Air Force Hardens Base Infrastructure with Zero Trust for OT Security
The U.S. Air Force is taking a tailored approach to applying zero trust cybersecurity principles to the operational technology systems that manage base infrastructure and support critical military operations. At the Alamo ACE conference in San Antonio, Department of the Air Force Chief Information Security Officer Aaron Bishop outlined why a one-size-fits-all approach to zero trust cannot work across both IT and OT domains. “You cannot apply 100 percent identically what you did with your laptop to a PLC,” Bishop explained, referencing programmable logic controllers that form the backbone of many OT environments. Programmable logic controllers and similar industrial systems operate through different interfaces and connection protocols than traditional computing equipment, requiring security frameworks that account for these fundamental architectural differences.