NextGen Identity: Accelerating Zero Trust through Best Practices
In today’s evolving cybersecurity landscape, every pillar of the Zero Trust Maturity Model (ZTMM) plays a vital role. However, one pillar consistently rises to the top in importance and influence: Identity. At the center of secure access lies the ability to verify, govern, and authorize the right users at the right time under the right conditions.
That’s why we align our approach with our unique maturity model, ZTMM+. As identity capabilities mature, they evolve into what we call NextGen Identity—a modern, adaptive, and automated security capability that enables continuous trust evaluation and enforcement.
However, NextGen Identity is about more than just achieving higher levels of maturity across the Identity pillar functions, it’s about thoughtfully weaving these capabilities together into a coherent and holistic Identity program.
What is NextGen Identity?
NextGen Identity represents a mature and integrated identity strategy purpose-built for Zero Trust. It begins with strong, resilient authentication, continues with adaptive authorization, and culminates in full lifecycle governance. As shown in the diagram below, it encapsulates a deliberate shift away from conventional identity security capabilities, leveraging several specific catalysts to deliver dynamic and modern capabilities across the Identity pillar functions.
NextGen Identity weaves together three fundamental Identity aspects into a coherent operating model, ensuring that the identity elements of a Zero Trust program are reliable, accurate, and dynamic.
Authentication Begins the Journey
Authentication marks the beginning of the journey toward NextGen Identity. It starts with modern options like true passwordless sign-ins and biometric verification where appropriate, reinforced by adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication. Phishing-resistant mechanisms further raise the bar, making login experiences secure, seamless, and resilient against emerging threats.
Authorization Goes Deeper
Everything that we do within a Zero Trust initiative is centered on one goal: Enforcing better and more effective access policies. These access policies rely on a solid foundation of security capabilities, supported by well-defined and well-observed processes. These include Just-In-Time Access, Least Privilege Access, and no standing privileges.
Governance and Lifecycle Management
Authentication and Authorization are fundamental components that help build and drive access policies, but in order to effectively get to NextGen Identity, more is needed. Specifically, each enterprise’s dynamic entitlements and risk based decisions all rely upon automation of Lifecycle Management and Access Requests. Additionally, a fundamental missing component is Continuous Access Certifications – the ability to generate certifications based on risk and evolving changes in the organization and users.
Where Organizations Struggle
Despite the maturity of available solutions, many organizations still grapple with basic identity fundamentals. SSO and MFA are now considered table stakes—and most modern identity providers offer intuitive, point-and-click deployments. Yet, challenges persist with basic lifecycle management and processes.
That’s where we come in.
Services to Get You Started
To help organizations modernize identity and align with Zero Trust, we offer specialized services:
- Identity Quickstart – Accelerate the deployment of core identity services by defining your processes clearly before any deployment of an Identity solution. See the service offering data sheet here.
- Ongoing Zero Trust Identity Advisory – We provide continuous guidance and support to help you mature identity capabilities over time. These advisory services are available as part of our broader Zero Trust Blueprint program, ensuring that identity maturity stays aligned with your organization’s evolving Zero Trust goals.