zero trust
compound.compound. a security model for computers and networks that assumes no person or device should be trusted by default. Even if someone is already inside a network, they must prove who they are every time they try to access a new file or app.
compound. a strategic approach to cybersecurity that eliminates implicit trust and requires continuous verification of every user and device. Operates on the principle of 'never trust, always verify' regardless of whether the connection originates inside or outside the network perimeter.
Our company is moving to a zero trust security model.
By implementing zero trust, the IT department ensured that a single compromised password would not grant an attacker access to the entire corporate database.
The transition to a zero trust architecture requires granular access controls and robust identity management to verify every request before granting the minimum necessary permissions.
A compound of the numeral zero and the noun trust. The term was coined by Stephen Paul Marsh in 1994 for his doctoral thesis on computational security at the University of Stirling.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often used as a compound noun or as an attributive modifier before 'security', 'model', or 'architecture'.
Last updated July 22, 2026