How to Close the Gaps in Zero Trust
November 5, 2025, 4 min read
The Zero Trust model has become the north star of modern cybersecurity. Its principle—“never trust, always verify”—is now ingrained in boardroom strategies and product roadmaps alike. Yet, despite its widespread adoption, few organizations can claim to have achieved true Zero Trust maturity. Why? Because implementation gaps persist—between people, technology, and process.
Closing those gaps isn’t about buying another tool or ticking off a compliance checklist. It’s about aligning identity, visibility, automation, and culture under one continuous trust validation model. Here’s how forward-thinking organizations are doing just that.
The Zero Trust Maturity Dilemma
According to the Forrester Zero Trust Status Report 2025, only 17% of global enterprises consider themselves “mature” in Zero Trust adoption. The remaining 83% struggle with fragmented visibility, inconsistent identity policies, and legacy systems that simply can’t enforce continuous authentication.
In other words, Zero Trust is a journey—not a destination. But journeys with unclear maps can lead to blind spots, and in cybersecurity, blind spots are entry points.
Gap 1: Visibility—You Can’t Protect What You Can’t See
Zero Trust begins with comprehensive visibility. Yet, as networks expand across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures, shadow IT, unmanaged APIs, and third-party access often go unnoticed. Each unidentified asset is a silent vulnerability.
How to close the gap:
- Establish unified asset inventory across on-prem, cloud, and endpoint environments.
- Deploy continuous discovery tools for APIs and workloads.
- Integrate SIEM and SOAR platforms for real-time threat correlation.
True visibility doesn’t stop at detection—it extends to context. Understanding who accessed what, when, and why is what transforms raw data into actionable intelligence.
Gap 2: Identity—The New Perimeter Still Leaks
Identity is the beating heart of Zero Trust. Every connection, device, and user must be authenticated and authorized dynamically. But even with MFA and SSO, identity sprawl remains a major issue. Orphaned accounts, excessive privileges, and weak IAM integrations create identity debt that attackers happily exploit.
How to close the gap:
- Adopt Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) to monitor anomalous behavior.
- Implement just-in-time (JIT) access with time-bound privileges.
- Automate deprovisioning and enforce least privilege across SaaS and cloud services.
Think of identity as a living entity—it changes, evolves, and sometimes breaks. Automating its hygiene is key to scaling trust.
Gap 3: Automation—Manual Trust Models Don’t Scale
Many Zero Trust programs fail because they rely on manual policy enforcement. Security teams simply can’t keep up with the velocity of today’s environments. Without automation, verification becomes inconsistent—and inconsistency is the enemy of Zero Trust.
How to close the gap:
- Automate access controls through policy-as-code frameworks.
- Integrate continuous risk scoring to adjust trust levels dynamically.
- Leverage AI/ML to detect behavioral anomalies and adapt authentication in real time.
The goal is not to eliminate human oversight—it’s to let machines handle repetition so humans can focus on context and strategy.
Gap 4: Cultural Alignment—Zero Trust Is Everyone’s Job
Even the most advanced technology stack fails without a security-first mindset. If employees bypass controls for convenience, or leadership treats Zero Trust as a project instead of a philosophy, gaps will inevitably reopen.
How to close the gap:
- Educate all departments on the “why” behind Zero Trust—not just the “what.”
- Integrate Zero Trust KPIs into business metrics and risk reports.
- Reward compliance and awareness, not just speed of delivery.
Security maturity isn’t about perfection—it’s about continuous improvement. Culture drives that improvement.
Gap 5: Legacy Systems—Bridging the Unmodernized Core
Legacy applications and flat networks still form the backbone of many enterprises. These systems often lack the API hooks, authentication layers, or telemetry needed for modern Zero Trust enforcement.
How to close the gap:
- Introduce micro-segmentation to isolate critical workloads.
- Use identity-aware proxies to enforce verification layers around legacy endpoints.
- Plan phased modernization—migrate, wrap, or retire systems strategically.
Every legacy gap is an opportunity to modernize your architecture without disrupting operations.
Bringing It All Together: Continuous Trust Validation
The essence of Zero Trust lies in continuous validation—not one-time authentication. Visibility feeds identity. Identity informs automation. Automation enforces culture. Together, they create a feedback loop of verified access and adaptive defense.
When your Zero Trust architecture is measurable, automated, and transparent, it becomes more than a security model—it becomes an operational advantage.
Key Takeaways
- Zero Trust is an ongoing maturity model, not a fixed state.
- Visibility, identity, automation, and culture must evolve together.
- Closing gaps requires orchestration—not just more tools.
- Continuous validation is the bridge between compliance and resilience.
Written by the GCS Network Editorial Team — bridging strategy, trust, and cybersecurity innovation.
