In a globally connected flat-earth the internet dominates the human enterprise – recording and disseminating information, financial transactions and providing news and entertainment. TRUTHs are established democratically – where the mass decides the direction, similar to the stock market – the herd effect. In Google search the authenticity of any claim made is not based on the inherent truth in it, neither on who agree(s), but on how many agree to it as the truth. Sometimes, the TRUTH is simply, and probably inadvertently, buried in a maze of popularly agreed ‘expert opinions’. One such example is the secure communication model used for web-based transactions using credentials supplied by Certificate Authorities as implemented by the SSL. In this paper, a simple yet powerful observation is made of how the Certification Authority (CA) based trust model proves to be fundamentally flawed for the Internet. Though the underlying Public Key Cryptography is still valid and sound for channel security, the CA based trust model is totally inadequate for secure communication. We present a new Relative Trust model and an implementation based on it (the REL-ID protocol) as an alternative to SSL for establishing end to end protection of web based transactions, not just channel security but also identity vetting of the end point entities. We then proceed on to question the adequacy of the information assurance process as being practiced today, and propose a more comprehensive and all inclusive Authority Assurance process which includes as its critical sub components identity assurance, authorization assurance and information assurance, the triad of assurances.