The State of Zero Trust Security in Asia Pacific 2022

Why Zero Trust Is Essential, Now

Research has shown that the philosophy of Zero Trust security — “never trust; always verify” — has struck a chord. It took decades for organisations to move past the basic castle-and-moat security mindset and to accept that, in a cloud-based world, there is no perimeter to defend, and intruders are always on our networks.

But today, boardrooms all over the world are embracing the security framework of Zero Trust, which has quickly evolved from quirky buzzword to strategic differentiator to business imperative.

“Zero Trust is an information security model that denies access to applications and data by default,” according to Forrester’s 2022 definition. “Zero Trust advocates these three core principles: All entities are untrusted by default; least privilege access is enforced; and comprehensive security monitoring is implemented.”

Today, Zero Trust is no longer a theoretical idea—it’s an active initiative for virtually every company with a digital footprint, though many organisations still have a long way to go to truly reap the rewards of an advanced Zero Trust security architecture.

As an example, four years ago, just 16% of companies surveyed said they either have a Zero Trust initiative in place or would have one in place in the coming 12-18 months.  Today, that number is 97%.

Since the release of Okta’s 2021 State of Zero Trust Security report last year, the percentage of APAC companies with a defined Zero Trust initiative already underway increased —from 31% to 50%. Overall, 96% of APAC respondents have a defined Zero Trust security initiative in play or in plan for 2022.