Osterman Research White Paper

Why Zero Trust Is Important

Osterman Research, a market research and consulting firm delivering insight on cybersecurity, data protection and information governance, surveyed 125 IT and security decision-makers in mid-sized and large organizations on the state of Zero Trust architecture adoption in their organizations.

73 percent of respondents are focused on identity and access management (IAM) for employees as the key design modification for zero trust.

55 percent of respondents express that dealing with limitations in legacy systems is their top barrier against embracing zero trust.

53 percent of respondents cite high-profile ransomware incidents as the top motivator for integrating zero trust, closely followed by remote (51 percent) and hybrid (45 percent) work models.

Insights Include:

  • High profile ransomware incidents are having the largest impact on the decision to embrace Zero Trust.

  • Near-term implementation is at hand with most organizations expecting to fully deploy Zero Trust architecture in two years or less.

  • Resourcing and technical barriers are the major limitations, including financial limits, staffing shortages, and legacy systems that slow down Zero Trust adoption.

  • The right combination of solutions are required to implement Zero Trust Zero Trust architecture; it’s not available in any single product.