Project Zero Trust

Chapter 1The Case for Zero Trust

It was still dark in the room, but Dylan couldn't sleep any longer. He looked at the clock. It was only 4:45—not enough time to go back to sleep but too early to actually get up. Dylan was starting a new job today. Maybe his dream job if things worked out. So what if he was a little anxious? He was also genuinely excited, and he hadn't felt that way about a job in a long time. Or maybe ever. He closed his eyes again hoping for another few minutes of sleep.

Dylan opened his eyes and turned back to the clock. It now read 4:46. He decided to get up instead of waiting for the alarm. His house slippers sat next to his running shoes in front of the nightstand. He slipped on his running shoes. He turned on the lamp and walked to the treadmill sitting on the opposite side of the room. He grabbed his right ankle with his right hand, stretching his quadricep, stretched the other leg, then hopped onto the treadmill.

He heard the warm tone of recognition as the treadmill scanned his face and loaded his profile. His three favorite workouts popped up on the curved LED screen. He tapped the fourth icon at the bottom, and he could see nine livestreams of runners from across the world. He picked the one on a beach in Costa Rica and began running. He could hear a whoop from several other runners following the livestream that he had gone on runs with before as they saw him join.

But then a funny thing happened: the livestream froze. Then instead of reconnecting ...