D
D1 Decouple
What should be separated to reduce unnecessary linkage, concentration, exposure, or failure propagation?
E
E1 Encrypt
What should remain intelligible or usable only to authorized parties — while preserving your own access, recovery, and continuity?
F
F Filter
What is actually necessary, and what can be withheld, reduced, generalized, pseudonymized, restricted, or disclosed selectively?
E
E2 Evaluate
What evidence and context justify trusting, adopting, continuing, changing, or rejecting this arrangement?
N
N Neutralize
What harmful, compromised, exposed, obsolete, or unnecessary condition should be contained, revoked, removed, repaired, replaced, or made ineffective?
D
D2 Deny
What should not be allowed, and where should that boundary be established and enforced?
D·E·F·E·N·D is a mnemonic, not an order. Nothing requires you to work through the pillars in sequence, and not every pillar applies to every decision. Reach for whichever one fits the moment.
A note on naming. The third pillar is Filter. An earlier internal name, "Fabricate," has been retired and is historical only.