Getting to zero trust: The Pentagon’s effort to put data security first in 2023
Defense Department Chief Information Officer John Sherman set the tone early in the year by telling Breaking Defense a major focus over 2023 would be aiming for baseline, targeted zero trust within four years.
WASHINGTON — With the leak of hundreds of classified documents and a new zero trust strategy, the Pentagon became laser focused on getting the implementation of the security concept right this year.
Zero trust means rather than letting users who pass security checks have free reign over a network, there would be continual checks to make sure each user is allowed to access different information. Essentially, under zero trust, networks are always assumed to be compromised.
And industry seemed to align to DoD’s ambitions. Amy Gilliland, president of General Dynamics Information Technology, told Breaking Defense in June that the company was pouring more money towards areas DoD deemed critical, including zero trust.
Gilliland said GDIT was increasing its investment this year by 50 percent in areas that mirror DoD’s increased investments: zero trust, 5G, multi-cloud management, software factories, automation for IT operations and artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company, she said, was also working to increase investments in quantum computing and defensive cyber operations.
One major zero trust program hailed out of the Defense Information Systems Agency finally reached a milestone this year. Booz Allen Hamilton in July was awarded a production agreement worth up to $1.86 billion for Thunderdome, DISA’s zero trust network architecture program. The contract was a follow-on production award for the company as DISA transitioned Thunderdome from prototyping to production.
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/12/getting-to-zero-trust-the-pentagons-effort-to-put-data-security-first-in-2023/