What Shopkeepers and 99p Pricing Can Teach Us About Zero Trust Security

In the early days of retail, shopkeepers had a problem. If an item cost exactly £6, a dishonest cashier could simply pocket the money without recording the sale. However, if the price was £5.99, the customer would hand over £6 and expect 1p change. This forced the cashier to open the till, ring up the sale, and create a record — making it much harder to simply walk away with the cash.

In other words, shopkeepers didn’t just trust their staff to be honest. They designed their systems to assume that anyone might be tempted, and put checks in place to prevent it.

Trust Nothing, Verify Everything

Zero Trust is a modern approach to cyber security that works on a simple principle: no user, device, or application is trusted automatically, even if they're already inside the network. Instead, every access request is verified, every time, based on strict identity checks, device compliance, and context.

It's a sharp shift from older models where, once someone was 'inside' the network, they were trusted to roam freely. Today, the risks are too great to rely on simple perimeter defences. Users can be compromised, devices can be stolen, and threats can come from within as easily as from outside.

From Shop Floors to Server Rooms

Just as early shopkeepers protected their businesses by forcing a system of verification, Zero Trust protects modern organisations by insisting that security isn't a one-time check at the door. It's a continual process.

Every login, every access to a sensitive file, every device connecting to the network — all must prove their legitimacy before being allowed through.

Building Digital Confidence

At Digital Confidence, we help schools and trusts adopt security principles that are simple, effective, and practical. Zero Trust might sound complicated, but at its core it's about common sense: don't rely on assumptions, build in verification.

In a world where threats are evolving faster than ever, relying on old models of trust is like leaving your till open and hoping for the best.

Instead, by adopting Zero Trust, you can be sure that your systems are secured in a way that doesn't depend on blind faith — but on clear, consistent evidence.