The GovBrief

Earlier this year, the Department of Energy (DOE), alongside the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released an interactive playbook detailing risk mitigation strategies for artificial intelligence. Aptly titled the AI Risk Management Playbook (AIRMP), this asset contains hundreds of examples and strategies for public sector organizations. 

On the final episode of “Security Stories: A Look Inside How Federal Agencies Ensure Mission Security," a podcast sponsored by NetApp and TD SYNNEX, our host Troy Schneider, president of GovExec 360, is joined by special guest Bobby Rountree, AI/ML leader for NetApp Public Sector to discuss what government organizations need to know as AI grows in importance, and how can they incorporate the strategies found in the AIRMP to support ethical, scalable AI.

Malicious threat actors often view schools as easy and profitable targets due to their use of legacy technology and willingness to pay ransoms. This school year, it’s time to send hackers back to the drawing board.

On this episode of “Security Stories,” a podcast from NetApp, Troy Schneider, President of GovExec 360, sits down with Allen Magsipoc, principal systems architect at HighPoint, and Bob Burwell, chief technology officer for State, Local Government and Education at NetApp, to discuss defense-in-depth techniques for the hybrid multi-cloud environment.

From ransomware to phishing scams to nation state threats, state and local governments today are up against a veritable cybersecurity gauntlet. Moreover, as we move toward data-driven government, the need to keep threats at bay is compounded by the need to keep sensitive government and constituent data secure. In fact, in a recent survey of state CIOs, cybersecurity was ranked the top enterprise risk for state governments in 2022. As state and local governments look at ways to improve data security, what should they know and who should they turn to, to lend a hand?

In this episode of "Migrating to the Citizen-Focused, Secure Cloud," we speak with Mark Belluz, Managing Director at CAS Severn about the rising complexity of cybersecurity attacks and how state and local government entities can partner with industry to improve data security.

As state and local governments continue to move toward digital government, there’s no doubt that cloud has become an essential tool to enable the user-friendly, services constituents want and to streamline operations to improve mission success. But while cloud holds the ability to revolutionize government operations and skyrocket innovation, cloud migrations are no easy feat, particularly for state and local governments that often have limited resources and shoestring IT staff. Migrations require a plethora of new skills, cost assessments, tools and more that require expertise to navigate and execute successfully.

In this episode of the "Migrating to the Citizen-Focused, Secure Cloud Podcast," we’ll speak with Matt Cozzolino, Senior Solutions Architect at IVOXY Consulting about how state and local government organizations can successfully tackle cloud migrations, typical pitfalls and how vendor partners can aid agencies in their efforts.

On this episode of the Migrating to the Citizen-Focused, Secure Cloud podcast, host Camille Tuutti sits down with Michael Kedik, vice president of product management at Xigent Solutions, an IT consulting partner for organizations embarking on an IT improvement journey to achieve business goals via a result-driven IT approach. The two discuss insights into the current SLED market from an IT perspective, the challenges the public sector is facing, and how they can strategically adopt technology to arm themselves for the future.

In recent years, agencies have begun rapidly moving their data and workflows to the cloud to better accommodate the evolving federal workforce. And as they mature their IT environments to meet more complex needs and outpace the increasingly sophisticated threatscape, advanced cybersecurity solutions like zero trust architecture are imperative to secure mission critical assets. However, although they have made significant progress, limited budgets and already-strained IT departments can hinder implementation and leave agency systems vulnerable.

So, how can agencies ensure they implement zero trust efficiently and effectively with the correct technical requirements?

In this podcast episode, host Camille Tutti and James Ebeler, Chief Technology Officer at ThreeWire Systems, answer this question by outlining the steps agencies can take to successfully implement zero trust architecture, and examine the future of zero trust for agencies.

While cloud infrastructure can streamline workflows and bolster data storage for agencies, most must plan implementation around legacy systems. As a result, they are faced with an overwhelming decision between the variety of cloud frameworks — such as hybrid or multi cloud — to best accommodate their complex infrastructures and ensure they are taking full advantage of the technology.

But with so many options available, how can agencies know what cloud environment is right for them?

In this episode of The State of Federal Cloud podcast, host Camille Tutti and Ryan Nelson, market intelligence and analytics manager at immixGroup, delve into the advantages and disadvantages of the different cloud systems available to agencies, how they can determine what infrastructure is right for them and how industry partners can help them leverage cloud to optimize mission success.

Amid increasingly complex and sophisticated cyberattacks, the Department of Defense — whose sectors manage highly confidential data in the cloud on a day-to-day basis — are taking every necessary step to ensure their cybersecurity postures are effective and up-to-date. Internally, they have instituted solutions like Comply-to-Connect (C2C), a comprehensive framework designed to increase cybersecurity efficiency across all DoD’s operational environments. But they are also extending these rigorous standards to outside organizations.

In order to ensure their numerous industry partners are equipped with the security protocols necessary to handle information critical to our nation’s safety, the DoD implemented Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) — compliance requirements that allow the DoD to determine whether a potential partner has the framework necessary to work with vulnerable and controlled data.

In this podcast episode, moderator Camille Tuutti speaks with Devin Henderson, founder and CEO of DH Tech about the benefits of the department taking cybersecurity measures to the next level with C2C and CMMC, key challenges they face with implementation, how agencies and contractors can implement CMMC effectively, and how these frameworks will impact their mission now and in the future.

Digital transformation is a buzzword in government — due in part to the pandemic, countless agencies across the federal government have started moving their services online and transforming into modern, digital institutions. Despite the clear benefit of digital transformation, as new technologies enter agency IT stacks, it’s also important to consider the risks, particularly with cyber attacks on the rise.

Security Stories: A Look Inside How Federal Agencies Ensure Mission Security, a podcast sponsored by NetApp and Presidio Federal, seeks to uncover how federal agencies are securing their networks against these increasing threats while still prioritizing innovation.

On the inaugural episode, host Troy Schneider, president of GovExec Media, is joined by the Department of the Air Force's Principal Cyber Advisor, Wanda Jones-Heath, to discuss how the Air Force is securing its network against malicious actors.

Data-driven: It’s a buzzword any government or IT leader has heard countless times. As our world becomes more technology-driven, agencies have at their fingertips the data they need to make more informed decisions. The challenge for agencies today, however, is not in gathering that data, but in storing, sorting, analyzing and nurturing it through the entire data lifecycle until it is ultimately transformed into useful insights.

So, how can agencies build a thoughtful and strategic underlying infrastructure that can enable government IT teams to securely store and manage data? That’s exactly what host Troy Schneider, General Manager for Government Technology Brands at GovExec will discuss with IBM’s Federal Ecosystem Lead Katharyn White and Presidio Federal’s Senior Vice President of Operations Brian Johnson in this podcast.