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Zero Trust Guiding Principles v1.1
Release Date: 09/03/2024
Working Group: Zero Trust
Zero Trust is a strategic mindset that is highly useful for organizations to adopt as part of their digital transformations. Based on the idea of "never trust, always verify," the Zero Trust model helps strengthen security and resilience. However, people also tend to misunderstand and over-complicate Zero Trust. Conflicting messaging and a lack of established standards bars many organizations from proceeding with Zero Trust adoption.
This document provides a clear understanding of what Zero Trust security is and lays out the guiding principles for planning, implementing, and operating Zero Trust. These Zero Trust best practices remain consistent across all Zero Trust pillars, use cases, environments, and products.
The updates for Version 1.1 include graphics to promote readability and references to AI.
Principles Covered:
- Begin with the end in mind
- Do not overcomplicate
- Products are not the priority
- Access is a deliberate act
- Inside out, not outside in
- Breaches happen
- Understand your risk appetite
- Ensure the tone from the top
- Instill a Zero Trust culture
- Start small and focus on quick wins
- Continuously monitor
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For those who want to learn from the industry's first benchmark for measuring Zero Trust skill sets, the CCZT includes foundational Zero Trust components released by CISA and NIST, innovative work in the Software-Defined Perimeter by CSA Research, and guidance from renowned Zero Trust experts such as John Kindervag, Founder of the Zero Trust philosophy.
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