Traditional DoD networks trusted anything inside the boundary once it had passed the perimeter. Zero trust removes that implicit trust and requires every access request to be verified against identity, device and context, every time.
The core assumption
Zero trust assumes the adversary is already inside the network. Design decisions follow from that: no network location grants access, every session is authenticated and authorised, and every access is logged and analysed.
The NIST foundation
NIST SP 800-207 defines the zero trust tenets and the logical components of a policy engine, policy administrator and policy enforcement point. DoD’s strategy adopts these and adds its own pillar model.
What does not change
Firewalls, segmentation and endpoint protection remain. Zero trust changes how they are used and what decides access, rather than discarding existing controls.
Action step
Choose one internal application you know. Write down every point at which a user’s access is currently checked and identify any place where network location alone grants trust.
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