When the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its Zero Trust Maturity Model Version 2.0 in April, it identified access management as a core function within the Identity Pillar. Identity is the very first of five such pillars, and brings the need for privileged access management into clear focus. Identity is defined by CISA as “an attribute or set of attributes that uniquely describes an agency user or entity,...

Federal agencies across government have started the shift in mindset from just patching and remediation to truly transformative cybersecurity modernization. There is no better example than the move to developing zero trust architecture governmentwide. While every agency is in a different stage of its ZT implementation journey, there are key guideposts and best practices that every federal IT and security team should be following to optimize th...

In today’s interconnected and rapidly evolving digital landscape, ensuring secure access to sensitive resources is of paramount importance. There are various methods of securing data and Federal agencies have explored a majority of them. Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) have emerged as two prominent frameworks that enable organizations to address the challenges associated with a...

In today’s digital age, government organizations are collecting more data than ever before. However, many agencies are struggling to make sense of this data, which is often siloed across different departments, systems, and classifications. Enterprise-level data analytics offers a solution to this problem, allowing government organizations to break down data silos and gain a more comprehensive view of their operations. Join us as topic ex...

As artificial intelligence (AI) applications proliferate across the internet ecosystem, other changes are being triggered, from the commitment to R&D funding to workforce development to new initiatives in higher education. The federal government’s spending on IT R&D and AI in fiscal year 2023 is estimated at $9.6 billion. Meanwhile, the University of Florida, for instance, declares it is “building an AI university,” a...

The federal government has continued to refine current standards to better fit the needs of American people. Millions of Americans heavily rely on government-funded benefit programs to maintain their livelihoods. The stresses and burdens that come with interacting with the government, such as needing the services of Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, Social Security, etc. need to be eliminated in order to elevate the customer experie...

Modern cybersecurity measures such as post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and zero trust architecture (ZTA) are essential to protect U.S. critical infrastructure and ensure a resilient nation. And with a flurry of comprehensive initiatives coming from the Executive Branch, Pentagon, NSA, and NIST, it can be challenging for U.S. government CIOs and CISOs to determine where to prioritize resources. But PQC and ZTA aren’t mutually exclusive: ef...

In the digital age, government agencies face increasing threats from spyware that can compromise sensitive information and undermine national security. To combat this, many government organizations are taking proactive measures by implementing executive orders and directives to ban specific applications on their mobile devices. However, this approach presents challenges in terms of scalability, visibility, and keeping up with rapidly evolving...

The universe of artificial intelligence applications is going through its own Big Bang right now. As artificial intelligence (AI) applications proliferate across the internet ecosystem, other changes are being triggered, from the commitment to R&D funding to workforce development to new initiatives in higher education. As public awareness grows of AI’s potential and how it may affect them, there still are issues to be resolved. For i...

Federal agencies must undergo the complex and laborious process of security authorization to operate (ATO) for each information system (IS) in accordance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA). Currently, most agencies rely on manual documentation processes. These include popular productivity tools to capture the applicable security controls and the status/plans of implementation of the controls for each IS as well as...