CyberCast

The U.S. Digital Corps is bringing innovation to agencies through early-career technologists. Operated by the General Services Administration (GSA) Technology Transformation Services (TTS), the Corps' fellowship program gives individuals the ability to find themselves working on critical issues at the intersection of technology and public service.

Digital Corps fellow Jamila Crawford on the cybersecurity track in the program is assigned to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). She discusses her work at CISA's Shared Services Division, her career and cybersecurity priorities in government.

JCDC Partnerships International, which sits within CISA's cybersecurity division, works with 150 partners worldwide with the goal of sharing and exchanging critical information allowing the U.S. to respond to cyber threats faster, protect the country's critical infrastructure more effectively and relay that information to its international counterparts to do the same.

Patricia Soler, Section Chief for JCDC Partnerships International at CISA, discusses the mechanisms that a fast-growing organization like CISA needs to have in place to process large volumes of information that can be shared with public and private sectors and its international partners. She also talks about CISA's ransomware notifications that alert organizations of a ransomware attack before the damage occurs.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is amid a cybersecurity modernization plan to put identity management and zero trust at the forefront of the biggest security threats facing technology teams.

Jeff Spaeth, deputy CISO and executive director of information security operations at VA, is a bit of a boomerang. A veteran himself and longstanding cybersecurity professional, he returns to VA under a new cybersecurity modernization strategy. Spaeth discusses what this "Zero Trust First" strategy looks like, the key tools the agency employs to stay ahead of threats and where he sees emerging technologies impacting the space most.

This episode is sponsored by CyberArk.

In its recently released National Intelligence Strategy, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence outlines the strategic direction for the Intelligence Community (IC) over the next four years. In it, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines notes the dramatically changing environment in which the IC operates, including the IT environment. Innovation, information sharing and cyber workforce development are points of emphasis in the document, which reflects the input of officials from each of the 18 elements making up the IC.

The White House recently released it National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy to enhance and unleash America's cyber talent. The plan addresses the workforce needs in the public and private sectors by introducing cybersecurity concepts throughout all levels of education. The document proposes making advanced occupational training in cyber more accessible and affordable. Agencies and industry partners have signed onto the document, which builds on longstanding White House workforce goals.

Staff Writer Anastasia Obis and Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune discuss the document's points of emphasis, its goals and the cybersecurity workforce challenges which the White House looks to address with the plan.

Military cyber leaders repeatedly say zero trust is critical, essential and integral to the Defense Department's Joint All-Domain Command-and-Control (JADC2) concept. A zero trust approach to cybersecurity helps organizations improve data security, manage users on the network and facilitate data interoperability, all key components of JADC2. Enjoy this preview of our upcoming GovFocus, "Zero Trust Enabling the Future Joint Force," featuring leaders from U.S. Navy and industry. Register to watch at https://governmentciomedia.com/govfocus/zero-trust-enabling-future-joint-force

The Office of Management and Budget along with the Office of the National Cyber Director released a memo laying out cybersecurity investment areas that agencies will have to include as they make their budgetary decisions for the next fiscal year. We break down those investment areas, how it ties to the recently released National Cybersecurity Strategy and what to expect in the coming months.

Emerging technologies are proving to be very beneficial to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration when it comes to climate modeling, behavior analytics and its overall mission. Not only has automation technologies played a key role in NOAA's weather forecasting and environmental monitoring, but also machine learning has been a huge help in the areas of threat detection and vulnerability assessment. Longstanding cyber leader Chi Kang, deputy director for operations in NOAA's Cyber Security Division, highlights some of NOAA's cyber modernization goals for this year including how the agency is working to attract the best cyber talent and moving closer toward a zero-trust architecture.

Since 2018, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been on a journey to the cloud to streamline operations, drive down expenses, better protect data and improve business operations. The agency's Deputy Director of Infrastructure Operations Kendall Krebs explains how VA is looking to not only use cloud to improve the speed and quality of its application development, but also secure this digital environment — leveraging platforms like VA Platform One (VAPO) to speed authority to operate and trim application deployment cycles. Throughout this journey, culture change is key. Krebs dives into next steps and latest updates.

The Marine Corps is on track to being one of the most distributed forces ever with significant command, control, communications, intelligence and cyber capabilities. A unified network with modernized network equipment is critical to operating in this environment. Cyber Technology Officer Shery Thomas discusses the Marine Crops' efforts to combine networks with multiple classification levels into a single enterprise, how the service plans to better secure its systems and bring those capabilities to the edge.