The pattern is clear
Every vendor sells Zero Trust. Every CIO has it on their roadmap. And breaches keep happening.
Credentials get abused. Shadow SaaS spreads. Admin access accumulates. The problem isn't the Zero Trust concept - it's the incomplete implementation.
What's actually deployed
Most "Zero Trust" deployments today:
- Verify identity at login (SSO, MFA)
- Apply conditional access policies
- Monitor authentication events
What they don't do:
- Govern who owns which applications
- Track OAuth permission scope creep
- Manage non-human identity lifecycles
- Remove dormant admin privileges
- Maintain visibility into SaaS sprawl
Authentication without governance isn't Zero Trust. It's zero visibility.
The governance gap
Zero Trust answers "should this identity authenticate right now?" Identity governance answers "should this access exist at all?"
Without governance, you get:
- Least privilege policies that drift over time
- Admin roles that accumulate silently
- Apps nobody owns anymore
- Access decisions based on stale group memberships
- Audit trails that explain authentication but not authorization
According to recent data, 32% of 2024 cyber incidents involved data theft - often traced to identity visibility gaps. Human error accounts for 80% of incidents, frequently tied to orphaned access or excessive permissions.
Why SaaS broke the model
Zero Trust originated around networks, devices, and known applications. Modern enterprises run hundreds of SaaS apps connected through OAuth, APIs, and tokens. Most live outside traditional IAM visibility.
You can't apply Zero Trust principles to systems you can't see. Federal mandates (NIST SP 800-207, EO 14028, OMB M-22-09) acknowledge this - emphasizing identity governance as foundational, not optional.
What works
The security model that actually scales:
- Authentication layer - IAM verifies identity and session trustworthiness
- Governance layer - Tracks app ownership, access justification, approval chains
- Continuous enforcement - Detects drift, removes excess access, flags anomalies
This matters now because organizations adopting AI tools, automation platforms, and third-party integrations are creating access paths faster than they can govern them.
The real test
Implementation challenges remain significant: legacy system integration, cultural resistance to access reviews, inadequate IAM infrastructure. Survey data shows 50% of organizations report unsatisfactory phishing defenses, 70% for ransomware - often because identity governance gaps persist despite MFA deployment.
The question isn't whether your organization has deployed MFA. It's whether you can answer: who owns this app, why does this admin access still exist, and when was it last reviewed?
Zero Trust didn't fail. Incomplete Zero Trust failed. Authentication without governance is security theater.