TIC 3.0 PM Touts Better Security Flexibility, Eyes More Use Cases

 The head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA’s) TIC Program Office emphasized that the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 initiative aims to create more flexible and efficient ways for Federal agencies to improve security, and said his office is considering a wide range of additional use cases to help agencies implement the framework.

“The traditional networking compass is broken,” declared Sean Connelly, CISA’s TIC Program Manager and computer science vs engineering, today at MeriTalk’s virtual TIC Talks event.

That compass – which has tended to view data flows through the traditional lens of vertical and horizontal paths – now begs for agencies to adopt security frameworks that give them much greater visibility into their networks and threat vectors, along with increased flexibility to architect security according to their varied missions, he explained.

That improved visibility, Connelly said, will greatly improve situational awareness and help out agency security operations centers and CISA threat-hunting analysts to protect networks.

Against a threat landscape that continues to grow more perilous, and agency data flows that are expanding at warp speed, Connelly explained how TIC 3.0 accommodates agencies’ increased use of cloud services and better positions Feds to deal with modern attack scenarios, including “living off the land” exploits that have been long lasting and difficult to detect.