Open Security Alliance LLPOpen Security AllianceGRC IS OUR DNA
Back to home
Technical Articles

Zero-Trust Architecture: A Practical Primer for Enterprise CISOs

A pragmatic technical article on rolling out zero-trust for identity, device, network, application, and data pillars — without a rip-and-replace project.

OSA Cyber Advisory· Virtual CISO Practice 12 min read

Zero-Trust Architecture Primer

The five pillars

  1. Identity — phishing-resistant MFA, conditional access, privileged access management
  2. Device — posture, attestation, EDR
  3. Network — micro-segmentation, ZTNA replacing VPN
  4. Application — service identity, workload isolation
  5. Data — classification, DLP, encryption in transit and at rest

Incremental rollout

Start with identity and device pillars. Then network for high-value assets. Application and data mature over 18–24 months.

zero-trust architecture identity