Question

Difficulty: Very hardZero Trust Architecture Principles

An autonomous manufacturing enterprise is transitioning its edge-compute microservices and industrial IoT telemetry pipeline to a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). A security architect must define control plane and data plane operational requirements to enforce core Zero Trust tenets across all component communications.

Which of the following architectural requirements MUST be implemented to strictly align with Zero Trust Architecture principles? (Select TWO.)

  1. Dynamically evaluate device health, user identity, and contextual risk attributes at the Policy Decision Point (PDP) for every transaction before authorizing access.Answer
  2. B
    Establish an implicitly trusted internal management network zone for industrial edge devices once initial multi-factor authentication succeeds at the primary gateway.
  3. Enforce mutual TLS (mTLS) and continuous re-authorization for all inter-service communications regardless of physical or logical network location.Answer
  4. D
    Rely primarily on perimeter next-generation firewalls to perform bulk packet inspection, bypassing individual microservice Policy Enforcement Points (PEPs).

Answer

The correct requirements are dynamically evaluating device health, identity, and contextual risk at the Policy Decision Point for every transaction, and enforcing mutual TLS with continuous re-authorization across all inter-service communications regardless of network location.
Zero Trust Architecture strictly mandates explicit verification and continuous evaluation. Requiring the Policy Decision Point (PDP) to dynamically evaluate posture, identity, and risk metrics for every transaction ensures access decisions reflect real-time threat contexts. Furthermore, enforcing mutual TLS (mTLS) and continuous re-authorization across all inter-service communications aligns with the assumed breach paradigm, eliminating implicit trust based on network topology.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify core Zero Trust Architecture tenets regarding request evaluation.
Zero Trust requires explicit verification per transaction using dynamic telemetry (identity, posture, environmental risk) handled by the Policy Decision Point (PDP).
Implicit trust is eliminated; authentication and authorization are contextual and continuous rather than static or location-based.
2
Analyze data plane network communication controls under Zero Trust.
All traffic must be secured end-to-end (e.g., using mTLS) and continuously re-verified at Policy Enforcement Points (PEPs) closest to the resources.
The underlying network is assumed compromised, necessitating microsegmentation and continuous session validation regardless of physical VLAN or subnet position.
3
Evaluate and eliminate perimeter-reliance misconceptions.
Reject options proposing post-authentication implicit trust zones or reliance on centralized perimeter firewalls in place of PEPs.
Legacy perimeter security fails to protect against lateral movement and violates the assumed breach tenet of Zero Trust.

Key Concept

Zero Trust Architecture Principles: Explicit Verification, Continuous Authentication, Assumed Breach, and Microsegmentation
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