Cloud Security Alliance launches Certificate of Competence in Zero Trust (CCZT)

SEATTLE – Nov. 15, 2023 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), an organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today announced the launch of the industry’s first authoritative Zero Trust training and credential—the Certificate of Competence in Zero Trust (CCZT).

Recognizing that organizations have different maturity levels for their security program and may be challenged to find skilled staff critical to the development and implementation of a Zero Trust strategy, CSA created the CCZT to help security professionals build knowledge to drive the definition, implementation and management of Zero Trust.

“From industrial control systems to cloud computing to generative AI, the world of pervasive technology has outraced legacy security models. Zero Trust ‘never trust, always verify’ principles are clearly the path forward, and we anticipate virtually all organizations to apply this strategy to diverse technological environments in order to protect strategic assets and prevent breaches. Cloud Security Alliance is pleased to be first to the market with Zero Trust training and certification that leverages the best practices articulated by leading industry experts, standards bodies, and governments. The Certificate of Competence in Zero Trust (CCZT) educational program is comprehensive, necessary, and applicable to all organizations and cybersecurity professionals,” said Jim Reavis, CEO and co-founder, Cloud Security Alliance.

The CCZT provides an in-depth understanding of Zero Trust architecture, its components, and its functioning and includes foundational Zero Trust best practices released by leading authoritative sources such as CISA and NIST, innovative work around the Software Defined Perimeter (SDP) by CSA Research, and guidance from renowned Zero Trust experts such as John Kindervag, founder of the Zero Trust philosophy and one of the world’s foremost cybersecurity experts.

“I’m extremely grateful to the Cloud Security Alliance for taking up the Zero Trust banner with the delivery of the CCZT, the world’s first authentic, non-vendor-specific training and certificate that delivers the knowledge needed to understand the core concepts of Zero Trust. The sheer volume of passionate volunteers CSA has been able to bring together to collaborate on the development of Zero Trust tools and best practices is incredibly exciting,” said John Kindervag, chief evangelist, Illumio, and security advisor, Offices of the CEO and President, Cloud Security Alliance.

With Zero Trust established as the future of information security—Gartner estimates that 60% of organizations are expected to embrace Zero Trust by 2025—a Zero Trust-based approach will inevitably become a requirement for organizations and a required skill for a range of security professionals, including security engineers and architects, C-suite and decision-makers entrusted with building a Zero Trust-governance and risk posture, and compliance managers.

Earning the CCZT is critical for organizations that must maintain strong security postures and for security professionals to ensure they are equipped to implement the robust security measures required from taking a Zero Trust approach.

Backed by the titans of Zero Trust, the CCZT is the industry’s first Zero Trust certificate built by integrating the guidance of Zero Trust experts, foundational documents from authoritative sources, and innovative leadership from vendor-neutral CSA Research. CSA is honored to introduce the Inaugural Class of CCZT recipients who continue to lead the industry with the creation and adoption of critical tools to improve Zero Trust knowledge:

• John Kindervag, Creator of Zero Trust, Chief Evangelist, Illumio
• Juanita Koilpillai*, Founder/Former CEO Resiliant and Founder, Waverly Labs
• Tammy Bean, Zero Trust Partner & Relationship Lead, DoD
• Leslie Call, DoD CIO Zero Trust PfMO Deputy Director, DoD
• Jerry Chapman, Chief Identity Officer, Fischer Identity
• Jay Chaudhry, CEO, Chairman, and Founder, ZScaler (ZTAC co-founder)
• Jerry Cochran, Deputy Chief Information Officer & Division Director, Cybersecurity & DigitalOps Division in the Computing & IT Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
• Sean Connelly, Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Program Manager and CSD/OTD, CISA
• Chase Cunningham, Chief Strategy Officer, Ericom
• George Finney, Chief Information Security Officer, Southern Methodist University
• Bob Flores, Co-founder and Partner, Cognitio
• Sanjit Ganguli, Vice President, Transformation Strategy, Field CTO, ZScaler
• Jason Garbis, Founder and Principal, Numberline Security
• Ian Horne, IT Security and Operations Director, Kaplan International
• Chris Hogan, Vice President, Information Security Engineering, Mastercard
• Junaid Islam, Secure Communications Expert
• Brett James, CTO in Residence, ZScaler
• Jacob Kline, Principal Cyber Architecture and Resiliency Engineer, MITRE
• Shruti Kulkarni, Cybersecurity Architect, 6point6
• George Kurtz, CEO & Co-Founder, CrowdStrike (ZTAC co-founder)
• Rob LaMagna-Reiter, Vice President, Information Security & Compliance, and CISO, Hudl
• Todd McKinnon, CEO & Co-Founder, Okta (ZTAC co-founder)
• Matthew Meersman, MITRE
• Rich Mogull, CEO, Securosis
• Robert Morris, Lead Cybersecurity Architect, MITRE
• Chris Niggel, Regional CSO, Americas, Okta
• Vinay Patel, CISO, Finastra
• Paul Simmonds, CEO, The Global Identity Foundation
• Mari Spina, Sr. Principal Cyber Security Engineer, MITRE
• Chris Steffen, Vice President of Research, Enterprise Management Associates

* Juanita Koilpillai was awarded a CCZT certificate posthumously in honor and recognition of her pioneering achievements in Software Defined Perimeter, which serves as the backbone of a Zero Trust security architecture.

Introductory pricing for the CCZT is available through December 31, 2023.  You can learn more about the CCZT and its Zero Trust Training modules or explore CSA’s full portfolio of Zero Trust resources in the Zero Trust Advancement Center.