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Last Updated: 11 May 2025

Join Us for Our May Chapter Meeting onTuesday, May 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM ET

We’re excited to welcome Sean Connelly, a leading voice in federal cybersecurity and Zero Trust architecture, as our featured speaker for this month’s chapter meeting.

Zero Trust Efforts Across Governments

Abstract
Zero Trust is no longer a conceptual ideal—it’s a global mandate. This session traces the evolution of Zero Trust architecture within the U.S. federal government and its growing adoption by international partners. It begins with a key inflection point: the SolarWinds campaign, which exposed systemic weaknesses in traditional trust models. From there, we follow the rapid acceleration of Zero Trust policies and investments, including Executive Order 14028, OMB M-22-09, and the development of foundational guidance such as NIST SP 800-207 and CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model.

The session concludes by exploring how governments worldwide adapt Zero Trust to fit national strategies and cultural contexts, with practical takeaways for building defensible, resilient architectures and avoiding the next SolarWinds.

Speaker
Mr. Sean Connelly has spent over 25 years in networking and cybersecurity, including 11 years at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where he served as the initial Director of the Zero Trust Initiative. He co-authored NIST’s SP 800-207 on Zero Trust Architecture and CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model. He helped lead the U.S. Federal Government’s Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Initiative for over a decade.

Mr. Connelly also served as a Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) Board member, supporting funding for Zero Trust and modernization efforts across dozens of agencies. He recently concluded his federal service in 2024 and joined Zscaler, where he continues supporting Zero Trust adoption across U.S. and international governments. He holds two CCIE certifications and has a long background in secure network design and federal IT modernization.

Registration is required to attend this session. Don’t miss it!

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