Cloud Based Internet Isolation

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This week on Federal Tech Talk, host John Gilroy interviewed Kowsik Guruswamy, chief technology officer at Menlo Security, and Mike Hatcher, chief revenue officer at By Light.

The two companies have recently been awarded a contract by the Defense Information Systems Agency for a creative way to manage cybersecurity.  It is called Cloud Based Internet Isolation (CBII).

One thing we have learned during the COVID-19 crisis is the efforts that organizations like DISA are making to maintain security in a changing environment.  Their network, like many others, was put under tremendous stress by the sudden shift to 80% of the employees working from home.

Fortunately, 18 months ago, they had investigated a new way to allow remote users to access sensitive systems. The Cloud Based Internet Isolation approach is an intermediary system that a person would interact with.  You can call this a “sandbox” or a “virtual” environment but whatever you name it, it works to speed up communications and reduce cyberthreats.

The technology originated from years of experience with commercial systems from Menlo Security.  Hatcher and his team at By Light provide the federal experience for the system at DISA.

During the interview, the experts defined adaptive clientless rendering as well as Secure Access Service Edge.

One resounding impact of the COVID crisis is federal agencies are willing to test new approaches to speed up systems while assuring security.