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Last year, President Biden’s executive order on cybersecurity put the transition to zero-trust architecture at the top of mind for IT leaders across government. According to one cybersecurity expert, it begins with organizations putting in place technologies that can support zero trust across the enterprise.

“A tactical approach is beginning to say, OK, even as we have got what seems like an infinite amount of legacy technologies, proceeding with technologies that enable those zero trust principles is very much the way to go,” says Alexander Romero, director of strategy of the Chief Technologist Office at VMware End User Computing. “And wherever possible then, begin to transition out of the old and into the new.”

Guest: Alexander Romero, Director of Strategy, Chief Technologist Office, VMware End User Computing

Host: Francis Rose, Host, The Daily Scoop Podcast

This podcast was produced by FedScoop and underwritten by VMware.

Phishing attacks are becoming an increasingly common avenue for threat actors to deploy malware and ransomware. According to one cybersecurity expert, an organization’s first line of defense against these attacks is getting all employees to realize they are high-value targets.

“What organizations can do to help bolster cybersecurity within their organization is educating their employees that even if you don't necessarily believe you could be targeted, you might be surprised to learn that you could be used as a pawn in a much larger scheme,” says Kristina Balaam, senior threat researcher for threat intelligence at Lookout.

This podcast is sponsored by Lookout and underwritten by FedScoop.

Guest: Kristina Balaam, senior threat researcher, threat intelligence, Lookout

Host: Francis Rose, The Daily Scoop Podcast

Listen to The Daily Scoop Podcast in full on www.fedscoop.com/the-daily-scoop-podcast/

Defense against cyberattacks is more than just updating technology and patching systems. While an organization can have the process and technology in place, the right cybersecurity culture is paramount, says Cybereason Chief Security Officer Sam Curry.

“The biggest problem in cybersecurity is a people problem,” Curry tells Francis Rose on The Daily Scoop Podcast. “It’s people on offense and it’s people on defense. If I have to characterize, on defense, the single biggest thing that would help most security departments, it is better alignment with the mission.”

This podcast is sponsored by Cybereason and underwritten by FedScoop.

Guest: Sam Curry, Chief Security Officer, Cybereason

Host: Francis Rose, The Daily Scoop Podcast

Listen to The Daily Scoop Podcast in full on www.fedscoop.com/the-daily-scoop-podcast/

With the continued cybersecurity push across government and industry, it is increasingly important for organizations to have proactive cyber plans in place. One private sector CTO recommends a combination of security checklists and security goals.

“New regulatory frameworks that are coming out are really focusing on impact as opposed to actions,” says Archis Gore, CTO at Polyverse. “Where the frustration with compliance versus real security always came from is when compliance dictates action, we have a problem.”

This podcast is sponsored by Polyverse in collaboration with AWS and underwritten by FedScoop.

Guest: Archis Gore, Chief Technology Officer, Polyverse

Host: Francis Rose, The Daily Scoop Podcast

Listen to The Daily Scoop Podcast in full on www.fedscoop.com/the-daily-scoop-podcast/

Federal agencies are starting to see significant advantages in reversing how they gather and analyze data to fuel their artificial intelligence efforts. Instead of pulling massive amounts of data into centralized data lakes for analysis, enterprises are staring to send analytics tools to the edge of their networks to parse localized data and then federate the results.

The change in approach represents a paradigm shift in how organizations are capturing and analyzing data, says Al Ford, who oversees artificial intelligence alliances in the federal government market at Dell EMC.

This podcast is sponsored by Dell Technologies.

Guest: Al Ford, Artificial Intelligence Alliances for Federal Government, Dell EMC

Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

The advent of containerized software services — and the emergence of Kubernetes to deploy and manage them – have played crucial roles in modernizing applications. But it has also unleashed a host of new opportunities for malicious actors to exploit misconfigurations and vulnerabilities inside these microservices, says Palo Alto Networks' Paul Fox.

That’s why he says federal agencies should take a closer look at a new technical report, released by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), that provides detailed guidance on how to harden Kubernetes containers and avoid common misconfigurations.

Guest: Paul Fox, Senior Product Manager, Palo Alto Networks

Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

With massive amounts of data being captured outside of data centers and at the edge, there is a growing need for organizations to use cloud to modernize edge computing environments. According to one cloud expert, this is driving the move for hybrid IT adoption across government and industry.

“What you see in the private sector is they want to deal with the data where it's generated, so they can get the fastest insights and so they don't have the expense of moving that data,” says Bill Burnham, chief technology officer for U.S. public sector at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

This podcast is sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterpise and underwritten by FedScoop.

Guest: Bill Burnham, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Public Sector, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Host: Francis Rose, The Daily Scoop Podcast

Listen to The Daily Scoop Podcast in full on www.fedscoop.com/the-daily-scoop-podcast/

Cohesive and consistent messaging from the federal government is an important part of the push for agencies to implement zero trust architecture. Making sure the new processes are easy and accessible is just as important, says Peter Romness, cybersecurity programs lead, U.S. public sector, Cisco Systems.

“Users are seeing the need for more security, so they're willing to do things like multi-factor authentication, but also industry has made multi-factor authentication much easier,” says Romness.

This podcast is sponsored by Cisco Systems and underwritten by FedScoop.

Guest: Peter Romness, Cybersecurity Programs Lead, U.S. Public Sector

Host: Francis Rose, VP, Multimedia Solutions, Scoop News Group

Listen to The Daily Scoop Podcast in full on www.fedscoop.com/the-daily-scoop-podcast/

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shifted expectations of how and where federal employees work at most federal agencies. But what agency leaders may not have fully considered, warns a government network expert, is how agencies can ensure their employees have reliable connections from various hybrid locations, including their homes.

“In an office situation, if an employee's internet connection went down, they would be able to call the help desk and resolve the problem fairly quickly. But with home networks as the primary connection [for federal employees working remotely], organizations are now at the mercy of private service providers, and their ability to respond to internet issues,” says Tony Bardo.

This podcast is sponsored by Hughes.

Guest: Tony Bardo, Assistant VP, Government Solutions, Hughes

Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

As government agencies continue to implement and adjust return to office plans, it is clear that remote work and hybrid work postures will continue to be part of day-to-day operations. With many factors remaining uncertain, it is important for organizations to remain willing and able to adjust when handling their workforce, says Stephen Ellis.


“There's so many intertwined elements in [return to office planning], I think that the key word to solving this knot is flexibility. Ultimately, that's the only way we're going to find some symbiotic place where things can work and work well,” says Ellis.

This podcast is sponsored by Zoom.

Guest: Stephen Ellis, Government Solutions Lead, Zoom Video Communications

Host: Francis Rose, VP, Multimedia Solutions, Scoop News Group

Listen to The Daily Scoop Podcast in full on https://www.fedscoop.com/the-daily-scoop-podcast/