Editorial

Governments to adopt Zero Trust in face of cybersecurity failures

At least five governments will adopt Zero Trust to revive public trust in digital services in 2022, says Forrester

Posted 4 November 2021 by Christine Horton


At least five governments will adopt Zero Trust to revive public trust in digital services in 2022, says Forrester.

At least five governments will adopt Zero Trust to revive public trust in digital services in 2022.

Following more public, frequent, and serious cybersecurity failures, 17 percent of global government executives say that implementing a Zero Trust security strategy is a top priority for 2022, according to new predictions by Forrester for the public sector.

In May 2021, the Biden administration in the US released the world’s first Zero Trust mandate for national-level government departments. Although this policy and those that replicate it will pertain only to national government organizations, companies in government supply chains will have to implement Zero Trust, too. As a result, Forrester says Zero Trust will become common for business-to-government (B2G) and B2B firms.

Governments hope the visible indicators of better cybersecurity within their ecosystems that result will stabilise the public’s trust in digital government services. However, these indicators won’t be enough to boost that trust, says the analyst.

“Governments will also have to improve the emotional quality of existing digital experiences, since emotion has the biggest effect on how people perceive the trustworthiness of digital services,” it notes.

Anaemic government IT

Meanwhile, “anaemic government IT” will account for failure to spend 20 percent of stimulus funds globally, says Forrester.

To help deliver on post-COVID-19 recovery programmes, governments like those in the US and China are allocating funds to help their own IT organisations become more future fit. However, Forrester contends that government IT shops “have a history of failing to use funds like these effectively. For example, in early 2021, the US Government Accountability Office found that just two of 10 large federal agencies had complete tech modernisation plans — despite the availability of the Technology Modernisation Fund.

Elsewhere, Forrester predicts that a third of global civil servants will become permanent hybrid workers in 2022.

“Public sector organisations are making hybrid work permanent to boost employee experience, recruitment and retention, and organizational resilience; and cut costs. However, hybrid work implementation will vary by employee role, department type, and geography. Public sector knowledge workers will benefit the most.”