Trust and Trustworthiness: What They Are and How to Achieve Them

Trust and trustworthiness have been popular words in computing and communications for many years. Yet few studies investigate in-depth their definitions and how to engineer systems that are trustworthy. This paper first reviews different aspects of trust used in different disciplines. Then a comprehensive trust model is proposed, trying to capture essential elements associated with trust and trustworthiness, their relationships, and underlying mechanisms for achieving trust. Further, we explore what would be the main attributes and requirements of a trustworthy system and how to evaluate system trustworthiness.