February 1, 2026 | Intelligence Community News

As digital transformation continues driving change in federal agencies’ operating environments, the need for edge-level data protection has never been greater. Cloud and edge environments are essentially becoming micro data centers, taking on many of the IT core infrastructure characteristics formerly reserved for large HQ facilities. Bolstered by renewed interest in the  Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act, there has been a rise in core-level IT capabilities at the network edge government-wide.

This interest, however, introduces some challenges for extending core-level security to edge environments. For example, solutions for these edge environments may be constrained by specific, size, weight and power demands, and may require more elaborate data protection technology.

When developing an ecosystem to protect data at the edge, it’s important to consider several key principles, namely size constraints, the threat of hostile access, managing cryptographic keys, controlling access, protecting mission-critical data in transit, and complying with regulatory requirements.