Converging Zero Trust and IoT Security: A Multivocal Literature Review
For researchers and practitioners in IoT security and Zero Trust, this review provides a comprehensive mapping of the field and highlights underexplored areas, but it is an incremental contribution as it synthesizes existing work without proposing new methods or results.
This paper presents the first multivocal literature review on the convergence of IoT security and Zero Trust principles, analyzing 104 studies (68 academic, 36 industrial) and identifying complementary yet divergent perspectives between academia and industry, along with critical research gaps.
The convergence of Internet of Things (IoT) security and Zero Trust (ZT) principles is a trending topic, demanding a comprehensive, multi-perspective analysis. We present the first multivocal literature review (MLR) on this topic, combining 68 academic and 36 industrial studies. This comprehensive review identifies two complementary yet divergent perspectives: academia focuses on IoT compliance with ZT principles through IoT modifications, while industry prioritizes practical integration within existing ZT frameworks guided by NIST standards. The analysis reveals critical research gaps in socio-technical understanding, cost-benefit evaluation, and interdisciplinary collaboration, highlighting these as key directions for future research.