Zero Trust describes an architectural design paradigm developed from the "Assume Breach" approach, which is based at its core on the principle of least privilege for all entities in the entire infrastructure.

Zero Trust approaches can provide better preventive protection for application access and, in particular, further reduce the extent of damage caused by attacks. Zero Trust combines known security measures and best practices in a holistic approach. Based on a data-centric model, the protective effect of the measures relates primarily to the protective goals of integrity and confidentiality, but not availability.

A hollistic, effective implementation of Zero Trust principles is not a one-time investment, but a long-term project and requires high and permanent financial and personnel resources. In case of cross-organizational networking, the Zero Trust concepts must be agreed upon in a binding manner between the participating organizations, whereby the interoperability of product functionalities is fundamental to successful implementation. As of today, this is still a major challenge, partly due to lack of standardization.

Position paper:

This paper aims to convey the conceptual basis for Zero Trust from BSI's perspective, to provide a basis for discussion, and to outline initial approaches for implementing individual aspects. In addition, first cross-organizational Zero Trust approaches are considered.

Suggestions, comments and criticism on this paper are welcome at zero-trust@bsi.bund.de.