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Answer: Zero trust (ZT) is the term for an evolving set of cybersecurity paradigms that move defenses from static, network-based perimeters to focus on users, assets, and resources. A zero trust architecture (ZTA) uses zero trust principles to plan industrial and enterprise infrastructure and workflows. NIST describes it in Special Publication 800-207.

The core assumption

Zero trust assumes there is no implicit trust granted to assets or user accounts based solely on their physical or network location (for example, local area networks versus the internet) or based on asset ownership (enterprise or personally owned).

What changes in practice

• Authentication and authorization (both subject and device) are discrete functions performed before a session to an enterprise resource is established.
• Zero trust focuses on protecting resources (assets, services, workflows, network accounts, etc.), not network segments.
• The network location is no longer seen as the prime component to the security posture of the resource.

Why it emerged

Zero trust is a response to enterprise network trends that include remote users, bring your own device (BYOD), and cloud-based assets that are not located within an enterprise-owned network boundary.

The publication

SP 800-207 contains an abstract definition of zero trust architecture and gives general deployment models and use cases. NIST's publication record was created August 10, 2020, and updated March 23, 2021. Its authors are Scott Rose and Oliver Borchert of NIST, Stu Mitchell of Stu2Labs, and Sean Connelly of DHS. Unofficial Spanish and Japanese translations exist; NIST notes these are not official U.S. Government or NIST translations.

Claims

• id: C1 claim: Zero trust protects resources, not network segments. source: S1 evidence: "Zero trust focuses on protecting resources (assets, services, workflows, network accounts, etc.), not network segments"
• id: C2 claim: NIST's SP 800-207 record was created August 10, 2020, and updated March 23, 2021. source: S2 evidence: "Created August 10, 2020, Updated March 23, 2021"
• id: C3 claim: Unofficial translations of SP 800-207 are available. source: S1 evidence: "Unofficial translations of NIST SP 800-207 are available:"

Sources

• [S1] SP 800-207, Zero Trust Architecture. NIST. https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/207/final . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-04.
• [S2] Zero Trust Architecture. NIST. https://www.nist.gov/publications/zero-trust-architecture . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-04.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

@misc{iil_note_knvs83z7,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{Zero trust architecture (NIST SP 800-207)}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-04},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/zero-trust-architecture/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:knvs83z7. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

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