Zero Trust: a Secure Future Without Compromising Experience

As organizations continue to shift toward cloud-first, hybrid work environments, the limitations of traditional perimeter-based security have become more apparent. The convergence of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is no longer just a theoretical security model – it’s a necessity for protecting distributed networks, applications, and users against modern cyber threats.

Yet, the widespread adoption of Zero Trust is often hindered by friction in authentication processes, particularly with multi-factor authentication (MFA). Frictionless Authentication, an evolving approach to secure access, is now emerging as a game-changer, enabling seamless user experiences while maintaining strong security postures.

Understanding Zero Trust: A Shift in Security Philosophy

Zero Trust Architecture is built upon the fundamental principle that no entity – whether inside or outside an organization’s network – should be trusted by default. Traditional security models relied on perimeter-based defenses, assuming that once inside a secured network, users and devices could be trusted. However, this approach has repeatedly failed in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, lateral movement of attackers, and the decentralization of IT environments.

Zero Trust is not a technology – it is a philosophy and strategy that mandates continuous verification. Zero Trust means seeing the interconnected world of networks as all part of a single environment where individual assets have varying levels of “trust.” For example, you can’t trust the coffee shop network that a user may be sitting on, but based on a combination of contextual factors, you can trust an identity on that network to access the resources it needs, whether those resources are in your on-premises data center or in the cloud.

A helpful analogy is to think of traditional security models as medieval castles. Once someone is inside the castle walls, they are granted free movement, just as users within a corporate network have historically been trusted by default. Zero Trust, on the other hand, is more like airport security. Every individual, regardless of status, undergoes multiple checks at various points, ensuring that trust is continuously validated, rather than granted indefinitely based on location.

In order to achieve Zero Trust, organizations need an approach to defining trustworthiness, along with a toolset that enables the enforcement of granular security controls. A Zero Trust network is designed to enable these granular security measures, ensuring that only authorized and approved subjects (a combination of user, application, and device) can access data and resources, such as printers, desktop, servers, storage, and network resources or signage and IoT actuators, while excluding all other unauthorized entities.

Tenets of Zero Trust (Adapted from NIST 800-207)

According to NIST Special Publication 800-207, Zero Trust is guided by the following core tenets:

All data sources and computing services are considered resources. Every device, application, and data source must be treated as a potential security risk and be protected accordingly.
All communication is secured regardless of network location. No implicit trust is given based on whether a device or user is inside or outside the traditional security perimeter.
Access to individual enterprise resources is granted on a per-session basis. Authentication and authorization are continuously enforced, ensuring that trust is never assumed.
Access decisions rely on dynamic policy enforcement. Policies should be based on observable data points, including user identity, device security posture, and behavioral attributes.
The organization continuously monitors and assesses the security posture of all assets. Devices and applications are regularly evaluated for vulnerabilities, with access dynamically adjusted as necessary.
Authentication and authorization are strictly enforced before granting access. This applies to all interactions, ensuring that security policies are consistently applied across the organization.
Organizations collect and analyze security data to improve threat detection. Continuous monitoring of access patterns and security incidents allows for rapid threat detection and response.

By adhering to these principles, organizations can effectively reduce risk while maintaining operational flexibility.[1]

SASE, Microsegmentation, and Frictionless Authentication – The Keys to Zero Trust

Organizations can establish a security framework that dynamically adapts to evolving cyber threats while preserving operational flexibility by integrating SASE, microsegmentation, and frictionless authentication with Zero Trust principles. While the term “frictionless” may suggest an alternative to traditional MFA, it refers to modern MFA approaches such as passwordless authentication (FIDO2/WebAuthn), risk-based authentication, and behavioral biometrics, meeting NIST 800-207 requirements while improving the user experience.

NIST 800-207 makes the case for frictionless authentication (MFA), microsegmentation, and SASE components (via Secure Channel) for you:

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- MFA is a key component of access policies in Zero Trust Architecture. The policy engine evaluates multiple identity factors and may require additional authentication when risk thresholds are exceeded.
- Section 7.3.7 discusses the need for MFA policies, particularly in workflows where access decisions rely on user authentication, ensuring only authorized users gain access.
- The standard highlights how MFA mitigates risks of compromised credentials but acknowledges potential user resistance if the process is too cumbersome.
Microsegmentation
- Section 3.1.2 explicitly states that ZTA can be implemented using microsegmentation, where network segments are protected by policy enforcement points (PEPs). This ensures that access decisions are granular and dynamic.
- Host-based microsegmentation, enforced via software agents, limits lateral movement and restricts resource access on a per-session basis.
- The document stresses that microsegmentation aligns with Zero Trust principles by preventing unauthorized resource discovery and minimizing the attack surface.
Secure Channel (SASE)
- Secure communication is a fundamental requirement of ZTA. Section 3.4.1 outlines that enterprise assets should only communicate through authenticated and encrypted channels.
- Policy enforcement points (PEPs) ensure that all network communication follows Zero Trust policies, aligning SASE and ZTA principles of securing all traffic regardless of origin.
- The standard discourages direct access to enterprise resources without passing through a PEP, reinforcing the need for secure channels that SASE provides.

Each of these elements; MFA, microsegmentation, and SASE, directly support NIST’s Zero Trust framework by enforcing least privilege access, continuous authentication, secure channels, and strict policy enforcement. Further, of these components plays a distinct yet complementary role in strengthening an organization’s security posture:

SASE enforces Zero Trust policy enforcement points at the network and cloud edge, securing channel access while optimizing performance.
Microsegmentation provides policy enforcement points, prevents lateral movement and enhances traffic visibility within cloud and on-premises environments.
Frictionless Multi-Factor Authentication ensures secure, seamless access without disrupting user workflows, reducing resistance to Zero Trust adoption.

Together, these components align with the core tenets of Zero Trust as defined in NIST 800-207, ensuring continuous verification, least-privilege access, and dynamic policy enforcement at all levels.

All data sources and computing services are considered resources
- SASE: Unifies security controls across cloud-based and on-premises environments, treating all endpoints, applications, and services as potential risks.
- Microsegmentation: Enforces per-resource access controls, isolating sensitive workloads from potential threats.
- Frictionless Authentication: Strengthens identity-based access by continuously verifying users and devices before granting permissions.
All communication is secured regardless of network location
- SASE: Provides end-to-end encryption and applies security controls consistently, whether users are remote, on-prem, or accessing cloud applications.
- Microsegmentation: Restricts traffic flow between applications and workloads, ensuring internal communications are not implicitly trusted.
- Frictionless Authentication: Uses contextual risk-based policies to enforce secure access dynamically, regardless of location.
Access to individual enterprise resources is granted on a per-session basis
- SASE: Implements Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to verify and control access dynamically per session.
- Microsegmentation: Limits resource access to only those with explicit permissions, ensuring no unnecessary connectivity exists.
- Frictionless Authentication: Uses adaptive MFA and passwordless authentication to authenticate users seamlessly per session.
Access decisions rely on dynamic policy enforcement
- SASE: Leverages AI-driven analytics to enforce risk-based security policies in real time.
- Microsegmentation: Dynamically adjusts segmentation rules based on workload behavior, environment, and evolving risk factors.
- Frictionless Authentication: Applies continuous authentication based on user behavior, device posture, and real-time risk assessments.
The organization continuously monitors and assesses the security posture of all assets
- SASE: Uses cloud-native security monitoring to track network activity and enforce security posture changes dynamically.
- Microsegmentation: Provides deep visibility into east-west traffic to detect suspicious movements and contain threats.
- Frictionless Authentication: Continuously assesses identity and device security, revoking access if risks increase.
Authentication and authorization are strictly enforced before granting access
- SASE: Ensures identity-based access control at all network edges, reducing implicit trust.
- Microsegmentation: Only allows authenticated and authorized workloads to communicate with each other.
- Frictionless Authentication: Uses passwordless, biometric, and adaptive authentication to validate users before granting access.
Organizations collect and analyze security data to improve threat detection
- SASE: Aggregates network and security intelligence to detect and mitigate threats in real time.
- Microsegmentation: Analyzes internal network traffic patterns to identify lateral movement attempts.
- Frictionless Authentication: Uses behavioral biometrics and AI to detect anomalies in user authentication patterns.

By integrating SASE, microsegmentation, and frictionless authentication, organizations can extend Zero Trust beyond access control and into every aspect of their security strategy.

SASE – The Key to Secure Channels, Policy Enforcement Points, and Distributed Resources

Since its inception, SASE has transitioned from a theoretical concept to a practical model, embedding security functions rooted in Zero Trust directly into network infrastructure. Organizations implementing SASE have gained enhanced security, streamlined complexity, and improved scalability, all while adhering to Zero Trust principles. SASE closely aligns with the core tenets of Zero Trust as defined in NIST 800-207, enabling a security approach that enforces adaptive policies and continuous verification at every access point. A complete SASE solution integrates multiple security and networking components to deliver a cloud-native, secure, and scalable infrastructure. The key components of a SASE offering include:

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Ensures secure access to applications and data by verifying user identity, device posture, and contextual risk before granting access.
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB): Monitors and controls access to cloud applications, preventing data leaks and enforcing security policies.
Secure Web Gateway (SWG): Protects users from web-based threats, filtering malicious content and enforcing acceptable use policies.
Firewall as a Service (FWaaS): Provides cloud-based firewall capabilities, securing traffic across distributed environments without requiring on-premises hardware.
Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN): Enhances network performance and security by optimizing traffic flow between branch offices, cloud environments, and data centers.[2]

By leveraging these components, organizations can create a unified, cloud-delivered security framework that aligns with Zero Trust principles while improving performance and reducing complexity.

Organizations that have adopted SASE are already on the Zero Trust journey, and they should market it as such within their organizations. By framing SASE adoption as a step on the Zero Trust path, security leaders can reinforce the importance of continuous improvements in security policies, access controls, and monitoring. This perspective helps shift the mindset from seeing Zero Trust as a rigid, unattainable goal to recognizing it as an ongoing strategy that strengthens the organization’s security posture over time.

Microsegmentation and Traffic Flow Visibility: The Key to Strengthening Zero Trust Beyond the Edge

While SASE provides robust security at the network perimeter and cloud edge, securing internal communications across hybrid environments within the enterprise remains a challenge. This is where microsegmentation with traffic flow visibility plays a crucial role in Zero Trust by restricting lateral movement within the network and ensuring that even internal traffic is continuously verified and monitored.

Why Microsegmentation is Essential in a Zero Trust Model

Restricts Lateral Movement: Attackers often exploit compromised accounts or endpoints to move laterally across networks. Microsegmentation enforces strict access policies between workloads, applications, and data, preventing unauthorized movement.
Granular Access Control: Instead of broad, network-wide permissions, microsegmentation enforces least privilege access at a workload or application level, reducing the attack surface.
Visibility into East-West Traffic: Traditional security tools focus on north-south traffic (perimeter traffic), leaving internal communications (east-west traffic) largely unmonitored. Microsegmentation provides deep visibility and analytics to detect anomalies within the network.
Regulatory Compliance: Many security frameworks, including NIST and GDPR, recommend segmentation to isolate sensitive data and enforce security policies. It is both a component of ZTA NIST.SP.800-207 and a CSF control under NIST.SP.800-53r5[3]

Among available solutions, the top tier stand out for their ability to provide microsegmentation and real-time traffic flow visibility across both cloud and on-premises environments. Due to functional overlaps, some solutions may also now fall into the CNAPP (Cloud Native Application Protection) category. Key features include:

Adaptive Segmentation Policies: Automatically adjusts security policies based on device behavior, risk level, and access patterns.
Deep Traffic Inspection: Analyzes east-west traffic to detect suspicious activity and enforce security controls.
Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Support: Ensures consistent segmentation across data centers, private clouds, and public cloud environments.
Automated Threat Containment: Identifies and isolates compromised workloads before they can escalate into full-scale breaches.

By integrating microsegmentation with SASE, organizations can extend Zero Trust principles beyond access control and into the core of their network infrastructure, ensuring a holistic, least-privilege security posture.

Frictionless Authentication: The Key to the User

One of the biggest barriers to Zero Trust adoption has been user resistance to complex authentication processes. Traditional MFA, if implemented – while effective, often disrupts workflows, leading to poor adoption rates. Frictionless Authentication brings together Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), Passwordless, Single Sign-On (SSO), Risk-based Authentication (RBA), and device trust capabilities, helping consolidate identity security, lower cost of ownership, and provide a seamless user experience.

Behavioral Biometrics: Continuous authentication based on typing patterns, mouse movements, and device usage.
Risk-Based Adaptive Authentication: Dynamic risk scoring that determines when additional authentication factors are necessary.
Passwordless Authentication: The use of FIDO2 (WebAuthn & CTAP)[4], passkeys, and device-based authentication eliminates password reliance.
Context-Aware Access Control: Real-time policy enforcement based on user location, device health, and access history.

[5]

By minimizing user friction and improving the experience with enhancements like Passwordless Authentication and Single Sign On, organizations can drive higher MFA adoption rates, thereby strengthening their Zero Trust Security posture without impeding productivity. Potentially even improving it by enabling more efficient business processes.

Implementing a Zero Trust Model with SASE, Microsegmentation and Frictionless Authentication

To achieve true Zero Trust while maintaining user productivity, organizations should:

Integrate Frictionless Authentication: enhance traditional MFA with adaptive, user-friendly authentication solutions.
Reduce Implicit Trust with Microsegmentation: Segment networks and restrict lateral movement to contain potential breaches.
Deploy SASE for Distributed Security Enforcement: Secure users and endpoints regardless of location, minimizing reliance on traditional layer-three VPNs.
Adopt Continuous Risk Assessment: Implement AI-driven security analytics to assess risks in real time.
Ensure Vendor-Agnostic Interoperability: Avoid vendor lock-in by selecting SASE and authentication solutions that integrate with diverse IT environments.

Conclusion

Zero Trust and SASE are no longer aspirational security models – they are essential for securing modern, hybrid IT environments. Organizations must move beyond traditional perimeter defenses that do not work and adopt a continuous verification approach that adapts dynamically to evolving cyber threats.

By integrating SASE with Microsegmentation, organizations enforce Zero Trust principles across cloud and on-premises environments, ensuring secure access while optimizing network performance. Microsegmentation further strengthens security by preventing lateral movement whether on your network or to your devices on “untrusted networks” like those at the coffee shops, providing real-time traffic visibility, and containing potential breaches before they escalate.

Frictionless Authentication eliminates a major barrier to Zero Trust adoption, user resistance, by enhancing security without disrupting productivity. Passwordless authentication, adaptive MFA, and risk-based access control improve user experiences while reducing reliance on outdated credential-based security.

The successful implementation of Zero Trust requires a holistic strategy that balances security with usability. Organizations that integrate SASE, microsegmentation, and frictionless authentication will not only enhance security but also enable business agility, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency in an increasingly complex threat landscape.

The future of cybersecurity isn’t just about securing networks, it’s about securing identities, devices, and applications with minimal friction. Zero Trust is not just a security philosophy or a framework – it is a business enabler. Organizations that delay its adoption will find themselves at greater risk, while those that act today will gain a lasting competitive advantage in security, compliance, and operational efficiency and will be best positioned to navigate the evolving cyber landscape in 2025 and beyond.

This document was created by a human analyst in collaboration with generative AI. The final content was developed, reviewed, and edited by a human editor to ensure accuracy, originality, and adherence to applicable legal standards.

Appendix:

SASE:
Cisco Umbrella Cloud Security Service
https://umbrella.cisco.com/secure-access-service-edge-sase

Cloudflare SASE
https://www.cloudflare.com/zero-trust/products/

CATO SASE Cloud
https://www.catonetworks.com/platform/

Fortinet FortiSASE
https://www.fortinet.com/products/sase

Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase

Zscaler
https://www.zscaler.com/products-and-solutions/secure-access-service-edge-sase

Microsegmentation/CNAPP:

Crowdstrike Falcon Cloud Security
https://www.crowdstrike.com/platform/cloud-security/cnapp/

Fidelis Halo (Formerly CloudPassage Halo – CNAPP + Microsegmentation)
https://fidelissecurity.com/fidelis-halo-cloud-native-application-protection-platform-cnapp/

Illumio (Microsegmentation)
https://www.illumio.com/

Microsoft Defender for Cloud
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/cloud-security/microsoft-defender-cloud