Trust Glossary

Browse 15 trust terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

15 Trust Terms

Attestation
Attestation is a process that proves software, firmware, or hardware state to a verifier using signed measurements. Security teams use it to enforce trust,...
Catfishing
Pretending to be someone else online, often using a false identity to build trust, manipulate, or deceive. In internet culture the term is associated with...
Certificate Authority
A trusted entity that issues digital certificates, verifying that the holder of a certificate is who they claim to be. The trust anchors of HTTPS — when a CA...
Certificate Pinning
Certificate Pinning is a trust strategy that restricts which certificate or public key a client will accept for a service. Security teams use it to enforce...
Faith in Code
A belief, sometimes justified and sometimes naïve, that software and automation will behave reliably or cleanly enough to solve messy human problems. The...
Full Transparency
A commitment to sharing information openly and honestly rather than hiding important context. In workplace culture full transparency is often aspirational, but...
Hallucination
Hallucination in artificial intelligence refers to a model generating content that is factually incorrect, fabricated, or nonsensical while presenting it with...
Hardware Root of Trust
Hardware Root of Trust is hardware-based trust anchors that securely store secrets or measurements and bootstrap verification chains. Security teams use it to...
High Assurance
Describing systems, processes, or controls built and evaluated to a level intended to support strong confidence in their security properties under demanding...
Identity Proofing
The process of verifying that a claimed identity really belongs to the applicant before issuing credentials or granting account recovery. Identity proofing may...
Root Certificate
A self-signed top-level certificate trusted as the anchor for a certificate chain. It shows up in application security, identity, infrastructure, or incident...
Rugpull
A situation where creators, leaders, or operators suddenly withdraw support, value, or promised behavior, leaving others exposed. It is strongly associated...
Social Proof
Evidence that other people or organizations already trust and use a product, such as customer logos, testimonials, reviews, or case studies. Social proof...
TOFU
Short for Trust On First Use, a security model where a key or identity is accepted the first time it is seen and treated as trusted afterward unless it...
Trust Fall
A move that depends heavily on other people or systems doing their part correctly. In engineering slang, a trust fall is any design choice where one layer...

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