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Adopting Internet of Things (IoT) technologies introduces security challenges that require an effective strategy for ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. It is the need of the hour to understand the practical application of the Zero Trust (ZT) security strategy in the context of IoT to build robust security posture using robust controls. This document discusses how ZT should be adapted to suit the unique challenges of IoT deployment and operation. 

This document provides a 5-step methodology for architecting and implementing ZT tailored for IoT deployments. It begins by explaining the IoT scope and range, unique challenges, and a real-world IoT exploit to emphasize the necessity of this guidance.

The document then guides the 5-step process of implementing the ZT for IoT use cases. The first step, "defining Protect Surfaces," addresses IoT challenges by establishing prerequisites for visibility and context and understanding supported authentication methods. It also involves categorizing devices based on Protect Surface buckets based on criticality (high, medium, low). The second step, "transaction mapping," identifies all entities interacting with each device type and their dependencies, which can lead to adjustments in device criticality. The third step, "defining the architecture," focuses on balancing resources and controls based on criticality buckets. High-Criticality devices receive fine-grained controls and more resources, while Medium-Criticality and Low-Criticality devices receive fewer resources and broad blanket controls. This step also includes a maturity model to help organizations understand their current state and desired goals, considering budget constraints. The "Policy" step covers available toolsets and controls and provides a policy definition and documentation template. Finally, the "monitoring" step offers guidelines on tasks and their frequency and completes the framework.

This document aims to enable organizations to effectively categorize and secure the numerous IoT devices in their environments, ensuring protection against evolving threats while maintaining operational resilience.