The COVID-19 pandemic forced enterprises to quickly adapt digital transformation initiatives to provide employees with additional remote working capabilities. However, in this process, security initiatives may have lagged for organizations in different sectors and industries – specifically agencies and departments in the federal space. That lag between industries and the private and federal sectors is likely to disappear soon. In mid-May, President Biden signed an executive order pointing out that “[outdated] security models and unencrypted data have led to compromises of systems in the public and private sectors. The Federal government must lead the way and increase its adoption of security best practices, including by employing a zero-trust security model.”
While this executive order is only a few months old, talk of zero trust has been around for years. In August of 2020, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) released its “Zero Trust Architecture” publication, NIST 800-207, which explains how agencies can use zero trust architecture to comply with federal requirements.