Forescout, a global cybersecurity firm and a key provider of cybersecurity solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), announced that it has secured a new contract with the DoD as it enters year four of the highly successful Comply-to-Connect (C2C) program.
What does the C2C program bring to DoD?
The program’s next stage will be to configure delivered capabilities to enforce zero trust access principles across the DoD Information Network (DoDIN) enterprise and bring the U.S. Department of Defense closer to the goals set forth in the Department’s Zero Trust Strategy.
As advocated by the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Comply-to-Connect Program Management Office (PMO), the new contract also delivers additional capabilities to the Comply-to-Connect platform that revolutionize security of Operational Technology networks and integrates risk management and decision making into existing C2C platform.
NIST zero trust principles applicable
This additionally further positions the DoD to apply NIST zero trust principles to millions of devices across the enterprise. Implementation of zero trust principles using Forescout’s C2C capabilities is already being accomplished in some areas of the Army, via an initiative being taught at Fort Gordon school houses and referenced in Defense Acquisition University.
With the first three steps of the program – visibility, compliance assessment, and automated remediation – underway, admins can use Forescout’s orchestration capabilities to manage policy enforcement points to create the desired effects on user/device/access request basis.
Additionally, Forescout’s continuous monitoring capabilities are at work to ensure connected devices don’t fall out of compliance due to files getting corrupted, simple administrative mistakes, or malicious adversarial actions, all of which occur daily on the DoDIN.
Scale capabilities
Comply-to-Connect is one of the largest government cybersecurity initiatives in the world delivering enterprise scale capabilities for managing cyber operational risk. With the Comply-to-Connect program in its fourth year, automated control of access to and within the DoDIN will ensure that each network user has the access necessary to achieve their mission without exposing other users to threats that could impact their ability to complete their mission.
The Forescout platform provides capabilities for the DoD’s C2C security framework that enables the critical first pillar of DISA’s zero trust program called Thunderdome. This includes:
- Network-based discovery and classification of assets, including an expanding set of “unmanaged” assets that are unable to operate agents (C2C Steps 1 and 2)
- Integration with other enterprise solutions such as Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM); Security Information Event Management (SIEM); and Vulnerability Assessment products to automate compliance of the cybersecurity posture and establish trust for every connecting asset (C2C Step 3)
- Orchestration of policy enforcement points across the infrastructure to enforce network access control and segmentation of assets as well as complete situational awareness of the network posture (C2C Steps 4 and 5)
What does the contract mean for Forescout?
“We are proud to once again be trusted by so many organizations to secure the backbone of their operations: the networks that connect everything. Each DoDIN user should have confidence that their slice of the network is secure and ready for them to accomplish their mission. That’s what we are delivering through C2C,” said Barry Mainz, CEO, Forescout.
“We look forward to introducing cloud-based advanced threat analysis tools into the C2C program’s portfolio of capabilities and adding further value on DoD’s zero trust journey. We have just begun to unleash the power of our platform within the DoD. The best is still ahead.”
