Security Architecture Report

• Zero Trust Security Architecture Summary

After completing the assigned reading of chapters 1-5 in the NIST SP800-207 document, answer the following questions:

1. Summarize the basic premise of Zero Trust Architecture. (1-2 sentences, in your own words will suffice)

• Multifactor authentication (MFA) appears to be a critical technology in a Zero Trust Security Architecture. Explain why this is the case in 1 or 2 paragraphs.

• The logical components of the Zero Trust Security Architecture are policy focused. Describe each of the policy related components of this architecture Describe how the additional components in the Zero Trust architecture (e.g. Threat Intelligence Feeds, Logs, SIEM…) support the enforcement of policies for system resources. (2-3 paragraphs will suffice)

• A new start-up company, Cloud Concerto, wants to use the Zero Trust Security Architecture to use database, servers, storage and authentication services available from multiple cloud vendors including Google, Microsoft and AWS. What Deployment/use case would be appropriate? Describe why you selected this deployment option in one paragraph or less.

• Stolen credentials and Insider threats are still a problem for systems following Zero Trust Security Architecture guidance. However, the Zero Trust Security Architecture does help reduce some of the risk. In 1-2 paragraphs, discuss how this architecture helps mitigate the risks but also may expose some sensitive data or components of the system.

• Zero Trust Maturity Model

After reading the Zero Trust Maturity Model document respond to the following questions:

1. In your opinion, why is a gradient approach (i.e. the maturity model levels of traditional, advanced, and optimal) to implementing the Zero Trust Security Architecture a good approach? Hint: you might want to conduct some research on other maturity models such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) as a reference. (1-2 paragraphs will suffice)

• You are in charge of bringing your organization to the Advanced stage of the Zero Trust Maturity Model for all 5 pillars.  Using the table below, add functions and stage descriptions for each of the 5 pillars for the Advanced stage only. Note this is a direct copy and paste from the document and will serve as a path to a roadmap for future implementation.

You will need to add rows to the table, as needed to ensure each pillar and function is listed.

Table 1. Advanced Stage Zero Trust Maturity Model Goals

Pillar	Function	Advanced Stage
Identity	Authentication	Agency authenticates identity using MFA.
…