01Program
Zero trust consulting: a sequenced program that starts with identity
A practical, sequenced zero trust program centered on identity: strong authentication, conditional access, segmentation and continuous verification, without ripping out your network on day one.
- Name
- Zero Trust Transformation
- Line
- 01 · Cybersecurity
- Type
- Outcome program, combines several practices
01The problem
Zero trust stalls between product pitch and full redesign.
Zero trust fails as a product purchase and succeeds as an architecture program. Many organizations stall between vendor slideware and an all-or-nothing re-architecture no one can fund.
02Scope
What the zero trust program covers.
- Identity-centric zero trust architecture
- Phishing-resistant MFA and conditional access rollout
- Privileged access management
- Device compliance and posture integration
- Application access modernization
- Segmentation strategy and implementation
03Approach
How a zero trust engagement runs.
Built mainly on capability you already license (Entra ID, Intune, the existing network estate) and extended only where needed. Network and endpoint changes can be carried out by our [IT operations](/services/it/managed-it-services) team.
Start where attacks start
Identity first: phishing-resistant MFA, conditional access and privileged account cleanup deliver most early risk reduction.
Verify device and context
Device posture joined to access decisions. Application access decoupled from network location.
Segment progressively
Network and workload segmentation sequenced by blast-radius value. Each phase is funded by the risk it removes.
04Outcomes
What the zero trust program is built to achieve.
- Phishing-resistant MFA and conditional access covering the workforce
- Privileged access moved to just-in-time, fully audited workflows
- Application access based on identity and device posture, not network location
- A sequenced roadmap where each phase is justified by the risk it removes
When this work fits
- Organizations still relying on VPN and network location to grant access
- Security leaders holding a zero trust mandate without a sequenced plan
- Companies with hybrid work, SaaS and cloud workloads outside the old perimeter
- Teams with standing administrator accounts and incomplete MFA coverage across the workforce
05Questions
Zero trust: questions we are asked
NIST SP 800-207 describes zero trust as an approach in which no user or device is trusted because of its network location or ownership. Each request to a resource is evaluated per session by a policy decision point and applied at a policy enforcement point, using identity, device state and other signals. In practice that means strong authentication, device compliance checks, least-privilege access to individual applications instead of whole networks, and logging of every access decision.
Identity. Credential theft is a common way into an environment, and the identity provider is the one control point that every user and application already passes through. The first phase covers phishing-resistant MFA, conditional access policies, removal of legacy authentication and cleanup of standing privileged accounts. Those steps need little new infrastructure and make later phases possible, because device and network decisions depend on a trustworthy identity signal. Details are under identity security.
No. Zero trust is an architecture, and SP 800-207 describes migration as incremental, with zero trust and perimeter-based controls operating side by side for a period. Most organizations already license an identity provider, device management and firewalls able to enforce much of the policy. New tooling is justified only where a gap remains, such as application access that still depends on a flat VPN. For estates built on Entra ID and Intune, see Microsoft security services.
It runs in phases, and the length depends on the estate: the number of identities and applications, the amount of legacy authentication, the state of device management and how segmented the network already is. Identity work comes first. Device posture and application access follow. Segmentation is the longest phase because it touches production traffic. Each phase is planned to stand alone, so the program can pause between phases without leaving a half-built control. The roadmap is dated after the initial assessment.
The CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model gives a usable scale. It describes five pillars (identity, devices, networks, applications and workloads, data) and three cross-cutting capabilities: visibility and analytics, automation and orchestration, and governance. Each is rated from traditional through initial and advanced to optimal. We baseline every pillar at the start and pair the rating with operational measures, such as how many sign-ins use phishing-resistant MFA and how many standing privileged accounts remain.
Often alongside