Small organisations can apply zero trust principles in a lightweight way without building a full scale identity and network architecture from day one.
1. Start with identity, not the network
For many small organisations, the corporate network boundary is already blurred by remote work and cloud services. It is more effective to focus on:
- Strong authentication using MFA.
- Unique user identities with clear role definitions.
- Restricting privileged access to a small number of administrators.
2. Reduce blanket access and move toward least privilege
Traditional models often give broad access to everyone on the internal network. A zero trust viewpoint asks a different question – does this person actually need this level of access.
- Limit shared drives and internal applications to relevant groups.
- Segment internal systems so that compromise of one system does not automatically expose everything.
- Apply role based access wherever your platforms support it.
3. Protect remote access carefully
VPNs and remote desktop services are frequent targets. A simple zero trust aligned approach:
- Use MFA for all remote access.
- Restrict VPN access to specific staff and devices where possible.
- Provide access only to the internal systems required for each role, not the entire internal network.
4. Inspect and log access, not just allow it
Zero trust is not only about denying access. It is about granting access with an assumption that continuous verification is needed.
- Enable logging on VPNs, admin portals, and key applications.
- Review logs periodically for unusual sign in locations or times.
- Use alerts for high risk events, such as failed admin logins from unexpected countries.
5. Simplify rather than overload
The aim is not to buy and deploy every product with the word “zero trust” in its description. For small organisations, the priority is to:
- Know which users and devices are connecting.
- Control what they can reach.
- Require strong authentication for high value targets.
- Monitor access and react promptly to anomalies.
Applying zero trust principles in a Baseline Security Sprint
In a sprint style engagement, zero trust principles are applied in a practical way to improve identity, access, and segmentation based on your current environment and resources.
Next step: if you want to introduce zero trust concepts without destabilising your current systems, a structured review can help identify a small number of focused changes that will deliver the most value.