To The Point - Cybersecurity

This week, we welcome back Dustin Moody, a mathematician in the NIST Computer Security Division who teaches us about the risks posed by quantum computers and shares updates on the status of NIST's post-quantum cryptography standardization project. As quantum computers move from sci-fi to reality, Dustin elaborates on the functionality of quantum computing and shares best practices for protecting encrypted data to withstand evolving quantum capabilities. If you're interested in learning more about the four candidate algorithms for NIST's standardization project, visit their website at [nist.gov](https://www.nist.gov/ "‌").

Dustin Moody, Mathematician, NIST

Dustin Moody is a mathematician in the NIST Computer Security Division. Dustin leads the post-quantum cryptography project at NIST. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2009. His area of research deals with elliptic curves and their applications in cryptography.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e218

Joining us on the podcast this week is Joe Bielawski – founding member of StateRAMP and President of Knowledge Services – as well as StateRamp Executive Director Leah McGrath. If the name sounds somewhat familiar – like FedRAMP – it should because StateRAMP helps to meet the growing need in state and local government to manage third party risk and efficiently verify cloud security. The organization has an incredible wealth of resources and tools - such as security maturity assessment tool Security Snapshot - that help bring innovation to state/local governments faster. And in just a couple years StateRAMP is already working with 17 states. For those interested in learning more or taking advantage of the awesome resources this organization delivers visit their website at stateramp.org.

Joe Bielawski, Founding Member of StateRAMP – In 2020, Joe Bielawski (President of Knowledge Services) and J.R. Sloan developed the idea of StateRAMP to meet the growing need in state and local government to manage third party risk and efficiently verify cloud security.

Leah McGrath, Executive Director of StateRAMP - Serving as the Executive Director, Leah McGrath has been involved with StateRAMP since its formation. In 2020, she spent countless hours working alongside Steering Committee members to develop StateRAMP's governance and policy framework. Prior to her work with StateRAMP, McGrath held leadership positions in both the public and private sector, including serving as the first deputy mayor of the City of Fishers, Indiana. During her tenure, Fishers transformed from a town into a smart, vibrant, entrepreneurial city and was named the #1 Best Place to Live in America in 2017 by Money magazine. As deputy mayor, she helped lead modernization efforts and spearheaded city-wide efforts to develop the city's first long-range, comprehensive plan. McGrath's 20-year career has been focused on working to improve government outcomes at the state and local level, helping shepherd government into the digital age securely and effectively for the citizens it serves.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e217

This week we welcome back to the podcast former co-host Eric Trexler, Senior Vice President, U.S. Public Sector at Palo Alto Networks. We examine some hot security topics for the year ahead including growing prevalence of AI/ML automation used for preventative security, continued evolution and impact of ransomware (Did you know the average dwell time is 28 days?!), increasing adoption of people/process/technology approaches, industry consolidation, state and local cybergrants coming online and the opportunities those open up, Zero Trust pros and cons, attack surface management and what's been learned about cyberwarfare from the Ukraine conflict.

Eric Trexler, Senior Vice President, US Public Sector, Palo Alto Networks

Eric joined Palo Alto Networks in September of 2022 and oversees the US Public Sector business.

Most recently, Eric Trexler was the Vice President of Sales, Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure at Forcepoint. Eric was responsible for Global Go To Market operations to include all components of sales, sales enablement, and field and product marketing. While at Forcepoint, Eric's team doubled the size of the business over a five year period to nearly $400M in annual sales and strategically moved a large part of the business to the Public Cloud.

Eric has nearly 30 years of experience in technology across the public and private sectors, including Department of Defense, Civilian, and Intelligence communities, along with International governments. Eric has combined his sales savvy and technical skills with practical knowledge of leadership fundamentals to solve global cybersecurity issues for his customers and the business.

Prior to Forcepoint, Eric was the executive director for Civilian and National Security Programs at McAfee (formerly Intel Security). Earlier in his career, Eric worked at [Salesforce.com](http://Salesforce.com "‌"), EMC, and Sybase. He spent four years as an Airborne Ranger with the U.S. Army specializing in communications. Eric holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor's of Science in Marketing from the University of Maryland at College Park.

He was the co-host of the award winning "To The Point Cybersecurity" podcast with over 200 weekly episodes covering various cybersecurity topics, and he regularly writes bylines for cybersecurity and national periodicals.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e216

Back from the archives! This week we're spotlighting one of our favorite episodes in Summer 2021 with The New York Times journalist Nicole Perlroth where she shares insights from her decade long research for her book "This is How They Tell Me the World Ends". (FORMERLY EPISODE 138) This week Nicole Perlroth, award-winning journalist for The New York Times and best-selling author of "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends" joins the podcast to discuss her decade long journey covering cybersecurity and many terrifying discoveries navigating through the underbelly of the secretive cyberweapons market. She shares insights on the importance of making cyber understanding and awareness accessible to all audiences. And she details the many challenges governments and society face today as cyberattacks continue to ratchet up in scope of disruption and financial rewards with no consequences as we collectively wait for "the big event" that will be the forcing function to drive needed investment, global cooperation, and changed behaviors to truly take some of the advantage out of attackers' hands.

Nicole Perlroth covers cybersecurity and digital espionage for The New York Times. She has covered Russian hacks of nuclear plants, airports, and elections, North Korea's cyberattacks against movie studios, banks and hospitals, Iranian attacks on oil companies, banks and the Trump campaign and hundreds of Chinese cyberattacks, including a months-long hack of The Times. Her first book, "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends," about the global cyber arms race, will publish in February 2021. The book, and several of her Times articles, have been optioned for television.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e215

This week Ismael Valenzuela, Vice President of Threat Research & Intelligence at BlackBerry join the podcast to share perspective from the security threat frontlines. We explore zero day vulnerabilities and information stealers, differing risk appetites across organizations of every size, the criticality of information sharing to mitigate emerging threats, and breaking down the security basics that are key to shoring up defenses. We also touch on topics including cyberwar, naming the latest malware threat, and the operationalizing of security in running a business today. Ismael Valenzuela is Vice President Threat Research & Intelligence at BlackBerry Cylance, where he leads threat research, intelligence, and defensive innovation. Ismael is co-author of the Cyber Defense and Blue Team Operations course, SANS SEC530: Defensible Security Architecture and Engineering. Ismael Valenzuela has participated as a security professional in numerous projects across the globe for over 20+ years, which included being the founder of one of the first IT Security consultancies in Spain. For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e213

This week John Zangardi, President and CEO of Redhorse Corporation joins us on the podcast to talk about his remarkable career starting with his time in the Navy as a Naval Flight Officer, his many years on the frontlines of security - including his favorite professional role in government as Department of Homeland Security CIO – and shares perspective on bridging the security talent gap in government as well as the many talents veterans bring to the security industry. He also touches on the evolution of the threat environment and security approaches the last two decades as well as hot topics including the Zero Trust opportunity and criticality of taking security education and its business value deeper into organizations. And, he provides a great movie recommendation that you will definitely want to check out!

John Zangardi, President, Redhorse Corp.

John joined Redhorse in June of 2020 taking on the day to day operations responsibilities as President.

Prior to joining Redhorse, he most recently served as Senior Vice President of business initiatives and strategic partnerships with Leidos Civil Group.

Prior to joining Leidos, he enjoyed a distinguished career in government service spanning more than thirty years, concluding with his role as Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a presidential appointment. At DHS his responsibilities encompassed information technology and associated management and security. His work for DHS garnered recognition by Federal Computer Week for his work in transforming DHS into, "one of the federal government's top IT performers." John led multiple initiatives at DHS including implementation of advanced cybersecurity technology, cloud computing and data analytics, identity management and telecommunications.

He transitioned to DHS from the Department of Defense (DoD) where he served as Acting Chief Information Officer, a position he assumed from his role as Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer. He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Information Operations, and Space (DASN C4I, IO, and Space), and as the Acting Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer (DON CIO).

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e212

This week we welcome Adam Levin to the podcast. He is a long-time consumer affairs advocate with more than 40 years of experience, author of the book Swiped and formerly Chairman and founder of CyberScout as well as co-founder of Credit.com. Adam joins us at the apex of the consumer security awareness time of year as holiday shopping, COVID, flu, RSV and many other health concerns run rampant in addition to the many ongoing geopolitical security concerns that are ever present. He shares insights and stories from his more than 40 years on the consumer affairs advocacy frontlines to frame the security challenges each of us face in our daily lives – many of which are seemingly innocuous yet can have disastrous consequences and upend livelihoods. Great best practices tips here for both security pros and non-industry folks to shore up defenses in places we've gotten very familiar in trusting – and they aren't all that trustworthy after all.

Adam Levin, Cybersecurity Advocate

Adam K. Levin is a consumer affairs advocate and serial entrepreneur with more than 40 years of experience. He is a nationally recognized expert on cybersecurity, privacy, identity theft, fraud, and personal finance. At age 27, Levin became the youngest Director in the history of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs — one of the most powerful consumer protection agencies in the U.S. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Michigan School of Law.

As Chairman and founder of CyberScout, Levin built a premier global identity, data protection company, and helped pioneer the cyber insurance business. The organization was acquired in March 2021 by Sontiq, which was soon after acquired by Transunion. Levin was also co-founder of Credit.com, one of the first credit education, information and products and services companies on the Internet focused on consumer credit building. The company was acquired in 2015 by Progrexion.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e211

This week we welcome Adam Levin to the podcast. He is a long-time consumer affairs advocate with more than 40 years of experience, author of the book Swiped and formerly Chairman and founder of CyberScout as well as co-founder of Credit.com. Adam joins us at the apex of the consumer security awareness time of year as holiday shopping, COVID, flu, RSV and many other health concerns run rampant in addition to the many ongoing geopolitical security concerns that are ever present. He shares insights and stories from his more than 40 years on the consumer affairs advocacy frontlines to frame the security challenges each of us face in our daily lives – many of which are seemingly innocuous yet can have disastrous consequences and upend livelihoods. Great best practices tips here for both security pros and non-industry folks to shore up defenses in places we've gotten very familiar in trusting – and they aren't all that trustworthy after all.

Adam Levin, Cybersecurity Advocate

Adam K. Levin is a consumer affairs advocate and serial entrepreneur with more than 40 years of experience. He is a nationally recognized expert on cybersecurity, privacy, identity theft, fraud, and personal finance. At age 27, Levin became the youngest Director in the history of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs — one of the most powerful consumer protection agencies in the U.S. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Michigan School of Law.

As Chairman and founder of CyberScout, Levin built a premier global identity, data protection company, and helped pioneer the cyber insurance business. The organization was acquired in March 2021 by Sontiq, which was soon after acquired by Transunion. Levin was also co-founder of Credit.com, one of the first credit education, information and products and services companies on the Internet focused on consumer credit building. The company was acquired in 2015 by Progrexion.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e210

Joining the podcast this week is Maria Roat, who has had an impressive career in both government and the private sector for more than 35 years. She shares insights from her time in government, among the many roles she held included Deputy Federal CIO and Small Business Administration CIO, and the opportunities she helped identify to change the system from the inside out. She shares perspective on operating the government as a very large enterprise and the challenges that come with managing single year budgets for multi-year programs. Creativity is key to success and Maria talks about the many new and innovative initiatives and programs activated during her tenure to advance the government's technology infrastructure including the CIO Council and revitalization of the Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC). We also delve into the impact in embracing diversity of thought and the criticality of challenging others to think differently and results it can deliver. Side note, we have book recommendation from this episode as well! It is "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek.

Maria Roat, former Deputy Federal CIO

Maria Roat served as the Deputy Federal Chief Information Officer for two years bringing 35+ years of professional experience in information technology.

Ms. Roat served as the Small Business Administration Chief Information Officer October 2016 – May 2020 where she led SBA's digital transformation to a more proactive and innovative enterprise services organization responsive to the business technology needs of SBA program offices and small businesses & entrepreneurs across the United States.

Ms. Roat served more than 2 years as the U.S. Department of Transportation Chief Technology Officer and was responsible for establishing and leading DOTs technical vision and strategic direction, driving innovation and planning for technology growth supporting internal and external facing mission activities.

Ms. Roat served 10 years at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) joining in June 2004 and serving in a number of capacities including Federal Risk Management and Authorization Program (FedRAMP) Director, FEMA Deputy CIO, Chief of Staff for the DHS CIO, USCIS Chief Information Security Officer and CIO Chief of Staff, and Deputy Director, Technology Development, for TSA's Secure Flight Program.

Prior to joining DHS in 2004, Ms. Roat was in the private sector for 5 years deploying and managing global enterprise network management systems, as well as running Network and Security Operations Centers.

Ms. Roat is a graduate of the University of Maryland (UMUC), Harvard Business School Executive Education Program for Leadership Development, and the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e209

In honor of November as Infrastructure Awareness Month, we wanted to bring back this episode from our 2021 archives with Rob Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Dragos. In this episode, Rob breaks down the OT challenge that many businesses are facing today including a lack of clarity on who within the business owns OT and defining what acceptable OT risk means within the business. He also shares perspective on multi-factor authentication as one of the universal controls, the industry + geopolitical aspect of managing risk, and shifting the lens to think about the IP threat from the operator POV. And he shares insights on the Salt Water Project and what can happen when thinking through OT impact + the art of the possible.

For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e208