We build the layer everything else trusts.
Z‑index Zero is a security company with a single, stubborn idea: trust should live at the bottom of the stack, where it can hold everything else up. We make that foundation available to everyone — from one person protecting their files to a nation protecting its missions.
The name is a promise.
In design, z-index: 0 is the base layer — the plane every other element is stacked and measured against. Move it, and everything above it moves too.
Most security is built the opposite way: bolted onto the top of a system after it's already running, hoping nothing underneath gives way. We thought that was backwards. So we started at the bottom and built upward — a root of trust that every layer above simply inherits.
That's the whole company in two words. We are layer zero.
// our missionTo make the base layer of trust something anyone can stand on — so security stops being a privilege of the well-resourced and becomes the ground we all build on.
Principles we build on
Security belongs at the bottom
Protection should be inherited, not bolted on. We build at the base layer so everything above it is safe by default.
Trust is earned, then proven
We don't ask you to take our word for it. Our guarantees are designed to be verifiable, audited, and attestable.
Built for everyone
The same root of trust scales from one person's files to a nation's systems. Strong security shouldn't be a luxury.
Privacy is non-negotiable
We engineer our products so that we cannot read your data. Not won't — can't. That constraint shapes everything.
Clarity over jargon
Security people can actually understand. If a feature needs a glossary to use, we haven't finished designing it.
Defense-grade by default
The hardest requirements lift the floor for everyone. What we learn protecting missions makes personal vaults stronger.
From a question to layer zero
A question, not a product
We started with one question: why does trust always live at the top of the stack, where it's easiest to break?
Layer zero ships
We built a hardware-anchored root of trust and brought on our first enterprise design partners.
Personal launches
We made the same foundation available to individuals and families — privacy that doesn't require expertise.
Audited and accountable
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, plus Enterprise general availability. Trust you can inspect, not just hear about.
Defense tier
Hardware attestation and fully air-gapped deployments for government and critical missions.
4.2B documents sealed
And counting — across personal vaults, enterprise fleets, and sovereign systems worldwide.
Who's building it
A team of cryptographers, systems engineers, and security operators who got tired of trust being an afterthought.
Ada Reyes
Co-founder & CEO
Kenji Okafor
Co-founder & CTO
Mara Volkov
Head of Security
Jonah Lindqvist
Head of Trust & Compliance
Come build at the bottom of the stack.
We're hiring across engineering, security, and operations — and we always like meeting people who are curious about what we're doing.