Implementing Zero Trust Security for Self-Hosted Infrastructure

What Is Zero Trust?

Zero trust means: never trust, always verify. Every request is authenticated and authorized, regardless of where it comes from. No network boundary provides implicit trust.

<div style="margin:2.5rem auto;max-width:600px;width:100%;text-align:center;"><svg viewBox="0 0 600 220" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="width:100%;height:auto;"><rect width="600" height="220" rx="12" fill="#1a1a2e"/><path d="M300,25 L380,55 L380,120 Q380,170 300,195 Q220,170 220,120 L220,55 Z" fill="none" stroke="#6366f1" stroke-width="2.5"/><path d="M300,40 L365,65 L365,118 Q365,160 300,180 Q235,160 235,118 L235,65 Z" fill="#6366f1" opacity="0.15"/><rect x="280" y="95" width="40" height="30" rx="4" fill="#6366f1" opacity="0.9"/><path d="M288,95 L288,82 Q288,72 300,72 Q312,72 312,82 L312,95" fill="none" stroke="#6366f1" stroke-width="2.5"/><circle cx="300" cy="110" r="4" fill="#ffffff"/><text x="90" y="60" text-anchor="middle" fill="#3b82f6" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Firewall</text><line x1="130" y1="57" x2="218" y2="57" stroke="#3b82f6" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="3,3"/><text x="90" y="100" text-anchor="middle" fill="#a855f7" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">WAF</text><line x1="110" y1="97" x2="220" y2="85" stroke="#a855f7" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="3,3"/><text x="90" y="140" text-anchor="middle" fill="#2dd4bf" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">SSO / MFA</text><line x1="130" y1="137" x2="222" y2="120" stroke="#2dd4bf" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="3,3"/><text x="510" y="60" text-anchor="middle" fill="#f59e0b" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">TLS/SSL</text><line x1="470" y1="57" x2="382" y2="57" stroke="#f59e0b" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="3,3"/><text x="510" y="100" text-anchor="middle" fill="#3b82f6" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">RBAC</text><line x1="490" y1="97" x2="380" y2="85" stroke="#3b82f6" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="3,3"/><text x="510" y="140" text-anchor="middle" fill="#a855f7" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Audit Logs</text><line x1="470" y1="137" x2="378" y2="120" stroke="#a855f7" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="3,3"/></svg><p style="margin-top:0.75rem;font-size:0.85rem;color:#94a3b8;font-style:italic;line-height:1.4;">Defense in depth: multiple security layers protect your infrastructure from threats.</p></div>

The Zero Trust Stack

Layer 1: No Open Ports (Cloudflare Tunnel)

Your server has zero inbound ports open. All traffic enters via Cloudflare Tunnel (outbound connection). Attackers can't even find your server on the internet.

Layer 2: Identity Verification (Authelia)

Every request goes through Authelia for identity verification:

<div style="margin:2.5rem auto;max-width:600px;width:100%;text-align:center;"><svg viewBox="0 0 600 180" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="width:100%;height:auto;"><rect width="600" height="180" rx="12" fill="#1a1a2e"/><circle cx="60" cy="90" r="20" fill="none" stroke="#3b82f6" stroke-width="2"/><text x="60" y="94" text-anchor="middle" fill="#3b82f6" font-size="11" font-family="system-ui">User</text><rect x="120" y="65" width="95" height="50" rx="8" fill="#6366f1" opacity="0.85"/><text x="167" y="85" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Identity</text><text x="167" y="100" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Verify</text><rect x="250" y="65" width="95" height="50" rx="8" fill="#a855f7" opacity="0.85"/><text x="297" y="85" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Policy</text><text x="297" y="100" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Engine</text><rect x="380" y="65" width="95" height="50" rx="8" fill="#2dd4bf" opacity="0.85"/><text x="427" y="85" text-anchor="middle" fill="#1a1a2e" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Access</text><text x="427" y="100" text-anchor="middle" fill="#1a1a2e" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Proxy</text><rect x="510" y="65" width="60" height="50" rx="8" fill="#f59e0b" opacity="0.85"/><text x="540" y="94" text-anchor="middle" fill="#1a1a2e" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">App</text><defs><marker id="arrow5" markerWidth="8" markerHeight="6" refX="8" refY="3" orient="auto"><path d="M0,0 L8,3 L0,6" fill="#e2e8f0"/></marker></defs><line x1="82" y1="90" x2="118" y2="90" stroke="#e2e8f0" stroke-width="1.5" marker-end="url(#arrow5)"/><line x1="217" y1="90" x2="248" y2="90" stroke="#e2e8f0" stroke-width="1.5" marker-end="url(#arrow5)"/><line x1="347" y1="90" x2="378" y2="90" stroke="#e2e8f0" stroke-width="1.5" marker-end="url(#arrow5)"/><line x1="477" y1="90" x2="508" y2="90" stroke="#e2e8f0" stroke-width="1.5" marker-end="url(#arrow5)"/><text x="167" y="140" text-anchor="middle" fill="#94a3b8" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">MFA + Device</text><text x="297" y="140" text-anchor="middle" fill="#94a3b8" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Least Privilege</text><text x="427" y="140" text-anchor="middle" fill="#94a3b8" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Encrypted Tunnel</text><text x="300" y="165" text-anchor="middle" fill="#6366f1" font-size="11" font-family="system-ui" font-weight="bold">Never Trust, Always Verify</text></svg><p style="margin-top:0.75rem;font-size:0.85rem;color:#94a3b8;font-style:italic;line-height:1.4;">Zero Trust architecture: every request is verified through identity, policy, and access proxy layers.</p></div>

Layer 3: Role-Based Access (Authelia Policies)

Different services require different access levels:

Layer 4: Intrusion Prevention (CrowdSec)

Community-powered threat intelligence blocks known malicious IPs before they reach your services.

Layer 5: Network Segmentation (Docker Networks)

Docker networks isolate services:

Layer 6: Secrets Management (Vaultwarden + .env)

<div style="margin:2.5rem auto;max-width:600px;width:100%;text-align:center;"><svg viewBox="0 0 600 200" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="width:100%;height:auto;"><rect width="600" height="200" rx="12" fill="#1a1a2e"/><rect x="60" y="30" width="140" height="140" rx="6" fill="none" stroke="#e2e8f0" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="130" y="24" text-anchor="middle" fill="#94a3b8" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Production</text><rect x="70" y="40" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#6366f1" opacity="0.8"/><circle cx="82" cy="51" r="3" fill="#2dd4bf"/><text x="130" y="55" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Web Server</text><rect x="70" y="68" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#6366f1" opacity="0.8"/><circle cx="82" cy="79" r="3" fill="#2dd4bf"/><text x="130" y="83" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">App Server</text><rect x="70" y="96" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#a855f7" opacity="0.8"/><circle cx="82" cy="107" r="3" fill="#2dd4bf"/><text x="130" y="111" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Database</text><rect x="70" y="124" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#f59e0b" opacity="0.6"/><circle cx="82" cy="135" r="3" fill="#2dd4bf"/><text x="130" y="139" text-anchor="middle" fill="#1a1a2e" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Monitoring</text><rect x="290" y="30" width="140" height="140" rx="6" fill="none" stroke="#e2e8f0" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="360" y="24" text-anchor="middle" fill="#94a3b8" font-size="10" font-family="system-ui">Staging</text><rect x="300" y="40" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#3b82f6" opacity="0.6"/><circle cx="312" cy="51" r="3" fill="#2dd4bf"/><text x="360" y="55" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Web Server</text><rect x="300" y="68" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#3b82f6" opacity="0.6"/><circle cx="312" cy="79" r="3" fill="#2dd4bf"/><text x="360" y="83" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">App Server</text><rect x="300" y="96" width="120" height="22" rx="3" fill="#a855f7" opacity="0.5"/><circle cx="312" cy="107" r="3" fill="#f59e0b"/><text x="360" y="111" text-anchor="middle" fill="#ffffff" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Database</text><line x1="200" y1="100" x2="290" y2="100" stroke="#2dd4bf" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-dasharray="5,3"/><text x="245" y="95" text-anchor="middle" fill="#2dd4bf" font-size="8" font-family="system-ui">VLAN</text><rect x="480" y="60" width="90" height="70" rx="6" fill="none" stroke="#f59e0b" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="4,3"/><text x="525" y="85" text-anchor="middle" fill="#f59e0b" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Backup</text><text x="525" y="100" text-anchor="middle" fill="#f59e0b" font-size="9" font-family="system-ui">Storage</text><text x="525" y="115" text-anchor="middle" fill="#94a3b8" font-size="8" font-family="system-ui">3-2-1 Rule</text><line x1="430" y1="100" x2="478" y2="95" stroke="#f59e0b" stroke-width="1" stroke-dasharray="4,3"/></svg><p style="margin-top:0.75rem;font-size:0.85rem;color:#94a3b8;font-style:italic;line-height:1.4;">Server infrastructure: production and staging environments connected via VLAN with offsite backups.</p></div>

At TechSaaS

Our production infrastructure implements all six layers:

This setup costs $0/month (all open-source) and provides enterprise-grade security.

TechSaaS implements zero-trust architecture for companies of all sizes. From startups to enterprises, we design security that doesn't get in the way of productivity. Contact [email protected].