Question
What is the difference between Safety and Security in software systems?
Answer
Safety protects people from the system; security protects the system from people.
* The CIA triad — confidentiality, integrity and availability, the goals security protects. — Michel Bakni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. *
Safety and Security protect different things in opposite directions:
| Aspect | Safety | Security |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Avoiding hazardous situations | Defense against intrusion and unauthorized use |
| Protects | Humans and environment FROM systems | Systems FROM humans |
| Threat | Malfunctioning systems | Malicious or criminal intent |
Tip: Safety = Systems don't hurt people. Security = People don't hurt systems.
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Question
What is the Zero Trust security model and what is its guiding principle?
Answer
"Never trust, always verify" — no request is trusted just because it comes from inside the network.
* The three Zero Trust principles — verify explicitly, least privilege, assume breach. *
Zero Trust is a security model based on the principle: "Never trust, always verify"
Key concepts:
- No implicit trust based on network location
- Every access request must be authenticated and authorized
- Applies to: Workforce/Devices, Network, Apps, Data, Workloads
- Works across any location (cloud, on-premise, hybrid)
This contrasts with traditional perimeter security where internal network traffic was trusted.
Go deeper:
NIST SP 800-207 — Zero Trust Architecture — moves defenses off the network perimeter onto users/assets/resources.- Zero trust architecture (Wikipedia) — accessible overview referencing NIST 800-207.
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