Zero trust: A business imperative for the digital age

In today’s digital world, enterprises face unprecedented cyber threats from sophisticated actors who exploit the vulnerabilities of a complex and dynamic IT environment. As organizations adopt cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to enhance their business capabilities and competitiveness, they also expose themselves to new attack vectors and risks. 

According to a report by IBM, the global average cost of a data breach in 2024 — a 10% increase over last year and the highest total ever. Moreover, 75% of the increase in the average breach costs was the result of the cost of lost business and post-breach response activities.

Enterprises need to rethink their cybersecurity strategy and adopt a zero trust mindset that assumes no user, device or network is inherently trustworthy. Zero trust is not a product or a solution, but a holistic approach that leverages multiple security controls and technologies to verify every request, enforce granular policies, and monitor all activities across the organization. 

What leaders should understand is that the zero trust approach is more than just an IT project. It is a business imperative necessary to ensure that the enterprise has the security it needs to both survive and thrive in today’s environment. By implementing zero trust frameworks, enterprises can reduce their attack surfaces, improve their visibility and detection, and enhance their resilience and recovery capabilities. 

How to gain alignment and support for zero trust

While the benefits of zero trust are clear, many enterprises face barriers and resistance when it comes to implementing it across the organization. A successful zero trust transformation requires not only technical changes, but also cultural and organizational changes that involve multiple stakeholders, including the C-suite, the board of directors, and the employees. Therefore, security and risk leaders need to communicate effectively and persuasively the value proposition, the roadmap, and the cyber resilience and business growth outcomes of zero trust to gain alignment and support from these stakeholders. 

A key step to achieve this is to align the zero trust strategy with the business objectives and priorities of the organization. Security leaders need to demonstrate how zero trust can help the organization achieve its goals, such as increasing customer satisfaction, enhancing innovation, or reducing costs. For example, by adopting zero trust, an organization can improve its customer trust and loyalty by ensuring the privacy and security of their data, which can lead to higher retention and revenue rates. Further, an organization can foster a culture of innovation and experimentation by enabling secure access to cloud-based resources and applications, which can accelerate the development and delivery of new products and services. 

Getting to a zero trust framework is a multi-year project, one that requires trusted partners, and the entire organization, to build their framework on a solid foundation. organization. Leaders must gain alignment and support for zero trust to successfully implement it throughout the organization.

To do this, leaders must quantify and measure the impact and return on investment (ROI) in order to communicate security posture in a way that C-Suite and board members will understand. Security leaders need to establish metrics and indicators that can track and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of zero trust, such as the number and severity of incidents, the time and cost of detection and response, the user experience and satisfaction, or the compliance and regulatory status. By collecting and analyzing data and evidence, security leaders can showcase the tangible and intangible benefits of zero trust, such as the reduction of risk, the improvement of efficiency, or the enhancement of reputation.

Additionally, by measuring and reporting the progress and results of zero trust, security leaders can justify the budget and resources needed to sustain and scale the initiative, as well as identify and address any gaps or challenges that may arise along the way. Security leaders need to establish metrics and indicators that can track and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of zero trust, such as the number and severity of incidents, the time and cost of detection and response, the user experience and satisfaction, or the compliance and regulatory status. By collecting and analyzing data and evidence, security leaders can showcase the tangible and intangible benefits of zero trust, such as the reduction of risk, the improvement of efficiency, or the enhancement of reputation. Additionally, by measuring and reporting the progress and results of zero trust, security leaders can justify the budget and resources needed to sustain and scale the initiative, as well as identify and address any gaps or challenges that may arise along the way. 

How zero trust maturity helps the business grow and increase cyber resilience 

Achieving zero trust
maturity requires constant adaptation and improvement. As the threat landscape and the business environment evolve, enterprises need to update and refine their zero trust framework to ensure it remains relevant and effective. However, this process is not only a defensive measure, but an opportunity to drive business growth and increase cyber resilience. By reaching higher levels of zero trust maturity, enterprises can unlock several benefits that can enhance their competitive advantage and sustainability. 

Zero trust maturity enables enterprises to expand their business opportunities and reach new markets. By implementing a zero trust framework, enterprises can securely enable remote and mobile workforces, as well as collaborate with customers, partners and other stakeholders across different locations and platforms. This can increase the productivity, flexibility and agility of the organization, as well as improve the customer experience and loyalty. Furthermore, by adopting a zero trust framework, enterprises can comply with the increasing and varying regulatory and industry standards that govern data protection and privacy, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This can reduce the legal and reputational risks, as well as open up new avenues for business growth and expansion. 

Another benefit of zero trust maturity is that it strengthens the enterprise’s ability to withstand and recover from cyberattacks. By implementing a zero trust framework, enterprises can minimize their attack surface, detect and respond to threats faster, and isolate and contain the impact of incidents. This can reduce the operational and financial losses, as well as the reputational and legal consequences of a breach. 

By implementing a zero trust framework, enterprises can enhance their recovery and restoration capabilities, as well as their readiness and preparedness for future incidents. This can improve the confidence and trust of the organization, as well as its stakeholders, in its ability to survive and thrive in the face of adversity. While data breaches will continue to increase, when done correctly, zero trust security can significantly increase the business continuity capabilities of enterprises for current and future threats.