CyberSmart 2025: From A to Z
Federal agencies understand that cybersecurity has to be the foundation of their operations, from online to back office.
For instance, the telecommunications breach by Salt Typhoon, a Chinese government-backed hacking group, targeted both U.S. political leaders and national security information. First detected in early summer, in December the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said at a press conference there is no way to estimate how long it will take for the hackers’ access to be shut down.
One major challenge for agencies is how to meet these requirements while looking for ways to incorporate new technologies that can streamline their operations. The biggest example of this is the explosive advent of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool that agencies are tasked to incorporate.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the role of Zero Trust in a FedRAMP cloud service provider and how to use it to meet the federal mandate
- Review the FedRAMP cloud service levels to confirm your agency is using the right level of service for different classes of information
- Outline the different types of AI tools and services available to agencies, including which can best be used to strengthen current cybersecurity measures
- Delineate the elements that comprise a user’s “identity” within your agency’s systems, and the protective steps available to guard against human or AI-generated intruders
- Define the differences between government employees accessing systems internally and contractors entering from outside the systems, and the tools available to distinguish between them
Speaker Details
CyberSmart 2025: Hosted by
Claudia Hosky
Publisher,
FedInsider
Jane Norris
Contributing Editor,
FedInsider
CyberSmart 2025: Check-in & Welcome
12:00 noon - 12:59 pm
Welcome! Register or check in with our FedInsider team.
Session 1: The Role of AI in Cybersecurity
1:00 pm - 1:55 pm
Both public and private sector cyber experts recognize that AI represents a new level of threat, such as fear of AI-generated deepfakes that could allow bad actors to circumvent mechanisms to confirm legitimate users' identities. But AI also offers new opportunities to enhance security, by preventing attacks, automating threat responses, and detecting anomalies in user behavior.
Our panel of government and industry experts share their experiences in harnessing AI to confront the continually evolving threat landscape and how agencies can put AI squarely on the side of defending against bad actors.
Brian Tirch
Federal Chief Security Architect,
Microsoft
Session 2: Meeting Zero Trust Requirements in the Cloud
2:00 pm - 2:55 pm
One of the government’s biggest cyber initiatives is the requirement to incorporate Zero Trust (ZT) architecture as a baseline security measure. Executive Order 14028, Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, states that we must “advance toward Zero Trust Architecture … to protect and secure its computer systems, whether they are cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid.” Simultaneously, the General Services Administration’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) expects cloud providers to meet this requirement; as federal agencies modernize and adopt cloud solutions, they are mandated to use FedRAMP authorized Cloud Service Offerings (CSO) for any public cloud delivered service.
Our panel of government and industry experts will discuss the role of ZT in meeting multi-cloud security requirements.
Michael Woolfe
Associate Vice President, Product
Management & Cloud, Fortinet Federal
Kashif Ansari
Senior Director of Sales Engineering,
Commvault
Session 3: Identity is Everything
3:00 pm - 3:55 pm
Protecting a user's identity - who the user is, what they are allowed to access, whether they can edit and copy data, etc. -– lies at the heart of cybersecurity. It's also like having millions of users with a copy of your door key; it only takes one user's carelessness to unlock the door.
Zero trust, for example, is about never trusting, always verifying a user's identity. One of the biggest fears about AI is the possibility of generating a false persona that appears real or creating an online deepfake of a real person that can wreak havoc with the systems it can enter. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently released draft guidelines that include expanded identity proofing models, applicable to both government agencies and contractors.
Our panel of government and business experts will outline the central importance of identity management and verification, how to strengthen identity verification processes, and how to evaluate their success.
Victor Tham
Chief Technologist,
OpenText
Kevin Greene
Chief Security Strategist,
Public Sector,
BeyondTrust
CyberSmart 2025: Closing Comments & Networking Reception
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join us for a Networking reception afterward! There will be a variety of delicious fare & drinks. This is a unique and amazing opportunity to network with your State, local and industry peers.
Event Topic
Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, TechnologyRelevant Audiences
All State and Local Government, All Federal Government, National Guard, Air Force, Coast Guard, City Government, County Government, Municipalities, State Government, Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of State, U.S. Agency of International Development, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Postal Service, Veterans AffairsOther Agency
Office of the President (includes OMB), Other Federal Agencies, Judicial Branch Agencies, Foreign Governments/Agencies
Carahsoft Conference & Collaboration Center
11493 Sunset Hills Road Suite 100
Reston, Virginia, US, 20190