Federal Agency Accelerates Zero Trust Adoption

Compliance Requirements: The agency needed to comply with Executive Order 14028 and OMB Memorandum M-22-09, which mandated the adoption of Zero Trust Principles to improve cybersecurity across Federal agencies.
Complex Network Environment: The agency's existing network infrastructure did not align with key aspects of Zero Trust such as visibility, segmentation and least privilege:
Incomplete Visibility into network traffic, making it challenging to define a baseline for "normal" network behavior and to identify deviations
Undefined Access Policies as the organization operated off an open access policy which leveraged multiple solutions
Lack of Segmentation via group-based and identity-based policies, and network macro and micro segmentation
Limited Automation techniques and technologies to enhance security resiliency against sophisticated cyberattacks

Comprehensive Zero Trust Assessment conducted by ModernCyber to determine the agency's current architecture, maturity, and strategy mapped to the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model. Zero Trust Assessment included a survey and detailed analysis of the network, devices, and security policies
Incremental Zero Trust Implementation Plan: The assessment identified gaps and provided a structured 3-year Zero Trust Rollout Plan:
- Year 1: Establish Visibility and Define Use Cases
  - Implement solutions such as Cisco Secure Network Analytics (CSNA) and Cisco ISE to provide visibility into the network and user access.
  - Establish dynamic group policy with Cisco ISE and Software-Defined Access.
- Year 2: Implement Network Access Policy Controls and Macrosegmentation
  - Enforce stringent network access controls and gather identity and device health information.
  - Share identity information with visibility tools to enhance user attribution and policy enforcement.
- Year 3: Implement Microsegmentation and Automation
  - Deploy solutions for host-based and network-based segmentation (e.g., Cisco TrustSec, VMWare NSX, Cisco ACI).
  - Utilize SIEM solutions like Splunk for automated incident response and policy enforcement.
  - Integrate automation and orchestration tools to manage dynamic policy enforcement and reduce operational costs.

Upon completion of Zero Trust Assessment, the customer moved forward with a large adoption of Cisco Secure Network Analytics and Cisco ISE to align with the proposed Year 1 Strategy of the proposed Zero Trust Implementation plan
Enhanced Security Posture by adopting zero trust principles, reducing the attack surface, and ensuring least privilege access
Improved Compliance: The agency successfully met the requirements of EO 14028 and OMB Memorandum M-22-09, aligning with Federal cybersecurity mandates
Operational Efficiency achieved through the customer’s implementation of dynamic policies and automation, while visibility and identity tools provided actionable insights and streamlined policy enforcement
Future-Ready Infrastructure as the agency was able to establish a scalable and adaptable security framework capable of responding to evolving threats and ensuring resilience and protection of critical assets

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