Ep. 149 How Agencies can Adopt AI Swiftly and Securely
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
By now, we have seen demonstrations of Artificial Intelligence summarizing content and even producing images. These are all great YouTube videos for a rainy Saturday afternoon, but what about the work of the government? With AI, one must begin with the data. When it comes to explaining how to leverage the petabytes of information, Karen Hall has a memorable quote. “Generative AI can unlock the knowledge trapped in data.” Her four guidelines for releasing this information are · Make sure the data is authoritative ...
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Ep. 148 Ai can set a new standard for customer service.
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Everyone wants to pick up the phone and quickly get a human who has an immediate, correct, response. On the other hand, government institutions are characteristically understaffed and underfunded. The challenge is to apply modern technology to improve customer service within the allotted budgetary constraints. Amanda Nabours suggests that an answer that is one hundred percent correct must begin with the data used to provide answers. Data stores must prevent bias and privacy must be protected. Right now, her agency is in an exploratory phase, but she notes that one key aspect of a successful...
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Ep. 147 Challenges of Continuous Compliance with a Remote Workforce
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Compliance is difficult enough in an air-conditioned data center; taking this essential concept to an austere geography that has spotty communications with the potential of bullets flying makes it almost impossible. This disruption of communication has a new term, Denied Disconnected Latent, or DLL. When communications are restored, they still must maintain compliance standards. Today we get some perspectives on how to manage this arduous task. From a design perspective, an agency may have a process where the developers who deploy the application may not be the ones who make end points...
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Ep. 146 The cyber wild west is still wild
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
When the United States expanded westward, there was a surprise around every corner; in a similar vein, we see unlimited storage, fast speeds, and artificial intelligence creating a technical “wild west” environment for the federal government. Instead of a posse of Texas Rangers, we have a group of federal experts who have demonstrated their ability to corral malicious code and prevent robbers from stealing you blind. Marisol Cruz Cain from the GAO highlights some of the unpublicized aspects of AI. She mentions that its ability to rewrite code can make attribution difficult. In other...
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Ep. 145 Breaking the System into Tiny Little Pieces: a DoD approach to Zero Trust and micro segmentation.
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Tools | What to segment | floating data centers Four years ago, we needed to have panels define Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). Today, the federal community recognizes the benefits of ZTA. That was the first hurdle; today, we have a panel that gives the “hows” of implementation, with a focus on micro-segmentation. When Angela Phaneuf worked at the US Army Factory called Kessel Run, they made themselves famous with innovation. Angela gives some practical tips on how to deploy ZTA. She explains that tools can assist in the move to micro-segmentation, however there are many. One approach...
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Ep. 144 Unlocking Modernization with AI Management: Meeting the Mission Imperative
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Today we hear perspectives on how AI can assist federal agencies. Kevin Walsh from the GSA provides observations at several federal agencies; Pritha Mehra from the U.S. Post Office gives practical examples of deployment. The overriding consensus is that AI is not the panacea to solve all federal technology problems. However, it has promise but must be approached cautiously to use its power to meet your agency’s mission. Kevin Walsh from the GAO has seen his share of federal agency AI implementation. He has concluded that effectiveness varies from agency to agency. He cautions that...
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Ep. 143 Generative AI in Government
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Every headline one reads sings the praises of Generative Artificial Intelligence; today’s interview showcases some successes and also, some aspects that federal users should be aware of. The discussion includes concepts like hallucinations, test beds, and establishing trust. When Chat GPT was released, there was an explosion of people lauding its benefits. Finally, one can vacuum up previous knowledge and present it in many formats. What has not been highlighted is that there can be serious glitches in this approach and produce narratives where Napoleon was part of the American Civil...
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Ep. 142 Facing the Challenges AI Poses
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
ChatGPT certainly has a great public relations department. It is portrayed as the answer to every conceivable problem for the beleaguered federal technology professional. Today, we sit down with a group of experts in what may be termed “Applied Artificial Intelligence.” We look at several aspects, including preparing your data for AI, the best applications for AI, and putting up guardrails to use AI safely. Mangala Kuppa from the Department of Labor indicates that every use case is unique. If one data set can yield valid results does not mean the results will be the same with another...
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Ep 141 Tapping into the Strategic Power of Data
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Years ago, federal leaders would dream of getting the terabytes of data. The mechanics of collecting and processing have been solved; few thought that we would have more computing power than trusted information. Today’s discussion focuses on some of the risks in storing, sharing, and analyzing data. One of the reasons for this concern is the data generated by machines. Questions are being asked about how that data is collected and the method of collection. Let us assume the data is clean, the next step is to protect and share it. Some will suggest there has been too much focus on...
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Ep. 140 Letting in the Good Ones, keeping the Bad Ones out: Managing Access for Zero Trust
Feds At The Edge by FedInsider
Multifactor Authentication | Active Directory | Access Brokers If one takes a cursory look at cybersecurity, one may conclude that Multifactor Authentication (MFA) may be the answer to cyber woes. That might have been true a couple of years ago, but malicious actors are adapting to every blockade put in their path. Today, we sat down with several identity management experts to get updated on current threats and best practices for reducing the attack surface for federal technology. MFA has a proven weak point. Researchers have discovered that when an...
info_outlineUnderstanding APIs: thousands of them | hard to discover | Vampire APIs
The discussion starts with Patrick Sullivan from Akamai stating that 80% of the attacks they are seeing involve the API.
What is an API?
Originally, it was a quick way to integrate systems. When servers were down the hall, they had minimal use. The popularity of the cloud has drastically increased the number of APIs on a system. Some federal networks can have thousands of APIs.
Why worry?
An API is small but powerful. It can be a single line of code. Not only that, APIs are an embedded part of so many systems that it is hard to even discover where the APIs reside.
How to protect federal data?
Shane Barney from USCIS suggests that API protection should be “baked in” when software developers write code. If you combine that with a continuous runtime model, you will at least know where they are located.
During the interview, Patrick Sullivan coins the phrase, “Vampire API.” This can be an API that was written and then replaced. However, malicious actors can access the code and modify it to serve their purposes.
Another unforeseen circumstance is the logic within the API. It can be sloppily written to allow the validated code itself to be taken advantage of.
Listen to the episode to learn about federal leadership in protecting APIs. These include NIST checklists and understanding the origin of code.