Question

Difficulty: MediumZero Trust Architecture Principles

A global telecommunications enterprise is migrating its remote network maintenance infrastructure to align with Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) principles. Field engineers require frequent administrative access to edge router control planes located across dispersed datacenters. Which of the following architectural requirements must be satisfied to uphold core Zero Trust tenets? (Select TWO.)

  1. Continuous verification of user identity, device posture, and contextual risk factors throughout the duration of each administrative session.Answer
  2. Microsegmentation and least-privilege policy enforcement applied strictly at the individual resource boundary.Answer
  3. C
    Implicit trust granted to all traffic originating within the internal management network once authenticated through the perimeter gateway.
  4. D
    Replacing application-level access authorization controls entirely with static IP-based packet filtering rules at external firewalls.

Answer

The correct requirements are continuous verification of user identity, device posture, and contextual risk factors throughout each session, as well as microsegmentation and least-privilege policy enforcement applied strictly at the individual resource boundary.
Zero Trust Architecture mandates explicit, continuous verification of identity, device health, and environmental context throughout the duration of a session, combined with microsegmentation and least-privilege access to minimize lateral movement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the scenario against Zero Trust Architecture core principles.
Zero Trust requires explicit verification, assumed breach mindset, continuous evaluation, and least-privilege access regardless of network location.
Traditional perimeter security models that implicitly trust internal network traffic fail to mitigate lateral threat movement.
2
Evaluate the requirement for continuous authentication and contextual authorization.
Session access must be continually evaluated using identity, endpoint posture, and contextual risk signals.
Initial authentication alone is insufficient because device risk posture or user context can change during an active session.
3
Evaluate the requirement for network control boundaries.
Enforcing microsegmentation and resource-level access control limits blast radius and enforces least privilege.
Granular resource-level boundaries prevent lateral movement across enterprise segments.

Key Concept

Zero Trust Architecture Principles (Continuous Verification & Microsegmentation)
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