For more than 16 years, the Zero Trust cybersecurity model has adhered to the principle of “never trust, always verify” and has become the global standard for government and security organizations.
But Zero Trust Access wasn’t built with Cross Domain Transfer – the secure, policy-enforced transfer of data between networks with different security layers – in mind.
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Chief Technology Officer, Everfox.
Given this, it is not surprising that many Internet leaders are realizing that Zero Trust alone cannot protect operations that span multiple levels of isolation and cross-border environments.
A new strategic foundation to enable and secure the flow of mission-critical information is being developed.
Why is it important to share data for each domain
In today’s international cyber warfare environment, government and defense alliances such as NATO and operational systems such as the US Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) face a difficult challenge.
As attack volumes increase, the ability to securely move data across domains and partners at machine speed for security organizations to assess and respond becomes increasingly important. At the same time, sharing and accessing sensitive data is a major operational risk for organizations at the forefront of national security.
This debate requires more than Zero Trust access to resolve. Zero trust treats all network traffic as a potential breach and ensures that no users or systems are automatically trusted. This is good for protecting IT infrastructure, but not so good for data, especially when it comes to protecting data in transit.
Current conflicts require rapid data sharing, including everywhere in multiple domains, such as land, cyber and cloud computing, in near real time. In these areas, the delay is not an inconvenience; it becomes operationally vulnerable when relying solely on Zero Trust opens the door to it.
Sleep risk
When evaluating whether relying solely on Zero Trust poses problems, we need to consider the broader factors that can contribute to a serious cyber security breach or cyber security lapse. Without special methods of data security and secure data exchange, national security agencies face a quiet, cumulative erosion of operational time.
Data can’t move at mission speed, decision delays are common and intelligence gets stuck at class boundaries waiting for manual transmission.
This can be seen as a conflict within the security agencies, but that risks underestimating how modern warfare works in practice. Security measures are based on the idea that partners can share intelligence safely and quickly.
An organization that has not resolved cross-domain data flow is not only putting its mission at risk; it undermines the team’s reputation and the trust of the entire alliance.
Shared ownership structures and unified access policies across systems and partners alike must be part of the solution. In a recent Everfox survey, 64% of security leaders said they believe secure data transmission is the biggest obstacle to implementing effective Zero Trust strategies.
In other words, Zero Trust environments struggle not because authentication is unnecessary, but because authentication alone does not solve cross-domain data management. And when Zero Trust is used alone, it makes it difficult to securely share data and collaborate.
The value of trust
To be ready for war, national security organizations need to implement a coherent architecture that solves these problems by sharing data at mission speed and across domains, partners and levels of classification.
The solution is a data-centric model that applies security controls directly to the data itself. This is not speculation. The aforementioned survey found that nine out of ten have adopted or are in the process of implementing a data security approach.
What does this look like in practice? It involves integrating three frameworks: Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), Data Centric Security (DCS) and Cross Domain Solutions (CDS). Each framework brings important strengths: ZTA provides continuous authentication (your endless need), DCS uses data security controls so that intelligence can travel safely across networks despite any differences in the level of separation or trust and CDS facilitates data exchange without compromising speed.
Together, this integrated architecture transforms security from static perimeter deployments to dynamic, policy-driven data flows, building the foundation and equipping organizations with the basic tools to navigate the digital battlefield.
When used in concert, these frameworks shorten decision cycles and accelerate information exchange without reducing governance controls.
Where the revolution begins
Zero Trust is an important principle for government and security organizations, but it often falls short of sharing data at the speed of work. In today’s conflicts, wars are increasingly being fought over digital networks where data is the ultimate asset.
Navigating the digital battlefield requires the seamless movement of secure information across domains, and relying on Zero Trust does not help fulfill that requirement.
In line with the principles of Zero Trust through DCS and CDS, national security organizations can usher in a new era of data-centric security based on the capabilities required for modern machine success.
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