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When it comes to cybersecurity, a Secure Operations Center (SOC) is the central nerve center for federal agencies. Because of its critical nature, updates must be handled with extreme care. Today, a panel of experts discussed how federal agencies can modernize SOCs to improve threat detection, response, and mission resilience. Thomas Schankweiler from CMS argues that we should start by focusing on adversaries and identifying detection gaps. From there, teams can prioritize improvements to address these specific issues. Part of this identification is understanding the tools' capabilities, especially where they overlap. Systems working independently can inadvertently cause vulnerabilities. Palo Alto's Rob Sherry highlights the need to put threats in context. One solution is a platform that correlates systems and helps analysts assess risk. NGA's Michael Ryan agrees with the other experts on the value of context in today's cloud, data, and user environments. He expands on that by applying it to a Zero Trust environment. One theme repeats throughout the discussion. AI should handle grunt work, allowing humans to focus on key tasks like analysis and strategy. There is no value in finding the wrong needle in the wrong haystack, even if AI can do it in three seconds.

AI can help government agencies turn data into better services, but getting there takes more than simply making data available. In this week's episode of Feds at the Edge, we take a look at how agencies can uncover data buried in legacy systems, manage the cost of that discovery, and how to prevent AI from exposing sensitive data along the way. Rudolph Rojas of the USDA discusses the challenge of tracking down reporting applications created across an organization of more than 70,000 employees. Finding the data is one thing, but using AI to process it can introduce new risks, including potential data leaks. Tony Batalla of Oakland, California, takes a practical look at the next challenge: even when agencies can collect their data, can they afford to manage and use all of it? With limited resources, organizations need to focus on the information that can deliver the greatest value. And Alejandro Losa of Broadcom looks at how federal guidance, including OMB M-25-21 and the NIST Risk Management Framework, can help agencies establish accountability, assess impact, and maintain oversight as they adopt AI. Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform to hear how government organizations can make smarter use of their data while balancing cost, security, and responsible AI adoption.

AI is moving faster than the rules designed to secure it. How can government leaders keep pace without creating new vulnerabilities?  In this week's episode of Feds at the Edge, we explore how public sector leaders are adapting data security, workload, and identity controls for the age of AI.  Kris Pennete from the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency discusses why AI's speed makes deliberate security design more important and why controls should extend beyond the traditional network.  Akamai's Brian Dennis explores how microsegmentation can limit the impact of a breach by restricting access to smaller, isolated areas and how AI-powered automation can help agencies deploy these protections more effectively.  The conversation also examines why automation is a powerful tool, not a replacement for human oversight.    Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform to learn how government leaders can navigate outdated security rules, leverage microsegmentation, and apply human-supervised automation to safely harness the power of AI.

Today, we sat down with a group of experts who have experience taking AI out of the data center and putting it into the field. This enables fast, resilient decision-making in disconnected, bandwidth-constrained, contested, and high-consequence environments. Charles Ritter from Idaho National Labs provides an excellent use case. He begins by outlining the growing popularity of local LLMs and the quality gains products from Nvidia can deliver. Ritter's use case is managing a nuclear facility. When humans must make laboratory decisions, it can take years; an autonomous laboratory system can drastically reduce that time. Remote military situations have high demands that AI can meet. During the interview Dan Folliard from Astra AI details how AI can address restrictions on size, weight, and power. All participants agree that trust in AI must be a primary consideration. Folliard  details several methods to gain trust from stakeholders. Open architecture, modularity, model registries, experimentation, and small initial wins can accelerate adoption and build trust. Another way to encourage AI adoption at the edge is to use experimentation and small wins to build trust before scaling.

Still tasked with doing more with less, agencies everywhere are focused on how to get more "bang for the buck," especially when it comes to AI.   In this week's episode of Feds at the Edge, technology leaders share how they are staying ahead in the era of AI without breaking their limited budgets.   Lorain County, Ohio's Todd Sharkey opens with some concepts that may not be obvious. Because most county staffs are, by definition, small, he suggests looking beyond your own organization for help and learning from others facing the same challenges. Khaled Twafik expands on the value of collaboration, particularly when it comes to sharing resources, setting standards and making the case for AI investments.   Priorities also matter when deciding where to invest. Kate May from Granicus discusses how organizations can identify the processes and workflows where AI may have the greatest impact, and how understanding true constraints can help set realistic goals.   Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform to hear practical perspectives on making AI more approachable, affordable and useful, even when budgets and resources are limited.

Is your agency ready for the quantum revolution? Quantum computing promises incredible breakthroughs, but it also brings new challenges to federal cybersecurity. In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, we explore how agencies can proactively prepare for the quantum future and protect sensitive data today. While a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (CRQC) may still be on the horizon, adversary tactics like "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" (HNDL) make quantum readiness an immediate priority. U.S. GAO's Marisol Cruz Cain and Leidos' Joe Kovba, along with Rosa Underwood from GSA and Richu Channakeshava of Palo Alto Networks, break down the timeline, discussing how advances in quantum processing will challenge current RSA and Elliptic Curve asymmetric encryption standards. More importantly, our experts share actionable insights on migrating networks to post-quantum standards - such as FIPS 203, FIPS 204, and FIPS 205 - and strategies for balancing this vital operational shift with limited resources and competing cyber demands. Tune in on your favorite podcast platform to hear how agencies can begin preparing today for the cybersecurity challenges and opportunities of the quantum era.

While we all know AI can boost productivity, agencies everywhere are trying to figure out how that will relate to the government workload. In this episode of Feds At The Edge, experts familiar with the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission unpack what it takes to move from AI experimentation to secure, scalable, mission-ready infrastructure across national laboratories and research environments. Dana Grisham of Sandia National Laboratories explores a fundamental architecture question: how do you balance centralized control with the flexibility of a federated model, especially when innovation is moving fast and compliance can't take a back seat? David Henderson takes the conversation deeper into data governance, examining how agencies can maintain control and visibility as information moves from databases to data lakes, warehouses, and beyond. A common data catalog, he argues, can help create the consistency and accountability these environments demand. Frank Reyes of Maximus looks at architecture as more than infrastructure. Done well, it becomes a set of guardrails, helping federal organizations optimize performance while operating within demanding security, governance, and mission constraints. The conversation also tackles some of the toughest realities of AI modernization: technical debt, data-sharing agreements, cross-organizational collaboration, and the security requirements that can determine whether innovation scales, or stalls. For agencies working to turn AI ambition into operational capability, this is where the real work begins. Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform today.

Here is the final copy for this one and I will have the next over to you soon:   Software management presents itself as an easy task: install software, then deinstall it at the end of its life. Unfortunately, the complexity of modern systems has made managing software in enterprise situations more of a nightmare than a walk in the park.   In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, government and industry thought leaders share practical approaches to managing software assets, from establishing authoritative data across multiple tools to identifying duplicate software purchased by different departments. Even when tools are duplicative, turning them off can be difficult when they're embedded in critical systems.   The discussion also explores the challenges of acquiring software during an emergency, the risks of working with unreliable vendors and the importance of having the right processes in place to manage software throughout its lifecycle. They also underscore the risks posed by legacy systems and highlight why continuous, automated approaches are vital for managing software assets effectively.  From knowing what software you have to knowing what you can safely retire, effective software management is essential to keeping modern enterprises secure, efficient and resilient. Tune in on your favorite podcast platform to hear how experts are tackling these challenges.

The concept of EDR is flawless, but complex federal environments present distinct operational hurdles.  In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, we dive into Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) in the federal government and explore how expert-suggested approaches can help agencies overcome today's barriers.  While EDR provides continuous monitoring and automated containment across agency devices, federal civilian networks face unique challenges in practice. Broadcom's Paul Miller admits that EDR's core weakness is its reactive nature, discussing how AI can be applied to "move left" of an attack by leveraging historical data to predict threats before they strike. Meanwhile, Broadcom's Sam Romo breaks down the difficulty of defending against machine-speed attacks as AI increases the velocity of standard signature-based threats. Together, the panel examines how today's AI-assisted, adaptive EDR can serve as a vital protective layer for the fragile legacy systems embedded throughout agency cybersecurity stacks.   Tune in on your favorite podcast platform for practical insights on how federal agencies can strengthen endpoint security and stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats.

According to Greg Touhill, the first CISO of the United States, complexity is the bane of IT security. Today, that lesson remains especially relevant.  In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, several thought leaders share how agencies can reduce complexity, integrate legacy systems, balance usability with security, and build a Zero Trust environment that continues to improve over time.  Robert Skinner of Skinner's Strategic Solutions, explores the power of reducing system complexity and data flows to unlock clearer analytics. David Klink of Leidos explains the challenge agencies face when they try to "shoehorn legacy identity methods" into modern enterprise compliance. Continuous monitoring and tools that identify systems operating outside enterprise Identity, Credential, and Access Management requirements can help bridge that gap.     Tune in on your favorite podcast platform to hear practical, actionable ideas for managing out-of-compliance infrastructure, maintaining continuous evaluation, and driving modern security compliance without sacrificing user experience.

Listeners may be familiar with a quote from Frederick the Great, "He who defends everything, defends nothing."   Federal leaders understand this all too well. As they are deluged with data, attacks, and new technology on a daily basis, it can be confusing what to prioritize and in trying to defend everything, agencies can be left vulnerable to attack.   In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, several thought leaders share how they set priorities, leverage existing tools, and experiment with new solutions to enhance efficiency and security.   Bridget Carper-Arnone of the Department of Energy discusses how Enterprise License Agreements and centralized governance can reduce costs and streamline compliance across multiple systems. SEC's Jeff King emphasizes the value of understanding existing tools, noting that a deeper dive with vendors can uncover capabilities agencies may already have. While Emilio Escobar from DataDog highlights observability and AI as keys to modernization, explaining how greater visibility into the technology environment can help agencies deploy resources more effectively. Tune in on your favorite podcast platform to hear federal technology leaders share practical strategies for prioritizing investments, maximizing existing tools, and modernizing with greater efficiency and security.

History shows that nations often enter new conflicts relying on old, familiar tactics. It's only after those tactics fail that they adapt to something new.  Today, thousands of defense contractors and companies are making the exact same mistake with Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). By applying outdated, static compliance tools to a modern, dynamic regulatory landscape, organizations face mounting delays, incomplete visibility, and soaring costs. In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, we sit down with leading experts from GDIT, Axonius Federal, Red River and ComplAi, who have successfully navigated these pitfalls to streamline the journey to certification.   They highlight why traditional governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) tools built for commercial frameworks fail under CMMC standards, why continuous monitoring must replace periodic rule-checking, and how essential a complete data inventory is for long-term success.

Everyone has heard about fraud, waste, and abuse, but building an effective fraud prevention program requires more than identifying problems after they occur. In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, government and industry experts share practical strategies for helping federal agencies stop improper payments before funds go out the door.  Kim Brandt of CMS underscores the scale of the challenge, noting the agency processes roughly $1 million in claims every day. Justin Marisco from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service share how tapping into shared resources, such as Treasury's Do Not Pay list, the Social Security Death Index, and DHS databases can help validate individuals before funds are ever disbursed. Diligent's Jason Venner highlights why preventing improper payments is infinitely better than the traditional "pay and chase" approach and how the era of Big Data introduced agencies to analyzing massive datasets, while today's AI makes it possible to analyze entire datasets, rather than samples, to identify fraud risks.  Tune in on your favorite podcast platform to learn how modern technology and cross-agency data sharing are shifting federal fraud prevention from reactive damage control to proactive defense.

Permitting delays can increase construction costs, frustrate applicants and slow the delivery of much-needed housing. But modernizing the process requires more than simply replacing paper with technology. In this week's episode of Feds At The Edge, we explore how government and industry leaders are combining policy reform, digital workflows, cloud technology and AI to reduce permitting backlogs and improve the building approval process. John W. Lane of the Town of Caledon examines outdated bylaws, inconsistent processes and ways to accelerate reviews without sacrificing safety. Philip Mosher of the Municipality of North Grenville shares how updated zoning rules, integrated workflows and dashboards can help expose bottlenecks and move applications forward. James Nyhus of the District of Sechelt discusses moving from paper files to cloud-based permitting and tablet inspections, while Salesforce's Nadia Hansen explores how AI could support document processing, workload planning and routine applicant questions.  Tune in on your favorite podcast platform for a practical look at how government can connect people, processes and technology to deliver faster, more responsive services.

Identity is central to Zero Trust, making it one of the most attractive targets for cyber attackers. While multi-factor authentication has long been a reliable way to ensure identity, traditional MFA has critical gaps.    This week on Feds At the Edge, Mark Brennan from the New Jersey Department of Health, and YubiKey's Jeff Frederick, explore how phishing-resistant cryptography and hardware security keys provide stronger protection against modern identity-based threats while improving the user experience. The panel also examines why hardware-backed authentication is recognized in NIST SP 800-63 Revision 4 as a highly secure approach to cryptographic MFA and shares practical guidance for implementation, including starting with a phased rollout, engaging executive leadership early, and continuously refining the program to build user confidence and support long-term Zero Trust success.  Tune in on your favorite podcast platform to discover how hardware-backed authentication can help agencies reduce identity-based attacks, strengthen security, and simplify the path to phishing-resistant MFA