Zero Trust (ZT) Concepts for Federal Government Architectures

Abstract

This report provides a breakdown of the dimensions and capabilities that make up a ZT architecture. The three National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) models are summarized, and case studies of four ZT architectures are described: BeyondCorp, Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)/Forrester, Software-Defined Perimeter, and VMWare/NSX. Of these choices, the architecture that is the best fit for a particular organization depends on the mission of that organization. For a public service agency whose main mission is to interact with the public, any of the architectures would meet their needs, and which to choose depends heavily on the existing infrastructure. A virtualized architecture similar to the VMWare/NSX would provide the most benefit, though it may be the most difficult to migrate to. For a public safety-focused agency with many field agents who do not have continuous internet access and utilize many sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, an SDP-based solution is recommended. For a larger umbrella organization that may have sub-organizations, as the previous two exemplars, a federated architecture is recommended to be able to accommodate the diversity of requirements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 30, 2020
Accession Number
AD1106904

Entities

People

  • K. D. Uttecht

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Authentication
  • Best Practices
  • Case Studies
  • Computer Access Control
  • Computer Network Security
  • Computer Networks
  • Computer Programs
  • Cybersecurity
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Information Security
  • Infrastructure
  • Internet Of Things
  • Local Area Networks
  • National Governments
  • Network Architecture
  • Network Protocols
  • Personnel Management
  • Security
  • Security Protocols
  • Standards
  • Transport Protocols

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Software Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • 5G
  • 5G - Internet of Things