Failure Pattern
Encryption at rest protects physical media but not runtime access. Attackers compromise the system and read decrypted data during normal operation.
What We See in the Field
A compromised application server accesses encrypted storage through legitimate operations. Encryption at rest provides no protection once the system boots.
Underlying Causes
Application-level decryption
Overprivileged workloads
Blind trust in upstream systems
Lack of identity checks on data access
Encryption misinterpreted as access control
Trust-Native Network Resolution
DTL ensures only trusted workloads can access encrypted data paths. Storage systems validate workload identity before allowing read or write operations.
Broken Trust Assumption
This failure pattern has played out repeatedly in real security incidents—not because of missing tools, but because of how trust is assigned.
In breaches such as SolarWinds, Capital One, Okta, and MOVEit, attackers did not bypass security controls. They operated through them, using valid identities, trusted credentials, signed code, and encrypted sessions. Security systems accepted these signals as proof of legitimacy, allowing malicious behavior to proceed.
The common thread across these incidents is structural: identity was assumed based on trust signals, not proven at the moment of execution.