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We are pleased to share that Netskope has been selected by the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC) as one of 49 vendors to participate in its Zero Trust Lab. The Zero Trust Lab is a state-of-the-art physical and virtual test environment that will provide federal agencies with the opportunity to build, test, and evaluate new Zero Trust Architectures in a simulated environment. This will help Government IT leaders evaluate the true cost of ownership by providing transparency into product deployment processes and multi-cloud capabilities.
Collaboration between government and industry has never been more critical. The U.S. felt the impact of the cyberattack on the Colonial pipeline, with the lasting effects of digital destabilization rapidly rippling across the country. These types of attacks aren’t new—but the exponential increase in data combined with the ubiquity of that data, the massive increase in software as a service (SaaS) applications, and the shift to remote work have collectively expanded our attack surface, while also shifting the network load to the perimeterless internet.
The current administration has realized the need for bold changes, significant investments, and swift action, and on May 12, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14028 to improve the nation’s cybersecurity and protect federal government networks. While the robust order includes various provisions spanning nine core sections, the term “Zero Trust” appears throughout the order a total of 11 times. Specifically, it requires agencies to “… develop a plan to implement Zero Trust Architecture …”. The aggressive deadlines set forth by the order show the clear intent of the White House to improve both the security posture and practices of the federal government; however, the successful adoption and implementation of a Zero Trust approach will require both short- and long-term planning by each individual agency, as well as timely and meaningful collaboration between government and industry.
ATARC’s Zero Trust Lab will provide the platform and opportunity for government and industry to make such collaborative progress towards better security for federal agencies. By focusing on 12 distinct scenarios—from remote worker and public cloud access, to multiple agencies’ interfacing systems both on-prem and in the cloud—ATARC’s Zero Trust Lab will create a unique space for agencies to assess leading security solutions for Zero Trust.
Participation in the Zero Trust Lab is a huge step toward bridging the long-standing gap between government and the technology industry. Federal participants will gain hands-on experience with the solutions they need to continue—or embark upon—their Zero Trust journey, while industry participants will benefit from real-time feedback and a better understanding of the unique security challenges agencies face, as well as agency-specific use cases. By participating in the Zero Trust Lab, Netskope will play an influential role in helping agencies meet the requirements of the executive order and adopt Zero Trust in a manner that’s cloud-smart and data-centric.
Read the full ATARC Zero Trust Lab press release here and learn more about Netskope’s approach to Zero Trust here.
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