{"id":51259,"date":"2023-05-03T16:02:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T16:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/03\/zero-trust-would-have-helped-prevent-pentagon-leak-cio-sherman-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:38:46","slug":"zero-trust-would-have-helped-prevent-pentagon-leak-cio-sherman-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2023\/05\/03\/zero-trust-would-have-helped-prevent-pentagon-leak-cio-sherman-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Zero trust would have helped prevent Pentagon leak, CIO Sherman says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BALTIMORE \u2014 The recent leak of national security documents would have been easier to discover and prevent had the U.S. Department of Defense already instituted the latest cybersecurity practices known as zero trust, according to Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Sherman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disclosure of the classified reports, allegedly spearheaded by a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard<\/a>, has prompted a hard look at the department\u2019s information-security practices. The breach included insights about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherman on May 3 said a zero-trust approach \u201csure as heck would\u2019ve made it a lot more likely that we would have caught this and been able to prevent it at the front end.\u201d Prying eyes and ears are both an external threat \u2014 considering China, Russia and other nations \u2014 and an internal hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is something we\u2019ve grappled with for years,\u201d Sherman said<\/a> at the AFCEA TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore. \u201cWe had the Snowden disclosures nearly 10 years ago. We\u2019ve had other unfortunate events here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Snowden was a former American intelligence contractor who in 2013 made public the existence of global surveillance dragnets. The U.S. government deemed him a traitor; he was later granted Russian citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zero trust is a different paradigm for cybersecurity<\/a>, one which assumes networks are always at risk or already jeopardized, requiring constant validation of devices, users and their digital reach. Sherman previously likened zero trust to believing \u201cno one or no thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t