The Department of the Air Force’s (DAF) Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has unveiled a new zero trust strategy to further safeguard critical assets and enhance resilience against emerging cyberthreats, the DAF CIO announced in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.
The Zero Trust Strategy establishes a zero trust capability within the DAF to deliver a future cybersecurity posture that simplifies access for Airmen & Guardians and imposes higher costs on competitors and adversaries, to accelerate the adoption of next-generation warfare technologies.
“[The] DAF envisions a fully mature Zero Trust environment, where solutions could collapse multiple network fabrics into one. In this construct, only the data and applications make up what we know as the different network fabrics today. Each user, device, and context attribute set may be granted access to each authorized connection, rather than a specific network fabric,” the strategy reads.
The strategy outlines seven strategic goals, and each includes several objectives. The goals include application-level visibility and control; data as the new perimeter; right access, to the right entity, for the right reason; reduce the risk created by any single device; access to protected resources anytime, anywhere; automated security responses based on security policies; and improve detection and reaction time.
“A zero trust culture lays the rock-solid digital foundation that connects all Air and Space Force members across a trusted digital force. DAF must institutionalize a zero trust culture in order to enact the warfighting changes necessary to recapture [a] warfare advantage and evolve to meet the operational imperatives of today,” the strategy reads.
Additionally, according to the DAF, this strategy requires full interoperability between DAF networks and mission partners, including other Defense Department (DoD) components, the intelligence community, other government agencies, and allies.
“It also requires strong partnership and flexibility, as each specific organization progresses along its own Zerox Trust maturity. DAF, through respective assigned authorizing officials, will specifically coordinate all efforts to integrate Zero Trust into any DAF-IC, joint, and Mission Partner Environment shared network fabrics,” the strategy reads.
The strategy is in accordance with the DoD Fulcrum Digital Advancement Strategy, DoD Zero Trust Strategy and Reference Architecture, as well as the DAF Enterprise Zero Trust Roadmap and the DAF Zero Trust Implementation Plan.
This, according to the department, underscores its commitment to strengthening cybersecurity for both the Air Force and Space Force.
