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

John Gilroy
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Technology
  • Updated Weekly

The federal government spends $90 billion on technology every year. If you are a tech innovator and want to expand your share of the market, this is the podcast for you to find new opportunities for growth. Every week, Federal Tech Podcast sits down with successful innovators who have solved complex computer system problems for federal agencies. They cover topics like Artificial Intelligence, Zero Trust, and the Hybrid Cloud. You can listen to the technical issues that concern federal agencies to see if you company's capabilities can fit. The moderator, John Gilroy, is an award-winning lecturer at Georgetown University and has recorded over 1,000 interviews. His interviews are humorous and entertaining despite handing a serious topic. The podcast answers questions like . . . How can software companies work with the federal government? What are federal business opportunities? Who are the cloud providers who work with the federal government? Should I partner with a federal technology contractor? What is a federal reseller? Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

  1. 4d ago

    Ep. 327 Is Cybersecurity a Data Problem? Elastic Explains Why

    Finding a needle in a haystack would seem like a minor endeavor compared to what today's federal systems managers must face. Let's take a stab at a correct farmyard analogy – the haystacks double in size every day and are moving. That sounds like an exaggeration, but recent reports show that nine million zero-day exploits are released every day. AI is putting malicious actors on steroids. Chris Townsend, Global Vice President of Public Sector at Elastic, discussed the company's role in federal cybersecurity and data management. His argument is, essentially, that cybersecurity is a data problem. If threats are viewed from that perspective, the more data you can bring into your security environment, the more effective you are at defending it. Elastic enables security operations analysts      who are responsible for detecting threats to keep up with today's tlandscape and cyber-attack velocity. Elastic's platform and tools     can reduce false positives and help federal security operations centers (SOCs) prioritize valid threats. Townsend highlighted Elastic's agentic AI tools, which help SOC operators prioritize and remediate threats, reducing mean time to detect and respond.  Elastic's partnership with CISA for a managed  Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) as-a- service was also mentioned, emphasizing the importance of standardizing data for effective AI-driven cybersecurity. Townsend goes on to articulate Elastic's launch of a SIEM-as-a-Service offering for federal civilian agencies, featuring Elastic Security on Elastic Cloud. SIEMaaS delivers a cloud-based platform for next-generation, AI-powered threat analytics, incident response, and open-standards-based cybersecurity data ingestion. Here is a link to Chris' blog describing     CISA's SIEMaaS offering and how it supports federal agencies' cybersecurity posture while reducing costs

    23 min

  2. Jun 3

    Ep. 326 Kong Explains the Future of Federal API Security

    John Gilroy hosts Dennis Woo, Director of Federal Sales at Kong, to discuss the rise of API management in federal security. API management has been a slowly growing concern for the past decade.  Cloud adoption has driven API adoption; now we see cheap storage and AI systems making many API connections. Voilà, API security is now a topic for federal security leaders. During the interview, Dennis Woo discusses the origin of Kong and brings up topics of major concern for cybersecurity: The perimeter is disappearing.  Before the cloud, a perimeter might have been the walls of a data center.  APIs caused that to increase dramatically.  Today, we see agents talking to APIs, APIs talking to models, and models consuming MCP tools. Woo remarks that the last thing a federal agency wants is token consumption at enterprise scale. Kong offers an API and AI management tool to ensure compliance, avoid vendor lock-in, and reduce cost. If we fast-forward five years, Woo predicts systems that are semantically aware, systems that can understand intent and detail, and systems that can manage risk.  This can extend to semantic guardrails, semantic compression, and even token management. Listen to the podcast to understand how to manage an AI environment that can get out of control

    22 min

  3. May 29

    Ep. 325 Federal Cyber Leaders Face the AI Vulnerability Wave

    Today, we sat down with Snehal Attani from Horizon3.ai to discuss the impact of large language models (LLMs) like Mythos on federal cybersecurity. He makes a range of startling statements. First, he admits that AI tools like Mythos can find bugs in code. In fact, he claims that the effort to find it may drop to zero. He also warns of the potential for AI-generated exploits to overwhelm security operations centers. Attani predicts a surge in vulnerabilities, what some call a Vulnpocalypse, and stresses the importance of prioritizing remediation and building muscle memory for incident response. However, that does not mean the effort to exploit the vulnerability is also zero. Knowing vulnerability does not guarantee a successful attack. Second, this new information can overwhelm a system administrator. His call to prioritization can yield effectiveness. He makes statements like, "The hardest part of the job is deciding what not to fix." Finally, in a twist on the cybersecurity business, Attani admits that the attacker will get in. The best perspective is to see yourself as in the business of blast radius management. Attani advocates focusing on core cybersecurity fundamentals and cautions against chasing headlines to avoid organizational distraction. Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

    28 min

  4. May 21

    Ep. 323 AI Threat Detection and Federal Cybersecurity Trends

    Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Everyone seems to have an opinion on AI. Today, we interviewed Levi Gundert, the Chief Security and Intelligence Officer for Recorded Future. He thinks that AI gives federal leaders an opportunity to fight back. For example, one aspect of cybersecurity is velocity; the number of attacks has expanded exponentially. Gundert thinks this is an opportunity to match this attack's velocity. Many will balk at this opinion. They will describe federal data as challenged in cross-domain sharing, data labeling, and data trapped in PDFs or legacy systems. During the interview, in a refreshing observation, Gundert observes that defenders have always been on the back foot. Always in defense. Finally, AI can give tools that level the playing field. One application of AI is the ingestion of the data provided to federal systems. AI can be used to provide actionable intelligence. In some systems, this deluge can result in false alerts. When used properly, AI can filter through the signal and identify what is critical. Gundert emphasizes the need for automation and decision advantages in threat intelligence, the challenges of data fragmentation and legacy systems, and the urgency of upgrading systems to address vulnerabilities. They also touch on the role of AI in insider threats, the potential of Mythos to increase vulnerabilities, and the importance of sharing threat information to enhance cybersecurity.

    24 min

  5. May 19

    Ep. 322 Mattermost Secures Mission Critical Federal Collaboration

    Ep. 322 Mattermost Secures Mission Critical Federal Collaboration 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 an unbelievably wide network. We all know about the IRS citizen-facing websites. We log in from our homes, the server is in the cloud somewhere, and we file our taxes. At the other end of the spectrum is the military and intelligence community. The military talks about a "contested" environment. This can be in Low Earth Orbit or can be underwater in a submarine. There are no simple connections in that world. Yet users demand security in a world constantly under attack and disconnected. Resilience means they must not lose packets of information. Also, just to make it interesting, this can be a life-or-death situation. Into this demanding world steps Corey Hulen, founder and CTO of Mattermost. Their mission is to provide collaboration software designed for high-trust, high-risk environments, including even air-gapped network components. The software emphasizes resilience in contested environments, ensuring collaboration continues even when network connections are lost. Hulin highlights the importance of both security and compliance, noting the challenges of meeting multiple regulatory standards. He also addresses the need for AI to support human decision-making in mission-critical scenarios, ensuring quick, informed responses.

    28 min

  6. May 12

    Ep. 321 Skills-Based Hiring and AI in Federal Government HR

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com Today we sit down with an HR company, Workday, to see if it can transfer the success it has had in the commercial world into helping federal agencies reach ambitious goals. Matthew Cornelius works for Workday, but he has spent mor than a decade working in a wider variety of federal agencies. The interview covers topics like  the shift towards skills-based hiring, the challenges of outdated HR systems, and the need for comprehensive workforce data. One concern is that the applicant can report skills. One candidate's Python experience may differ greatly from another's. Presidential administrations have encouraged the concept of skills-based hiring. However, this is a subject that is difficult to implement. For example, it can clash with the standard GSA classification system. Today's AI skills are changing so rapidly, it would be almost impossible for an HR person to understand what skill sets are important. Cornelius has firsthand experience in federal HR systems that are dated. He references using Excel spreadsheets that can have issues with version control and backup. One great place to start is to use a system than can give an HR manager a "birds eye" view of the skills of their current employees. He emphasizes the importance of communication, empathy, and leveraging modern HR technology to improve federal HR processes and outcomes.

    24 min

  7. May 7

    Ep. 320 How to Mean Time to Resolution for Federal Systems

    Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com Two of the least well-known, but most important acronyms in federal technology are ITSM and ITOM. IT Service Management focuses on services and user experience, while IT Operations Management focuses on technical performance and monitoring. These two concepts are the backbone for maintaining the massive federal IT systems we see everywhere. Today, we sat down with Seth Gardner from BMC Helix, who details how BMC Helix can provide insights for service management. He starts with the importance of visibility and generating clean, reusable data for AI. Gardner maintains AI is only as good as the data behind it—and most federal agencies are still "re-wrangling" fragmented systems. In this episode, BMC Helix explains how correlating incidents across 12+ tools can pinpoint root cause and dramatically reduce mean time to resolution. He also touches on the importance of data sovereignty and security in multi-tenant environments. The conversation concludes with Seth outlining BMC Helix's differentiator in adapting to rapid technological changes.

    21 min

  8. May 5

    Ep. 319 Data Control Is Redefining Federal Security Strategy Now

    Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com Angel Smith, President of Global Public Sector at Virtru, discussed the challenges of data interoperability in federal agencies, emphasizing that trust and policy issues often hinder data sharing more than technology. It took several years, but the federal government has realized that its defenses are not perfect and has had to adopt a zero-trust approach to limit access to important information. Zero Trust is Missing the Point During the interview, Angel Smith argues that Zero Trust seems to focus on the network and identity, rather than on data. While intended to secure infrastructure, these changes can create new attack vectors. Data Sovereignty is broken. Traditionally, a data set would reside in a hard drive in a server room down the hall. Because of this, thinking about security can be focused on the physical location of the data or its sovereignty. Sometimes, a strategic approach is necessary to protect data. This is an outdated approach because data can be protected by the data object itself, which can carry control. Security vs. Speed is a False Tradeoff. This legacy thinking also applies to security. Some will exist to control data because it has been viewed as too time-consuming. Smith also stressed the need for modern data governance to enable AI and other advanced technologies, advocating for a rethinking of legacy practices to enhance data security and usability without compromising mission speed.

    22 min
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The federal government spends $90 billion on technology every year. If you are a tech innovator and want to expand your share of the market, this is the podcast for you to find new opportunities for growth. Every week, Federal Tech Podcast sits down with successful innovators who have solved complex computer system problems for federal agencies. They cover topics like Artificial Intelligence, Zero Trust, and the Hybrid Cloud. You can listen to the technical issues that concern federal agencies to see if you company's capabilities can fit. The moderator, John Gilroy, is an award-winning lecturer at Georgetown University and has recorded over 1,000 interviews. His interviews are humorous and entertaining despite handing a serious topic. The podcast answers questions like . . . How can software companies work with the federal government? What are federal business opportunities? Who are the cloud providers who work with the federal government? Should I partner with a federal technology contractor? What is a federal reseller? Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

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