Page 26 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2022

Federal Progress On Zero Trust: A Report

Federal Agencies are Making Progress on Zero Trust but Challenges Remain

By Dr. Matthew McFadden, Vice President, Cyber, General Dynamics Information Technology
(GDIT)

A little over a year ago, the Biden administration issued the Executive Order (EO) on Improving the
Nation’s Cybersecurity, which set a common objective for all agencies: adopt security best practices to
advance toward Zero Trust Architecture. Zero trust is a cybersecurity framework developed around the
concept of “never trust, always verify.” It requires all users, whether they are inside or outside an
organization’s network, to be continuously validated to access applications and data.

Extensive guidance about zero trust implementation followed the EO, including an OMB zero trust
strategy memo, technical reference architectures, and the Cybersecurity Maturity Model from the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

To assess progress and identify continuing pain points on the journey toward zero trust, GDIT’s Cyber
Practice conducted industry research by surveying 300 federal leaders (60% civilian and 40% defense)
who are influential in the IT decision-making process. The report found solid momentum around zero
trust planning, some misconceptions about zero trust, and some anticipated implementation challenges.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2022 Edition 26
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