This is why, just as power grids and water plants are protected as critical infrastructure, so too do we need to shield democratic infrastructure—the institutions that sustain public trust and enable national resilience. Democratic infrastructure encompasses a free press; a just legal system; accessible and (relatively) unbiased education, including public libraries; and other such mechanisms through which public trust is built—and can be threatened. Using a strategic term such as ‘democratic infrastructure’ could help policymakers and the public understand that these are in fact interconnected assaults on trust. Any credible technology security framework needs to therefore expand beyond a purely technically focused protection model and recognise the democratic infrastructure under threat. If democracies do not defend their own infrastructure of trust, adversaries will exploit the vacuum.