Trust less, prove more

Modern technology runs on trust: in software, infrastructure, suppliers, identities and data. Every new service asks to be trusted a little. Over time the total becomes very large and very hard to see.

Remove trust where you can

The strongest position is not having to trust a system at all. If a component only needs to move data, it should not be able to read it. If a supplier only needs part of a record, it should not receive the whole thing.

Make the rest visible

Some trust cannot be removed. An application that processes a payment has to read it. Where trust remains, it should be explicit, justified and measurable, so that you can explain it to a customer, an auditor or a regulator.

Questions worth asking any vendor

• What do you need to see, and why?
• What happens to my data if one of your components is compromised?
• Which cryptography do you use, and who has independently reviewed it?
• How would you change it if it stopped being safe?

Architecture over promises. Mathematics over assumption. Evidence over marketing.

We hold ourselves to the same questions.