Negative Trust Architectures (Ne-Trust)

The Agency for Innovation in Cybersecurity GmbH (Cyberagentur) announces a partnering event for the research program "Negative Trust Architectures" (Ne-Trust) on 09/22/2026. IT systems are facing increasing threats from internal actors who often move undetected within systems, explore IT structures, and cause damage. The increasing awareness of this attack vector is further fueled by the use of artificial intelligence (AI). These current and future challenges do not stop at the gates of administration, defense, and security authorities. To be prepared for threat scenarios like these, IT security paradigms are of particular importance: they shape how IT systems are fundamentally designed, operated, and protected. "Zero Trust" is considered the most established example. However, as a measure against insider attacks, this approach reaches its limits. Central foundational works, including NIST guideline SP 800-207, point to remaining gaps and open research needs. Against this background, there is a need to explore a further developed and novel paradigm for more effective defense against internal actors. The goal of Ne-Trust is therefore to enable demonstrably improved detection and more proactive defense against increasing and changing insider threats to IT systems, thus developing beyond Zero Trust. The program builds on the novel concept of "Negative Trust," which is related to Zero Trust but can be interpreted as an independent name for its own paradigm. There are initial attempts at conceptual definitions of Negative Trust, for example, in the direction of Deception Technology. However, a scientific and interdisciplinary examination of the concept towards an independent, further developed IT security paradigm has not yet taken place. Ne-Trust addresses precisely this gap and opens up the possibility for a first-time scientific examination and development of Negative Trust Architectures. The Cyberagentur thus opens up space for novel and disruptive research perspectives and provides early impetus for cybersecurity paradigms and IT security architectures of and for the future. This future perspective, as well as the leapfrog improvement in the defense capability of IT systems and the complex consideration of conceptual, technological, social, and legal issues, underscore both the ambitious and the risk-bearing nature of the research program. The Cyberagentur invites you to a virtual Partnering Event for the Ne-Trust research program on 09/22/2026 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. It is aimed at companies, start-ups, universities, and research institutions that deal with IT security architectures, cyber defense, or related technical, social, and legal issues. The technical breadth of the program requires diverse perspectives. The Partnering Event is therefore intended to bring potential research partners into contact with each other and to support the formation of interdisciplinary consortia. After a presentation of the Cyberagentur and the research program, participants will have the opportunity to present their areas of expertise in two-minute short presentations. In this way, competencies can be made visible, interfaces identified, and possible partnerships for later research projects initiated. Registration for the Partnering Event is possible until September 16, 2026, at the following link: https://www.cyberagentur.de/programme/ne-trust/ Participants who wish to present during the event should send their presentation slides to ne-trust@cyberagentur.de by September 18, 2026, at the latest.