Implementing a Zero Trust Architecture (Volume E, Risk and Compliance Management)

A zero trust architecture (ZTA) focuses on protecting data and resources. It enables secure authorized 56 access to enterprise resources that are distributed across on-premises and multiple cloud environments, 57 while enabling a hybrid workforce and partners to access resources from anywhere, at any time, from 58 any device in support of the organization’s mission. Each access request is evaluated by verifying the 59 context available at access time, including criteria such as the requester’s identity and role, the 60 requesting device’s health and credentials, the sensitivity of the resource, user location, and user 61 behavior consistency. If the enterprise’s defined access policy is met, a secure session is created to 62 protect all information transferred to and from the resource. A real-time and continuous policy-driven, risk-based assessment is performed to establish and maintain the access. In this project, the NCCoE and 64 its collaborators use commercially available technology to build interoperable, open, standards-based 65 ZTA implementations that align to the concepts and principles in NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-207, 66 Zero Trust Architecture. This NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide explains how commercially available 67 technology can be integrated and used to build various ZTAs. This volume of the NIST Cybersecurity 68 Practice Guide discusses risks addressed by the ZTA reference architecture. It also maps ZTA security 69 characteristics to Cybersecurity Framework Subcategories, NIST SP 800-53r5 (Security and Privacy 70 Controls for Information Systems and Organizations) security controls, and Executive Order (EO) 14028 71 security measures.