The Department of Defense (DoD) has taken another pivotal step in advancing data-centric security with Project Olympus, a groundbreaking initiative highlighted in this DoD article published yesterday.
As part of their commitment to ensuring decision advantage in future conflicts, Project Olympus demonstrates how data-centric security frameworks can revolutionize interoperability among allied forces. This initiative embodies the principles of data protection and information sharing that Virtru has long championed through open standards like Trusted Data Format (TDF), Zero Trust Data Format (ZTDF), and other innovations.
Project Olympus underscores a transformative shift in security strategies. By focusing on attribute-based access control and data-level security, the initiative ensures that sensitive information is accessible to the right people at the right time. The program shifts away from traditional perimeter-based defenses, and moves security closer to individual data objects to enable seamless information sharing across domains and allied partners. This shift in security architecture aligns with Virtru's mission of empowering organizations to securely share data while maintaining full visibility and control.
Fred Stanley, Coalition Interoperability Division Chief at the Joint Staff, aptly described this as a “paradigm shift,” noting that enhanced security mechanisms like Zero Trust and data-centric security enable greater information sharing, not less. This approach epitomizes the balance between security and collaboration which Virtru solutions are designed to achieve, and aligns perfectly with the statement made by Jim Knight, the U.K. lead for Project Olympus, “by applying more security, we're getting greater information sharing."
The DoD’s prioritization of data-centric security mirrors the values espoused by open standards TDF and ZTDF, both of which provide cryptographic proof of data control, ensuring security follows the data wherever it travels. This open standard approach is particularly critical for achieving the interoperability required by initiatives like Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), which Project Olympus embodies. By embracing open standards like ZTDF, the DoD and its allied partners are creating granular security controls which enable them to efficiently share sensitive information back and forth across diverse platforms, eliminating the barriers of disparate systems — a challenge often cited in military collaborations.
Virtru’s tools, powered by TDF and ZTDF standards, enable granular access controls, military-grade encryption, and stringent policy enforcement. Our solutions ensure that critical data remains protected, even in the most dynamic and distributed operational environments.
Virtru’s commitment to advancing data-centric security is being highlighted tomorrow at NATO Edge, where Shannon Vaughn, General Manager of Virtru Federal, will be joining an expert panel entitled Zero Trust Architecture and Technologies. Together with Vaughn, panelists will discuss the implementation of Zero Trust architectures across NATO members and explore real-world applications of data-centric security, focusing on how these principles enhance operational efficiency and collaboration among NATO partners.
Furthermore, Virtu’s innovation with open standards and data centric security will be on stage this Thursday, Dec 5th, at AWS Reinvent when Dana Morris, Virtru's SVP of Product and Engineering, will team up with Brett Eisen, AWS Principal Solutions Architect, to conduct a deep dive on best practices for securing sensitive data utilizing open TDF within AWS Trusted Secure Enclave (TSE). If you’re attending Reinvent in Vegas this week, visit The Venetian (Casanova 606) at 9:00am PST and check out Dana and Brett’s session entitled: Safeguard Sensitive Data: Zero Trust Data Protection for Your Mission in the TSE.
The DoD’s emphasis on data-centric security, as seen with Project Olympus, is a testament to the growing recognition of the need for robust, interoperable frameworks that protect sensitive information while fostering collaboration, even in air gapped environments down to the tactical edge. At Virtru, we are proud to be at the forefront of this shift, offering solutions that align with the DoD’s vision and empower organizations to securely share data across platforms, borders, and domains.
We invite you to join the conversation on data-centric security at NATO Edge, AWS Reinvent, or connect with our team to learn more about how Virtru can help your organization achieve its security and collaboration goals.