Endpoint Management: Core Of Zero Trust Security

The traditional model of enterprise security, which is built on the assumption of a trusted internal network, has become obsolete. Today’s business realities, including hybrid workforces, multi-cloud infrastructure, and sprawling digital supply chains, have rendered the concept of a secure perimeter irrelevant, demanding a fundamental shift in our security philosophy. 

This new reality requires a new architecture: Zero Trust. The principle is simple yet profound: Never trust, always verify. 

Zero Trust isn’t just about verifying user identity. Equally important is verifying the device making the request. Without confidence that every endpoint is visible, patched, and compliant, your Zero Trust Strategy has a blind spot. A comprehensive vulnerability management program is essential to detect, assess proactively, and remediate risks across all endpoints.

This strategy is now mainstream. Analyst firms project that 60%¹ of organizations will adopt Zero Trust as their primary security strategy by year-end. Yet, this initiative often fails before it begins, because it overlooks a foundational question: Do you actually know and control all of your endpoints? Security teams require a holistic view of all devices to implement Zero Trust effectively. Without this, your Zero Trust architecture is built on a critical blind spot. This is why a true Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform is the non-negotiable first step, as UEM platforms empower security teams to manage and secure all endpoints efficiently. 

Why Endpoint Security Is The Blind Spot In Zero Trust

Recent research underscores the scale of the challenge. The 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report² found that 20% of breaches now begin with exploitation of a known, unpatched vulnerability, a 34% increase from the previous year. Maintaining a comprehensive asset inventory is crucial for identifying and securing all endpoints, ensuring organizations have visibility into their entire IT environment.

The WEF Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025³ echoes this urgency: 72% of organizations say their cyber risks are rising year-over-year, yet only 37% have processes in place to securely evaluate new AI-driven tools before adoption. Organizations must continuously monitor for potential threats to stay ahead of attackers.

In parallel, Gartner⁴ warns that by 2027, 75% of employees will acquire or modify technology outside IT’s visibility (up from 41% in 2022). This “shadow IT” wave makes endpoint oversight not just a best practice but the critical foundation of any Zero Trust program.

How UEM Provides The Bedrock For Zero Trust

A Zero Trust architecture relies on continuous, real-time signals and real time visibility into endpoint devices to make intelligent access decisions.

Recent studies show that 20% of breaches in 2025⁵ began with the exploitation of a known, unpatched vulnerability, highlighting why endpoint oversight is crucial. 

A powerful UEM platform provides the most critical of these signals: endpoint device identity, health, and compliance, along with integrated security features that support Zero Trust principles. 

Endpoint security is enhanced through continuous monitoring and enforcement, ensuring that only compliant and secure devices gain access. The platform enforces security measures to ensure compliance and reduce risk across all connected devices, including PCs, mobile devices, IoT gadgets, and peripherals.

Here’s how it aligns with the core pillars of Zero Trust.

Pillar 1: Gaining Total Visibility To "Verify Explicitly"

Zero Trust Mantra: You cannot secure what you cannot see. The first step in verifying every access request is knowing every device that could make one.

The attack surface has exploded. The latest Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report⁵ reveals a crucial blind spot: in cases involving compromised systems with corporate logins, 46% were non-managed devices. These personal laptops and unmanaged assets represent a massive, uncontrolled entry point into your organization.

And the risk is only growing. The average enterprise in 2025 manages 3-4x more device types than before 2020⁶, from traditional PCs to BYOD smartphones, IoT devices, and cloud VMs. Each unmanaged asset is a potential entry point. 

UEM's Role: A true enterprise UEM platform provides a comprehensive, real-time inventory of your entire IT estate, closing this visibility gap. This includes:

• User Workspaces: Windows and macOS laptops, iOS and Android mobile devices.
• IT Infrastructure: On-premise Windows, Linux, and UNIX servers.
• Cloud Endpoints: Virtual machines and instances running in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

With a platform like HCL BigFix, you establish a single source of truth. This complete visibility is the bedrock of verification; without it, countless unmanaged devices remain invisible, untrusted, and pose a significant risk.

Pillar 2: Enforcing Device Health And Compliance

Zero Trust Mantra: A validated user identity alone is insufficient to grant access. The security posture of the device making the request is evaluated as an equally critical condition. An authorized user on a compromised device still represents an unacceptable risk.

The challenge: As we saw earlier, the Verizon 2025 DBIR confirms that exploitation of known vulnerabilities continues to grow, now accounting for 20% of breaches, a 34% increase from last year. For espionage-motivated attacks, this vector is even more dominant, serving as the initial access point in 70% of cases. At the same time, the median time for organizations to patch critical vulnerabilities still exceeds 55 days, giving attackers a wide-open window of opportunity.

UEM's Role: A Zero Trust model must be able to deny access from an unpatched or non-compliant device programmatically. The UEM platform is the engine for this principle, using endpoint automation to continuously assess device posture and provide the critical signals that inform your access policy engine by:

• Automating Patching: Ensuring every device has the latest security patches, closing vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.
• Enforcing Configurations: Continuously checking and remediating endpoint settings against security benchmarks like CIS, DISA STIG, and PCI-DSS.
• Confirming Security Tools: Verifying that essential security tools (like encryption and antivirus) are installed and running correctly.

This automated enforcement of security hygiene ensures that only healthy, compliant devices are even considered for access to corporate resources.

Pillar 3: Building Resilience To "Assume Breach"

Zero Trust Mantra: The "Assume Breach" mindset means you operate with the understanding that a breach is inevitable.

This requires a strategy focused on two key areas: proactively minimizing the potential blast radius before an incident, and having the tools to rapidly remediate and re-secure the environment after a threat is contained.

UEM's Role: A UEM platform is central to both of these functions, acting as the engine for proactive hardening and large-scale, post-incident remediation.

Proactive Hardening (Before the Breach): The UEM platform integrates with your vulnerability management tools (like Tenable or Qualys). It leverages their findings and utilizes endpoint automation to systematically reduce the attack surface by deploying patches and enforcing secure configurations across the entire estate. This continuous hardening ensures that if a breach does occur, the attacker has far fewer weaknesses to exploit.

Large-Scale Remediation (After the Breach): In the event your security tools (like an EDR) detect and contain an active threat, the UEM platform acts as the post-incident remediation engine. Once your security team has neutralized the immediate threat, the UEM is used to:

• Deploy the relevant patch for the exploited vulnerability across every affected endpoint in minutes.
• Enforce new, stricter configuration policies to prevent re-infection.
• Query the entire fleet to ensure no other devices share the same vulnerability.

HCL BigFix Remediate enables detection‑to‑patch deployment in minutes, across tens or even hundreds of thousands of endpoints.

This ability to both proactively harden the environment and surgically remediate weaknesses after an incident is what makes a Zero Trust architecture resilient, manageable, and practical.

Your Path Forward: Building A Resilient Zero Trust Foundation

When based on a strong UEM platform, the Zero Trust principles produce real outcomes rather than merely being theoretical. A UEM-first strategy methodically reduces the attack surface and creates true operational resilience by offering total visibility, automating posture enforcement, and speeding up the whole vulnerability remediation lifecycle. Technical support is essential for deploying, managing, and maintaining endpoint management solutions, ensuring smooth operation and rapid issue resolution.

This is where a platform like HCL BigFix provides the foundation. It delivers comprehensive visibility across your entire estate, from servers to cloud, along with the powerful endpoint automation needed to enforce device posture continuously. 

Integrating client management tools enables organizations to manage both on-premises and remote devices efficiently.

The evolution of endpoint management has included key components such as mobile device management and mobile application management, which have expanded capabilities for managing and securing a wide range of devices and applications. Modern endpoint management relies on advanced security technologies integrated within the software platforms that form the foundation of these solutions, enabling organizations to safeguard endpoints, networks, and data as part of a comprehensive cybersecurity ecosystem.

This allows you to move from a reactive, vulnerable stance to a proactive security posture, making your entire Zero Trust architecture more effective and manageable. 

Managing both corporate and personal devices, including those in BYOD programs, is critical, and restricting administrative privileges on own devices helps prevent vulnerabilities and security breaches across organizational networks. It is equally important to manage users and their access privileges, as user behaviors and authentication play a significant role in enforcing security policies and maintaining compliance.

For IT and security leaders tasked with this transformation, the path forward is clear:

Step 1: Deepen Your Understanding.

Ready to explore this topic in more detail? Download our ebook, "Speeding Your Journey to Zero Trust," to get a comprehensive guide on building a resilient, modern security architecture from the endpoint up.

Step 2: Assess Your Readiness.

Wondering how your current security posture stacks up? Take our quick assessment to gauge your organization’s Zero Trust readiness⁷. You'll receive a free, customized report that identifies your strengths and highlights the critical gaps you need to address.

Step 3: Talk To An Expert.

Ready to build your foundation? Learn how HCL BigFix provides the foundational visibility and control to power your Zero Trust strategy by speaking with one of our experts today. Talk to an Expert today.

Source:

1. https://zerothreat.ai/blog/zero-trust-statistics
2. https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/T163/reports/2025-dbir-data-breach-investigations-report.pdf
3. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2025.pdf
4. https://know-all-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Gartner-IT-Roadmap-for-Cybersecurity-2023.pdf
5. https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
6. https://www.esper.io/ebook/the-state-of-device-management-2025#form-top
7. https://s.pointerpro.com/qpijrnyz