Theory and Application of Zero Trust Security: A Brief Survey

TLDR

Traditional perimeter‑based security models fail to meet the demands of increasing cross‑border access, prompting the emergence of zero‑trust security—a paradigm that rejects fixed boundaries and requires continuous verification, though its theory and application remain under‑developed. The paper aims to review and analyze the origins, principles, and current challenges of zero‑trust security to guide future research and application. The authors analyze zero‑trust characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, and evaluate its technical applications in cloud and IoT environments.

Abstract

As cross-border access becomes more frequent, traditional perimeter-based network security models can no longer cope with evolving security requirements. Zero trust is a novel paradigm for cybersecurity based on the core concept of “never trust, always verify”. It attempts to protect against security risks related to internal threats by eliminating the demarcations between the internal and external network of traditional network perimeters. Nevertheless, research on the theory and application of zero trust is still in its infancy, and more extensive research is necessary to facilitate a deeper understanding of the paradigm in academia and the industry. In this paper, trust in cybersecurity is discussed, following which the origin, concepts, and principles related to zero trust are elaborated on. The characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of the existing research are analysed in the context of zero trust achievements and their technical applications in Cloud and IoT environments. Finally, to support the development and application of zero trust in the future, the concept and its current challenges are analysed.