What are the three core principles of Zero Trust?

Verify Explicitly (authenticate every request on all signals), Least Privilege (just-in-time, just-enough access), and Assume Breach (design as if attackers are already inside).

1. Verify Explicitly:

• Authenticate using all available signals: identity, device health, location, time, data sensitivity
• Never grant access based on network location alone

2. Least Privilege Access:

• Just-in-time — temporary access that expires
• Just-enough — only what's needed for the task
• Risk-based adaptive — more sensitive data = more verification required

3. Assume Breach:

• Microsegmentation limits lateral movement
• End-to-end encryption even for internal traffic
• Continuous monitoring and analytics
• Minimize blast radius of any single compromise

Tip: Think of Zero Trust as applying the airport security model to your network — everyone gets checked, every time, no exceptions.

Go deeper:

• NIST SP 800-207 — Zero Trust Architecture — basis for verify-explicitly / least-privilege / assume-breach.