Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

It is difficult to pinpoint an exact number, but some statistics show an executive is five times more likely to be attacked than a regular employee. It makes sense. If you receive a suspicious email from a fellow employee, do not respond. However, if you receive an email from the CEO, you are more likely to react more aggressively.

In today's interview, Richard Fleeman and Ricky Freeman from Fortreum Labs discussed the increased risk executives face, citing a 74% human error rate in breaches.

How do malicious actors get personal information on an executive? Sometimes, leaders are too active on social media and, for example, post when they are on vacation. If an employee gets fooled, he may transfer assets online.

Okay, we know ransomware is on the rise drastically, and companies are vulnerable – what can an executive do to prevent this activity?

Richard Fleeman observes that once the money is transferred, it is exceedingly difficult to find a resolution. He suggests that prevention is the best approach.

Start with social media and see if you are revealing your email or confidential information. Some call this oversharing. Multi Factor Authentication is a terrific way to limit access to your accounts.

People often use the same password. Humans tend to repeat passwords. "Password spraying" can be used to break into accounts.

Fortreum offers a service to help executives avoid these common pitfalls. They can start with publicly available data and then move onto the dark web.

Ricky Freeman notes that attacks like the OMB breach often result in data for sale on the dark web. He has developed tools that enable the scraping of the dark web to determine if an executive can compromise sensitive information.

Hard to expunge – easier to opt out Dark web. Even if your compromised information is extant on the dark web, you may not be able to do anything about it.

Fortreum's services include manual testing, attack surface analysis, and dark web scraping to identify vulnerabilities and provide recommendations.

You can get an idea of your vulnerability by taking advantage of guides to see if you are exposed. 

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

The federal government manages a great deal of sensitive information that it is reluctant to share with other agencies or organizations. However, isolation means important decision-making data can be inadvertently withheld from leaders.

The simple term "collaborate" can be easily applied in a classroom. Still, it becomes almost impossible with petabytes of data that have varying levels of security, such as classified, secret, and top secret.

Even if the puzzle of sharing data is solved, the issue of data classification changes and data being attacked with malicious code remains.

Sean Berg is the CEO of Everfox, a company that has spent the last twenty-five years solving this data problem by using cross-domain technologies.

During the interview, Sean Berg discusses the role of AI in ensuring data integrity, the challenges posed by legacy systems, and the critical nature of data management in national security and digital transformation.

Sean Berg moves beyond Cross Domain Solutions to Everfox's Content Disarm and Reconstruct (CDR) technology. With this approach, the document is opened and examined for malicious code, then copied. CDR is a tool for ensuring data integrity and preventing malware infiltration, allowing for safe and secure collaboration between federal entities.

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Sometimes, a company becomes so large that it is difficult to be specific about how it can help any organization, especially one as vast as the federal government.

Today, we sit down with Ron Bushar, Chief Information Security Officer & Managing Director – Google Public Sector. We address many of the significant concerns federal technology leaders have regarding topics such as cloud-native, edge computing, and Zero Trust.

This is a rudimentary overview of working with Google Public Sector. If you would like to connect in more detail, you can attend the free Google Public Sector event in late October. The focus will be on the investments Google Public Sector has made in AI and security.

Ron Bushar begins the discussion by highlighting the benefits of transitioning to cloud-native applications. Modern applications demand availability anytime and anywhere.

Emphasizing applications that can leverage the cloud provides scalability and security that are often lacking in older systems. Furthermore, when one combines cloud-native with AI, the result is a lighter-weight platform that can be used worldwide to support missions.

This "anywhere" concept encompasses areas of the world that require remote access, which is increasingly referred to as edge computing. Google has provided international access since its early years, and it has the capability that can allow federal technology to be connected at the edge.

Most federal security conversations today involve the concept of Zero Trust. Ron Bushar makes the point that Google was a pioneer in Zero Trust.

Listen to the interview to hear about

·      70% discount

·      Agentic AI

·      Hardening of Google  

·      Gemini and federal applications

Even better, attend the Google Public Sector event on October 29, 2025. 

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Virtualitics, a company spun out of Caltech and NASA JPL in 2016, focuses on applying advanced AI to mission-critical challenges, including asset availability, personnel readiness, and supply chain optimization.

During the interview, Rob Bocek, Chief Revenue Officer at Virtualitics, provides listeners with insight into how his company can enhance Air Force readiness while ensuring explainability and democratizing AI.

Sometimes, AI is described as a "black box" where one pours in data and out pops an answer. In a life-or-death scenario that many military organizations face, this arbitrary approach will not suffice. As a result, solutions provided by Virtualitics, document the process carefully.

Listening to the customer is key to understanding supply chain problems.  Rob Bocek details how his team will get close to the end user. This can be a "democratic" approach where a wide variety of input is absorbed. Virtualitics aims to identify the root causes of pain and determine what specifically needs to be solved.

He highlights their ability to detect anomalies, optimize training pipelines, and anticipate equipment failures. Once these preliminaries are brought together, the most tremendous success will be accomplished when leadership takes risks.

Looking ahead, Virtualitics is hosting the Frontiers of AI for Readiness Summit at Caltech to convene DoD leaders, academics, industry, and investors. Bocek emphasizes partnerships across technology providers, cloud platforms, and startups as essential to scaling AI solutions and accelerating the DoD's adoption.

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

In 1987 Microsoft introduced PowerPoint, it is one of the few applications that has endured almost four decades! Today, we look at some options that incorporate more flexible ways to innovate.

Charles Firey from Excella provides listeners three ways to make a transition from PowerPoint to modern applications.  He discusses setting temporary instances of a modification, making sure this approach is consistent, and where to look for opportunities to apply this dynamic method.

Sandbox. Instead of worrying about managing sensitive data, create a sandbox or synthetic data environment to enable quick concept demonstrations without compromising security or compliance. Once a federal leader can see the proposed solution, iterations can take place in a more effective manner.

Consistent. Once the concept of a "sandbox" has been established, think about federal security considerations. Develop a consistent approach for creating prototypes that align with production-ready compliance requirements that include protecting data at rest and data in transit.

Opportunities  - Identify opportunities to incorporate rapid prototyping as part of the method. Not every technical problem can be solved with improving interactions with websites; however, many areas can be helped if you know how to apply an iterative approach to software development.

Charles notes that Excella uses synthetic data and consistent workflows to ensure prototypes align with production standards. The conversation also touches on the cost-effectiveness and future potential of AI-driven prototyping in federal projects.

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

In boardrooms across America, members are slowly starting to notice the proliferation of cyber-attacks. It is one thing to recognize the danger, quite another to do something about it.

Board members may ask, how does a company's risk profile compare to others? What is a reasonable amount of money to budget for cybersecurity? What about company growth & change? Are there tools to use to approximate risk level?

Today, Ben Scudera from Fortreum jumps feet first and answers the tough questions Ben admits that financial estimates are always difficult, he suggests  a typical  spend of   ½ % - 2%  of a company's annual budget for a typical company. If you are in a regulated environment, perhaps one like a hospital or bank, you may need to revise that estimate.

Risk prioritization will have to vary based on the circumstances of each organization. Some start at a weak baseline, others can be quite safe.

Even if you are secure, what happens in the future is your company acquires another? What about drastic growth in sales and plant expansion? How to keep up with new attack vectors?

Ben's goal is to provide an understanding of the threat without any scare tactics. One approach is to use a guideline from Fortreum's Cyberfoundation  that includes eighteen metrics. This view allows leaders to prioritize remediation efforts.

He highlights the importance of continuous risk management and education to combat evolving threats like ransomware and phishing attacks.

Here is a link to the guidelines from Fortreum:

Ep. 264 How Automation Is Accelerating Digital Transformation Across Federal Agencies

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

In this episode of the Federal Tech Podcast, host John Gilroy interviews Nabil Amiri, Vice President of Business Development for the federal practice at NWN. The discussion introduces NWN's expanding role in helping federal agencies adopt advanced technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), as part of broader digital transformation efforts.

Amiri explains NWN's recent acquisition of Leverage Information, a move that brought deep federal experience—especially with defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies—into NWN's already strong commercial portfolio. This merger allows NWN to deliver robust, secure IT solutions tailored to the complexities of federal requirements such as FedRAMP, STIGs, and Zero Trust. He emphasizes that innovation and compliance can—and must—coexist in the federal space.

The conversation touches on the real-world challenges federal agencies face, like outdated systems, budget cuts, workforce reductions, and tool sprawl. Amiri critiques the proliferation of "single panes of glass" in IT environments, which often complicate rather than simplify operations. NWN's strength lies in delivering visibility across systems, reducing complexity, and enabling security and automation through integrated, scalable platforms.

Key themes include Zero Trust architecture, infrastructure modernization, automation, and streamlining tech procurement. NWN's flexible acquisition pathways (e.g., via GSA and SEWP contracts) make it easier for agencies to respond quickly to crises like COVID or cyberattacks.

On AI, Amiri emphasizes its role in real-time data analysis to improve visibility and prevent outages, critical for mission continuity. NWN remains vendor-neutral, working with a broad ecosystem of partners to deliver best-in-class, mission-focused outcomes.

Looking ahead, Amiri confidently predicts that AI will become foundational to all federal IT strategies, driving operational resilience and transformation in the next five years. The interview sets the stage for deeper dives into emerging topics like agentic AI and cloud-native strategies in future discussions.

Ep. 263  How Microsoft Drives Cloud-Powered Transformation in Federal Agencies  

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Microsoft has been a behemoth in the world of information technology since its founding in 1985. The only way to understand how Microsoft can impact the federal government is to take a topic like AI and conduct a thorough analysis.

Today, we sat down with Wole Moses, the Chief AI Officer for Microsoft Federal. He shares his perspective on how Microsoft's innovation can help federal agencies achieve their ambitious goals. Essentially, we discuss AI's role in cyber threats, legacy infrastructure, and compliance.

Moses explains that Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot, is integrated into various products to enhance productivity. He emphasizes the importance of a strategic approach to AI, aligning projects with agency missions and goals.

Moses discusses the potential of AI to modernize legacy systems and processes, improve cybersecurity, and support software developers.

In AI, multimodal refers to a system that utilizes text, images, audio, and even video. He also highlights the need for multimodal AI to expand communication capabilities and the importance of compliance with frameworks like FedRAMP and NIST RMF.

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Today, we discuss the importance of user experience for federal websites with guests Amanda Chavez and Rishi Vajpayee from Qualtrics.

The expansion covers topics such as cost savings, automation, and the impact of unstructured data on how websites provide information.

COST SAVINGS

Older systems in the federal government may have been designed to optimize for one function. When new administrations are elected, it is possible that alterations can be made, and the existing system can lead to inefficiency and slow data utilization.

During the interview, Amanda Chavez details how a company like Qualtrics can help federal leaders understand friction points. This is especially effective when making a transition to the cloud.

Bottlenecks are identified, and the remedy is provided, enabling the complete flexibility of the cloud to be leveraged.

AUTOMATION

Federal agencies are encouraged to do more with less. Automation can provide the solution to this challenge. Frequently, self-service channels can provide information to citizens faster and more reliably than a traditional human in a call center can.

UNSTRUCTURED DATA

Rishi Vajpayee discusses some of the weaknesses in how surveys about web experience have been conducted. He notes that unstructured data, such as text, email, and feedback, provides a much richer and deeper understanding of how to enhance a website's effectiveness.

Qualtrics' upcoming federal summit in August aims to address these issues and improve service delivery. The Qualtrics Federal Summit event in August 2025 will discuss improving the federal website.

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

The current administration has a focus on reducing costs while also improving the delivery of goods and services. When it comes to handling data, innovations in code generated by artificial intelligence have enabled this remarkable goal.

The challenge arises when transitioning from the data center to the hospital. " Fail early" may be a mantra for a software developer, but in a healthcare situation, it is unacceptable.  

Today, we sat down with two executives from Phillips and explored the value of applying mobile technology to reduce cost and enhance patient outcomes in hospitals.

Both gentlemen are military veterans, and the focus of the discussion is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates 170 medical centers and employs over 470,000 staff members.

When examining the population of veterans, we can see that it has a wide distribution in rural areas. This can mean long trips for patients to get care.

During the interview, we look at wearable devices that can provide information to physicians to help make treatment decisions. These can provide real-time health monitoring to act as an "early warning" system for patients. For example, it can detect signs of infectious diseases before symptoms appear.  

Advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence enable Phillips to develop a risk score calculation that reduces exposure to vulnerable populations.

Explore opportunities to further deploy Philips' remote monitoring and telehealth technologies within the VA healthcare system.