WatchGuard Blog

Zero-trust model, adoption and maintenance in corporate environments: a turning point

Digital transformation has accelerated and zero-trust architecture has helped businesses invest in more advanced technologies without the risk of advanced cyberattacks. 

According to WatchGuard’s Pulse survey of 100 IT and security executives, a zero-trust framework stimulates digital transformation for companies, as stated by 6 out of 10 respondents (59%). In addition, 3 out of 4 companies are adopting this model in order to incorporate hybrid work environments (77%) and control access to endpoints and data (72%).  

This report also highlights that zero-trust implementation promotes the automation of security processes (80%) while fostering a change of mindset within work groups regarding risk prevention (70%), which makes organizations more resilient.  

Zero-trust architecture has reached a turning point. Over this year, 48% of executives stated they expect to deploy this security strategy internally, as the IT teams have the expertise needed to complete this task.  

Zero-trust: the main barriers in companies 

Despite the benefits, there are significant barriers to zero-trust implementation in businesses: 45% of companies are adopting zero-trust but they face delays and challenges due to bandwidth issues and the IT team’s inexperience. 

Pulse survey ZT
Download the full survey here

Other difficulties that apply to both zero-trust deployment and maintenance include administering and monitoring the framework (75%), creating and maintaining zero-trust policies (62%), the continuous monitoring that the central "always verify" principle requires (53%) and access to data in situations that may pose a risk to the company (53%). 

Companies that deploy and maintain a zero-trust strategy properly throughout their structure will become more secure, enabling them to focus on their business value proposition. Therefore, unique solutions for this framework will provide IT teams with a series of advantages such as the technology needed to verify access to endpoints in real time, perform damage control in the event of a security breach, and automate the context collection and response zero- trust requires.  

This ensures that companies rely on a robust ecosystem capable of dealing with this new environment where cyberattacks are growing more advanced and difficult to detect. 

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