Is Zero Trust a Solution to Advanced Persistent Threat?

APT28, a Russian cyber-espionage group, had leveraged vulnerabilities in the U.S. election infrastructure to compromise it in 2016-a clear demonstration of inefficiency against traditional perimeter-based defense measures. ZTA presents an auspicious alternative in that continuous verification, micro-segmentation, and least-privilege access work together in tandem to restrict lateral movement and privilege escalation within networks. This paper looks at how effective ZTA is in relation to the tactics that APT28 pursues, considering the potential that the ZTA holds in light of the 2016 election and recent attacks in Europe and America. This paper discusses complementary measures toward endpoint detection and response to further improve the capabilities of ZTA in effectively pre-attenuating sophisticated threats that so far may emanate from actors such as APT28.