Microsoft Federal’s Jason Payne on Tackling Cloud Security Challenges With Zero Trust, AI

Jason Payne, chief technology officer at Microsoft Federal, said implementing zero trust, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other emerging technologies and techniques could help government agencies address threats to cloud environments.

In an article published in Carahsoft.com, Payne wrote that zero trust enables agencies to prevent unauthorized access, implement granular security policies and block lateral movement across clouds in the event of a breach.

With AI and ML, agencies can “automate threat detection and response” and optimize security operations.

Payne cited that some security tools in cloud platforms like Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender and Azure Arc offer a holistic approach to cloud security.

The Microsoft Federal CTO also discussed how a continuous authority to operate could enable agencies to regularly assess their security posture.

Payne said data storage, encryption, monitoring, logging, access management and data auditing should serve as key considerations as agencies advance the use of AI-enabled systems for their decision-making processes.

“Security teams must understand why a system made a particular decision and be able to trace the decision back to the data. Therefore, storing data on a secure, transparent and trusted platform will be critically important,” the executive stated.

He called on agencies to consider data governance and data cataloging principles as vital.

“By adhering to those principles and adopting proven security practices, agencies can maximize the benefits of cloud technology,” Payne added.