Why I Finally Made Peace With The Term Zero Trust
Security Boulevard, Wednesday, February 18th, 2026
Several weeks ago, I had a chance to sit down with John Kindervag and discuss FireMon's new partnership with Illumio. During that conversation, John shared a story about the origins of the phrase 'Zero Trust' that I had never heard before, and it completely changed my perception of the phrase.
I am a significant believer in the Zero Trust concepts, but I must admit that I never loved the phrase. It didn't sit quite right with me, as the very first thing we do in adopting Zero Trust concepts is create policies that define 'trust.' I acknowledge that it isn't blind trust. The trust policies that are built in a Zero Trust policy are based on identities and state information about sources and destinations.