Key Zero Trust Milestones in the U.S. Federal Sector
NIST SP 800-207 introduced concept of a Zero Trust Architecture and provided guidelines to implement it.
Executive Order 14028 (“Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity”) mandated that federal agencies develop zero trust architecture plans.
OMB M-22-09 (“Moving the U.S. Government Toward Zero Trust Cybersecurity Principles”) memorandum provided federal zero trust architecture strategy and required agencies to meet specific cybersecurity standards and objectives by the end of fiscal year 2024.
OMB Federal Zero Trust Strategy (“Federal Zero Trust Strategy”) detailed a government-wide shift to a zero-trust approach to cybersecurity.
CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model released the “Zero Trust Maturity Model” that provided federal agencies with a roadmap to implement Zero Trust Architectures.
NSA Zero Trust Maturity for Data Pillars report spelled out seven data pillar areas and maturity models for the National Security System, DoD, and Defense Industrial Base (DIB).
Risks Addressed by NSA’s Zero Trust Data Pillar Model
Traditional security approaches often rely on perimeter defenses. But cybersecurity events show malicious actors who gain a foothold in technology systems often readily gain unfettered access to all data in those systems.
Evolving Threat Landscape
Traditional perimeter-based security models no longer suffice in the face of sophisticated cyber threats targeting government agencies and defense contractors. Adversaries exploit vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, necessitating a paradigm shift toward zero trust principles. The NSA’s report equips federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations with the tools to mitigate risks and protect data assets against evolving threats.
Complexities of Data Management
The proliferation of data across diverse environments complicates effective data protection for federal agencies and defense-related industries. Government organizations struggle to maintain visibility and control over their data assets, especially as they move beyond traditional network boundaries. The NSA’s guidance helps federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations navigate these complexities by providing a structured approach to data governance, labeling, and access control.
Ensuring Compliance and Interoperability
Safeguarding sensitive government data requires adherence to various regulatory requirements and industry standards, such as NIST, CMMC, and FedRAMP. The NSA’s zero trust data pillar framework enables federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations to enforce granular access policies, monitor data usage, and prevent unauthorized exfiltration, facilitating compliance and secure data sharing across organizational boundaries.
How Kiteworks Addresses the NSA’s Zero Trust Data Pillar for Federal Agencies, DoD, and DIB
The Kiteworks Private Content Network, including our next-generation digital rights management capabilities, align with the seven elements in the NSA’s zero trust data pillar framework. Kiteworks empowers federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations to achieve the highest levels of data security and compliance using a content-defined zero trust approach to ensure sensitive government data remains protected throughout its life cycle, enabling secure collaboration and data sharing across agencies and with thousands of government contractors.
Data Catalog Risk Alignment
Kiteworks provides comprehensive visibility into data transactions and interactions, facilitating informed risk assessment and continuous catalog updates for federal agencies and defense-related industries. The platform’s advanced analytics and reporting capabilities enable government organizations to identify and prioritize their most critical data assets, aligning data protection efforts with enterprise risk management strategies.
Enterprise Data Governance
Kiteworks’ policy engine automates workflows and enforces data governance policies across federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations, aligning with zero trust principles. The platform ensures consistent data management, access, and security controls, empowering government organizations to maintain control over their data assets and comply with regulatory requirements.
Data Labeling and Tagging
The Kiteworks platform integrates with data classification tools to apply labels and tags consistently, ensuring sensitive government data is treated according to its sensitivity. Granular tagging enables machine-enforceable access controls, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and facilitating secure data sharing and collaboration among federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations.
Data Monitoring and Sensing
Kiteworks offers extensive monitoring features, enabling real-time tracking of data movements and user activities, crucial for proactive threat detection in federal agencies and defense-related industries. The platform’s advanced analytics and integration with SIEM tools provide a comprehensive view of data security posture, allowing government organizations to detect and respond to anomalous behavior promptly.
Data Encryption and Rights Management
With Kiteworks, data encryption is applied seamlessly, and DRM controls are enforced to protect against unauthorized access and distribution of sensitive government information. The platform ensures data remains secure throughout its life cycle, even if accessed by unauthorized parties, and enables real-time access revocation based on changing risk factors.
Data Loss Prevention
Kiteworks’ built-in DLP capabilities are designed to detect and prevent potential breaches, securing sensitive government data against unauthorized transmission. The platform’s DLP engine identifies sensitive content based on predefined policies and data tags, automatically enforcing protective actions such as blocking, quarantining, or encrypting data.
Data Access Control
Kiteworks enables granular, attribute-based access controls, dynamically adjusting permissions in response to evolving threats and user contexts within federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations. The platform supports multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and continuous authentication to ensure sensitive government data is only accessible under the right circumstances, by authorized users and devices.
Frequently Asked Questions
The NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance is specifically tailored to address the unique security challenges faced by federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations. Unlike other cybersecurity frameworks that provide a general approach to security, the NSA’s guidance focuses on the data pillar and outlines a progressive maturity model for implementing data-centric security controls. This approach enables organizations to incrementally improve their data protection posture, aligning with the principles of zero trust. The guidance also emphasizes the importance of content-defined security, ensuring that data remains protected throughout its life cycle, regardless of where it resides or how it is accessed.
To ensure alignment with the NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance, federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations should conduct a thorough assessment of their current data protection practices and identify areas for improvement. This assessment should cover all seven maturity levels outlined in the NSA’s guidance, including data catalog risk alignment, enterprise data governance, data labeling and tagging, data monitoring and sensing, data encryption and rights management, data loss prevention, and data access control. Partnering with a trusted solution provider like Kiteworks helps organizations streamline this process and ensure that their data protection measures are effective, compliant, and aligned with the NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance.
Failing to implement the NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance can have severe consequences for federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations. Without adequate data protection measures in place, these organizations are at a heightened risk of data breaches, unauthorized access, and data loss. This can lead to the exposure of sensitive government information, compromising national security, and eroding public trust. By not adopting the NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance, federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations may find themselves ill-equipped to defend against sophisticated cyber threats, leaving their most valuable assets vulnerable to attack.
Kiteworks provides a comprehensive platform that empowers federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations to accelerate their adoption of the NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance. Kiteworks Private Content Network is designed to align with the seven maturity levels outlined in the NSA’s guidance, offering a range of advanced data protection capabilities. These capabilities include data catalog risk alignment, enterprise data governance, automated data labeling and tagging, robust data monitoring and sensing, built-in encryption and granular digital rights management (DRM) controls, advanced data loss prevention (DLP) features, and attribute-based access control (ABAC) for enforcing fine-grained, context-aware access policies.
The NSA’s zero trust data pillar guidance recognizes the importance of secure data sharing and collaboration among federal agencies, DoD, and DIB organizations, and provides a framework for addressing the challenges associated with these activities. The guidance emphasizes the need for granular access controls, data labeling and tagging, and continuous monitoring to ensure that sensitive information is only shared with authorized parties and under the right circumstances. By implementing the NSA’s guidance, organizations can establish a secure foundation for data sharing and collaboration, leveraging technologies such as digital rights management (DRM) and attribute-based access control (ABAC) to enforce fine-grained, context-aware access policies.
FEATURED RESOURCES
Kiteworks Advances NSA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model Across Data Layers 
Kiteworks Advances NSA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model Across Data Layers
Achieving Zero Trust Security With Kiteworks: A Comprehensive Approach to Data Protection 
Achieving Zero Trust Security With Kiteworks: A Comprehensive Approach to Data Protection
SafeEDIT Next-Gen DRM Maximizes Productivity and Security 
SafeEDIT Next-Gen DRM Maximizes Productivity and Security
Kiteworks’ Implementation of the CISA Secure-by-Design Publication 
Kiteworks’ Implementation of the CISA Secure-by-Design Publication
Kiteworks SafeEDIT: Next-generation Digital Rights Management (DRM) 