The Term Has A Low Approval Rating 

As I’ve written about previously, security professionals are not in love with the term “zero trust.” The frequent misapplication of the term in vendor pitches is part of the problem — but only part. According to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince (pictured), the more important problem with the term “zero trust” is that it fails to convey the tremendous value of the concept it embodies. And that value, Prince said, is to give back control over their security to organizations that are lacking it.

“I think we’re still, as an industry, searching for exactly what the right term is,” he said in an interview.

While speaking with CISOs or CIOs, “zero trust is one of those things where I still get tons of eyerolls,” Prince said. “But when I say, ‘What we can deliver to you is total control over how your organization uses your network, and how information flows to and from your network’ — that’s something that is causing customer after customer to say, ‘I need that right now.’”

Ultimately, “maybe a better term for zero trust is ‘total control,’” he said.