Zscaler’s Drew Schnabel: DoD Needs Edge-Level Security Approach to Zero-Trust Implementation

Drew Schnabel, vice president of federal at Zscaler, has said the Department of Defense must embrace a zero-trust infrastructure integrated with a framework based on secure edge-level access.

Schnabel wrote in an opinion piece published Tuesday on C4ISRnet that defense agencies should execute a “deeply ingrained” security approach that encompasses employee culture as well as physical perimeters. 

According to Schnabel, the Secure Access Service Edge model can help agencies move critical cybersecurity functions such as firewalls, zero-trust, network protection and data loss prevention to a cloud environment that will bring security closer to end-users.

The SASE concept can also help agencies implement a data-centric approach to protecting systems like the Joint Information Environment instead of focusing solely on network defense, he noted.

“Defense agencies are now exploring enterprise-IT-as-a-service options to move to cloud, and reduce the need for constant updates and management of hardware,” said Schnabel.

“Through [EITaaS] models, defense agencies will be able to scale easily, reduce management costs and achieve a more competitive edge over their adversaries.”