Covid prioritized identity verification. It went from the bottom of the tech stack to the top. Many federal agencies have zero trust initiatives divided into segments; each group starts with identification as the first pillar.

Our guest Jordan Burris has years of experience in managing identities for large organizations. He has worked in commercial enterprise technology as well as the Office of Management and Budget. During the interview, he makes the claim that digital identity is a critical infrastructure. Listen to the interview to see how he defends that statement.

Jordan begins the discussion with delineating verification, authentication, and access management. From there, we learn about the priority the White House has put on identity and he reviews some of the major initiatives the federal government has – from the Pandemic Anti-Fraud Act to the National Cybersecurity Strategy.

The headline in identity verification focuses on waste, fraud, and abuse. Of course, that makes sense. However, Jordan Burris brings out another aspect of identity management: American citizens who encounter friction when trying to get services from the federal government.

These could be people without credit history, homeless veterans, or even people without identification.

One of the value statements from Socure is to make sure equity is central to their mission. When a company can help make a federal agency more accessible because of efficient identification, the goal of equity is pushed forward.

Quick and accurate identity verification is the key to unlocking the power of today’s world that has less and less paper and more and more digital identities.

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If you can distill today’s cybersecurity recommendations down to one word, that word me be “trust.” We have Executive Orders that talk about “trust” in digital architecture.  Look at the motto for today’s enterprise architecture, “Zero Trust Architecture.”

The way most of us apply this trust is to garden a variety of humans. This may involve using some kind of a.”

system to assure that a person is a human they represent themselves to be. Kevin Bocek from Venafi states machines interact on networks more than humans.  

It seems warmer to call them “nonperson entities,” but no matter what nomenclature you use these machines are subject to the same foibles as humans, even something as mundane as not working.

During the interview today, Kevin Bocek answers questions federal technology professionals may have when it comes to why they should be concerned.  This is especially true when it comes to working in a cloud-native world.

Kevin points out that many may be familiar with a concept like Software Development Lifecycle but may not realize that we also have a Certificate Lifecycle that needs to be managed.  He mentions the popular idea of including cybersecurity concepts early in the development process, what is known as “shift left.”

Traditionally, developers are under the gun to produce code in a typical production process.  As a result, it is possible that they may not want to waste time with the laborious manual process of requesting and deploying machine identities. One approach might be to use systems that automate that process before the code is deployed. 

Looking at your federal network and considering machine identity can be the first step in a zero-trust journey.

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When industries mature, users learn how to optimize them.  For example, early televisions were huge, expensive, and black and white.  Technology has made them small, cheap, and stunning.  When the cloud was introduced 15 years ago, there was a rough transition with rough starts, failures, and much money wasted. 

Recent figures from Gartner indicate that, in 2023, the global public services cloud market will increase by 20% to an amazing total of $591 billion.  It is one thing to move to the cloud, and another effort completely to take advantage of all the savings and efficiency it can provide.

Frequently, cloud service providers are obsessed with storage and computing; app providers want to work with data efficiently.  What falls between the cracks is the human who must interact with the system, and make it perform tasks that will help a federal agency reach its assigned goals.

During today’s interview, Billy Biggs from WalkMe shows the audience what kind of remarkable savings can accrue when a federal agency uses a digital adoption platform (DAP). Billy suggests that a DAP can provide an overlay that looks at the sequence of tasks that a user performs.  In a simple example, some studies show a professional spends 45 minutes a day toggling back and forth between applications. Simple multiplication will show a waste of an expensive analyst’s time.

Why should a federal agency spend billions of dollars on software and not have staff use it?  Just because an enterprise architect can design a sophisticated flow chart doesn’t mean mere mortals will implement its power.  Billy Biggs references organizations that have had a drastic reduction in redundant and confusing workflow after implementing DAP solutions. 

The whole idea of efficiently using the funding for technology has been noticed at high levels of the federal government.  All we must do is look at Executive Order 14059 which talks about user experience to make digital systems more effective.

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For some reason, the topic of Artificial Intelligence has embedded itself into the common mind. It is so pervasive that one might walk into a local Seven-Eleven and hear a conversation about ChatGPT.

It may be fine for an undergraduate student to use generative AI to help write a term paper, but those who manage federal agencies must get serious about how Generative AI can help, or hurt, their agency.

Today, we sat down with Dr. Jennifer Sample from Accenture Federal Services. In addition to her academic achievements, she also has decades of experience in advanced technology as well as ten patents. She brings a great perspective to this discussion.

During the interview, she suggests that one should be open-minded to the capabilities of artificial intelligence but remember that federal data sets should be combined with generative artificial intelligence with an abundance of caution.

Stories about ChatGPT producing ridiculous messages are replete in the current literature. That is a situation that is not tolerable in organizations like the Federal Reserve or the Department of Defense.

She suggests that listeners look at what Accenture Federal Services is doing with its Generative Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence. The Center is gathering top data scientists and software developers to see how algorithms can be applied to federal systems. The idea is to first simulate prototypes in systems with synthetic data to see how they would work before even considering any federal application.

Dr. Sample suggests that, when used properly, artificial intelligence can help with intelligence synthesis, help in coding, improve knowledge management, and even generate content. The Center even has the capability to evaluate environments where solutions need to be scaled.

Listen as Dr. Sample gives you example after example of how you can safely take advantage of the breakthroughs being made in generative artificial intelligence.

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When you look at the Executive Orders that have been issued you can see many references to user experience. The initial order, #14058, included thirty-six customer experience improvements across seventeen different federal agencies. This was followed up in March of 2023 with further fact sheets that detail improving the typical citizen experience with federal websites.

It is one thing to issue an Executive Order and quite another to implement it in the complicated world of federal technology.

We interviewed Frank Antezana, the CEO of a company called iTechAG. They have a good history of assisting federal agencies overcome some of the major challenges in improving the website experience that citizens have.

One may think that the experience is limited to the speed of the website or the look of the site. Although this may be part of the package, the real meat-and-potatoes of improving the citizen experience has more to do with accessing data quickly, reducing the administrative burden of these programs, and making sure the information provided is accurate.

In the 1970s, some federal websites were giving lip service to this idea, it was called Human Centric Design. During Covid, we had increased citizens accessing data and services from the federal government. Frequently, they had to get information from more than one place. If a farmer is applying for a loan, they may have to connect to the Department of Agriculture as well as the IRS.

Frank Antezana explains that reducing the administrative burden can be an overly complex project. Considerations must be given to navigation and having a thorough understanding of enterprise architecture.

Listen to the podcast to hear how iTechAG is setting up a lab to look at new tools and methods to help improve the citizen experience.

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In every spy movie, you see there is a scene where someone is in line at an airport and there is emotional music where the government agent looks at the passport, looks at the actor, and makes a decision. Well, the world of digital identities is much more complicated that any scene in a Bourne movie.

In our digital world, identification is such a hot topic we have conferences that have an extensive list of speakers who discuss aspects of ways a network can identify the person trying to log in.

Today’s interview introduces the listener to several aspects of what is called identity verification, especially how it is applied to federal systems. We have Matt Thompson and Jordan Burris from a company called Socure on the podcast. Both have serious credentials and each one brings a perspective to the discussion.

Matt opens the interview by boldly stating that Americans have the fundamental right to control our identity. During the interview, he reviews several ways systems like Socure can make sure each person attempting to verify their identity can have control.

Jordan mentions a little-recognized point of view. He argues that when you can accurately confirm your identity you can access a digital ecosystem regardless of your race, age, or socioeconomic background. Most do not realize that many federal programs are dependent on accurately making applications for grants or assistance. Each process begins with an accurate identification process.

Many aspects of identity management are discussed in the interview. Matt Thompson talks about levels of identification. If you want access to statistics on a federal system may be one level; however, legal documents may need advanced identity verification.

This interview just touches the surface of this topic – the subject matter experts even dive into topics like the dark web providing personally identifiable information for people to create “synthetic identities.” 

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Our post-Covid world is full of clouds merging, remote data being collected, and a rash of new federal security initiatives. This is causing federal technology professionals to look for better ways to see what is on their network and then make decisions on how to use that data.

In the last six months, there has been a surge of interest in a company called Elastic.

During today’s interview with George Teas from Elastic, he shares with listeners the importance of accurately knowing what is on your system and how to manage data from multiple sources.

Many users need information quickly because they need actionable information. Elastic has evolved into an offering that can index petabytes of information in milliseconds.

In addition to speed, today’s hybrid network generates data from sensors from railroads, planes, and even geospatial information from satellite constellations. The range in type of information varies from structured to unstructured.

George Teas shares that two major concerns for the federal audience are data visibility and analytics. He uses the Department of Homeland Security as an example.

Some estimate that DHS may have thirty to forty different data sources to pull from. If there is an imminent threat, managers must be able to draw information from on premises servers, proprietary information, the public cloud, as well as the hybrid cloud. A flexible system must be used to derive information from this complex system.

Once you have visibility into your system, Elastic can assist you in using tiered storage. Essentially, you can segment data into cheaper storage, and frozen storage to reduce cost or even analyze the data quicker.

Listen to the interview to gain a better perspective on breakthroughs in data analysis and visibility in the challenging world of cheap storage, multiple systems, and high-security requirements.

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When the history of software development is written, they will look back at the decade that preceded 2023 as the era where developers started to pull pre-written code off repositories and assemble code in this “modular” manner.

Many federal systems are constructed in this “cut and paste” method. This is all well and good if the code can be trusted.  But can it?

Today, Emile Monette from Synopsys shares with listeners some fascinating statistics that document this historical transition and he offers solutions as well.

During the interview, Emile Monette references a recent study by his company, Synopsys, called the Open-Source Security and Risk Analysis Report. They examined 1,700 codebases across seventeen industries and their findings correlate to what technology leaders think is happening.

Ninety-six percent of scanned codebases contained open-source code. Perhaps the federal government should consider ways to make sure this code is safe to use. However, there is even more surprising data that was released. Emile notes that, in addition to examining codebases more carefully, systems administrators should consider the basic “blocking and tackling” of software.  He cites the figure that 89% of codebases were out of date and 91% contained components that were not the current version.

Synopsys has been in business since 1986 and has decades of experience in developing code for highly complex silicon design.  This is a rigorous development that must have high assurance of security and quality. They are applying this in-depth knowledge to help the proliferation of federal organizations that are in a situation where they require to know that the code they are using is safe.

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When it comes to the federal government, the old news is “move to the cloud.” Today, the question is, how can your agency optimize its presence in the hybrid cloud?

Today, we sit down with a tech veteran, Michelle Rudnicki, the Vice President of the U.S. Public Sector for NetApp to answer that question. Her company has been involved in data management for decades and it is difficult to shoehorn her observations into a 25-minute interview. We have decided to look at some of the newer offerings from NetApp and see where they can be applied in federal information technology.

Michelle gave a great explanation of what “tiering” means for government IT.  “Tiering” involves looking at the types of data one is storing and analyzing the most cost-effective way to store that data in the cloud. NetApp has a tool called “Cloud Checker” that provides visibility and transparency to accomplish that end. NetApp is collaborating with Amazon Web Services with an offering called “ONTAP.” Michelle explains ONTAP allows the least amount of friction when a federal system is seeking to make a change to the AWS cloud system.

“BlueXP” certainly sounds like a new rocket from SpaceX, but it is not. During the interview, Michelle explains that BlueXP gives you a view of your data landscape through one point of control. Sounds like visibility on steroids.

It looks like the hybrid cloud is reaching a point where many of the basics have been developed and now, we are at a maturity level where there is so much data to manage that fine-tuning can allow for significant savings.

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Out of all the phrases that technology has generated in the past ten years, I think I like the phrase, “cloud washing” the most.  The concept is that a traditional company would promote itself as always being cloud native.  Kind of like being a Monday morning quarterback.

In 2023, the variation on that theme is “Artificial Intelligence washing.”  Now that AI is a trending phrase you can see technology websites suddenly claiming the long history they have with artificial intelligence, or, what may be called, “artificial intelligence washing.”

This brings us to today’s interview with Chris Howard from Vectra. The company has been knee-deep in Artificial Intelligence since 2010.  As Chris explains, they have honed that knowledge to be able to apply it to the world of cybersecurity. 

During the interview, Chris explains how Vectra deals with an insider threat.  They have focused on techniques to understand how an insider moves within a network.  The overall approach to this is what Vectra calls “Attack Signal Intelligence.”

Without divulging proprietary information, Vectra has proven itself to be able to isolate and respond to a variety of malicious actors. Essentially, they have trained AI to think like an attacker and give the appropriate defensive response.   

Chris describes a case study where a person was let into the network with appropriate credentials as a test to see Vectra’s capabilities. Merely by watching behavior, the algorithms from Vectra were able to isolate the malicious actor.

Realistically, attacks are so prevalent that defense is almost impossible for a human without an automated tool. The safety provided by Vectra doesn’t stop with the installation of the Vectra platform. It has been designed to continuously learn new threats and respond accordingly.

Listen to the interview to gain a better understanding of an advanced way to handle cyber threats.

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