In 2021, Zero Trust security architectures will be imperative for business enablement, allowing security leaders to take a more proactive approach to cybersecurity and make more meaningful decisions. Yet, despite the Covid-19 pandemic heightening the urgency to adopt a Zero Trust approach, many organizations are struggling to progress past the early stages of adoption. 

A lack of interoperability, knowledge, skills and understanding in its value are key factors hindering the implementation of Zero Trust. In a lot of cases, security leaders are not communicating risk consistently and coherently with internal and external stakeholders. Many are also missing a harmonized reference model, which limits their ability to construct interoperable Zero Trust Architectures with support from multiple vendors.

Looking ahead, open standards will be key for security leaders to provide a unified definition – as well as much-needed clarity for the wider business – of Zero Trust architecture. The Open Group ZTA Working Group is currently developing a transparent and reliable Reference Model and Architecture to support security teams in their efforts to fully transition to Zero Trust. Existing standards such as Open FAIR™ also enable security decision makers to more accurately evaluate which risks are worthy of mitigation, enabling them to better assess actual cybersecurity risks in monetary terms and provide analysis of security control alternatives that business leaders will understand.