Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumZero Trust Architecture Principles

A healthcare technology enterprise is redesigning the communication architecture for its remotely managed biomedical telemetry gateways. Under the legacy model, gateways established an IPsec VPN tunnel to an internal network segment where all internal traffic was implicitly trusted after initial authentication. To align with Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) principles, the security architect must enforce strict policy controls over access to backend microservices. Which of the following design decisions best reflects core Zero Trust Architecture principles for this scenario?

  1. A
    Grant implicitly trusted network-level access to all internal microservices once the gateway successfully completes initial device authentication over the VPN.
  2. Require explicit validation of identity, device health posture, and contextual signals for every access request, dynamically enforcing granular least privilege permissions regardless of network location.Answer
  3. C
    Treat multi-factor authentication during initial boot connection as sufficient authorization proof to access any API endpoint without subsequent context re-evaluation.
  4. D
    Deploy edge network intrusion prevention systems at the perimeter firewall boundary and designate the existing network architecture as Zero Trust based on preventive filtering.

Answer

Require explicit validation of identity, device health posture, and contextual signals for every access request, dynamically enforcing granular least privilege permissions regardless of network location.
The correct response reflects the fundamental Zero Trust principle 'never trust, always verify'. In Zero Trust Architecture, every connection request must be explicitly validated using real-time contextual factors (user identity, device compliance, context) and governed by least privilege access rules, regardless of whether the communication originates internally or over a VPN.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core tenets of Zero Trust Architecture (NIST SP 800-207).
Zero Trust operates on the fundamental principle of 'never trust, always verify', assuming no implicit trust based solely on physical or network location.
Traditional perimeter security relies on implicit network zone trust, whereas ZTA mandates per-request authentication and continuous authorization.
2
Evaluate the requirement for explicit validation and least privilege enforcement.
Access decisions must continuously evaluate contextual data (identity, device posture, location, resource sensitivity) and enforce minimum required access.
Continuous contextual validation prevents lateral movement in the event of compromised credentials or devices.
3
Select the option that correctly mandates explicit verification and contextual dynamic policy enforcement across every request.
The design decision requiring explicit validation of identity, device posture, and contextual signals for every request represents full ZTA alignment.
This directly fulfills the fundamental principles of explicit verification, micro-segmentation, and least privilege in Zero Trust.

Key Concept

Zero Trust Architecture Principles
Estimated Time:1m 15s
Rate this question

Topics

Zero Trust Architecture Principles

More questions from this topic