Originally designed to thwart minor malicious codes, Security Operations Centers (SOC’s) have evolved over the last 50 years what they are today; centers that provide 24 hour protection, 365 days of the year to for key government organizations. Even so, the profusion of threat vectors prove to be a challenge and many SOC’s will need to upgrade in order to keep up with the current threat landscape.
In this week’s episode of Feds At the Edge, we gather leaders who have decades of experience in optimizing the performance of an SOC. Together they share tool management and versatility, the importance of standards in automation, and resources freely available to any agency. We will also discuss the dangers of alert fatigue, and how CISA can assist overwhelmed operators before a threat is misidentified.
Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform now.
To view this webinar: Bringing Agility to the Modern Security Operations Center.
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Robert Roser
Chief Information Security Officer
Robert “Rob” Roser is a particle physicist and currently serves as Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Chief Information Security Officer as well as Director for Cybersecurity and Chief Data Officer. He joined INL four years go.
Prior to INL, Rob spent 25 years at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), America’s premier particle physics laboratory located outside of Chicago Illinois where he held the role of distinguished scientist and served in a number of scientific and laboratory leadership roles.
Most recently at Fermilab, Roser served as the project scientist for the lab’s $3.2B flagship project the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) where he was charged with the design and construction of a high intensity neutrino beam and capable of delivering a megawatt powered beam aimed at a detector located in western South Dakota.
Prior to that, Roser served as the lab’s Chief Information Officer (CIO). In this role, he was responsible for scientific (high performance) computing, business systems, and information technology governance as well as cyber security.
Earlier in his career, Roser led for almost a decade Fermilab’s flagship experiment the Collider Detector Experiment (CDF) which operated in the Tevatron accelerator. This experiment, consisted of more than 700 scientists from 60 academic institutions across 15 countries, CDF is best known for the discovery of the Top Quark and first evidence of the long sought-after Higgs Boson. Under Roser’s leadership the experiment published ~450 refereed scientific papers.
Dr. Roser received his bachelor’s degree from the Univ. of Connecticut and his doctorate from the Univ. of Rochester; he was a post-doctoral research associate at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining Fermilab as a Wilson Fellow. He is a member of numerous scientific advisory panels, a fellow of the American Physical Society and is the author of over 670-refereed publications.
Chief Information Security Officer,
Idaho National Laboratory
Michael Skwarek
Deputy CIO & CISO
Michael A. Skwarek, a prominent leader in the information technology (IT) and cyber security field, is the Deputy Chief Information Office and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Argonne National Laboratory, a Department of Energy National Laboratory.
As an active participant in the IT and Cyber Security fields for the past twenty years, Michael is responsible for the effective implementation of the laboratory’s risk balanced cyber security and information protection programs, along with the strategic direction, management, and oversight of the central IT organization.
He received a Master’s degree from DePaul University in Computer Science, Telecommunications and Cyber Security in 2002. Earlier, he received a BS degree from Lewis University in Computer Science in 1996.
Deputy CIO & CISO,
Argonne National Laboratory
Michael Duffy
Division Associate Director, Cybersecurity
Michael Duffy is the Associate Director for Capacity Building within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cybersecurity Division. In this role, he oversees the management and growth of CISA’s enterprise cybersecurity service portfolio including the federal civilian government’s flagship cybersecurity program, the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program, and the Cybersecurity Shared Services Office; leads interagency cybersecurity risk management and governance through the development and execution of key federal cybersecurity operational policies and initiatives; and assists federal information technology executives, cybersecurity practitioners, and other national stakeholders with meeting security and technology modernization goals.
Over fifteen years at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Mr. Duffy has held various leadership positions in government-wide policy, strategic and operational planning, and program management across various DHS mission areas to include counterterrorism, border security, emergency management, and cybersecurity. At CISA, Mr. Duffy built the cybersecurity directives program which established the federal government and CISA as an industry leader in cybersecurity; transformed how CISA coordinates with interagency partners to influence, communicate, and implement government-wide priorities; and designed and matured the United States’ first government-wide shared cybersecurity services office which provides modern security capabilities to over one hundred agencies and protects over four million assets. He began his work with the DHS as a Policy Honors Fellow in the Immediate Office of the Secretary and, throughout his career, has worked to increase the nation’s readiness, resiliency, and security posture against the full spectrum of risks.
Mr. Duffy earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the George Washington University, obtained an executive certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executive Fellows program, and is the recipient of several awards such as the FCW Fed100, CyberScoop 50, and the Secretary’s Meritorious Service award for his contributions to national-level cybersecurity.
Division Associate Director,
Cybersecurity, CISA
Josh Levine
Federal Solutions Architect – Automation & Orchestration
Josh Levine is a pre-sales solutions architect focusing on the Cortex XSOAR automation and orchestration platform, and supports all US federal customers with Palo Alto Networks. In this capacity, he is responsible for the technical engineering of proof of concept/proof of value solutions to demonstrate product capability for customers in their environment. Prior to this role, Josh worked as a pre-sales systems engineer for Palo Alto Networks supporting combatant commands of the US Department of Defense, specifically focusing on US Central Command and US Special Operations Command.
In his past life, Josh spent sixteen years in the US Army before being medically retried as a Chief Warrant Officer 3. During his time in uniform, Josh was assigned to a variety of highly competitive units to include the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG), the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the Joint Communications Unit (JCU), and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Global Field Command. He has held multiple roles in the US Army that include satellite communicator, systems administrator, network engineer, cybersecurity engineer, and concluding with his role as the Chief Technical Officer at DISA Global supporting the Joint Regional Security Stack (JRSS) program.
Josh holds a Master of Science degree in Information Assurance along with a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Networking from from Regis University. Additionally, Josh holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, seven GIAC certifications, the PCNSA and PCSAE certifications, and the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification.
Federal Solutions Architect – Automation
& Orchestration, Palo Alto Networks
John Breeden
Moderator & Contributing Editor
FedInsider Contributing Editor John Breeden II is an award winning journalist and reviewer who has spent 20 years working in the federal, technology and government space. Articles and reviews written by him have appeared in numerous national publications including Chief Security Officer, Stars and Stripes, The Washington Post, NextGov Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Technology, Network World, The Sacramento Bee, The Boston Globe, Government Computer News, Up Front New Mexico and many others.
For FedInsider, he has written many articles and white papers and acted as the moderator for over 20 interviews featuring federal, state and local officials discussing technology, policy and governmental issues.
In addition to his normal writing, Breeden has authored two technical how-to type computer books published by Prompt Publications. Those titles, Exploring Microsoft Office and Guide to Webcams enjoyed both commercial success and reviewer acclaim. He is also the founding publisher and chief editor of Gameindustry.com, one of the longest running publications covering the video game industry. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group of professional journalists who craft thought leadership projects for government and private organizations.
He has twice been awarded Jessie H. Neal gold medals for excellence in business journalism as well as numerous national awards for journalism by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Moderator & Contributing Editor,
FedInsider
