Zero-trust testing lab opens at U.S. Cyber Command's innovation center
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Cisco headquarters in San Jose, California, in August 2017. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Government agencies and critical infrastructure operators will now have the opportunity to test out zero-trust security tools at a lab opening Tuesday at a U.S. Cyber Command-run innovation center in Maryland.
Driving the news: Cisco, CyKor and nonprofit MISI are unveiling a testing lab at Cyber Command's DreamPort innovation center right outside of Baltimore.
How it works: Zero-trust tools can take several forms, but each one is geared toward limiting how much access users have on a network, rather than giving each employee universal access to a company's files.
- This way, a hacker would need to gain access to top-level network administrators' accounts to be able to get valuable information like source code or customer documents.
- However, transitioning to a zero-trust security architecture is difficult and often requires a complete overhaul of legacy networks.
The big picture: The lab will allow agencies and operators to get in-person advice on how to transition to zero-trust security tools ahead of a 2024 fiscal year deadline in President Joe Biden's cyber executive order for agencies to transition to a zero-trust security architecture.
Details: Cisco, CyKor and MISI will co-run the lab at DreamPort, where they anticipate meeting with government agencies and critical infrastructure operators, like utility companies, to walk through their transition, as well as testing and creating new zero-trust security solutions.
- Part of the appeal of building this at DreamPort is the access to government offices, Cisco vice president of federal Carl De Groote tells Axios.
- The lab will also be home to product demos and tech testing, and De Groote says he anticipates bringing students in to study zero-trust security.
What they're saying: "It incubates that public-private partnership in a safe harbor," De Groote says. "It's open, it's extensible, it's built on standards. So that's really where government can more easily take advantage of it."
- "Seeing the technology as it applies to the cities and the waterways and the light systems promotes a good understanding and good foundation for people to get excited about it," CyKor CEO Mike Guadagnini tells Axios.
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