Joining us this week are Richard Grabowski, Acting Program Manager for CISA's CDM Program, and Jonathan McBride, Chief of Adversary Pursuit for CISA's Threat Hunting Subdivision. We dive into the hot topics of threat hunting, adversary pursuit, the evolution of CISA over the years including the growth and maturity of the organization, the power of public/private partnerships, and the drive for innovation. They also share perspective on the recent Cyber Executive Order as well as how the CDM program is increasing visibility into the federal cyberattack surface and security posture. We also dig into the continued talent gap challenge and modernizing the approach to talent recruitment (hint: four-year degrees aren't a requirement!). It truly is an exciting time to be in cyber! And, for those interested in a career move it is a VERY exciting time to be at CISA!

Richard Grabowski is the Acting Program Manager for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) at CISA

As Acting Program Manager for the CDM program, Richard has specific responsibilities for managing portfolios to deliver CDM capabilities to agencies, engineering deployment and architecture-related activities, program support and acquisition, and outreach activities. Through partnerships with agencies and industry, the CDM Program fortifies the cybersecurity of civilian government data and networks by providing capabilities that deliver relevant, timely and actionable information. CDM enables cybersecurity professionals to manage risks by providing innovative tools, processes, governance and training required to defend against cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. Prior to Richard's current role, he led the CDM Program's Architecture and Technology Integration Section. He started with CDM in 2014 as a Systems Engineer supporting the CDM Dashboard and Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND; formerly Task Order [TO2]) Group C agencies. Previous to this, Richard spent over nine years providing client/server and virtualization integration services to the Federal government. Richard holds a B.S. in Systems and Information Engineering from the University of Virginia and a M.S. in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University.

Jonathan McBride Chief of Adversary Pursuit, CISA's Threat Hunting subdivision

McBride oversees CISA's federal persistent hunt mission and services, driving innovation in service delivery, sensing solutions, detection, and advanced analytics. He previously served as an engagement lead within the Host Forensics Section of CISA's Threat Hunting Subdivision, leading rapid response personnel on incident response activities supporting the federal government, states, local tribes, territories, and critical infrastructure. Mr. McBride has reached this point in his career by a non-traditional path. A third-generation US Army veteran where he served the special operations community as a military intelligence specialist. Completing multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa focused on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations. Upon leaving the US Army he transitioned into the cybersecurity workforce as a computer network defense (CND) intrusion analyst and quickly excelled. Highlights include CND Operations lead for the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system and senior Fusion Analyst for Defense Information Systems Agency – Europe supporting the Department of Defense's European and Africa Combatant Commands, Information Assurance Branch Chief for the Executive Office of the President – Office of Administration, and Incident Response Manager for the Federal Communications Commission. He is an avid outdoorsman and dabbles in ultramarathon running.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e202