Agencies must prioritize collaboration with personnel and workforce buy-in to successfully implement zero trust principles across operations. Zero trust treats all users and devices as potential threats and requires verification when accessing internal systems instead of relying solely on firewalls. The Biden administration directed agencies to develop zero trust implementation plans, and other administration officials are reportedly developing a zero trust 2.0 strategy. Legacy systems, technical challenges, and data management issues have slowed adoption. Cultural change is a major obstacle. Interior Department efforts included a zero trust community of practice with monthly meetings and a training program that certified more than 200 personnel.
Agencies need to prioritize close collaboration with their personnel if they want to successfully adopt zero trust principles, two officials said during a panel at ATARC's Public Sector Application Modernization Summit on Thursday. Rather than simply relying on firewalls to safeguard outside access to systems, the zero trust model considers all users and devices a potential cybersecurity threat that should be verified when moving across internal systems.
To help streamline the process and make Interior personnel more comfortable with the new approach, Eichenbaum said his agency, in part, created "a zero trust community of practice" with monthly meetings that eventually grew to include roughly 1,000 people. The department also brought in outside speakers and implemented a training program, which educated more than 200 people across Interior who received zero trust certifications.
Collection
[
|
...
]