Veterans Cybersecurity Group Offers Federal Agencies Solution to Test, Evaluate Zero Trust Architecture

The Veterans Cybersecurity Group has introduced the Zero Trust Proving Ground, giving federal agencies a chance to test and assess their zero trust architecture strategy.

Leighton Johnson, VSCG chief technology officer and senior IEEE Zero Trust Working Group member, said the launch of the ZTPG offers significant help at a time when there are no zero trust standards to test and validate complex zero trust architecture solutions.

ZTPG, hosted on an established Cyber Range used by government agencies, will help organizations meet aggressive zero trust goals by providing an auditable testing standard for ZTA and allowing multiple interests to do cyberattack scenarios, VCSG said.

In 2021, the Biden administration issued Executive Order 14028, a document mandating federal agencies to improve their cybersecurity posture by the end of fiscal year 2024. The adoption of a zero trust architecture is among the recommendations for agencies to modernize their cybersecurity strategies.

Since the release of the EO, several federal agencies have announced their plans to adopt zero trust. In October, the Department of Defense announced it was expecting military services and component agencies to finalize its zero trust strategy.