A report cites various factors such as the global pandemic; government adoption and broader acceptance of zero trust principles as drivers.
According to a new Forrester report on the state of Zero Trust (ZT) adoption in the Asia Pacific region (APAC), the benefits of this security framework are starting to be realized by organizations here.
While there is broad acceptance of ZT, the research indicates it is not all smooth sailing.
Some key challenges in adopting zero trust in APAC include: the sheer volume and scope of ZT frameworks and definitions; legacy applications that remain a major bottleneck as organizations adopt ZT; and asking small security teams to manage large implementations — among other factors.
Still, 71% of business and technology professionals surveyed in APAC cited that their organization will adopt ZT edge (applying zero trust to authenticate, sanitize and monitor network connections across a cloud security and network service fabric) in the next 12 months or had plans to do so.
Other findings relevant to the region include:
- APAC has now overtaken Europe in ZT implementation: Based on the firm’s Security Survey in 2022, more security decision makers in APAC cited their senior leadership having committed to adopting a ZT security strategy compared to their peers surveyed in Europe.
- Regional CISOs now have a deeper understanding of what ZT: Respondents in APAC have acknowledged that ZT encompasses far more than just identity or micro-segmentation tools. Their ZT programs today have multiple pillars including identity, device, data, network, and workload projects.
- Security leaders here are now more willing to lead ZT adoption: Prior to the 2022 survey, CISOs were inclined to wait for their competitors and other brands before evaluating the benefits of ZT. Now CISOs see the benefits and opportunities of being the first to adopt, such as being seen as innovators; reaping business benefits; and giving their teams the opportunity to work with new solutions.
