Public Sector Tech Outlook: 2024 Predictions for AI, Cybersecurity and FedRAMP Evolution

What will 2024 have in store for technology development and regulation? Our hosts, Carolyn Ford and Mark Senell, sat down with Roger Cressey, Partner at Mountain Wave Ventures, Ross Nodurft, Executive Director of the Alliance for Digital Innovation and Willie Hicks, Public Sector Chief Technologist for Dynatrace, to discuss their 2024 predictions. Discover what the experts think will occur next year in terms of FedRAMP, AI regulation, Zero Trust and user experience.

Key Topics

• 00:00 Revamping FedRAMP in 2024 leads to changes.
• 06:40 Industry requests FedRAMP High; concerns about changes.
• 08:20 Anticipating challenges but aiming for improvement.
• 11:13 Pushing for reciprocity in government technology solutions.
• 15:15 Ensuring human control in AI military use.
• 19:06 Questioning AI use in defense and civilian sector.
• 25:25 Increased investment in security and product regulation.
• 27:21 Expect more AI news, less legislative involvement.
• 30:30 Observability key for zero trust framework implementation.
• 36:22 Prediction: Citizens will interface with AI technology.
• 37:16 Focus on user experience in government systems.
• 41:03 Election year brings unexpected black swan events.

2024 Predictions for the Public Sector

Revamping of the FedRAMP Program

Ross predicts that in 2024, FedRAMP will be completely reauthorized based on a pending OMB memo that is expected to be finalized in late 2023. This revamp is intended to streamline and improve the FedRAMP authorization process to facilitate faster adoption of cloud-based solutions in government.

However, Roger believes the changes could temporarily slow things down as agencies take time to understand the implications of the new FedRAMP structure on their systems and assess risks. This could require investments from industry as well to meet new requirements that emerge.

FedRAMP 2024: "I think it's going to have a lot of agencies take a hard look at their risk and decide where they want to elevate certain high-valued assets, high-valued systems, high-valued programs, and the authorizations themselves are gonna raise in their level." — Ross Nodurft

Shift From Moderate Baseline to Higher Baseline of Controls

As part of the FedRAMP reauthorization, Ross expects many agencies will shift their systems from a moderate baseline to a higher baseline of security controls. With more interconnected systems and datasets, agencies will want heightened protections in place.

Roger concurs that the increased scrutiny on risks coming out of the FedRAMP changes will lead organizations, especially those managing high-value assets, to pursue FedRAMP High authorizations more frequently.

Increased Demand for a FedRAMP High Environment

Given the predictions around agencies elevating their security thresholds, Willie asks Ross whether the pipeline of solutions currently pursuing FedRAMP High authorizations could face disruptions from new program requirements.

Ross believes there will be some temporary slowdowns as changes are absorbed. However, he notes that the goals of the reauthorization are to increase flexibility and accessibility of authorizations. So over time, the new structure aims to accelerate FedRAMP High adoption.

2024 Predictions: Navigating FedRAMP Changes While Maintaining Industry Momentum

As Ross highlighted, the intent of the FedRAMP reauthorization is to help industry get solutions to market faster. But in the short-term, there could be some complications as vendors have to realign to new standards and processes.

Willie notes that companies like Dynatrace have already begun working towards FedRAMP High in anticipation of rising customer demand. But sudden shifts in requirements could impact those efforts, so he hopes there will be considerations for solutions curr