Existing security and governance practices have largely focused on identities, permissions, access, configurations and controls. WithSecure’s Navigating Trust in the Modern Salesforce Ecosystem paper says Salesforce environments also require organizations to understand what information they rely on, how trust extends across connected systems, what actions are performed and what outcomes those actions produce.
What trust means
The paper describes trust as the belief that people, systems, information and connected services will behave as expected and can therefore be relied upon within a business workflow. In Salesforce, these relationships can involve users, AI agents, APIs, integrations and external platforms.
Each trust relationship has a responsibility, scope and boundary that describe what is being relied upon, where that trust applies and its limits. They are also supported by assumptions about the conditions that make the reliance possible.
These relationships can extend across connected tools and processes as AI and automation take on more tasks without direct human involvement. Trust Mapping helps make these relationships visible so organizations can assess them as technologies, workflows and business objectives change.
Five areas of trust
The Trust Mapping Framework examines trust across five domains that show who or what participates in a workflow, what information is used, how trust is established or extended, how it is exercised and what outcomes the workflow produces. The five domains are entities, information, connections, actions and system outcomes.
The framework applies to Salesforce processes, Agentforce, Headless 360, third-party SaaS applications and AI-assisted workflows. It provides a structured way to identify where trust exists and how it operates across connected business processes.
Mapping trust relationships
Common governance questions, such as “Is this secure?” or “Should this integration exist?”, assume that the trust relationships within a workflow are understood. Trust Mapping Discovery identifies the relationships that enable a business workflow to function.
The findings define trust relationships, including their responsibilities, scope, boundaries and supporting assumptions. Once these relationships are mapped, organizations can assess whether they remain appropriate, justified and aligned with business intent, and whether they introduce risks that require mitigation.
The paper illustrates Discovery through three scenarios showing how access, behavior and business purposes can change after a relationship is established. One involves a salesperson using Claude through Headless 360 to analyze Salesforce data and recommend next steps. Another follows a customer support request handled by Agentforce and reviewed by a human agent. The third covers a discontinued Salesforce integration whose credentials remain active.
Assessing trust relationships
After Discovery identifies key trust relationships, Governance assesses which require attention and whether they still serve their intended purpose. The process examines the framework’s five domains while considering visibility, ownership, purpose, monitoring and review.
Organizations assess if the right people and systems have appropriate authority, whether information remains reliable, and whether connections and actions stay within their intended limits. They also examine the outcomes a workflow produces and how those outcomes may affect other processes.
Based on the assessment, a relationship can be maintained, modified, restricted or removed. Organizations can also introduce controls or increase monitoring.
Governance draws on evidence such as permission or OAuth scope changes, security incidents, audit findings, threat intelligence, AI behavior and model evaluations, business process changes, and monitoring or operational data. The level of review depends on the workflow and its risk, with greater scrutiny appropriate for complex, business-critical, regulated, highly connected or autonomous processes.
Trust drift occurs when a trust relationship moves away from its original purpose, scope, limits or supporting assumptions. This can include unused credentials that remain active, excessive access, outdated information and AI-generated recommendations that are accepted without validation.
Putting Trust Mapping into practice
Trust Mapping is an ongoing process because relationships can change when organizations introduce integrations and AI agents, replace vendors, move employees between roles, retire projects or stop relying on information. Discovery and Governance may need to be repeated as relationships and workflows change.
The approach complements existing practices such as security posture management, threat modeling and identity governance. It adds a workflow-level view of what a business process depends on, why each dependency exists, the boundaries around it and the assumptions supporting it.
