ITI Responds to OMB Memo on U.S. Zero Trust Strategy
WASHINGTON — Today, global tech trade association ITI responded to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) memorandum on adopting a Federal Zero Trust Strategy as part of the Executive Order 14028 on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity:
“We commend the Biden Administration’s persistent effort to improve the United States’ cybersecurity in the face of relentless threats,” said ITI’s Gordon Bitko, Senior Vice President of Policy for Public Sector. “The strategy outlined in today’s memo will provide actionable guidance to agencies as they shift to a zero trust paradigm, which embraces a stronger, more coordinated, whole-of-government approach to cybersecurity risk management. This strategy will help enable agencies and leaders to advance a common security baseline across the federal government by linking the modernization of government IT to cybersecurity, specifically on the efforts regarding zero trust. To be successful, we recommend OMB works with agencies to ensure that appropriate budget and priority decisions are made, as well as Congress to make sure proposed FISMA reform requirements are aligned and consistent. We appreciate the administration’s willingness to incorporate industry’s feedback and encourage it to continue working with cybersecurity experts to ensure that implementation plans reflect the most modern and secure solutions. We remain committed to sharing our experience and expertise as the U.S. government adopts this appropriate and future-proof strategy.”
ITI is a leading industry voice on advising the U.S. government’s shift to a zero trust architecture. ITI provided comments in September (opens in a new tab) and October 2021 (opens in a new tab) to inform OMB’s memo.
As part of ITI’s thought leadership on zero trust, Bitko and Scott Smith, Principal of Cybersecurity at EY, explained the concept on ITI’s podcast Download on Tech (opens in a new tab), including its importance, its role in the Biden Administration’s EO, and how industry can help the government adopt this security approach.
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