Artificial : C10 Zero Trust Architecture

 

Amy van der Leiden joins us and she has noticed my expression of slight dismay.

"Not convinced?" she asks looking at me.

 

Hmm. I'm suddenly in the hot seat.

 

"Well, there seem to be some gaps in the concept at present."

 

"That is why we are blending the ideas from this version of Cyclone with the version which Rolf and Hermann showed you yesterday."

 

"Then we are adding a zero trust layer on top," she goes on to explain, "So that the Cyclone can't be hacked."

 

"So is zero trust more than a marketing sticker?" I ask.

 

"Oh yes. And especially pertinent to this system. Think of the intersection between people, process and technology (PPT). It is exactly the area that zero trust systems are designed for."

 

I see Rolf smile and then he speaks, "Yes. Harold Leavitt may have come up with the ideas back in the 1960s, but it's taken until now for there to be actual interface requirements. Then I can remember Levi Spillmann saying it was important to add a trust layer. He felt that these Cyclones were immensely dangerous and had to be handled with great care. He warned about the commercial risks being taken too early, before the design had been stabilised. He even hinted that he would build a failsafe into the Cyclone but never actually did anything about it."

 

"But won't there need to be extra diligence applied?" I ask, "So that none of the three components is compromised? For example, people and their diverse cultural attitudes, process versus the efforts towards frictionless operation. Technology and the need to manage so many diverse segments?"

 

"Correct on all three and it is just what Brant is aiming to resolve with the Cyclone in a de-perimeterised battlefield."

 

"I see. Strengthen the internal defences because it is just too difficult to predict all of the outer ones?"

 

Amy answers, "Yes. Embed Zero Trust Architecture into the hybrid Cyclone. Use Secure Access Service Edge - SASE - thinking to make the Cyclone impenetrable. Make it unbreakable. It's a high risk, high reward endeavour."

 

Okay then. Difficult but rewarding. Once again, I remembered that thing about unintended consequences.