Zero Trust Societies
From Espionage to Zero Trust
In a world increasingly governed by digital systems and data security concerns, Zero Trust and Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) have emerged as key solutions for safeguarding privacy and mitigating threats. Yet, these frameworks—despite their technical sophistication—may erode the fundamental relational and emotional dimensions of trust by institutionalizing mistrust and secrecy as default conditions. The real challenge before us is not just securing systems but redefining trust in a way that balances security, relational openness, and ethical responsibility.
Zero Trust reduces trust to a perpetual process of verification, transforming it into a transactional state governed by surveillance. ZKPs, on the other hand, allow for trust without transparency, preserving privacy at the cost of open and vulnerable engagement.
This shift toward mistrust and secrecy as normative raises pressing philosophical, psychological, and social concerns about the future of human and institutional relationships.
In our quest for security, are we eroding the very foundations of trust that make cooperation and meaningful connection possible?
The use of mistrust as a strategic tool has deep historical roots. From ancient espionage to modern security protocols, mistrust has been weaponized as a means of control. In ancient societies, rulers and military leaders used spies not just to gather intelligence but to keep tabs on allies, recognizing the inherent risk in placing full trust in any individual or institution. This legacy of strategic mistrust is mirrored in today’s Zero Trust security architectures, which assume that no entity, internal or external, can be trusted without continuous verification.
By embedding mistrust into the very fabric of security frameworks, Zero Trust shifts the burden of trust from human relationships to systems of surveillance and control. In doing so, it replaces relational trust with technical regulation. This reflects a broader philosophical shift from trust as a relational bond toward trust as a calculable risk, managed through protocols and algorithms.
Zero Trust systems, like the surveillance strategies explored by Michel Foucault, operate on the premise of continuous oversight. But while Foucault’s panoptic surveillance sought to manage populations, Zero Trust focuses on securing systems. The psychological implications of living in a constant state of mistrust—where every interaction must be verified—raise questions about the long-term effects of this model on social cohesion and human relationships.
The Cold War offers another significant example of weaponized trust. Both the United States and the Soviet Union used double agents and disinformation to exploit the trust of their enemies, turning relationships into avenues for control. This manipulation of trust during the Cold War foreshadows today’s social engineering attacks, where trust is similarly exploited to compromise digital security.
Phishing schemes, impersonation attacks, and malware all take advantage of our natural inclination to trust. These modern threats exploit cognitive biases and social dynamics to manipulate individuals into compromising secure systems. The rise of Zero Trust as a response to these threats reflects a recognition that trust itself can be a vulnerability. But as we shift toward systems that treat trust as a liability rather than a relational strength, what happens to the social and psychological foundations upon which human cooperation is built?
Social psychology provides insight here, drawing on studies from Stanley Milgram and Solomon Asch about how authority and social pressure influence behavior. These dynamics are central to understanding how trust is manipulated—not only in security breaches but also in our daily interactions. The normalization of mistrust in Zero Trust systems transforms trust into a perpetual negotiation of risk rather than a genuine relational bond.
The Dilemmas of ZKPs: Privacy at the Expense of Transparency
While Zero Trust focuses on verification, Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) introduce another dimension—trust without transparency. ZKPs allow parties to prove they possess knowledge or credentials without revealing the underlying data, ensuring privacy while controlling the flow of information. At first glance, this seems to address the tension between privacy and security, but it also raises deeper philosophical concerns about the nature of trust.
In traditional relationships, trust involves a certain degree of openness and vulnerability. Hannah Arendt argued that public engagement and transparency are vital for building trust within communities. ZKPs, by contrast, prioritize selective disclosure over openness, raising questions about the consequences of a world where trust is built on secrecy. What happens to relational trust when it becomes a calculated exchange, stripped of vulnerability?
Jean Baudrillard’s critique of simulation and hyperreality is also relevant here. In the world of ZKPs, trust is simulated through partial truths, where appearances are carefully managed but full disclosure is never realized. This creates a hyperreal environment where trust exists in a deferred state—reliant on proofs and protocols but never fully realized in relational terms. The relational depth of trust is eroded, leaving only a shallow, transactional form of engagement.
Institutionalized Mistrust
Both Zero Trust and ZKPs reflect the institutionalization of mistrust. As these frameworks become embedded in corporate, governmental, and personal systems, they reinforce a default posture of mistrust and secrecy, shaping how we interact on a daily basis.
Surveillance as Default: Zero Trust frameworks rely on continuous monitoring and verification, embedding a culture of perpetual oversight. Drawing on Shoshana Zuboff’s theory of surveillance capitalism, we can see how the hyper-vigilance required by Zero Trust not only protects systems but also shapes behavior—transforming individuals into self-monitoring subjects who internalize the need to constantly prove their trustworthiness.
Power and Control in Selective Disclosure: ZKPs, while offering privacy, also centralize control over information, creating new power dynamics. Judith Shklar and Jean-Jacques Rousseau have both argued that secrecy, when institutionalized, reinforces inequalities by concentrating power in the hands of those who manage verification systems. What happens to autonomy and equality when selective disclosure becomes the default mode of interaction?
The Erosion of Relational Trust: As mistrust and secrecy become normalized, relational trust weakens. Zygmunt Bauman’s analysis of liquid relationships suggests that modern society already tends toward transient and shallow connections. By further embedding mistrust into our systems, we risk reducing trust to a commodified, transactional exchange. What are the social consequences of a world where authentic trust is overshadowed by institutionalized suspicion?
The Future of Trust
The rise of Zero Trust and ZKPs reflects deeper psychological, philosophical, and social anxieties about vulnerability and control. While these frameworks offer solutions to legitimate security concerns, they also raise critical questions about the future of trust.
What does it mean for society when mistrust becomes institutionalized as the default mode of interaction?
Can trust still function as a social glue when it is increasingly mediated by systems of verification rather than relational history?
How can privacy and security be balanced without eroding the relational integrity that makes trust meaningful?
As we move forward, it is essential to rethink trust—not merely as a technical challenge of verification but as a relational and ethical bond that requires openness and vulnerability.
The future of trust depends on our ability to balance security with the human dimensions of connection, cooperation, and shared responsibility. Without this balance, we risk creating a world where mistrust is not just a security measure but the defining characteristic of human interaction.
While they address real threats, they risk undermining the relational and emotional dimensions of trust that are essential for cooperation and human connection.
Trust is more than just a transaction—it is a shared, relational bond that underpins meaningful human engagement. The challenge is not only to build secure systems but also to preserve the ethical responsibility and relational depth that make trust truly valuable.