The Zero Trust Maturity Model for Pipelines

A breach starts quietly. Code moves through pipelines, tests run, images build, and somewhere in between, a credential leaks or a dependency turns malicious. Without Zero Trust, the pipeline becomes the weakest link.

The Zero Trust Maturity Model for pipelines is a framework to harden every stage of the software delivery chain. It replaces implicit trust with continuous verification. Every request, every identity, every artifact must prove itself valid before moving forward. Nothing passes unchecked.

Stage 1: Initial
Access is broad. Secrets are shared. Systems assume internal actors are safe. This is where most pipelines live—and where attackers thrive.

Stage 2: Managed
Policies start to take shape. Identities are verified on entry. Secrets shift to secure stores. Logs capture what happens, but enforcement is partial.

Stage 3: Defined
Trust boundaries are explicit. Access is role-based and context-aware. Code signing is mandatory. Vulnerability scanning is embedded in the pipeline. Every event is traced.

Stage 4: Advanced
Verification is automated at every hop. No credential exists without rotation. Supply chain data is analyzed in real-time. Threat modeling informs every deployment.

Stage 5: Optimized
The pipeline is self-defending. Machine learning flags anomalies. Attestation enforces provenance from commit to release. Policies adapt instantly to new threats.

A Zero Trust pipeline is built for resilience. It stops blind trust before it starts. It makes every action prove it belongs.

To see a Zero Trust Maturity Model applied from commit to deployment, try it with hoop.dev and watch it go live in minutes.