  Trust is an absolute necessity for digital communications; but is often
viewed as an implicit singular entity. The use of the internet as the primary
vehicle for information exchange has made accountability and verifiability of
system code almost obsolete. This paper proposes a novel approach towards
enforcing system security by requiring the explicit definition of trust for all
operating code. By identifying the various classes and levels of trust required
within a computing system; trust is defined as a combination of individual
characteristics. Trust is then represented as a calculable metric obtained
through the collective enforcement of each of these characteristics to varying
degrees. System Security is achieved by facilitating trust to be a constantly
evolving aspect for each operating code segment capable of getting stronger or
weaker over time.
