Page 51 - FCW, July 2020

connectivity be prioritized and segmented according to roles and criticality so that the most sensitive and mission-critical functions are identified and protected? In a 5G future, government network security teams risk losing visibility and control of devices accessing their federal networks through carriers’ 5G towers.
The importance of a
visibility-first approach
Fortunately, most agencies have laid
as they connect to the network and are inspected continuously for cybersecurity risks, including patch and configuration status, banned hardware and software, behavioral anomalies and a host of other attributes.
Agencies that have mature instantiations of either the CDM or C2C program will have the same level of insight into devices connecting via carrier-owned 5G networks that they do for devices connecting within a campus, cloud or data center network, and
While telework architectures are still in need of improvement, a productive outcome of the COVID-19 crisis is that it has afforded federal agencies, in particular DOD, an opportunity to apply zero trust strategies even as the concept of the network perimeter has been completely shattered.
We are still in the early days of 5G, and the full benefits for federal agencies have yet to be realized. The operationalization of 5G will mean many millions more devices connecting to government systems. Those devices support services that vastly improve citizens’ security and safety and allow government services to be delivered more effectively.
However, allowing all those devices to connect to government systems without a robust capability for finding, profiling and monitoring them would jeopardize not only agencies’ existing networks but the very missions 5G equipment is deployed to support.
Agencies’ existing network and cybersecurity investments will help them navigate the 5G future, but discussions about how to adapt those investments and reorient them where necessary must happen now. Knowing what devices are connecting to your networks, what their cyber posture is and how they behave will remain the first and most critical component of effective cyber risk mitigation.
The C2C and CDM programs are good examples of how this visibility- first approach enables more effective security and ensures agencies’ mission- readiness. Securing 5G-enabled networks through this foundation reduces national security risk and enhances government agencies’ ability to continue serving missions. n
Katherine Gronberg is vice president for government affairs at Forescout Technologies.
Whose jobisitto determine which of these devices are legitimate and do not pose a threat to either the carrier or the agency IT infrastructure they access?
down an important foundation that is enabling them to overcome some of the challenges of securing their networks as 5G adoption increases. Two governmentwide cybersecurity programs — the civilian agency- focused Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) and DOD’s Comply to Connect (C2C) — are examples of dynamic frameworks and integrated capabilities designed to ensure all devices are detected and classified
they will be able to enforce the same security and network access policies. Not insignificantly, the remote working trend that has become necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic has taught federal agencies some lessons in applying their CDM and C2C tools to devices that are connecting through internet service provider networks in employees’ homes — in some rare cases, on devices that are not owned or managed by the federal government.
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