Zero Trust Architecture In Cloud Environments

Pakalapati, Sivaram (2024) Zero Trust Architecture In Cloud Environments. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Cloud computing has dramatically increased the speed with which organizations adopt, sometimes with ill-prepared consequences to their traditional perimeter-based security models unsuitable for dynamic distributed cloud environments. Zero Trust Architecture introduces a paradigm shift in the emphasis it lays on continuous authentication, least privilege access, and the never trust-always verify principle. This paper discusses the applicability and efficiency of deploying ZTA in cloud computing environments and focuses on cost-effective methods, challenges, and best practices. A proof-of-concept ZTA model deployment was performed in Amazon Web Services, including structured deployment to avail the services like IAM, Virtual Private Clouds, monitoring, configuration, and overall auditing via CloudWatch for insider threats, data leakage, and misconfiguration of resources. While the study has been very effective in reducing attack surfaces and providing fine-grained access control, it results in a tradeoff featuring increased latency, complexity, and resource utilization challenges for adoption, at least in small and medium-sized business organizations. This paper intends to contribute to cloud security through a practical framework for ZTA implementation and present future opportunities for optimizing scalability while reducing costs in ZTA adoption, with assurances of effective security measures.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email McCabe, Liam UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > Electronic computers. Computer science T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Electronic computers. Computer science T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Cloud computing Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Computer Security T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Computer Security Q Science > Q Science (General) > Self-organizing systems. Conscious automata > Machine learning
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Cyber Security
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2025 08:44
Last Modified:	28 Jul 2025 08:44
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/8238

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