#131 Digital Transformation in Federal Government
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on Wed Mar 29 2023 17:00:00 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
with Darren W Pulsipher, Mark Valcich,
In this episode, Darren interview Mark Valcich director and GM of Federal Civilian Public Sector at Intel. Mark's years of experience shine as he describes the current trends in digital transformation in the federal civilian government.
Keywords
#riskmanagementpolicies #automation #cybersecurity #multicloud #zerotrust
Mark has worked with the federal government for over 20 years and has seen firsthand how agencies embrace new technology to improve their services to citizens. One trend he has noticed is a focus on customer experiences, such as using mobile passport applications by Customs and Border Protection. Despite the challenges of delivering large-scale initiatives in constantly changing environments, Mark sees many opportunities for the government to accelerate its mission by adopting new technology.
COVID has accelerated innovation within the federal government and exposed gaps in areas such as VPN connections and security for remote workers. Agencies continue to innovate, focusing on cloud technology and improving customer experience. Education and communication are critical in making informed decisions about where to place workloads and implementing cloud technologies. Despite concerns that bureaucracy may slow innovation, innovation’s benefits continue to drive innovation within the federal government, including cloud, edge computing, cybersecurity, and secure supply chain areas.
Multi-Hybrid Cloud
There is a growing trend of multi-hybrid cloud usage and the various challenges that come with it, such as security and data management. The importance of having a well-structured plan for digital transformation projects was emphasized with the need for early success. Another innovation is edge computing, which translates to getting insights from information at the edge faster without needing a connection. Several organizations are currently working to figure out how to leverage edge computing power to improve their services. Some use cases include water sensor monitoring in agriculture and optimizing mail delivery routes for the US Postal Service.
Automation
When automation and cybersecurity are combined, they can accelerate an organization’s ability to react to threats, deploy new capabilities, and provide better services to their constituents. The work shortage arising from baby boomers retiring will require automation to address this issue. One example is how automation improved the inspection process at the border for produce and flowers, resulting in faster processing times and longer shelf life.
Cybersecurity
The current IT/OT environment is a constantly evolving threat landscape, with bad actors continuously innovating. Intel is innovating and creating hardware security technology that encrypts data to protect against nefarious actors. Cybersecurity is top of mind for the Federal government, as noted by President Biden’s recent press release emphasizing critical infrastructure protection as the number one cybersecurity issue. Essential management of infrastructure in the US, given the country’s unique state structure and the involvement of various entities like local municipalities and private power companies. The Critical Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guides cybersecurity and sets standards for secure systems across federal, state, and local levels.
Secure Supply Chain
Another critical vulnerability exposed by COVID-19 is the geopolitical risks and cybersecurity threats to the supply chain. Intel’s transparent supply chain allows customers to verify the integrity of components, which is crucial in ensuring hardware and software security. With these measures in place, the US is taking steps towards bolstering its industrial and national security.
The supply chain is not just for physical assets; software, firmware, and hardware all play an important role in supply chain security. All components have attack vectors and require secure software, building materials, component verification, and device integrity for validation—an executive order around software and materials, which Intel is adhering to on their new processors. Intel provides hardware security technologies and transparent supply chain capabilities as part of a zero-trust architecture.