Federal Tech Podcast: for innovators, entrepreneurs, and CEOs who want to increase reach and improve brand awareness

A recent study by Deloitte indicates that 67% of executives struggle with data analytics. The knight in shining armor that offers a rescue is artificial intelligence. Today's interview pours the promise of artificial intelligence into both ends of the spectrum: qualifying data sets that are being used and, subsequently, producing explainable results. The headline overview of artificial intelligenc...

We begin this episode with a shocking statistic:   80% of hybrid cloud breaches involve credential abuse. During the interview, Jimmy McNary from Semperis unpacks the whole concept of protecting identities in the hybrid cloud. The interview covers a wide range of topics. First, we start by taking a view of how large systems have evolved. Larger systems tend to have two or more identity processes,...

The title of this podcast is "Federal Tech Podcast."   For many people, this evokes an image of stacks and stacks of servers in a windowless data center. Today's interview shows listeners how that data can be unlocked and put in the hands of front-line officers, whether they are federal or civilian. Bob Griffin from Siren has been involved in bringing data to online operators for decades. During t...

Today, we look at the proper way to manage the hybrid cloud for federal projects. Our guest is the Chief Technology Officer for Thundercat Technology, Kurt Steege. Kurt has an extensive background that includes a stint as the Chief Enterprise Architect at the FBI. An argument can be made that the move to the hybrid cloud can increase flexibility and reduce cost; an equally valid argument can be ma...

If you do a Google search on "Leadership" you get five billion results. Seems like a topic that has been given tons and tons of attention. A better way to gain an understanding of leadership is to seek out examples of poor leadership and try to avoid them. Enter, How NOT to Lead: Lessons Every Manager Can Learn from Dumpster Chickens, Mushroom Farmers, and Other Office Offenders. The latest book f...

Over the years some technical terms are easy to understand for mere mortals – data centers, high-speed internet, and even identity management. However, when you mention the term "Kubernetes," a normal professional eye would glaze over. Some technical professionals may have to revert to making up some applications. Well, the wait is over. Today, world-famous Paul Smith from Rancher Government Servi...

When people think of Amazon Web Services, they normally think of a data center. This was certainly top of mind when AWS hosted 10,000 at its Public Sector Summit in 2023. Today, we go in a different direction. Dave Rubal is a well-known innovator in the Washington DC technical community. He has decided to throw his hat into the ring with something called the Secure Tactical Edge. It makes sense. I...

James Eselgroth will lead a discussion about innovation and change in federal technology. Normally, one would think about solutions to problems. Traditionally, develop a list of changes, check each off the list, list, and move on. That may be a fantastic way to build a house, not that it simply does not work in today's dynamic software environment.   In today's fast-moving technical climate, one a...

AI? Process mining? We owe it to the listeners to put the strange title into perspective. Some will argue that a federal agency is a collection of business processes. For example, a company turns in its taxes; a laboratory applies for a grant; and even federal agencies must comply with cybersecurity requirements. Some will label this process management. Because the federal government deals in bill...

In today's interview, Guarv "GP" Pal from stackArmor presents a warning call to let people know that a sudden jump into any technology can present unintended consequences. He offers suggestions to make AI meaningful, safe, and dependable. Everyone remembers Bill Murray on Groundhog Day having the same experience over and over. After a few years of experience in federal technology, we are looking a...

The first part of this interview is a fascinating description of how John Kindervag produced the concept of Zero Trust. In the early days of networking, many users were described as "trusted users."   John questioned as to why they did not take the next step and verify then. The response was classic – because it would be rude. Fast forward a few decades and we see countless breaches and billions o...

On December 13, 2021, an Executive Order titled "Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government."    This initiative reflects the greater commercial experience. Because people are now so comfortable with transactions on a phone that customers are using sites that present as "user friendly."    When combined with the Covid information...

DoD tossed the revisions to the OMB; the 300,000 people in the DIB are waiting with 'bated breath to see what it looks like in the Federal Register. Will it be a "final" rule? Will it be an "interim" rule? The first paragraph sounds like an academic dispute in an ivory tower; that "tower talk" is particularly important for the 300,000 companies that comprise the defense industrial base. Today, sit...

There was a time when a "snapshot" of a federal system was taken, and its security posture was evaluated based on the moment in time. That may have been a tolerable solution when a network consisted of two dozen personal computers and a server down the hall. However, this superficial approach will not work with today's networks in constant change. For example, data is exploding and entering system...

Thousands of books have been written about agile software development since the release of The Agile Manifesto back in 2001.   It was a noble, but frustrating concept two decades ago.   They really did not have the tools to have informal teams combine to complete complicated software development projects. For example, if your team were in one building, you could meet daily and provide updates on a...

The world is exploding with data and the need for systems to manage it.   Unfortunately, we are not seeing a commensurate growth in people who are getting trained in software development.   Let's state the obvious:   the need for coding is driving companies to look at ways to reach project milestones creatively. Companies like Nintex offer what they classify as no code, low code solutions.   Essen...

One of my goals in "Federal Tech Podcast" is to let federal leaders get an idea of what new companies and ideas are available to help them reach their goals. Well, everybody knows Google. This is an interview with Leigh Palmer from Google to bring to light some unknown areas of Google. Leigh provides Google's perspective on major cloud issues, like defining "cloud native" and giving her opinion on...

Ep. 114 Improving Digital Adoption for Secure Federal Technology Commercial enterprises and the federal government have a challenge in managing the tremendous tsunami of data that has been released in the past few years. On top of that, federal agencies are under an unfunded mandate to adopt Zero Trust for all its systems. During this interview, Billy Biggs from WalkMe suggests that Artificial Int...

Josh Brodbent has an amazing technical background. When he was still in his teens, he started a company that managed services. For the past twenty years, he has immersed himself in the world of technology with a particular focus on ICAM and cyber security. During today's interview, we tapped his technical expertise to comment on some trends in cybersecurity that can impact the federal government:...

Some will argue that providing cybersecurity to a federal agency is a balancing game. On the one hand, you must encrypt network traffic; on the other hand, you provide a mechanism where this encrypted traffic is inspected. This must be done in compliance with many regulations and not have any impact on the speed of the network. Sounds easy when a group of software developers are arguing around a w...

In Calvinball, the rules were always changing. When it comes to the DoD's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, it seems to look increasingly like Bill Watterson's masterpiece, Calvin and Hobbs. Today's interview is with Dr. Amy Williams from Coalfired Federal. She has years of experience in the nuances of CMMC and has a strong academic background to be able to understand complex topics and...

In the early days of computer networking, one was taught to make the network hard on the outside and soft in the inside. A more popular variation on this concept was your network should be like a castle with a moat around it to prevent entry. Well, both metaphors have been destroyed. Today, you would be naïve if you did not assume the bad guys are inside your network. The proposed solution is, of...

Traditionally, a threat was detected, and a remediation plan was deployed.   This is classic Endpoint Detect and Response (EDR).   Would that life be that easy. Today, we have malicious actors using generative Artificial Intelligence to slightly alter code, so it doesn't resemble previous attacks.   This kind of eliminates the "detection" part of EDR. This isn't rare anymore.   In fact, in August...

Everyone who has watched everything from Star Wars to Star Trek has never encountered some of the problems we see in space today: collisions and space junk.   It just doesn't make for a good story on the big screen. However, the reality is that there will be 30,000 satellites launched before 2030 and we are encountering challenges in what is called situational awareness.   In this application, sit...

Today, we have Will Laforest from Confluent explain how federal leaders can harness the power of data streaming. We all know that data has exploded since the advent of cheap storage, remote computing, and the proliferation of the Internet of Things.    Several lessons have been learned.   First, just because you have petabytes of data doesn't mean it can help in making decisions; second, if you de...