Think about the last time you connected to Wi-Fi in a coffee shop. You didn’t assume that network was safe. Instead, you assumed it was untrusted, and your device or apps put protections in place before you opened your banking app or shared sensitive information.
Now apply that same thinking to the enterprise. For too long, corporate networks have been treated as “trusted zones”. But since the boom of remote work, cloud adoption, and IoT, that trust has been misplaced. Whether you’re working in the office, at home, or on public Wi-Fi, the network itself should always be considered untrusted.
That’s the mindset shift: instead of building bigger walls around a perimeter that’s disappearing, enterprises must assume every connection is like coffee shop Wi-Fi.
Security moves away from securing the network to securing what really matters: the user, the device, and the data. And this is exactly where Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) come into play.
The mindset shift: From trusted networks to Zero Trust
Traditional perimeter-based security is no longer effective. With users, devices, and data spread across offices, homes, and the cloud, the corporate network is just as porous as public Wi-Fi.
The Zero Trust model flips the old assumption on its head:
Every network is untrusted by default
Every user and device must be continuously verified
Access is granted with least privilege, no matter where the user connects from
This approach isn’t optional anymore. It’s becoming an industry standard.
The rise of Zero Trust
For decades, enterprise security was built on the idea of a trusted internal network, guarded by firewalls at the perimeter. But in today’s world, where employees work from anywhere, apps live in the cloud, and IoT devices multiply by the millions, that model simply doesn’t hold up. The corporate “castle and moat” approach has too many drawbridges left open.
The shift to Zero Trust isn’t just about plugging security gaps. It’s about building resilience in a digital-first world. With cloud adoption accelerating and cyber attacks growing in scale and sophistication, Zero Trust has evolved from a theoretical model into a practical, business-critical strategy.
Research into the Zero Trust model makes the shift clear:
According to Gartner, 63% of organisations worldwide have already fully or partially implemented a Zero Trust strategy, with 56% pursuing Zero Trust because it’s now considered best practice
The Zero Trust market is also projected to grow from $41.72bn in 2025 to $88.78bn in 2030
Gartner historically predicted that by 2025, at least 70% of new remote access deployments would be served predominantly by ZTNA as opposed to VPN services, up from less than 10% at the end of 2021
This upward trend is leading to many organisations citing Zero Trust as a key measure to strengthen network defences. Although there are still gaps to consider. Most organisations say Zero Trust currently protects only about half of their environment, reducing about a quarter of overall enterprise risk.
For those thinking that Zero Trust is just a security framework, there’s a little more to it. It’s becoming a strategic imperative that enables faster cloud adoption, reduced insider threats, and streamlined compliance.
SASE: Bringing Zero Trust to life
If Zero Trust is the mindset, SASE is the delivery model.
SASE combines multiple security and networking functions into a unified, cloud-delivered framework:
ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access)
Secure Web Gateway (SWG)
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS)
Together, they secure the identity, device, and data - regardless of whether a user connects from headquarters, home, or yes, even a coffee shop.
The trendlines show rapid adoption:
62% of organisations in 2025 considered SASE a key strategic initiative (up from 59% in 2024)
39% of global organisations plan to implement SASE within the next 24 months, according to a Gartner report
The global SASE market is projected to reach $21.89 billion by 2029, growing at 22.6% CAGR
Why does this shift matter?
The move toward Zero Trust and SASE is a direct response to a fundamental change in how business is done. Data no longer sits neatly inside a corporate perimeter. It flows across SaaS apps, cloud platforms, partner ecosystems, and personal devices. Employees log in from anywhere, and attackers know this, which is why they’re exploiting the gaps in legacy, perimeter-based defenses.
Treating every connection as untrusted isn’t just a mindset shift, it’s a survival strategy. Organisations that embrace Zero Trust and SASE aren’t just plugging holes; they’re building a security foundation that supports agility, cloud innovation, and safe collaboration at scale.
And the stakes couldn’t be higher:
82% of cloud breaches involve data stored in cloud environments, highlighting the need for Zero Trust and SASE to secure sensitive data everywhere
75% of organisations now employ network segmentation, and 65% of traffic in 2023 was encrypted, underscoring the pivot toward data-centric security
Industry leaders, including NIST and CISA, recommend Zero Trust as the new standard - built on continuous authentication, least privilege, and micro-segmentation
Zero Trust isn’t just a cyber security initiative, but an amplifier for your business. When implemented correctly, it can minimise breach impacts and enable secure collaboration across ecosystems.
Zero Trust with Nasstar
Treating every network like coffee shop Wi-Fi may feel like a radical mindset shift, but it’s the only one that fits our modern reality. With employees, data, and apps everywhere, the idea of a “safe corporate network” is a myth.
Zero Trust and SASE together make this approach practical, scalable, and effective. The result? Protecting users, devices, and data - no matter where they connect from.
Because in today’s world, the safest assumption you can make is that the network is never safe.
At Nasstar, we help organisations turn this mindset into reality. Our expertise in Zero Trust, SASE architectures, and secure cloud strategies means we don’t just design security on paper - we implement secure networking solutions that reduce risk, strengthen compliance, and empower your teams to work anywhere with confidence.
