CyberSmart 2025: From A to Z

This event qualifies for .15 CEUs

This event qualifies for 1.5 CPEs

This event qualifies for 1.5 CLPs

The cyber world is becoming increasingly complex as new technologies, policies and expectations come into play. Artificial intelligence (AI) is making inroads into applications, network management, and more, while identity management and zero trust architectures are altering the threat landscape. Agencies are embracing the many varied cloud deployments, such as multi-cloud, hybrid, private, etc.

All new technologies introduce new elements of risk, even if they also can be used to mitigate that risk. Incorporating AI includes those two aspects, for instance – creating new dangers and preventing them – but emphasis can and should be placed on the safety side of that equation. Similarly, zero trust (ZT) architectures are increasingly important as a foundation for cybersecurity, but they also require a rethinking around identity, credential and access management (ICAM) since identity can be fluid.

Learning Objectives:

Review the potential risks associated with integrating AI into cybersecurity strategies, particularly regarding adversarial attacks on the AI systems themselves
Identify the unique requirements of multi-cloud environments and the solutions available to address them
Delineate the interplay between complex multi-domain and hybrid environments with the implementation of ZT
Evaluate the differences between detecting human identities and non-human identities in your cybersecurity provisions
Outline the role technology can play in enhancing identity management and verification processes

Speaker and Presenter Information

Hosted & Moderated by:

Claudia Hosky, Publisher, FedInsider

Claudia Hosky
Publisher,
FedInsider

Jane Norris, Moderator & Contributing Editor, FedInsider

Jane Norris
Contributing Editor,
FedInsider

Session 1: The Role of AI in Cybersecurity
Both public and private sector cyber experts recognize that AI represents a new level of threat, such as fear of AI-generated deepfakes that could allow bad actors to circumvent mechanisms to confirm legitimate users' identities. But AI also offers new opportunities to enhance security, by preventing attacks, automating threat responses, and detecting anomalies in user behavior.

Our panel of government and industry experts share their experiences in harnessing AI to confront the continually evolving threat landscape and how agencies can put AI squarely on the side of defending against bad actors.

Suneel Cherukuri, CISO, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Government of the District of Columbia

Suneel Cherukuri
CISO, Office of the Chief Technology Officer,
Government of the District of Columbia

Scott Stephenson, Vice President of Sales & Business Development, Blackwire Labs

Scott Stephenson
Blackwire Labs Cyber Community
of Excellence Member

Session 2: Meeting Zero Trust Requirements in the Cloud
One of the government's biggest cyber initiatives is the requirement to incorporate Zero Trust (ZT) architecture as a baseline security measure. Executive Order 14028, Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, states that we must advance toward Zero Trust Architecture to protect and secure its computer systems, whether they are cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid. Simultaneously, the General Services Administration's Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) expects cloud providers to meet this requirement; as federal agencies modernize and adopt cloud solutions, they are mandated to use FedRAMP authorized Cloud Service Offerings (CSO) for any public cloud delivered service.

Our panel of government and industry experts will discuss the role of ZT in meeting multi-cloud security requirements.

Lt. Col. Jason M. Carter, Operations Officer, Marine Corps Cyberspace Operations Group

Lt. Col. Jason Carter
Operations Officer, Marine Corps Cyberspace Ops. Group

Kashif Ansari, Senior Director of Sales Engineering, Commvault

Kashif Ansari
Senior Director of Sales Engineering, Commvault

Jeffrey L. Berlet, Senior Director for Technology in the Cyber Mission Sector, Peraton

Jeffrey L. Berlet
Senior Director, Technology, Cyber Mission Sector, Peraton

Michael Woolfe, Acting Vice President, Product Management & Cloud, Fortinet Federal

Michael Woolfe
Acting Vice President, Product Mgmt. & Cloud, Fortinet Federal

Session 3: Identity is Everything
Protecting a user's identity - who the user is, what they are allowed to access, whether they can edit and copy data, etc. - lies at the heart of cybersecurity. It's also like having millions of users with a copy of your door key; it only takes one user's carelessness to unlock the door.

Zero trust, for example, is about never trusting, always verifying a user's identity. One of the biggest fears about AI is the possibility of generating a false persona that appears real or creating an online deepfake of a real person that can wreak havoc with the systems it can enter. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently released draft guidelines that include expanded identity proofing models, applicable to both government agencies and contractors.

Our panel of government and business experts will outline the central importance of identity management and verification, how to strengthen identity verification processes, and how to evaluate their success.

MG Jacqueline D. McPhail, Commanding General, U.S. Army NETCOM

MG Jacqueline D. McPhail
Commanding General,
U.S. Army NETCOM

Tyler Harding, Senior Technical Advisor, Office of the CIO, DOD

Tyler Harding
Senior Technical Advisor,
Office of the CIO, DOD

James K. Jennings-Roche, Chief Information Security Officer, Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3)

James K. Jennings-Roche
CISO, Department of Defense
Cyber Crime Center (DC3)

Rahul Dubey, Vice President, Global Public Sector Solutions, CyberArk

Rahul Dubey
Vice President, Global Public Sector Solutions, CyberArk

Relevant Government Agencies

Air Force, Army, Navy & Marine Corps, Intelligence Agencies, DOD & Military, Office of the President (includes OMB), Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Commerce, Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, Dept of Health & Human Services, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Housing & Urban Development, Dept of the Interior, Dept of Justice, Dept of Labor, Dept of State, Dept of Transportation, Dept of Treasury, Dept of Veterans Affairs, EPA, GSA, USPS, SSA, NASA, Other Federal Agencies, Legislative Agencies (GAO, GPO, LOC, etc.), Judicial Branch Agencies, State Government, County Government, City Government, Municipal Government, CIA, FEMA, Office of Personnel Management, Coast Guard, National Institutes of Health, FAA, Census Bureau, USAID, National Guard Association, EEOC, Federal Government, State & Local Government, FDA, Foreign Governments/Agencies, NSA, FCC