NSA Tells Feds: Zero Trust Must Go Beyond Login

New NSA Guidance Demands Continuous Access Checks, Implementation Overhaul Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) • February 2, 2026

The National Security Agency is sharpening expectations for how government agencies should achieve zero trust in guidance promoting continuous, behavior-driven security frameworks amid fears that cyberattacks targeting the U.S. government increasingly bypass traditional controls.

See Also: Zero Trust Under Strain as Organizations Favor Just-in-Time Access

The NSA published Friday phase one and phase two zero trust recommendations to help agencies reach what the Department of Defense defines as "target-level zero trust maturity." The guidance expands on earlier federal frameworks and describes zero trust as an operating model that should persist throughout an entire user or system session.

The agency framed the guidance as an effort to move organizations from discovery to implementation through a series of steps designed to encourage modularity and ...