Zero Trust Access, Simplified: C1 Managed Services + Cisco ZTNA

Why ZTNA beats the “big flat VPN” 

Hybrid work isn’t going away. Neither is your mix of legacy apps, SaaS, multi-cloud workloads, and third-party access. The old pattern—“spin up another VPN group, carve a bigger subnet, hope for the best”—creates three problems:  

1. Over-privileged tunnels. Users get far more network than they need. Attackers love that.  
2. All-or-nothing experience. Full-tunnel slows everything and breaks random apps.  
3. Audit pain. Proving “who had access to what and when” is a scavenger hunt.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) flips the model. Instead of trusting the tunnel, we verify every session and grant the least access necessary—to applications, not networks. Each connection is checked for who (identity), what (device posture), and context (location, risk signals). It’s quieter for the SOC, smoother for users, and kinder to auditors.  

Think of ZTNA as “precise, per-app keys” that self-expire. If a device drifts out of compliance, that key doesn’t work until posture is fixed. If a contractor finishes a project, their access evaporates on schedule—not two quarters later when someone finally updates a group.

The Cisco kit (at a glance)  

Cisco brings the major pieces you need to actually run Zero Trust in the real world—without Frankensteining five vendors together.  

• Secure Access (SSE): Your cloud-delivered edge with ZTNA (client & clientless), secure web gateway, cloud firewall/IPS, DNS security, remote browser isolation, and digital experience monitoring. One place to enforce and observe.
• Duo: MFA plus device health so you verify the user and the endpoint before letting anything through.  
• Secure Client (AnyConnect): A unified client that handles posture checks and makes connectivity boring (again, the good kind of boring).  
• Identity Services Engine (ISE): Context-aware policy for on-prem realities—because your campus and branches still exist.  
• Secure Workload: Microsegmentation to stop “one foothold = whole network” stories by gating east-west traffic between critical services.  

Use as much of the kit as you need on day one. You can phase it in without a heart transplant.

What good ZTNA actually feels like (for humans)  

• Users: “It just works.” They click the app, they get in. No wrestling with full-tunnel weirdness. Latency feels better because traffic takes the smart path, not the “everything through HQ first” path.  
• Admins: “Policy is crisp.” You think in apps and groups, not VLANs and ports. Access is right-sized by design.  
• Security leaders: “Noise is down, signal is up.” You see risky attempts blocked before they hit the app.  
• Auditors: “Thank you.” Identity + device posture + policy history = faster evidence, fewer meetings.

A pragmatic rollout that won’t melt your help desk  

You don’t have to boil the ocean. You do need a sensible sequence. Here’s a rollout we’ve proven across enterprises that didn’t want a ticket avalanche.  

Phase 1 — Identity & device trust  

Wire your identity provider, enable Duo MFA and device posture, and target a small set of high-value apps first.  

• Why first? Most breaches start with compromised credentials and unmanaged devices. Kill those paths early.  
• Policy example: “Only corporate-managed devices with current patches reach Finance.”  
• Change tactics: Pilot with friendly users; publish a tiny FAQ; keep a temporary exception path with an expiration date.  

Outcome: Big risk reduction, minimal user disruption, SOC gets cleaner signals immediately.

Phase 2 — Per-app access (the heart of ZTNA)

Replace wide, trust-rich VPN groups with app-specific access. Keep contractors and partners clientless when possible. Add DNS + web controls to block junk before the handshake.

• Policy example (contractors): “Clientless access to ticketing and time entry only; no file shares.”
• Policy example (admins): “Admin consoles require MFA at every session and device health OK.
• Change tactics: Map apps to business functions; start with “quick wins” (web apps & SaaS), then move to quirkier protocols.

Outcome: Your attack surface shrinks. Lateral movement gets boringly hard. Users notice access is faster, not slower.

Phase 3 — Segment the inside (blast radius, meet scissors)

Add microsegmentation for crown-jewel services. Map flows, define allow-lists, then trim the chatter.  

• Policy example: “Only service X can reach DB Y on port Z; no one else, including admins, without break-glass.”  
• Change tactics: Instrument first (observe flows), then enforce. Announce changes, pick off low-risk segments first, celebrate the wins.

Outcome: A foothold can’t become a tour of your network. The “east-west blind spot” finally has floodlights.

Phase 4 — Observe & improve (make it a habit)

Use digital experience monitoring and security telemetry to tune monthly and de-risk quarterly.

• What to measure:  
  • Adoption (who’s on ZTNA vs. legacy VPN)  
  • Latency to top apps (is the user experience cool or cranky?)  
  • Denied attempts by reason (identity, posture, policy)  
  • Exceptions opened/closed (and how fast they close)  
  • Incidents prevented (DNS/web blocks, segmentation stops)  
• Cadence: Monthly tuning, quarterly reviews. Sunset what’s stale. Write down what’s working.

Outcome: ZTNA becomes a living program, not a one-time project.

How C1 keeps it stable and sane  

We’ve learned a few things the hard way so you don’t have to.

• Design for humans, not hypotheticals. You have legacy apps, partners with odd requirements, and a population of “laptop gremlins.” We accommodate reality, not wishful diagrams.
• Run it around the clock. Authentication spikes, posture drift, strange destinations—we see them, correlate them, and act with agreed runbooks.  
• Protect experience. Split-tunnel where it helps, troubleshoot with DEM data, communicate changes plainly. Security should feel faster, not heavier.  
• Show the value. We convert policy moves into business outcomes. “This change cut risky access by X and reduced tickets by Y” beats “we changed a setting.”  

Common pitfalls (and how we help you dodge them)  

Pitfall 1: Lifting VPN logic into ZTNA.  

If you clone your “everyone-on-this-subnet” model, you’ll miss the point. We help you think in applications and buying groups (finance, contractors, admins) with least privilege baked in.

Pitfall 2: Ignoring device health.  

Verifying users without checking devices is like checking IDs while waving cars through. We add device posture at the gate—OS patch level, EDR status, disk encryption—so unhealthy endpoints don’t touch sensitive apps.  

Pitfall 3: One giant cutover.  

It’s tempting. It’s also a ticket factory. We phase the move, keep a rollback handy, and publish a micro-FAQ for each wave.  

Pitfall 4: Tool sprawl at the edge.  

Too many point tools create gaps and competing policies. Cisco’s kit consolidates edge controls; we design the one policy framework that spans SaaS, DC, and cloud.

Pitfall 5: Exceptions that live forever.  

Temporary admin access is like leftover pizza—best on day one, questionable by day five. We time-box exceptions and report on their half-life until they’re gone.  

A day in the life: before vs. after  

Before:  

A user clicks a convincing link, enters credentials on a fake page, and logs into a broad VPN from an unmanaged home PC. Hours later, the SOC sees odd DNS queries. By the time someone connects the dots, there’s east-west scanning in a dev VPC. You start drafting “Lessons Learned” for Monday’s leadership call.  

After (Cisco ZTNA + C1):  

The DNS call dies at the curb. A login from an unknown device fails posture and never reaches the app. If a foothold somehow appears, per-app access and segmentation make lateral movement a non-event. The SOC gets a tidy event trail and an action already taken. Leadership gets a two-line summary, not a fire drill.  

The business case (for the folks who sign checks)  

You’re not buying a buzzword. You’re buying measurable reductions in risk and complexity plus a better user experience. Here’s how we frame it in a steering committee:  

• Risk reduction you can count:  
  • % of critical apps behind ZTNA  
  • % of sessions gated by MFA + device posture  
  • DNS/web blocks of known-bad before app reach  
  • Number of segmentation-stopped laterals  
• Operational simplicity:  
  • One policy model vs. five  
  • Exceptions opened vs. closed (trend down)  
  • Tickets tied to VPN/ZTNA (trend down)  
• Financial sense:
  • Retired point tools as Secure Access coverage expands  
  • Fewer emergency hours and night-shift firefights  
  • Lower audit prep time (and fewer findings)  

If you’re consolidating legacy web filters, VPN concentrators, or DIY proxies, the platform savings alone often fund the move.  

What to measure (and when you can declare victory)  

Near-term (first 30–60 days):

• DNS/web block rate and false positives (should stabilize quickly)  
• Pilot user latency vs. VPN baseline (should improve or hold)  
• First three critical apps on ZTNA (done and dusted)  

Mid-term (90–120 days): 

• 70–80% of top-10 apps on ZTNA  
• Device posture enforced for privileged apps  
• Two risky “temporary” exceptions closed  
• A small but real microsegmentation win (one crown-jewel service ringed)  

Long-term (6–12 months):  

• Majority of workforce on ZTNA, legacy VPN retired for day-to-day  
• Segmentation covering the critical few (databases, admin consoles, crown-jewel services)  
• Steady downward trends in access-related incidents and tickets  
• Smoother audits with identity + device + policy evidence on tap  

FAQs (asked by reasonable people)  

Do contractors need the full client?  

Often, no. Clientless ZTNA for browser-based apps keeps things simple and contained. If they need thick-client access, we gate it tightly and time-box it.  

What about legacy protocols?  

We map flows, proxy what we can, and segmentation the rest. Perfect is nice; much safer is the goal we hit repeatedly.  

Will ZTNA break my network?  

Not if you roll it out like an adult. We pilot, measure, communicate, and keep a rollback. Most users notice faster access, not pain.  

We already own pieces of the Cisco stack—does this still make sense?  

Even better. We unify what you have, fill gaps, and clean up policy sprawl. It’s about operating a platform, not collecting logos.  

Can our team run it without C1?  

Sure. The question is opportunity cost. ZTNA + SSE + posture + segmentation is a living system. If your team needs to focus on things only they can do—M&A, data initiatives, app modernization—we’ll keep the lights bright and the noise low.  

Field notes: a quick anonymized story  

A 7,000-employee services firm came to us with full-tunnel VPN, a patchwork of web controls, and “temporary” firewall rules old enough to vote. We led with DNS/web filtering and Duo posture checks for a pilot group. Week two, they put Finance, HR, and a couple of admin tools behind ZTNA. No megaphone announcements, just tidy change notes and a hotline for pilot users.  

In 60 days, they saw:  

• 30% fewer security-related tickets, mostly phishing and broken access complaints.  
• Device posture quietly blocking risky sessions before the app layer.  
• Two ancient exceptions retired without drama.  
• An audit prep measured in days, not weeks—because identity, device, and policy evidence were in one place.  

By quarter’s end, they started sunsetting a legacy web filter and an aging VPN concentrator. The savings helped fund microsegmentation on three crown-jewel services. The security lead’s quote: “We stopped debating theory and started seeing fewer pager nights.”  

The 30/60/90 you can put on a slide  

Days 0–30: Foundations  

• Integrate IdP, enable Duo MFA and device posture for a pilot.  
• Turn on DNS/web security for the same group; measure noise vs. block rate.  
• Put three critical apps behind ZTNA (two user apps, one admin).  
• Publish a two-page FAQ; keep a short-lived exception path.  

Days 31–60: Expansion  

• Add 5–7 more apps (SaaS and web first), expand pilot to two business units.  
• Start DEM baselining; adjust split-tunnel rules for performance.  
• Identify and close two high-risk exceptions.  
• Draft the first segmentation ring for a crown-jewel service.  

Days 61–90: Operationalize  

• Enforce posture on privileged apps; widen ZTNA coverage to the majority of top-10 apps.  
• Put segmentation into enforce (for the ring you drafted).  
• Stand up monthly tuning + quarterly review rituals; ship the first executive dashboard (risk, experience, ops).  
• Decide which legacy tool(s) to retire and when.  

Result: your users feel less pain, your auditors smile, and your SOC gets cleaner signal with fewer “uh oh” moments.  

Checklist: are you ready to start?  

• You know your top 10–15 apps (by business criticality).  
• Your IdP groups roughly map to real roles (we can help clean them up).  
• You can name one crown-jewel service that deserves segmentation love.  
• You have an appetite for a pilot group that will give feedback (and not hold back).  
• You’re okay with a phased rollout where “boringly safe” beats “dramatically risky.”  

If that sounds like you, you’re ready.