What is Zero Trust?
Zero Trust is a cybersecurity framework with a simple overarching principle: no entity or request, whether inside or outside an organization's network, can be trusted by default and it posses a potential risk.
Table of contents
Under the Zero Trust security model, all users, devices, and systems must be continuously verified before being granted access to resources. This never trust, always verify approach enhances security by enforcing strict access controls, using principles like least privilege, multi-factor authentication, and real-time monitoring.
Zero Trust helps organizations protect sensitive data and systems against modern threats, regardless of where users are or what devices they use, by minimizing trust assumptions and requiring validation at every access point.
Zero Trust principles
The main zero trust principles are:
- Verify explicitly: Always authenticate and authorize based on all available data points - identity, location, device health, service or workload, data classification, and anomalies.
- Use least privileged access: Limit user access with just-in-time and just-enough-access (JIT/JEA), risk-based adaptive policies, and data protection.
- Assume breach: Minimize blast radius for breaches and prevent lateral movement. Segment access, verify end-to-end encryption, use analytics to get visibility, drive threat detection, and improve defenses.
Zero Trust examples
In Microsoft 365, Zero Trust is implemented through:
- Entra ID conditional access: Requiring MFA and device compliance checks before granting access.
- Sensitivity labels and DLP: Protecting data regardless of where it travels.
- Microsoft Defender: Continuously monitoring for threats and suspicious activity.
- Least privileged access: Ensuring users only have the permissions necessary for their role.
