Behind the Shield

FedRAMP 20x is moving fast and in this episode of Behind the Shield, host Gary Daemer  and co-host Chad Spears break down what it actually looks like to go from Phase 1 pilot to Phase 2 production-ready thinking. We cover the real shift happening right now from “is the thing there?” to “is the control effective?” plus how KSIs, continuous and persistent validation, and machine-readable evidence ar...

Building talent is part of building secure systems. In Episode 1 of our 3-part Internship Series, host Felisha Daemer sits down with Tanner Bailey (former InfusionPoints intern turned Internship Coordinator) to unpack how we develop the next generation of cybersecurity and cloud professionals through a rotational program across Advisory, Cloud Ops/Engineering, and a 24x7 SOC. If you are not lookin...

In this episode, hosts Mike Strohecker and Jason Shropshire sit down with Rob Hughes, CISO of RSA, for a deep dive into identity security, FedRAMP Rev 5, and emerging AI risk. Rob shares his journey into the CISO role and how RSA has evolved from its early days of hardware tokens into a modern, cloud focused identity provider. The conversation covers real world lessons from RSA’s FedRAMP authoriza...

Behind the Shield- Episode 14 In this episode of Behind the Shield, host Jason Shropshire is joined by guest host Jason Redding (InfusionPoints Advisory) and special guest Sam Aydlette, a longtime FedRAMP leader who’s seen the program from nearly every seat: government, industry, and consulting. Sam takes us back to the early “Wild West” days of FedRAMP, why cloud changed everything about traditio...

In this episode of Behind the Shield, host Gary Daemer is joined by new co-host Ryan Adcock from the InfusionPoints Cloud Team and special guest SK Bhachech from Riverbed Technology for a candid conversation on what it really takes to navigate federal compliance when the goalposts move mid-flight. Together, they unpack Riverbed’s authorization journey, why FedRAMP is often customer-driven rather t...

Disclaimer:  This conversation includes a live demo of Command Center on XBU40. To see the dashboards, workflows, and visuals discussed, watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2db13PnF62s   In this episode of Behind the Shield, host Gary Daemer is joined by co-host Chad Spears (Director, Security Operations) and special guest Alex Earhart (Lead SecOps Engineer and 20x pilot engineer)...

Behind the Shield- Episode 11 What does FedRAMP look like from the assessor’s seat? In this episode of Behind the Shield, host Gary Daemer sits down with Christian Baer, Technical Fellow at Schellman, to unpack what FedRAMP 20X really means from the inside of the assessment process. Christian shares first-hand insight into: • How automation is reshaping federal security assessments • The shift fro...

Behind the Shield- Episode 10  In this introductory episode of Behind the Shield, host Jason Shropshire sits down with Mike Strohecker, Director of Cloud Operations at InfusionPoints, to highlight Mike’s professional journey, leadership role, and perspective on the future of cloud security and FedRAMP 20x. As part of our series, we periodically introduce members of InfusionPoints’ leadership team,...

Behind the Shield- Episode 9 Getting a government Authority to Operate (ATO) can feel impossible for small businesses- but it doesn’t have to be. In this episode of Behind the Shield, CoachMePlus CEO Teo Balbach shares how a five-person sports technology startup turned its athlete-management platform into a DoD-authorized SaaS used by Army and Air Force programs. Joined by InfusionPoints’ Jackson...

Behind the Shield- Episode 9 In this episode of Behind the Shield, host Gary Daemer, CEO of InfusionPoints, sits down with Felisha Daemer, VP of Public Sector and one of the driving forces behind the company’s culture and growth. Felisha shares her personal journey from college intern to executive leadership — and how being “humble, hungry, and smart” became the foundation of InfusionPoints’ hirin...

Behind the Shield- Episode 7 In this episode of Behind the Shield, we’re joined by Tim Sandage, Head of AWS Global Security & Compliance Acceleration, to explore how automation, AI, and platform-driven design are reshaping the future of cloud compliance. Tim sits down with Gary Daemer and Jason Shropshire of InfusionPoints to discuss the evolution from static audits to continuous validation—an...

Behind the Shield- Episode 6 In this episode of Behind the Shield, Jason Shropshire and Gary Daemer connect history, innovation, and compliance. What can the fall of Constantinople teach us about modern cybersecurity and FedRAMP 20x? They explore why traditional “walls and moats” thinking no longer works in today’s cloud world, how compliance pipelines are changing the game, and why automation—not...

Behind the Shield- Episode 5  Meet our new VP of Customer Success, Jeff Bivens. Jeff shares his path from late-90s client-server to SaaS, through a Dell acquisition and multiple ATOs, to why he joined InfusionPoints now. We dig into how strong program management turns compliance into momentum, how FedRAMP 20x can lower barriers without lowering security, and why “customer success” in public sector...

Behind the Shield- Episode 4: FedRAMP 20x, KSIs, and the End of Screenshots (with Fortreum’s Ethan Troy & InfusionPoints’ Tanner Bailey) In this episode we explore how FedRAMP 20x is changing audits. Instead of relying on screenshots, auditors now focus on scripts, APIs, and code logic. Host Gary Daemer sits down with InfusionPoints’ Tanner Bailey and Fortreum’s Ethan Troy to talk about KSIs,...

 Behind the Shield - Episode 3:  Meet one of our hosts, Chad Spears (Director of Security Operations at InfusionPoints), as he sits down with Gary Daemer to talk about the journey from hands-on IT to leading a modern SOC, the power of automation, and how FedRAMP 20x is reshaping audits, evidence, and continuous monitoring. What you’ll learn How a major ransomware event shaped Chad’s approach to de...

Behind the Shield – Episode 2:  In our first episode featuring a guest, hosts Jason Shropshire and Jason Redding sit down with a public-sector security leader, Said Syed, CISO Snyk for Government, to unpack the real story behind FedRAMP—from the messy early days and the shared-responsibility model, to today’s accelerated authorizations and the 20x roadmap. We cover hard-won lessons, how process (n...

Behind the Shield- Episode 1:  In the premiere episode of Behind the Shield, hosts Gary Daemer (CEO of InfusionPoints) and Jason Shropshire (COO) share the story of InfusionPoints’ journey from its early federal and commercial projects to becoming a leader in cloud compliance and security engineering. They discuss how the rise of FedRAMP in 2012 pushed the team to pioneer automation, compliance-as...