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