Impact of Zero Trust Architecture on Stock Exchange Network Security: A Quantitative Evaluation of Access Control and Incident Reduction

Abstract

This study examined the impact of Zero Trust Architecture on stock exchange network security through a quantitative quasiexperimental design, focusing on access control performance and incident reduction. The analysis was based on a comprehensive dataset of 48,600 network events collected across preimplementation and postimplementation phases, ensuring balanced and comparable conditions. The findings revealed substantial improvements in key security indicators following the adoption of Zero Trust controls. Authentication success rates increased from 82.4% to 91.7%, while unauthorized access attempts decreased by 58.4%, demonstrating enhanced identity verification and access governance. Additionally, total security incidents declined from 312 to 138 events, representing a reduction of 55.8%, indicating improved resilience against cyber threats. Operational efficiency also improved significantly, with mean time to detect decreasing from 48.2 seconds to 27.6 seconds and mean time to respond decreasing from 95.4 seconds to 52.1 seconds. Statistical analysis confirmed that these differences were highly significant, with p-values below 0.001 across all major indicators, and effect size analysis revealed moderate to large impacts, including a Cohen’s d of 1.21 for incident reduction. Regression analysis further demonstrated that Zero Trust implementation explained approximately 64% of the variance in incident frequency, confirming its strong predictive influence on security outcomes. Sub-group analysis indicated that privileged accounts and external access points experienced the most significant improvements, with unauthorized access attempts reduced by 66.1% and 57.2%, respectively. Systems with higher transaction volumes also showed greater enhancements in detection and response efficiency. Overall, the results provided strong empirical evidence that Zero Trust Architecture significantly improves network security performance in stock exchange environments by enhancing authentication accuracy, reducing incident frequency, and increasing operational responsiveness.