CISA releases guide to help federal agencies shift to modern zero-trust architectures

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a new guide aimed at helping federal civilian agencies accelerate zero trust adoption by leveraging the flexibility of the Trusted Internet Connections 3.0 framework and cloud-delivered Secure Access Service Edge solutions.

CISA positions the document as a roadmap for technical leaders and enterprise architects to move beyond legacy, perimeter-based models—such as TIC 2.0 and managed trusted internet protocol services—and toward SASE deployments that it says can improve network performance, reduce latency, and expand visibility and control. The guidance also emphasizes sharing telemetry with CISA services to strengthen governmentwide cyber defense.

“CISA continues to support federal agencies and the broader cybersecurity ecosystem with their continued adoption of zero trust network capabilities to meet mission needs and the evolving cyber threat landscape,” said Acting Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Chris Butera. “With this guide, CISA helps agencies realize the benefits of zero trust architectures and the flexibilities of TIC 3.0.”

Zero trust—an approach that assumes no implicit trust on networks and enforces continuous verification—has been a policy priority across the federal government as agencies modernize systems, adopt cloud services, and support distributed workforces. TIC 3.0, CISA’s current iteration of its trusted internet guidance, moves away from centralized chokepoints and toward use-case-driven architectures that can be implemented on-premises or in the cloud.

The guide is part of CISA’s Journey to Zero Trust series, which began last year with a microsegmentation resource. While designed for federal civilian agencies, CISA says the materials may also help state and local governments and critical infrastructure operators as they pursue zero trust architectures.