As IT leaders found out traditional security models failed to address their cloud security concerns, many of them turned to zero-trust architecture and chose zero-trust network access (ZTNA) as an investment priority for the next year, according to Zscaler’s recent report.

The cloud security vendor surveyed more than 1,900 senior IT leaders globally whose organizations have started the cloud migration process. It found that the majority (91%) of those organizations started to adopt or plan to implement zero-trust security.

“The large majority of enterprises have made the jump to cloud services, and zero trust is ranking high on the agenda of IT decision makers,” Nathan Howe, VP of emerging technology, wrote in response to questions. “However, the business benefits have outweighed the protections needed by industry leaders, who are now faced with lagging confidence in their controls and execution. Emerging technologies are asking the same leaders to adapt again, with an even larger knowledge and skill gap causing obvious concern.”

The surveyed IT leaders identified data privacy concerns, securing data in the cloud, and scaling network security as top barriers to embracing the cloud’s full potential.

And they noted legacy network security measures failed to address those challenges. 54% of the respondents stated that perimeter-based firewalls or VPNs were ineffective at protecting against attacks or providing visibility into application traffic, according to the report.

And more than two-thirds (68%) of them noted legacy network security measures failed to secure cloud transformation, and ZTNA has advantages over traditional firewalls and VPNs.

“The impact of zero trust, however, does give these leaders hope, one that will allow for the future evolution of their enterprises, whilst being able to wrangle control back and minimize the risk to the business,” Howe said.

Around 65% of respondents selected improving the detection of advanced threats or web application attacks and broadening security for sensitive data as the top reason to adopt zero-trust architectures, followed by securing remote access for vendors, partners, and operational technology (44%), and improving secure connectivity for a hybrid workforce (27%), the report found.

When asked about top zero-trust technologies their organizations are investing in for the next 12 months, ZTNA (30%), cloud firewall (29%), and data loss prevention (27%) were the top choices.