Everyone will have a retrospective on events from the year 2020. From the perspective of a federal information technology professional, two of the big mountains are dealing with cybersecurity and the move to the cloud.Today, we have three subject matter experts in the studio to expand on tools that can have federal leaders rest assured in today’s dangerous environment. Rubrik [...]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most federal agencies needed to evolve their policies and best practices in order to safely operate within a new working environment that centered on telework. And as more federal employees have been forced to telework, agencies have had to implement new security measures to protect sensitive data. One of the best assets for doing [...]
One tool to improve cybersecurity is Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation (CDM), a program from the Department of Homeland Security. Most people familiar with federal information technology know about CDM; what is unique about today’s discussion is the perspective on CDM from the US Army as well as how structuring systems for CDM has been impacted by COVID-19. Although the [...]
When the COVID crisis hit federal agencies, leaders had to assess what tools they had on the shelf and what they planned on deploying for remote access. Today’s interview shows how four federal leaders managed to ramp up services for remote users. Microsoft Teams was a great way to collaborate, yet it was underused at the National Science Foundation. [...]
As more employees work remotely, new cybersecurity concerns move to the forefront As a response to the global pandemic, most federal agencies have transformed their workforces from mostly on-premise operations over to having a majority of their employees teleworking, with many state and local governments following that same plan. For many of the employees of those agencies, working [...]
We saw a dramatic shift in 2020 from office to home. Here is a discussion that gives some of the details on how that transformation happened in the federal government. We have two federal leaders and two commercial technical subject matter experts to talk details about how the shift was made to a dynamic workforce. Sam Musa, the CIO [...]
2020 will be remembered as a time of federal professionals getting accustomed to working from home. Many will talk about the flexibility exhibited by systems managers in responding to an 80% increase in remote users. Behind the scenes were the acquisition professionals who enabled the tech experts to accomplish that herculean task. Today, we will begin a three-part discussion [...]
Network failure is simply not an option—it’s always been true of government services, but it’s an idea that has become soberingly urgent as the landscape of government has shifted. Government agencies are increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure to drive internal development activities, serve their constituents, execute critical operations and remain on mission. To that end, most federal agencies have [...]
In the past decade, the federal government has become increasingly dependent on communication systems that must be reliable in a disaster. The COVID crisis has stress-tested many of these solutions. Shaden Sorrosh states that from March to October of 2020, Windstream saw a 50% increase in voice traffic and a 30% increase in data traffic. We have all seen [...]
Part 3: The Voter Experience This is the third of a three-part series that looks at election security from many perspectives. In this episode, we have a state official, an election association leader, an FBI analyst, a subject matter expert from a federal election association, and a well-known cybersecurity expert talk about the presidential election of 2020. Residents [...]
Both private companies and government institutions have their cybersecurity defenses tested all the time. Attacks are commonplace regardless of an organization’s size or their industry. As such, good cybersecurity and all of the various techniques and tactics used by defenders to protect their networks and assets have become a fundamental requirement for conducting any kind of business or online [...]
Part 2: Transparency, Reporting & Misinformation This is a fantastic podcast if you are interested in perspectives on election security from election officials, academia, and cybersecurity practitioners. This discussion begins by putting you in the seat of election officials who must mitigate technological concerns that involve transparency and security at the same time. Most listeners know that in [...]
2020 will go down in history books with two dominating topics: COVID and the presidential election. This interview is part one of a two-part series that will look at securing the voting process. We have experts from state governments, academia, and the world of technology and cybersecurity give opinions, as well as predictions, as to what will happen in [...]
World’s Largest Employer Transforms Approach to Intelligence Community Needs Driven by previously unknown challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has become a year highlighted by many unplanned public sector innovations. One of the best examples of this is how Department of Defense agencies rapidly expanded and streamlined their virtual private networks (VPNs) while simultaneously increasing bandwidth capacity to [...]
As employees dig in for long-term telework, government agencies are trying to streamline remote working technologies and practices. This year has been an extremely challenging one for federal employees. Instead of commuting to their normal office spaces, they must now clean up their spare rooms and kitchen tables to create home offices and makeshift workspaces. Before COVID-19 [...]
In today’s interview, moderator Francis Rose sits down with two panels of experts on the issue of airport security. Each person brings a unique perspective to the discussion. We have participants from trade associations, federal agencies, and technology partners. The discussion starts with the opportunity that the reduction in flights gives for airports gives people responsible for safe flights. [...]