Sean Connelly, who has been long been a prime mover on zero trust and other security policies for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), will soon be leaving Federal government service to join cloud security provider Zscaler, the company confirmed to MeriTalk.
Stephen Kovac, who is Global Chief Compliance Officer at Zscaler, confirmed the move, saying that Connelly will join the company as a “global Zero Trust and secure access service edge (SASE) policy and compliance leader.”
“Sean’s wealth of knowledge makes him the perfect choice to help Zscaler continue our Zero Trust and SASE dominance around the world,” Kovac said. “We are excited to have him share his experience with our customers in support of their missions.”
Connelly currently carries the title of Senior Cybersecurity Architect at CISA and has long served as program manager of the agency’s Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) initiative.
A frequent speaker on the Federal technology conference circuit, Connelly has also become the agency’s most public face on the push for zero trust security across Federal civilian agencies. He explained earlier this year that CISA was moving to consolidate disparate zero trust security policy functions into a new single office at the agency, and observers outside the agency assumed Connelly would head up that new Zero Trust Initiative office.
For a quick catch-up on Connelly’s accomplishments at CISA and his earlier service elsewhere in the Federal government, check out our December 2023 interview with him that covers a wide range of CISA-directed security programs, why security architectures need to keep changing for the better, and some of the most important things that Federal agencies can do to make those changes happen quickly.
