Feds at the Edge

The 2021 Colonial Pipeline incident has stood in history as a prime example of the importance of cyber resilience for critical infrastructure. This week on Feds At the Edge, we delve into the call-to-action events like this have created for agencies everywhere and the resources available for even the smallest entities.   

Cheri Caddy, Senior Technical Advisor for Cybersecurity at the US Department of Energy, talks about resources like CISA & NIST, but suggests that private companies should also build ties with local FBI offices.   

Brendan Peter, VP, Global Government Affairs of SecurityScorecard, notes the importance of continuous risk assessment and evaluating the impact of policies to ensure they actually reduce cyber threats. 

When a network is attacked, analysts return to the logs to gain an understanding of where the point of vulnerability was, which makes keeping these records a crucial tool in cyber resilience.  

However, a lack of staff, poor existing systems, and limitations on information sharing in our increasingly complex and hybrid landscape could prevent agencies from keeping their records reliable and up-to-date.  

This week on Feds At the Edge, leaders from the Federal and commercial sectors share they ways they’ve been able to overcome the hurdles they face when logging events.

Tate Jerussi, Director of Civilian, August Schell, and Former Deputy CIO at DOE HQ highlights prioritizing critical logs and utilizing existing tools to address these issues. And Derrick Lawson, Staff Solutions Architect at Splunk, recommended following established guidelines, such as the MITRE ATT&CK framework.  

Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform as our experts reinforce the idea of embracing OMB 2131 as a logging standard and leveraging frameworks from organizations like MITRE to improve event logging practices and enhance security.  

With an accelerated leap in our post-COVID world, mobile devices such as cell phones have become a crucial part of the landscape for remote workers and in turn have also become a key component of today’s attack surface. 

This week on Feds At the Edge, leaders from the Federal and commercial sectors share vulnerabilities in the devices we bring from home, and the popular apps that put our sensitive data into the wrong hands. We explore websites that are designed to fool the end users into believing they are on a secure platform.  

Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform as agency and industry experts share methods to protect mobile devices, secure applications, keep operating systems updated and train users not to fall prey to web-based attacks. 

The transition to cloud computing by federal agencies has highlighted the importance of security, especially as sensitive federal assets are now in hybrid environments.  

This week on Feds At the Edge, leaders from federal and commercial sectors focus on improving security within the complex cloud environment. When code is written with the cloud in mind, applications can be moved easily, updates can be mastered, and systems architects can leverage many aspects of the cloud that are missed with an old “lift and shift” approach.  

Dave Hinchman, Director, Information Technology and Cybersecurity for US GAO, coined an aphorism, “Documentation is easy, implementation is hard.” 

Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform as participants discuss how to leverage cloud-native code and avoid the mishaps that plagued others. 

In this week’s episode of Fed’s At the Edge, we are talking about US Elections. From observations about challenges seen in previous elections to best practices to ensure a safe and fair election process.  

We’ll explore sources of help for election officials like utilizing CISA, local associations, and the US Election Assistance Commission. We also touch on critical areas like cybersecurity, communications, and physical security.  

Mark Earley, Supervisor of Elections for Leon County, FL, shares how election professionals should be aware of phishing vulnerabilities as they honor the responsibility of answering citizens emails  

Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform today to hear this and more, and learn how you can get involved.  

People imagine large organizations such as the Department of Transportation when they think about who needs to utilize Zero Trust. What they don’t realize is that a smaller entity can make for a profitable attack, even a gateway to those larger targets.  

In this week's Feds At The Edge podcast, Nick Graham, Senior Technical Sales Engineer of Civilian Sales from Raven Tek offers some solutions that smaller institutions should prioritize in their transition to a safer cybersecurity posture. 

>> Multifactor Authentication – How this framework for larger organizations can move to eliminate many security problems 

>> Staffing limitations – A look at those challenges of limited budgets and cost-effective ways to manage services.  

>> Training, training, and training- Recognizing potential attacks in your company inbox. Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform to hear Nick’s practical solutions for smaller organizations to

enhance their security posture.  

When the federal government adopts Zero Trust principles, it must consider both user identity and the data being accessed. 

This week on Feds At the Edge, leaders from federal and commercial sectors stress the importance of centralized coordination, automated labeling, and real-time access control through Identity Management.  

Bryan Rosensteel, US Federal CTO for Ping, advocates for a "federated" identity management system, as individual agencies may struggle to meet Zero Trust demands in a timely manner.  

Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform as participants also discuss the merits of access-based and role-based controls, suggesting that context-based controls could enhance real-time access management.  

In this week’s episode of Fed’s At the Edge, we talk with agency and industry experts about the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in government, where improved knowledge management and a reduction on tedious tasks are just some of the benefits waiting to be unlocked.  

We’ll explore the large Knowledge Management Platform CMS has put together to assist federal professionals access information. 

We’ll look at how AI and LLMs should be viewed as an extension of human abilities and how organizations may have to ethically organize new policies on using AI to derive information from LLMs.  

We’ll ask if turning to “synthetic” data is the answer to generate insight on sensitive data while not compromising personal and identifiable information.  

Disputes over the 2020 presidential election have persisted for four years.  

This week on Feds At the Edge, we discuss best practices to ensure the 2024 election's safety and accuracy with a focus on the need for robust cybersecurity measures, having a strategy to respond to cyber threats and the need to have strong partnerships with the private sector. 

Lester Godsey, CISO, Enterprise Technology for Maricopa County, Pheonix AZ, highlights the influence of social media on election integrity, suggesting that false information can impact the voter’s predisposition to vote.  

Jim Richberg, Head of Cyber Policy and Global Field CISO for Fortinet, discusses the effects of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation which could cause people’s perception of the election to be altered. 

To achieve a successful digital transformation in your organization, it’s essential to consider the users. 

This week on Feds At the Edge, we have gathered leading experts from City of Brownsville, TX, Delaware Department of Technology and Information, California Department of Technology, City of Roseville, CA, and Equinix who share valuable insights into making meaningful changes in their respective organizations. 

• Focus on User Experience: when you prioritize user experience, you make them feel included and they become more willing to transition.  
• Effective Communication: clearly communicating with staff about the project’s vision and each person’s responsibilities, helps staff feel part of the process and understand the tangible benefits of the new implementation. 
• Engagement and Benefits: by focusing on the people engaging with the change, ensuring that users see real benefits and feel involved in the process.