Current IT modernization initiatives are challenging federal agencies to implement significant changes to their infrastructure at a breakneck pace. As they look to keep pace with an increasingly sophisticated cyber threat environment and accommodate workflows shifting to the cloud, the federal government is looking to zero trust as a solution. Zero trust is a security model that maintains secure access to data and applications based on dynamic security policies reacting to access request specifics, as opposed to the network from where access originates.

The Zero Trust (ZT) architecture is a modern concept shaping cybersecurity in the public and private sectors. The growing use of SaaS applications, migration to cloud-based architecture, a rising number of remote employees, and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) have rendered perimeter-based security obsolete. The concept of a network perimeter where those outside of the enterprise's control are malicious and insiders are trustworthy — is no longer a viable approach to cybersecurity.