Zero Trust refers to securing at the device level rather than at the network level. Each device (or network) is on the public internet and uses encryption and authentication (using certificates and a certificate authority) between connections in the network. This has the advantage of being flexible—devices communicate directly to each other—and maybe more secure—there’s no ‘network’ to compromise (e.g. taking over the VPN server).
Examples:
- BeyondCorp based on Google’s white paper and implementation
- Tailscale which positions itself as a zero config VPN
- ZeroTier
See also:
- When compared to trust models this would be closer to 1 of N (there’s some central authority for authentication) rather than 0 of N