EPOCH CONCEPTS // AZTECAZTEC
Advanced Zero Trust Enterprise Capability
Identify your critical protect surfaces and build zero trust strategy around what actually matters to your mission.
Stop chasing the attack surface. Start defining what you actually need to protect.
The Problem
Every vendor wants to sell you a zero trust "solution." None of them know your protect surfaces.
Zero trust isn't a product you can buy. It's a strategy for protecting your most critical infrastructure, one protect surface at a time. But that requires knowing what those protect surfaces actually are in your specific environment.
Undefined protect surfaces. You know you have critical data, applications, and services. But you haven't mapped which ones matter most, how they interact, or where trust boundaries should be drawn.
Brownfield complexity. Legacy applications, fragmented identity systems, hybrid on-prem/cloud/OT environments. Your critical infrastructure wasn't designed for zero trust and can't be ripped out.
No transaction flow visibility. You can't protect what you can't see. Without mapping how users, applications, and data actually interact, you're guessing at policy.
Compliance pressure without clarity. You need to hit DoD ZT targets. But you don't know which investments actually move you toward them given your starting point and your mission priorities.
The Approach
Protect surfaces, not attack surfaces.
We follow the proven zero trust methodology established by federal security practitioners. Instead of trying to defend an infinite attack surface, we shrink the problem to what actually matters: your critical Data, Applications, Assets, and Services.
The protect surface becomes a problem that's solvable, versus a problem like the attack surface that's actually unsolvable. You build zero trust out incrementally, one protect surface at a time.
The Offer
A half-day working session to identify your protect surfaces.
No pitch deck. No product demo. We sit down with your technical and program leadership to map your critical DAAS elements, understand your transaction flows, and determine what a realistic zero trust path looks like for your brownfield environment.
Initial protect surface inventory — a working list of your most critical Data, Applications, Assets, and Services ranked by mission impact and risk exposure.
Transaction flow sketch — a preliminary map of how users, applications, and data interact across your critical infrastructure.
Gap assessment — where your current posture falls short against DoD ZT pillars for your highest-priority protect surfaces.
Go/no-go recommendation — whether a full six-week gap analysis makes sense for your situation, and what it would involve.
Who You'll Work With
Our President Kevin Mackey brings direct federal experience from his roles at Sun Microsystems, ADIC, NetApp and Epoch Concepts in engineering, solution design and large-scale program support, while Patrick Parnell, our VP for Sales, Air, Land, Space & National Security, leads our integrated solutions with a military veteran perspective and years of contract and sales management in the Aerospace and Defense arena. Jackie Stewart strengthens our U.S. Public Sector capabilities with deep technical expertise in presales systems engineering and go-to-market programs that align mission requirements with innovative solutions.
Our Expertise, Your Critical Assets
Zero trust is a journey, not a destination. We build it out incrementally, starting with your most critical protect surfaces.
Define & Map
Deep technical assessment to fully define your protect surfaces and map transaction flows. We identify all DAAS elements, how they interact, and where your current controls fall short against DoD's 152 zero trust activities across the seven pillars.
Architect
Three implementation paths (good / better / best) with realistic timelines, budgets, and tradeoffs. Designed from the inside out, placing controls as close as possible to each protect surface.
Implement & Validate
Hardware procurement through your preferred contract vehicle. Installation and configuration by certified engineers. Validation against DoD pillars before handoff. One protect surface at a time, non-disruptively.
Monitor & Maintain
Continuous monitoring, policy updates, and compliance verification. Telemetry feedback to continuously improve security posture. Zero trust isn't a checkbox — it's an operating posture you maintain.
Start with the half-day session.
If you're facing a zero trust mandate and don't know which protect surfaces to prioritize first, this is lower-risk than picking a vendor and hoping they understand your critical infrastructure.
Available to all DoD, IC, and Federal Civilian programs as well as critical asset based commercial entities.