Zero Trust Cybersecurity

In May 2018, the Federal CIO Council Services, Strategy, and Infrastructure Committee asked ACT-IAC to evaluate the technical maturity, availability for procurement, and important issues related to potential federal agency adoption of zero trust cybersecurity. Zero trust approaches could radically transform and improve cybersecurity and data protection and sharing. And, the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract could provide the means for agencies to acquire those capabilities. The project began with market research, presentations and demonstrations, and evaluation of the underlying trust algorithms. The report was completed on April 18, 2019. Click here to read the report.

Current and Upcoming Projects and events

  • The next phase of the Zero Trust Cyber project will be led by the Cyber COI and will develop a playbook based on modernization efforts occurring within agencies and the security layer that includes a Zero Trust approach.  This would allow agencies to get more comfortable with the concepts of Zero Trust and see that it is being actively deployed in organizations successfully.

Resources

Projects

ACT-IAC Papers

Additional Resources

ACT-IAC Announces Federal IT Planning Guides

February 9, 2023 – Fairfax, VA. – Today, the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC), the premier public-private partnership in the government IT community, announced the release of its “Outlines for Key IT Planning Documents.” This guide provides best practice ideas for developing and structuring federal agency IT planning documents. The guide provides outlines for:
1. IT Modernization Plans
2. Cloud Computing Adoption Plans
3. Zero-Trust Architecture Plans

Zero trust moves from vision to reality

It wasn’t that long ago that zero trust was an aspirational goal for federal agencies. While the benefits seemed obvious, actual implementation was difficult to imagine. Now, zero trust efforts are starting to  power up. The Defense Information Systems Agency has issued the first version of its zero-trust reference architecture, and Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha has said the White House will push all federal agencies toward a "zero trust paradigm."

Why zero trust is having a moment Improved technologies and growing

Just a few years ago, zero trust security for federal systems was wishful thinking. The benefits were obvious, but actual implementation seemed inconceivable. Today, forward-leaning agencies are actively incorporating zero trust into their security models, and Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha has said the White House will push all federal agencies toward a "zero trust paradigm."

ACT-IAC Strategy - 2021-2023

The Executive Committees of ACT and IAC, joined by members of the ACT-IAC professional staff, gathered together to: (1) identify key topics and issues that government will need to address in the years ahead, and (2) then develop a set of top goals for ACT-IAC to pursue for the next three years—2021-2023. This work began with a conversation about our purpose and value proposition, recognized the strengths that have sustained us for over 40 years and the new world that we will face in the years ahead.