Topic starter
25/06/2026 2:56 pm
TL;DR: As corporate boundaries dissolve, identity, certificate, device, and machine-to-machine controls become the primary trust layer, according to DigiCert’s analysis. The governance problem is no longer whether the perimeter exists, but whether identity, integrity, and lifecycle controls can scale across users, devices, services, and software without creating operational blind spots.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by DigiCert: “Digital Trust for the Perimeter-Less Enterprise”.
Key questions
Q: How should teams govern access when there is no reliable perimeter?
A: Teams should govern access through authenticated identity, device trust and context rather than network location.
Q: What breaks when certificate lifecycle management is still manual?
A: Manual certificate management breaks at the point where expiry, ownership, and renewal do not line up.
Q: Why do connected devices create a different identity governance problem than users?
A: Connected devices operate continuously, often at scale, and may be produced, deployed, and operated by different teams.
Practitioner guidance
- Map trust decisions to identity, not network location Inventory where access is still implicitly granted because something sits on an internal network.
- Automate certificate lifecycle workflows Track issuance, renewal, revocation and replacement as governed processes with clear ownership.
- Treat device identity as a lifecycle control Define onboarding, mutual authentication, updateability and decommissioning for connected devices, including brownfield and greenfield environments.
Bottom line: The article’s central point is that trust can no longer depend on a network boundary, so identity and lifecycle control become the primary security mechanism.
Explore further
View Full Forum → | NHI Foundation Course → | Our Services → | Read the full analysis →
25/06/2026 4:11 pm
Perimeter collapse turns identity governance into the control plane. The article describes a world where network borders no longer define trust, so identity becomes the first decision point for users, devices, services and software. That changes IAM from an access administration function into the core governance layer for digital trust. Organisations that still treat perimeter controls as primary will miss where trust is now actually enforced.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between digital trust and traditional perimeter security?
A: Perimeter security assumes control at a network boundary. Digital trust assumes the boundary is already blurred, so it focuses on verifying identities, protecting integrity, and governing certificates across every interaction path. That makes it broader than access control alone because it covers humans, machines, applications, and connected supply chains.
👉 Read our full editorial: Digital trust for the perimeter-less enterprise and identity