Implementing Device Posture Assessment in Zero Trust

When to Use

• When enforcing device health as a prerequisite for accessing corporate applications
• When integrating CrowdStrike ZTA scores, Intune compliance, or Jamf device status into access decisions
• When implementing CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model device pillar requirements
• When building conditional access policies that adapt based on real-time endpoint security posture
• When detecting and blocking access from compromised, unmanaged, or non-compliant devices

Do not use for IoT or headless devices that cannot run posture agents, as a standalone security control without identity verification, or when real-time posture data is unavailable and stale compliance data would create false trust.

Prerequisites

• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): CrowdStrike Falcon with ZTA module, or Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
• Mobile Device Management (MDM): Microsoft Intune, Jamf Pro, or VMware Workspace ONE
• Identity Provider: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, or Ping Identity with conditional access capability
• ZTNA Platform: Zscaler ZPA, Cloudflare Access, Palo Alto Prisma Access, or cloud-native IAP
• API access to EDR/MDM platforms for posture signal ingestion

Workflow

Step 1: Define Device Compliance Baselines

Establish minimum security requirements for each device category.

# Microsoft Intune: Create device compliance policy via Graph API
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "DeviceManagementConfiguration.ReadWrite.All"

# Windows 10/11 Compliance Policy
$compliancePolicy = @{
    "@odata.type" = "#microsoft.graph.windows10CompliancePolicy"
    displayName = "Zero Trust - Windows Compliance"
    description = "Minimum device requirements for zero trust access"
    osMinimumVersion = "10.0.19045"
    bitLockerEnabled = $true
    secureBootEnabled = $true
    codeIntegrityEnabled = $true
    tpmRequired = $true
    antivirusRequired = $true
    antiSpywareRequired = $true
    defenderEnabled = $true
    firewallEnabled = $true
    passwordRequired = $true
    passwordMinimumLength = 12
    passwordRequiredType = "alphanumeric"
    storageRequireEncryption = $true
    scheduledActionsForRule = @(
        @{
            ruleName = "PasswordRequired"
            scheduledActionConfigurations = @(
                @{
                    actionType = "block"
                    gracePeriodHours = 24
                    notificationTemplateId = ""
                    notificationMessageCCList = @()
                }
            )
        }
    )
}

New-MgDeviceManagementDeviceCompliancePolicy -BodyParameter $compliancePolicy

# macOS Compliance Policy via Jamf Pro API
curl -X POST "https://jamf.company.com/api/v1/compliance-policies" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${JAMF_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "name": "Zero Trust - macOS Compliance",
    "rules": [
      {"type": "os_version", "operator": ">=", "value": "14.0"},
      {"type": "filevault_enabled", "value": true},
      {"type": "firewall_enabled", "value": true},
      {"type": "gatekeeper_enabled", "value": true},
      {"type": "sip_enabled", "value": true},
      {"type": "auto_update_enabled", "value": true},
      {"type": "screen_lock_timeout", "operator": "<=", "value": 300},
      {"type": "falcon_sensor_running", "value": true}
    ]
  }'

Step 2: Configure CrowdStrike Zero Trust Assessment

Enable ZTA scoring and configure score thresholds for access tiers.

# CrowdStrike Falcon API: Query ZTA scores for all endpoints
curl -X GET "https://api.crowdstrike.com/zero-trust-assessment/entities/assessments/v1?ids=${DEVICE_AID}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${CS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

# Response includes:
# {
#   "aid": "device-agent-id",
#   "assessment": {
#     "overall": 82,
#     "os": 90,
#     "sensor_config": 85,
#     "version": "7.14.16703"
#   },
#   "assessment_items": {
#     "os_signals": [
#       {"signal_id": "firmware_protection", "meets_criteria": "yes"},
#       {"signal_id": "disk_encryption", "meets_criteria": "yes"},
#       {"signal_id": "kernel_protection", "meets_criteria": "yes"}
#     ],
#     "sensor_signals": [
#       {"signal_id": "sensor_version", "meets_criteria": "yes"},
#       {"signal_id": "prevention_policies", "meets_criteria": "yes"}
#     ]
#   }
# }

# Define ZTA score thresholds for access tiers
# Tier 1 (Basic Access):      ZTA >= 50

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