Securing a Federal Financial System that Serves Over 17 Million Students Annually

The Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid performs many critical services, including the handling, decision-making, and processing of over 17 million student aid applications annually. They partnered with Koniag to plan and develop their Zero Trust architecture of the future.

Primary Goals

Perform a comprehensive Zero Trust assessment of the current loan servicing systems

Deliver robust architecture recommendations, moving their agency towards Zero Trust goals

Identify vulnerabilities in people, processes, software, and hardware used within the agency

Areas for focus

Zero Trust Architecture
SDLC & SSCS Assessment
ICAM Authentication
Incident Response Planning
Vulnerability Management Planning
Device EOL & EOS Review

The work accomplished

As part of a robust Zero Trust assessment to help their agency meet standards set forth in Presidential Executive Order 14028, we analyzed and delivered maturity scores across all five ZTA pillars and cross-cutting sections of the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model 2.0.

In addition to the comprehensive assessment, Koniag created best practices for loan servicers to improve areas spanning identity management, supply chain security, response preparedness, device compliance, and more.

Results delivered

Koniag completed Zero Trust assessments on all Federal Student Loan Servicing Organizations, and the findings are being leveraged in the creation of an Enterprise Risk Dashboard at the FSA. Our assessments and support also helped satisfy IRS 1075 Federal Tax Information (FTI) requirements for Authority to Operate (ATO) and continuous monitoring processes.

The Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid is now in a stronger, more secure position, helping them deliver on their critical mission, serving tens of millions of students annually.