Version 1.0: Trust and Verify A Cybersecurity and Compliance Stewardship Framework Developed by Regis Von Benjamin DeVeaux Version 1.0 | September 23, 2026 Trust and Verify is my principal educational framework for cybersecurity and compliance presentations, workshops, articles, and advisory conversations. Its purpose is to help business leaders take ownership of the information, systems, and relationships their organizations depend on. The framework begins with three questions: Where does our sensitive information live? How is it protected? Who has access to it? Those questions lead to six pillars: 1. Map What Matters Identify sensitive information, where it enters the business, where it is stored, how it moves, and who can access it. 2. Protect Access and Communication Strengthen account and email security, review access permissions, and establish independent verification for unusual requests involving money or sensitive information. 3. Verify Data Protection Confirm how sensitive information is protected when stored and shared, including encryption, secure sharing, and safeguards for devices, cloud services, and backups. 4. Clarify Responsibility Identify what employees, technology providers, and other partners are responsible for protecting. Verify which safeguards are active and where responsibility remains with the business. 5. Practice Recovery and Improvement Plan for interruptions, verify recovery capabilities, assign improvement actions, and revisit protections as the business changes. For compliance, identify applicable obligations and retain evidence that supports the organization’s claims. 6. Review Financial Risk Review cyber and crime insurance with qualified advisers to understand coverage, exclusions, limits, and security requirements. Each pillar follows the same accountability sequence: ask the question, verify the answer, record the gap, assign an owner, and set a review date. Trust and Verify treats cybersecurity as stewardship. Trust supports business relationships; verification helps protect the people and organizations participating in them. A short initial review begins an ongoing practice of informed decisions, evidence, and improvement. The guiding principle is: You have worked hard to build a business people trust. Protecting the information they entrust to you is part of protecting everything you have built. This entry documents my articulation and organization of the framework for continued development into educational and advisory materials. It does not claim exclusive ownership of established cybersecurity practices, third-party standards, or the underlying concept of verification.