While Zero Trust has become a strategic priority, the path to implementation is far from straightforward. Organizations face a mix of entrenched technical challenges, legacy infrastructure, internal resistance, and compliance pressures that prevent meaningful progress. These barriers not only delay transformation but also erode momentum and executive confidence.
Despite understanding the need to shift toward Zero Trust, many organizations struggle to move from strategy to execution. A phased approach—starting with ZTNA—offers a practical way to bridge this gap. ZTNA addresses real-world barriers by providing identity-aware, granular access controls that reduce complexity and support transformation without disruption.
Despite the urgency, many organizations struggle to implement Zero Trust due to the following challenges:
- Legacy infrastructure
Legacy systems lack modern security essentials like MFA, strong access controls, and network segmentation, making them incompatible with Zero Trust principles. Flat architectures and tightly coupled dependencies hinder micro-segmentation and adaptive access. These systems often require broad, implicit trust—directly opposing the Zero Trust model. [1]
- VPN fatigue and technical debt
VPNs were built for a different era. As organizations expanded remote access, VPN infrastructure began to buckle under the weight. Users face latency, session drops, and frustrating login processes. The deeper issue is technical debt. VPNs are deeply embedded in authentication flows, access routes, and legacy applications. Untangling them without risking downtime or disruption is difficult. This entrenched architecture conflicts with Zero Trust principles, especially least privilege and segmentation, and slows ZTNA deployment.
According to the 2024 VPN Risk Report, 92% of organizations are concerned about VPN reliability and security—yet many still rely on them due to their critical role in legacy environments. [2]
- Complexity and resistance to change
Shifting to Zero Trust can feel daunting. IT teams worry about disrupting workflows, integration with existing security stacks, and stakeholder buy-in. According to a 2025 StrongDM survey, 48% of organizations cite cost and resource constraints as the main barriers to adopting Zero Trust, while 22% report internal resistance to change. [3]
- Compliance pressure and security skill gaps
CIOs and CISOs are under increasing regulatory scrutiny. At the same time, a global cybersecurity skills shortage makes it harder to implement and maintain Zero Trust strategies. According to (ISC)², the global cybersecurity workforce gap exceeded 3.4 million professionals in 2023, leaving organizations struggling to find the expertise needed to enforce Zero Trust principles effectively. [4]