The Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order calls on agencies to implement zero trust to mitigate cyberthreat risks and Steve Faehl, chief technology officer of security for Microsoft’s federal business, said the company could help agencies in their zero trust journey through a three-phase plan that starts with identification and monitoring, Federal News Network reported Thursday.
“One of the first steps that any agency can take is to build on their existing capabilities around identity consolidation, using identity as that first pillar in zero trust, especially with the step to move to secure cloud as an accelerator for modernization,” Faehl said.
He noted that agencies could build on their identity strategies to implement the Azure platform throughout information technology environments that support legacy and cloud applications.
Once the strategy is in place, Microsoft could provide customer agencies with specific controls and tools and different configurations for various zero-trust scenarios.
“One of the best things for zero trust is to take a look at it from a scenario based lens, instead of focusing on everything that relates to zero trust, because it’s a pretty big topic,” Faehl added.
ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovCon Wire and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.