Failure Pattern
Hybrid environments mix on-premise identity assumptions with cloud-native identity behavior. Attackers exploit inconsistencies.
What We See in the Field
A compromised cloud workload accesses on-prem systems using federated credentials. On-prem systems trust the requests because identity is validated at the cloud layer but not verified locally.
Underlying Causes
Identity drift across environments
Metadata mismatch
Legacy trust assumptions
Overprivileged federation roles
Inconsistent enforcement
Trust-Native Network Resolution
DTL creates a unified trust layer across hybrid environments. Workloads must present verifiable TrustKeys regardless of origin.
Broken Trust Assumption
The attacks that exposed this failure pattern were not stealthy break-ins. They were trusted operations.
During incidents such as SolarWinds, Capital One, and Okta, malicious activity was carried out using valid identities and approved execution paths. Certificates were valid. Tokens were accepted. Sessions were authenticated. From the system’s point of view, nothing appeared wrong.
This is the risk of trust inferred from credentials, location, or prior authentication.