Failure Pattern: Storage Encryption
Encryption at rest protects physical media, not active workloads. Attackers compromise applications and read data after it is decrypted.
What We See in the Field
A compromised application server accesses encrypted disk data through normal operations. Tools see legitimate access because the workload has permission.
Underlying Causes
Decryption at the application level
Overprivileged workloads
Identity-blind access control
Shared service accounts
No trust verification for data access
Trust-Native Network Resolution
DTL ensures storage systems grant access only to workloads with verified TrustKeys. Even privileged applications cannot read data if their identity is not trusted.
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.