In cybersecurity, “trust” is one of the most misunderstood concepts. Organizations have traditionally relied on perimeter-based defenses, trusting that anything inside their network was legitimate. This approach is no longer sufficient. Most organizations are discovering that policing activity within their networks is the crucial next step.

The Zero Trust model challenges the outdated idea of assumed trust and replaces it with continuous verification. But what does “trust” really mean in cybersecurity, and why is assumed trust so dangerous?

What is Trust in Cybersecurity?

Trust in IT is the assumption that a user, device, application, or service (A.K.A. a “subject”) is:

• Who or what it claims to be
• Allowed access to the resource it is requesting
• Configured and behaving in an expected way
• Free from compromise
• Allowed to take the actions it is currently taking

This is a significant list of assumptions. In a traditional network architecture, a subject (Read more...)