Zero-Trust Implementation Guide
A practical guide to implementing zero-trust security architecture. Never trust, always verify -- applied to network access, identity, and data protection.
Core Principles
Authenticate and authorize every request regardless of source. Do not trust internal network traffic implicitly.
Grant minimum permissions required. Use role-based access control (RBAC) and review permissions quarterly.
Design systems as if the perimeter is already compromised. Segment networks, encrypt everything, and monitor laterally.
Implementation Layers
Identity & Access
MFA for all users, SSO via SAML/OIDC, service accounts with short-lived tokens, and just-in-time access provisioning.
Network
Micro-segmentation with VPC security groups, mTLS between services, private endpoints, and no public-facing databases.
Application
Input validation on every endpoint, parameterized queries, CSP headers, and CORS whitelisting per environment.
Data
Encryption at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3), field-level encryption for PII, and data classification labels.
Monitoring & Detection
- Centralize logs in a SIEM (Datadog Security, Elastic Security, or AWS SecurityHub)
- Alert on impossible travel (same user logging in from different geolocations)
- Monitor for privilege escalation attempts and failed authentication spikes
- Log all API access with source IP, user identity, and timestamp
- Implement anomaly detection for unusual data access patterns
- Review access logs weekly and revoke unused permissions monthly
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