^PAPER_TITLE^

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International Journal of Computer Techniques

ISSN 2394-2231

DOI Registered

Volume 13, Issue 3 | Published: May – June 2026

Table of Contents

Author

Nishant Gaur, Ms. Neetu Kumari Rajput

Abstract

Cloud-based FinTech systems need strong security mechanisms to protect confidential financial operations at the same time it has to maintain low-latency transaction processing. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) has emerged as an effective cloud security model based on continuous authentication, authorization, and least- privilege access control to users. However, ordinary Zero Trust implementations sometimes introduce authentication latency and computational overhead due to repeated token validation, mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and continuous access verification. This paper showcases a low-latency framework based on Zero Trust architecture for cloud-based financial systems using risk-based Identity and Access Management (IAM) and selective Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). The approach dynamically classifies user requests into different risk categories and applies MFA only to high- risk operations such as money transfer and password alteration and low-risk requests are handled using lightweight token-based authentication. A prototype implementation was developed using Spring Boot, JWT, MySQL, and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). Experimental evaluation was conducted by comparing the model with a standard Zero Trust model using authentication latency, computational overhead, and security performance as evaluation metrics. Prototype results showed that the suggested model reduced response delay, decreased unnecessary MFA prompts, reduced computational overhead, and improved system overall performance while maintaining equivalent security effectiveness. The finding recommends that adaptive authentication strategies based on risk-aware IAM can highly optimize the security- performance trade-off in cloud-based FinTech systems.

Keywords

Zero Trust Architecture, Cloud Computing, Cloud Security, FinTech, Identity and Access Management, Multi-Factor Authentication, Risk-Based Authentication, Authentication Latency.

Conclusion

This research proposed a low-latency Zero Trust framework for cloud-based FinTech systems using risk- based Identity and Access Management (IAM) and selective Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Standard Zero Trust implementations improve cloud security by enforcing continuous verification, strong authentication, and least-privilege access control. In contrast, existing studies and practical implementations shows that these methods introduce response delay and computational overhead, which is not good for real-time FinTech applications. To address this issue, the suggested framework introduced: risk-aware access evaluation, selective MFA for high-risk operations, lightweight token-based authentication for low-risk requests. Experimental evaluation demonstrated that the proposed framework: reduced authentication latency, lowered computational overhead, decreased unnecessary MFA invocations, maintained equivalent security effectiveness compared with standard Zero Trust implementations. The findings suggest that adaptive authentication strategies can highly optimize the security-performance trade-off in cloud-based financial systems. Therefore, the proposed model provides a practical and efficient approach for implementing Zero Trust security model in latency-sensitive FinTech systems.

References

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How to Cite This Paper

Nishant Gaur, Ms. Neetu Kumari Rajput (2026). A Low-Latency Zero Trust Framework for Cloud- Based FinTech Systems Using Risk-Based IAM and Selective MFA. International Journal of Computer Techniques, 13(2). ISSN: 2394-2231.

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