Zero Trust Assessment Guide

This guide explains how a Zero Trust assessment helps you evaluate current controls, identify excessive trust and control gaps, and prioritise practical steps to strengthen access and reduce lateral movement risk.

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FAQ

What is a Zero Trust Assessment?

A Zero Trust Assessment evaluates how closely an organisation’s current security architecture and operating practices align with Zero Trust principles. It reviews how users, devices, applications, workloads and data are identified, authenticated, authorised, segmented and monitored.

Who it’s for

Organisations developing a Zero Trust strategy, modernising identity and access controls, supporting hybrid work or cloud adoption, or reducing risk created by broad or implicit trust.

Common use cases

Hybrid workforce access Employees connecting to business applications from offices, homes and mobile locations
Privileged administrator access Administrators connecting to servers, cloud platforms, network devices and management systems
Third-party & contractor access External users needing controlled access to selected systems without broad network trust
Cloud & SaaS applications Users accessing workloads and data across public cloud and SaaS services
IoT & operational technology Connected devices, sensors and OT systems requiring tightly restricted communication
Regulated applications & data Sensitive systems in finance, healthcare, legal and other regulated environments

Why Organisations Perform Zero Trust Maturity Assessments

Measure current Zero Trust alignment and define practical priorities for reducing access risk.

Measure Zero Trust Maturity

Establish how closely current identity, device, access and segmentation controls align with Zero Trust principles.

Identify Security Gaps

Find missing or weak controls that leave continuous verification and least-privilege access incomplete.

Reduce Implicit Trust

Expose where users, devices or workloads receive broader access than their context justifies.

Strengthen Access Controls

Improve authentication, authorisation, device trust and policy enforcement around critical business resources.

Prioritise Security Investment

Focus spending and remediation on the Zero Trust gaps with the greatest business and security impact.

Build an Implementation Roadmap

Sequence identity, segmentation, access and monitoring improvements into a practical Zero Trust programme.

Common Zero Trust Challenges

Zero trust assessments commonly identify access, identity and network trust issues that can weaken control across users, devices and workloads.

Excessive Implicit Trust

Broad access may remain after authentication, allowing compromise in one area to expose unrelated systems and resources.

Weak Identity Controls

Limited MFA, weak authentication, shared accounts or poor privilege management can make identity compromise more likely.

Inconsistent Access Policies

Conflicting rules across applications, locations and platforms can create gaps where access exceeds business need or risk.

Limited Device Visibility

Unmanaged or poorly classified endpoints may access resources without enough information on identity, ownership, posture or compliance.

Insufficient Segmentation

Flat or weakly segmented networks can allow users and compromised devices to move laterally between systems.

Legacy Security Architecture

Perimeter-focused designs may rely on network location and internal trust, making granular identity- and context-based access harder.

Zero Trust Assessment

What We Assess

We assess six key areas covering identity, device trust, segmentation, applications, data, access controls and governance.

Our Assessment Scope

These core areas help us evaluate where implicit trust remains and whether least-privilege access can be enforced consistently.

01

Identity & Authentication

  • User and administrator identity
  • MFA coverage and authentication strength
  • Identity-store integration
02

Device Trust

  • Managed and unmanaged devices
  • Endpoint posture and compliance
  • Ownership and device-context signals
03

Networking & Segmentation

  • Trust zones and east-west connectivity
  • Network enforcement points
  • Lateral-movement exposure
04

Applications & Data

  • Critical applications and sensitive data
  • Cloud and SaaS access
  • Resource access paths
05

Access & Security Controls

  • Least-privilege policy
  • Privileged and conditional access
  • Policy enforcement
06

Operations & Governance

  • Logging and monitoring
  • Policy ownership and exception handling
  • Maturity measurement and review
Assessment Outcome

The assessment provides a current-state view of Zero Trust maturity, identifies the highest-risk trust gaps and defines practical priorities for stronger access and segmentation controls.

Zero Trust Assessment Approaches

Choose the approach based on current capability concerns and the controls needing closer review.

01
Approach

Zero Trust Maturity Assessment

Best suited to

Organisations needing a broad view of current Zero Trust capability.

Advantages
  • Creates a structured maturity baseline
  • Highlights weak capability areas
Considerations

Maturity scoring should be tied to business risk and evidence.

02
Approach

Identity & Access Assessment

Best suited to

Organisations where user and device access is a major concern.

Advantages
  • Identifies excessive privilege clearly
  • Highlights weak authentication issues
Considerations

Identity improvements can affect user experience and legacy applications.

03
Approach

Segmentation Assessment

Best suited to

Environments where lateral movement or broad network access is a concern.

Advantages
  • Maps trust boundaries and traffic paths
  • Identifies overly broad connectivity
Considerations

Segmentation requires accurate dependency mapping.

04
Approach

Gap Assessment

Best suited to

Organisations with a defined Zero Trust framework or target architecture.

Advantages
  • Lists missing or weak controls
  • Helps prioritise remediation by effort
Considerations

The target framework must be agreed and relevant.

How Our Zero Trust Assessment Guide Works

The assessment follows a structured six-stage process, from defining scope and reviewing current maturity through to gap analysis, prioritisation and a practical Zero Trust roadmap.

Stage 01 Discovery & Scope

Together, we define the people, devices, applications, data and locations in scope, along with any regulatory requirements. This ensures the review is aligned to the business goals, users and systems that matter most.

Assessment Checklist

Before the assessment begins, we will ask you to provide, share or arrange the information, access and documentation needed for the review.

Business & Security Objectives

Document the business and security outcomes expected from Zero Trust, including goals such as stronger identity assurance or hybrid working support.

Identity & Access Architecture

Provide diagrams and documentation covering identity providers, directories, authentication, MFA, privileged access, device identity and current access-control processes.

Network & Application Architecture

Supply network and application architecture showing users, devices, workloads, critical applications, cloud services, trust boundaries and current access paths.

Existing Security Policies

Provide current access-control, identity, device, network, remote-access and security policies for the environment in scope.

Security Platform Access

Arrange read-only access to relevant identity, endpoint, network, security and monitoring platforms needed for the assessment.

Current Zero Trust Initiatives

Summarise any Zero Trust projects underway or completed, including deployed technologies, policy changes, pilot groups, known gaps and planned phases.

Our Zero Trust Assessment Best Practices

These principles guide how we assess Zero Trust controls, exposure and maturity so findings reflect real business risk and control gaps.

Prioritise Business Risk

We establish critical assets, threat exposure and business impact first so Zero Trust findings are prioritised around the risks that matter most.

Review Explicit Verification

We review how identity, device context, location and policy shape access decisions and where trust still depends on network position.

Assess Least-Privilege Access

We assess user, device and workload permissions to identify excessive, inherited or unnecessary access that conflicts with least-privilege principles.

Measure Breach Impact

We review how controls limit the effect of compromised credentials, endpoints or network segments and where one compromise creates disproportionate access.

Review Critical Segmentation

We assess how critical applications, administration paths, sensitive data and high-risk workloads are separated and where stronger enforcement boundaries are required.

Measure Zero Trust Maturity

We assess current control maturity and effectiveness against defined outcomes so recommendations are prioritised by the gaps with greatest security and business impact.

Assessment Deliverables

Following the assessment, you receive structured findings, control comparisons, prioritised actions and a phased plan for improving Zero Trust maturity.

Assessment Output

Zero Trust Maturity Scorecard

A structured maturity view across identity, devices, access policy, segmentation, applications, data, visibility and operational governance.

Assessment Output

Control Gap Analysis

A detailed comparison of current controls against the intended Zero Trust approach, highlighting excessive trust, access weaknesses and visibility gaps.

Assessment Output

Prioritised Recommendations

A ranked set of security and architecture improvements based on business risk, control dependency and implementation priority.

Assessment Output

Zero Trust Roadmap

A phased plan sequencing identity, access, segmentation, monitoring and governance improvements into a practical Zero Trust maturity programme.

Why Choose Steel City Consulting for Zero Trust Assessments

We work with IT teams assessing complex infrastructure, access controls and wider security requirements. Our consultants review the current environment, identify gaps and help define practical next steps before changes are planned or implemented.

  • Independent multi-vendor expertise Assess requirements across complex, multi-vendor infrastructure environments.
  • Decades of IT expertise Practical consultancy across architecture, deployment, optimisation and modernisation.
  • Assessment through implementation Move from findings into remediation, design and infrastructure deployment.

Zero Trust Assessment

Discuss Your Zero Trust Assessment

Tell us about your current environment, the issues you want to assess and any planned changes or projects. We’ll discuss the scope of the assessment and what you need it to establish.

From Assessment Findings to Action

Where the assessment identifies gaps or improvement opportunities, Steel City Consulting can support the next stage, from remediation and infrastructure design through to implementation and ongoing optimisation.

Remediation & Optimisation

Address performance, capacity, resilience, configuration and lifecycle issues.

Architecture & Design

Turn findings into a practical target architecture and prioritised plan.

Technology & Implementation

Select, size and implement infrastructure required to address identified needs.

Ongoing Optimisation & Lifecycle

Validate improvements and support future capacity, lifecycle and modernisation needs.

Planning a Zero Trust assessment?

Speak to our consultants about your current environment, security priorities and what you need the assessment to establish.

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Related Technology Guides

Zero Trust findings connect identity, segmentation, secure access and network security; these guides cover the architecture and implementation decisions around those controls.

Network Observability Architecture & Design Guide

Understand how network telemetry, performance and security events are collected to provide ongoing operational visibility.

Read the guide

Zero Trust Security Implementation Guide

Review how Zero Trust controls are phased into real environments across identity, access, segmentation, devices and applications.

Read the guide

Network Security Assessment Guide

Explore how current network controls, exposure, configuration and access paths are reviewed to identify security weaknesses and remediation priorities.

Read the guide

Network Segmentation Assessment Guide

Review how trust zones, east-west traffic, VLANs, VRFs, firewall policy and access boundaries are assessed across the network.

Read the guide

Related Solutions

Zero Trust findings can move into secure access, SASE, security management and wider network-management capabilities.

Network Management & Infrastructure Solutions

Design and modernise the underlying network architecture, switching, routing, management and supporting services around the risks and improvement priorities identified in the assessment.

Simplify Network Management ›

Zero Trust & Secure Access

Strengthen identity-aware access, least privilege, device trust and policy enforcement where the assessment identifies excessive trust or inconsistent access controls.

Strengthen Secure Access ›

SASE

Introduce cloud-delivered networking and security controls where the assessment identifies a need for more consistent secure access across users, branches, remote locations and cloud services.

Explore SASE ›

Security Management

Centralise security policy, configuration, logging and operational oversight to address fragmented management, inconsistent controls or limited visibility identified during the assessment.

Simplify Security Management ›

Zero Trust Assessment Guide FAQ

When should we assess our Zero Trust controls?

A Zero Trust assessment is useful when access relies heavily on network location or when identity, device and application controls need to be reviewed.

It can help before expanding remote access, connecting unmanaged devices or changing security architecture. We map current access decisions and controls to business requirements, then identify gaps and realistic priorities.

Do users or devices get access just because they are connected to our internal network?

We review access policies, network boundaries and authentication practices to find where internal location grants more access than necessary by default.

Legacy rules may allow broad access after a user or device connects to the corporate network. We compare those rules with roles and business needs to identify opportunities for more deliberate verification and least-privilege access.

Could a compromised account or device move too far through our environment?

We examine permissions, segmentation and access paths to assess how far a compromised account or device could move across systems.

The review focuses on reachable services and trust relationships, especially paths to sensitive systems. This helps identify where access should be narrowed, stronger verification added or monitoring improved to limit the impact of compromise.

Do our identity checks and MFA policies provide enough protection for a Zero Trust model?

We assess whether identity verification and multifactor authentication protect users, devices and applications in line with access risk and data sensitivity.

Having MFA enabled does not show whether every important access path is covered or whether controls match risk. We identify gaps such as exceptions, weak authentication paths or inconsistent policies and explain which areas merit attention.

How should we control access for unmanaged, personal (BYOD) and IoT devices?

Unmanaged, personal and IoT devices can increase risk when access is granted without confirming device identity, posture or intended use.

We review how these devices connect, what they can reach and whether access controls reflect their ownership and security status. The findings can guide device policies, network segmentation and conditional access decisions.

Can our current network segmentation support a Zero Trust approach?

We assess whether existing zones, policies and enforcement points can restrict access between users, devices and sensitive services as required.

Segmentation can support Zero Trust when rules reflect real communication needs and controls are enforceable across the environment. We identify broad trust zones, policy gaps and technology dependencies that should shape a practical design.

What should we tackle first without turning Zero Trust into a huge transformation programme?

We prioritise Zero Trust gaps by risk, business impact, dependencies and feasibility, identifying useful steps that can be delivered incrementally.

The assessment separates near-term improvements from changes requiring wider architecture or process work. This helps your team make progress around real access risks while keeping investment and operational change manageable.

Will the assessment disrupt live services, and what happens during it?

Most assessment work reviews identity, access, network and device policies without changing live services or blocking user access during review.

We agree the scope and information access with your team first. Any validation that could alter access or affect users is discussed and scheduled separately, with testing and rollback arrangements agreed in advance.

What will we be able to decide once the assessment is complete?

You will have a prioritised view of access risks, control gaps and practical changes to strengthen identity, device and network enforcement.

The findings help your team decide which controls to improve first and which larger changes need design or testing. They can support a phased Zero Trust roadmap aligned with business risk and operational capacity.

Can Steel City Consulting help us act on the findings?

Yes, we can design and implement agreed identity, segmentation and access improvements, then support integration and lifecycle planning as controls evolve.

We can work with your team to turn priorities into a staged plan that fits existing security and network controls. Discuss your Zero Trust priorities with our team to explore a manageable next step.

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