In the world of credit assessment, trust is the invisible currency that underpins every rating decision. Yet as the Trust Report by DXC Technology reveals, the digital foundation on which trust rests is shifting profoundly. “The very fabric of organizational security is being tested strenuously,” the study warns, as artificial intelligence and increasingly complex networks redefine what constitutes credibility and resilience in both finance and technology.
Just as rating agencies evaluate a company’s capacity to meet its financial obligations, cybersecurity now demands a form of “digital credit rating”—a holistic appraisal of an organization’s ability to protect data, verify identities, and withstand shocks. The Trust Report draws a clear parallel: in both credit and cyber risk, confidence must be earned continuously, not assumed. As one respondent stated, “A large security incident can be so disruptive… some organizations can’t survive it, and it will shut them down. That’s why Zero Trust has to be the standard going forward.”
This mindset mirrors the evolution of modern credit analysis. Traditional perimeter defenses in finance—such as static regulatory compliance—are giving way to continuous monitoring and adaptive risk assessment, much like the Zero Trust model’s “never trust, always verify” principle. DXC’s Michael Baker puts it succinctly: “Zero Trust is a strategy that enables organizations to evaluate their entire security program holistically and prioritize actions that deliver the most value across identity, device, network, applications and data.”
From a rating perspective, this convergence is crucial. Cyber resilience has become an essential component of an institution’s creditworthiness. Rating agencies increasingly factor operational risks from ransomware, data breaches, or weak identity management into their methodologies. According to the report, 85 % of all breaches occur in the identity and verification space—an area that directly impacts an organization’s reliability, reputation, and, ultimately, its credit profile.
The integration of AI into cybersecurity also introduces a new dimension of credit risk. While “AI adoption has accelerated the Zero Trust strategy,” the report notes that its real-world implementation remains uneven, with organizations “still evaluating which AI initiatives we can implement and how.” This uncertainty echoes challenges in credit modeling, where automation and machine learning improve efficiency but can obscure accountability and interpretability.
Finally, the Trust Report underscores that Zero Trust is not a destination but “a continuous evolution.” In credit terms, this reflects the concept of dynamic rating surveillance—constant reassessment as conditions change. As Dawn-Marie Vaughan of DXC Technology observes, “You’re never done with anything in security because it’s constantly evolving… you must improve and evolve over time.”
In sum, the study’s findings offer a profound lesson for the rating industry: trust, whether financial or digital, must be verified relentlessly. Just as credit analysts demand transparency in balance sheets, future cyber ratings will depend on transparent security frameworks and demonstrable resilience. Zero Trust, in this sense, becomes not just an IT paradigm but the new foundation of institutional creditworthiness.
^^^ RATING EVIDENCE GmbH 
Leave a comment