Effectiveness of Zero Trust Security Against AI and Quantum Computing Threats: A Systematic Literature Review

Manzoor, Hassan (2025) Effectiveness of Zero Trust Security Against AI and Quantum Computing Threats: A Systematic Literature Review. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) has emerged as a transformative shift from perimeter-based security models toward a “never trust, always verify” approach, emphasizing continuous authentication, dynamic authorization, and micro-segmentation. Despite its adoption across enterprise, government, and critical infrastructure sectors, emerging technologies namely Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Computing pose unprecedented challenges to ZTA’s resilience. AI-powered threats such as deepfakes, adversarial examples, and data poisoning can compromise biometric verification and evade anomaly detection, while quantum algorithms, including Shor’s, threaten RSA and ECC cryptography through “harvest-now, decrypt-later” attacks. This study addresses the research question: Can Zero Trust Security remain effective in defending against AI-powered cyber threats and quantum computing-based attacks? A Systematic Literature Review was conducted across ACM, Springer, and Google Scholar, synthesizing findings from 45 primary studies, standards, and industry reports. Results highlight that adversarial-hardened, multi-modal identity verification combined with crypto-agility and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) adoption such as CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithiumare critical to future-proofing ZTA. However, the literature reveals a significant gap in empirical, end-to-end evaluations under combined AI and quantum threat conditions. The paper concludes by proposing integrated mitigation strategies and outlining research priorities for developing quantum- and AI-resilient Zero Trust systems. In addition to the SLR, a Zero-Trust gateway simulation is implemented to quantify security–latency trade-offs under AI-driven identity spoofing and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) transition overheads.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email Monaghan, Mark UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > Electronic computers. Computer science T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Electronic computers. Computer science Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology > Methods of research. Technique. Experimental biology > Data processing. Bioinformatics > Artificial intelligence Q Science > Q Science (General) > Self-organizing systems. Conscious automata > Artificial intelligence Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Computer Security T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Computer Security Q Science > QA Mathematics > Electronic computers. Computer science > Computer Systems > Computers > Electronic data processing > Quantum computing T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Electronic computers. Computer science > Computer Systems > Computers > Electronic data processing > Quantum computing
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Cyber Security
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	18 Aug 2026 16:58
Last Modified:	18 Aug 2026 16:58
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9543

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