Failure Pattern
Network Access Controls (NAC) validate devices at connection time but not continuously. Attackers compromise devices after initial validation.
What We See in the Field
A device passes NAC checks and later becomes compromised. NAC does nothing to prevent malicious internal communication because trust was granted once.
Underlying Causes
One-time validation
IP-based trust
No continuous identity enforcement
Overprivileged internal networks
Blind trust in authenticated devices
Trust-Native Network Resolution
DTL enforces identity at every session creation. Devices cannot act trusted unless they maintain valid TrustKeys, eliminating post-NAC compromise.
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.