Zero Trust is a cybersecurity framework that treats every access request as untrusted until proven otherwise, flipping the traditional implicit trust model on its head. At its core, it means never trusting any connection between a person or device and always verifying connections. This requires organizations to rethink access, verify users and systems every time they request access, regardless of their location. Identity is the cornerstone of Zero Trust, built on multiple pillars but playing a vital role in each of NIST's seven core tenets. Every access decision hinges on knowing who (or what) is trying to gain access and should be allowed. In a Zero Trust model, every data source, system, or service is considered a resource, and identity determines whether it should be accessed at all. Identity includes human identities like work login credentials but also non-human identities such as service accounts, cloud workloads, and API keys. Zero Trust access control goes beyond static permissions and hardcoded roles, using dynamic policy that evaluates not only the identity but also the observable state of the client, requesting asset, and environment around the request. Identity attributes provide real-time context and are key to making smart, conditional access decisions. A strong identity strategy is what turns Zero Trust from theory into action, preventing security incidents, reducing risk, and enabling secure access without slowing down the business. Continuous monitoring and assessment are critical tools that help organizations answer questions about their identities' behavior over time. Secure communication and session management are also essential components of Zero Trust, requiring all communication to be secured regardless of network location and access decisions to be made dynamically based on real-time context. Ultimately, Zero Trust starts with identity and ends with how well you manage, secure, and monitor those identities.