ZERO TRUST SECURITY MODEL: ENHANCING NETWORK SECURITY BY ELIMINATING IMPLICIT TRUST AND IMPLEMENTING CONTINUOUS AUTHENTICATION

Abstract

This study investigates the implementation of the Zero Trust Security Model (ZTSM) to enhance network security by eliminating implicit trust and introducing continuous authentication. The proposed model was evaluated against traditional perimeter-based security systems across a variety of cyberattack scenarios, including insider threats, lateral movement, and external breaches. The results demonstrate that the Zero Trust framework outperforms traditional models in key security metrics such as detection accuracy, false positive rates, and mitigation times. Specifically, the Zero Trust model achieved a detection accuracy of 98.5% and a false positive rate of 3.1%, significantly outperforming traditional systems. Volumetric attacks required 95.6 milliseconds for the normal models to handle them even though basic operational times were longer.  The Zero Trust architecture demonstrated endless high throughput performance throughout attacks since it maintained a transaction rate of 550 seconds per second.  The combination of new segmentation technology and dynamic identification methods conducted continuous monitoring to stop unauthorized access points from spreading prior to security risks materializing.  The established framework displayed substantial scalability since it processed high transaction volumes without compromising performance through research-based findings.  Present-time network security challenges became simpler to resolve because the Zero Trust model rapidly identified complex threats and reduced their damage to critical systems during emergencies.  Security progress emerges from Zero Trust deployments which also reduce false alarms and maintain constant real-time network operation speed according to research evidence