If you’re a CEO, CIO, or security leader, you’ve heard the hype around Zero Trust.
It’s often sold as a must-have technology upgrade, but that often skips the real problem, most breaches start with people, not tools.
Zero Trust isn’t something you just install. You have to build it, and it begins with how your team thinks and acts long before any tech shows up.

 

What Zero Trust Really Means

Zero Trust, as outlined by NIST, is built on one idea: never trust, always verify.
No user, device, or application gets automatic access. Every request must be verified.
Even though it seems technical, the foundation isn’t code or firewalls. It’s the decisions people make.
Both NIST and Gartner point to the same idea: trust must be earned and re-checked.
That starts with people and the choices they make every day.

 

Why People Are the Foundation

Zero Trust is a strategy, and strategies depend on judgment.
Humans decide who gets access to what, which risks need to be stopped, and what “least privilege” really means.
Without those choices, technology has no direction. It’s like installing locks before knowing who will have the keys.
Culture is just as critical.
If employees reuse passwords, skip updates, or ignore security policies, the entire framework collapses.
The best systems in the world can’t stop someone who bypasses them.
People need to understand why Zero Trust exists, and understand that it’s there to protect them, not punish them.

 

How Blind Trust Breeds Breaches

These recent breaches show what happens when culture and clarity fall short. They’re proof that without a strong Zero Trust mindset, with shared responsibility and clear boundaries, even the best security tools can’t hold the line.
At Qantas Airways, a third-party contact center was compromised, exposing data from nearly six million customers. The issue wasn’t software; it was weak vendor controls and poor segmentation. A Zero Trust mindset could have stopped it.
In Sweden, Miljödata was hit by ransomware that leaked data for over a million citizens. The company disclosed the incident in August 2025, and the root cause was once again, a supply chain failure, a cultural lapse in understanding and enforcing vendor trust, not just a technical flaw. If Zero Trust policies had been in place, with continuous verification and limited vendor access, the damage would have been far smaller.
Even Coinbase wasn’t immune. In May 2025, hackers bribed customer service agents to access user data, including IDs and transaction histories. This breach shows that insider threats stem from cultural and training lapses; technology alone cannot overcome weak trust practices.
Each breach had the same flaw: misplaced trust.
Someone, somewhere, assumed safety instead of verifying it. That’s exactly what Zero Trust aims to eliminate

 

The Real Partnership: People and Technology

Zero Trust works when people and technology support each other.
People design the strategy. They set the boundaries, create the policies, and shape the culture.
Technology enforces those decisions.
Take either one away, and the system collapses. You can’t automate what hasn’t been defined. And you can’t expect people to follow rules that technology doesn’t enforce.
To know whether that balance between people and technology is actually working, you need a simple way to see what’s changing.
That’s where awareness, measurement and tracking come into play.
Awareness shows what people understand, measurement shows what they actually do, and tracking improvements helps to fine tune future policies.
Before you jump into tools or policies, start by understanding where your people stand.
Building awareness, tracking behavior and tracking improvements lay the foundation for the next step.

 

Where Leaders Should Begin

If you’re leading an organization, start small and think clearly.
First, define your access policies. Decide who needs access to what, and for what reason. Be specific. Overly broad access creates risk.
Next, educate your people.
Security shouldn’t be a box to check once a year. It should be part of how teams think and work every day. Make it real for them, explain why it matters, not just what to do.
Only then should you add technology.
The right tools should fit your policies, not the other way around. Don’t buy features you don’t need. Focus on what reinforces your culture and your strategy.

 

The Bottom Line

Zero Trust isn’t about software. It’s about mindset.
Technology is the muscle, but people are the brain. Get the culture right first with clear rules, shared responsibility, and consistent education, and your team will turn every tool into a strength.
Great leaders start there, and that’s where real security begins.

This article was written by Cywareness, a company specializing in cybersecurity awareness.
As part of its mission, Cywareness continues to monitor emerging trends, analyze real-world attacks, and share practical insights to help organizations stay ahead in today’s evolving threat landscape.