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

We are at the point where Artificial Intelligence is splitting into several capabilities. These include Generative, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Predictive, and Deep Learning to name a few. Today, we sit down with Melisa Bardhi from Excella and look at one aspect of AI, Generative AI, and examine how it can be used responsibly for federal applications. In a short 25 minutes, she covers · Definitions · Beginnings · Security · Existing models · AI training Melisa begins by admitting that one must be cautious about data that is used to feed AI. All humans have biases, whether intentional or not. One document she would like to share with the audience is Excella's Generative AI Use Policy. Rather than starting with a major tech overhaul, it is suggested that an agency looks at a pilot with well-defined outcomes. Generally, Generative AI should be deployed in a controlled environment. Security is foremost in the minds of all federal employees. The challenge is that many of the recommendations from laudable organizations like NIST can be hard to understand. As a result, Excella has unpacked many security concepts in several blogs. A reference is Decoding Artificial Intelligence: A Simplified Guide to Key Terminology. https://www.excella.com/insights/decoding-artificial-intelligence-a-simplified-guide-to-key-terminology When you read about ChatGPT producing summaries, this is an example of a model that is used in a wide-open environment. Melisa suggests agencies test out pre-trained models through cloud platforms like Azure ML, AWS Sagemaker, and GCP AI Platform. Fortunately, we are bombarded with places to learn more about Generative AI. During the interview, Melisa mentioned agencies should consider partnering with research institutions and groups like ACT-IAC. For example, you can start your Generative AI journey with an article titled "AI Understanding in the Federal Government." https://www.actiac.org/documents/ai-understanding-us-federal-government = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? https://content.leadquizzes.com/lp/fk1JL_FgeQ Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Sometimes, we must look at literature to get an understanding of the current situation for federal GWAC contractors. Let us look back to Charles Dickens with, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Here is the scenario: your company spends a ton of time and money to get a spot on a GWAC contract. never to win any work. All your hopes and dreams of increasing business have been crushed. Today, we sit down with Brian Seagraves from Deep Point Water & Associates to take a detached view of this GWAC process and provide some suggestions. We begin with some shocking numbers. We all know that federal organizations working under GWAC send out notifications regularly. In a perfect world, a resolute employee shows up for work at 9 AM, sees a notification, and then begins the filtering process. In the real world, companies are overwhelmed by notifications and end up working to dead ends. For example, one organization gave 27,450 announcements annually. Simple math indicates, that with 250 workdays, this is 100+ notifications a day. Mere humans cannot keep up. Inevitably, their companies may pursue bad fits or even miss excellent opportunities. During the interview, Brian suggested a solution from Deep Water Point & Associates that can assist in this complex filtering work. His company has managed to combine a strong knowledge of keywords and human understanding of culture to assist in the selection of which announcements to pursue. He details how they developed GWAC NorthStar. This is a "as-a-service" offering and a company can be set up with a free 30-day trial. GWAC NorthStar is a good example of how Artificial Intelligence can be combined with human "know-how" to speed up the proposal process. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? https://content.leadquizzes.com/lp/fk1JL_FgeQ Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

We are in a whirlwind of change. Data is pouring into federal agencies. A recent report indicated that data was growing at 25% a year; cloud usage at a rate of 61%; and Software as A Service an astounding 200%. Oh, did I forget to mention that Generative AI is also increasing data exploding? It is one thing to worry about data from John's Doughnuts, and quite another to worry about sensitive military, financial, and health information that the federal government is charged to protect. Data. gov estimates that 250 million data sets are being used by the public sector. This increase in data has not been missed by the White House. On February 28, 2024, an Executive Order called "Protecting America's Sensitive Data" was issued. Today, we sat down with Adam Costello to have him share some of his practical knowledge of securing data. Adam begins by suggesting federal agencies start by figuring out where these data sets are stored. Humans make mistakes, humans jump into shadow IT and create ghost data, and people do not understand retention protocols. Adam suggests that an Asset Management Database can establish a baseline for documenting data. From there, we can get a better perspective on concerns like encryption, micro-segmentation, time-based retention methods like records management, and establishing a Recovery Point Objective. If you look at your network configuration and blink an eye, it has changed. Listen to the interview to gather best practices from a data management specialist with decades of experience. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? https://content.leadquizzes.com/lp/fk1JL_FgeQ Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Sometimes, the most important impact of technology can be behind the curtains. Today, we will not focus on AI Deep Fakes and AI language translation, but on the impact AI on software development. Terry Miller from Karsun begins the interview with the basics of software development: collecting user stories. Traditionally, a systems analyst would interview several users to see how a software system should behave. This time-consuming process can be assisted with AI helping in assembling the details. Please note, Terry Miller will argue that AI is used as an auxiliary to humans putting together the stories. It can reduce time by eliminating tedious tasks and allowing well-paid professionals to focus on the key concepts. Every large organization, including the federal government, has legacy systems that need to be replaced. This is always challenging because older systems have been put together with the proverbial duct tape. It can challenge a human to review code that has so many twists and turns to understand what to send to the new system and what is unnecessary. AI can be used to review existing code to see where it can be leveraged to make an easy transition. Enterprise architects can then design a systematic approach to enable this transfer. If you would like to see an example of this transition technology, you can visit Karsun Technologies and evaluate their tool called ReDuX-AI. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? https://content.leadquizzes.com/lp/fk1JL_FgeQ Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Ep. 150 Can a platform provide a path to safe AI for federal technology? About every reader knows that ServiceNow is a large company that helps the federal government with managing large systems. Today, Dr. Raj Iyer answers the question – is ServiceNow keeping up with AI to help reduce cost and improve delivery for massive federal systems? Dr. Iyer is in a unique position because of his years of experience in commercial systems and a recent stint as the CIO of the United States Army. An argument can be made that he is up to date with managing large systems and has a thorough understanding of challenges in data security and cyber vulnerabilities. During the interview, he provided a wide range of examples of how ServiceNow is leveraging its platform-as-a-service offering. A big splash was made when ChatGPT was able to generate content from large language models. When it comes to the federal. government, they cannot use the stand large language model because of security concerns. One approach that ServiceNow has taken is a partnership with NVidia that will all federal agencies to create domain-specific data sets. They can be compliant, secure, and allow innovation to be applied to a myriad of federal-specific problems. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? . Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Vishwas Lele discusses combining AI with proposal writing for data security in the federal intelligence community. He highlights Microsoft's AI approach and the importance of human knowledge in proposal writing. The podcast explores the fusion of creativity and AI, security measures for federal documents, ethical considerations in AI models, and the synergy between AI and human expertise in proposal writing.

Federal technology has paralleled the commercial world in its expansion to millions of endpoints. On one hand, this means better information from something like an intrusion sensor. On the other hand, it means the attack surface has just expanded exponentially. It has come to a point where there has been a normalization of breaches. Unfortunately, this does not mean one can neglect protecting your agency from external threats. ZeroFox specializes in understanding external threat security. They have been around since 2013 and "Zero" in on protecting apps, data, people, domains, and API's. During the interview, AJ Nash goes into considerable detail when he differentiates between the surface web, the deep web, and the dark web. He does not realize it, but he is a differentiator as well. ZeroFox relies on leaders like AJ Nash who have considerable experience in the intelligence community and understand the levels of security that are necessary to protect sensitive federal systems. But they do not just stop at identification. AJ Nash continues his comments on something called "automated remediation. "ZeroFox can help your agency move to the next level and integrate with systems that can snap into action when a threat is detected. COVID, fast Internet connections, and small sensors have made the Internet infinitely more dangerous than it was even a few years ago. Understanding external threats can prevent takeovers and attacks. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? www.podscorecard.com Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

After hundreds of interviews with tech innovators I have concluded they are all trying to accomplish the same thing: tell how they can help get the word out that they may have a slice of the solution for federal information technology. One of the best ways to "get the word out" is through a community of interest. During the interview today, Derek Weeks details his success in forming a community around Development Operations, or DevOps. In fact, he has published a book detailing that wildly successful endeavor: Unfair Mindshare LINK One of the keys is to listen to problems and gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges in remedying complex tech concerns in the federal government. The community is called DevOpsDay https://devopsdays.org/ Derek and a colleague started with an idea to have a couple of hundred developers have access to each other in an informal meeting. It became so popular that it has blossomed into a group of 30,000. Some key takeaways ·Start with a user-lead experience. There is no use in guessing what topics will be of interest to the community. Reach out personally to dig deep into current issues and concerns. ·Give without expectation. User generated content is closest to the problems than anything from the marketing department. Content from sponsors as well as from members should be shared willingly. ·1,000-hour rule. There is a commitment of at least 1,000 hours a year to accomplish a successful community. This is not a "set it and forget it" initiative. Careful nurturing and growth of the community needs a real effort. ·Localize community relationships. We have seen meetups all over the world. One way to get the word out is to contact like-minded professionals. A problem in Sao Paulo, Brazil could be the exact concern in Kigali, Rwanda. ·Sustaining the relationship is as crucial as beginning it. Derek gives specific tips on maintaining the relationship over the long haul. The success of community building tells us more about software developers than anything else. Aggressive pitches will be discounted. Generic email blasts are outdated. Digital natives appreciate authentic experiences. This means that a community leader does not look at a member of a community as a "prospect" but as a "person." = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? www.podscorecard.com Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

The federal government has a myriad of technological challenges: legacy systems, Zero Trust, and even maintaining existing equipment! Most companies who work in that environment solve problems from a traditional office, or, even more comfortably, a home office. Unfortunately, life at the tactical edge is not that easy. Today, we dive into the tactical edge network with Sumner Lee, the CEO of a company called Fuse Integration. He started his career at the U.S. Naval Academy and has served in a variety of different geographical environments. As a result, he has an appreciation for warfighters being in remote and contested environments where communications are critical. Because today we rely heavily on digital systems for targeting and coordination in the field, any loss of communication can result in grave consequences. One of the keywords in the interview is the term "resilience." In common tech talk, this means having a backup server in another state. When it comes to the tactical edge, it means establishing a system that has backups. For example, if a cable connection goes down, a satellite can provide backup. If someone loses all communications, they still have basic functioning capabilities. During the interview, Sumner provides examples of how difficult resilience can be in contested environments that are geographically disparate. When a warfighter is under pressure, it is even more important to provide seamless information that is user focused. When friction is reduced, difficult tasks can be completed in a more efficient manner. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? www.podscorecard.com Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Cybersecurity threats are like fashion; wait a few years and they come back in style. The Internet was designed to take a series of digits and resolve them to a website address. This was deemed the Domain Name Service, or DNS. In 1996, we saw the first malicious actor flooding a system with an attack. This was called a Distributed Denial of Service Attack, or DDOS. Over the years new methods of attack have proliferated and DDOS has taken a back seat. However, the number of endpoints has risen exponentially. It certainly looks like we are in a perfect storm to revive good old-fashioned DDOS. During today's interview, Rob San Martin tells the audience that Akamai processes over 11 trillion DNS requests a day and can see trends. According to Akamai's internal threat intelligence, in 2023, 60% of DDOS attacks had a DNS component. Looks like we are Back to the Future! Sean Lyons from Akamai shared an amazing story from last year. A local government was attacked more than 6,000 times. This attack was sustained for over three- and one-half hours. If you work for a federal agency and are looking for an on-premises solution for this problem, you may want to consider Akamai's new offering in hybrid DNS infrastructure security called Shield NS53. Listen to the interview to gain a better understanding of options for controlling DNS issues in your system. = = = Want to leverage you next podcast appearance? www.podscorecard.com Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com