HPE 2026 Zero Trust Report Finds Wide Gap Between ZTNA Priorities and Deployment
Summary
A global survey of 851 professionals found 82% consider Universal ZTNA essential, but only 17% have fully implemented it. The HPE report highlights fragmented tools, excessive privileges, and inconsistent enforcement as Zero Trust challenges.
Key points
- The report draws on self-reported responses from 851 IT, networking, and cybersecurity professionals surveyed globally in late 2025.
- While 82% consider Universal ZTNA essential, 17% report full implementation, 46% partial deployment, and 24% plans to implement it.
- Tool and vendor sprawl is the leading reported adoption barrier at 26%; respondents rate their organizations’ Zero Trust effectiveness at 6 out of 10 on average.
- Employee over-privilege is cited by 56% as a contributor to unauthorized access; 52% report moderately or very widespread excessive entitlements.
- Preferred SASE strategies include single-vendor platforms for 34% of respondents and hybrid platform models for 29%.
- Respondents report using AI or machine learning for threat detection and response at 56%, and policy automation at 42%.
- The report recommends consolidating overlapping controls, integrating identity and device context, and expanding continuous verification across remote, campus, and branch access.
Article Details
- Publisher
- Cybersecurity Insiders
- Report Period
- Survey conducted in late 2025; report published January 2026
- Scope
- Global survey of IT, networking, and cybersecurity professionals on organizational Zero Trust and SASE maturity, implementation priorities, architectures, and challenges
- Sample Size
- 851 professionals
- Key Statistics
- 82% of respondents considered Universal ZTNA essential to their security strategy, while 17% had fully implemented it—a 65-percentage-point gap.
- 56% cited employee over-privilege as a contributor to unauthorized access.
- 78% managed secure-access policy across more than two systems.
- 56% reported using AI or machine learning for threat detection and response.
- 63% favored either single-vendor SASE (34%) or a hybrid platform model (29%).
- Recommendations
- Rationalize overlapping tools, converge SD-WAN and SSE into an integrated cloud-delivered SASE fabric, and establish a single policy source of truth.
- Deploy Universal ZTNA and integrate identity, device posture, and network context for continuous, per-session verification.
- Apply AI/ML to detect anomalies and refine policy dynamically; automate posture checks, segmentation, and access reviews.