itsual Zero Trust Principles
Overview
Zero Trust assumes no implicit trust based on network location. Every access request should be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated.
When to Use
- Designing new systems or major features with security implications
- Moving from traditional perimeter/VPN models
- Reviewing service-to-service or user-to-service access
Core Principles
- Authenticate and authorize every request
- Least privilege access
- Assume breach — limit blast radius
- Continuous validation rather than one-time checks at the perimeter
- Encrypt traffic in transit (and sensitive data at rest)
- Make access decisions based on identity, device, context, and risk signals where possible
Practical Implications
- Strong identity for users and services (workload identity)
- Network segmentation / micro-segmentation
- Short-lived credentials and mutual TLS where appropriate
- Comprehensive logging and monitoring of access
Verification
- Lateral movement is difficult even if one component is compromised
- Access policies are explicit and enforceable
- There is no broad “trusted internal network” assumption