The efforts to protect networks have twisted and turned in order to stay as close to the evolving perimeter as possible. The addition of mobile devices to the perimeter’s edge has increased the amount and volume of data at risk and therefore the tools needed to secure them.

Another way to view a perimeter is to say that none exists at all. “What we’ve found is that perimeter around the enterprise has evaporated,” said Bill Harrod, federal chief technology officer at MobileIron. Instead, Harrod points to the concept of zero trust to redefine the security perimeter at a granular level.

But as you'll read in this Expert Edition: Federal Insights – Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation, neither definition is turning out to be a problem for the Department of Homeland Security or its pilot program.