The Department of the Navy’s Flank Speed cloud platform has attained full compliance with all Department of Defense zero trust expectations.
In a second round of security assessments led by the DOD’s Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office, the system was able to meet all 91 target zero trust activities laid out in the DOD’s Zero Trust Strategy and Roadmap, the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Digital and Enterprise Services said Tuesday.
Randy Resnick, the DOD’s chief zero trust officer and a 2024 Wash100 Award winner, said Flank Speed’s performance showed that cyber defenses “work very effectively to protect and defend our data and systems against the very latest cyberattacks from our adversaries.”
This accomplishment comes three years ahead of the DOD’s scheduled 2027 deadline for zero trust adoption. Flank Speed was also able to achieve 60 of the strategy’s 61 advanced zero trust initiatives — the next phase of the department’s zero trust adoption journey.
Designed and developed by PEO Digital, the cloud service was deployed in 2021 to drive collaboration, boost productivity and strengthen zero trust security for over 560,000 users across the globe. The platform supports cloud-native services, secure data access, modern endpoint device management and identity management.
It also uses hyper-converged infrastructure to provide advanced capability in edge locations.
According to Jane Rathbun, the Navy’s chief information officer and a 2024 Wash100 Award recipient, the cloud service was created to address emerging telework needs and has since changed “how we deliver and operate capability, tightly partnering between the resource, requirements, acquisition and cyber operator communities.”
The Navy intends to leverage Flank Speed to expand zero trust across the enterprise to keep its IT infrastructure secure and resilient in the evolving digital space.