How federal agencies can strike the right balance between innovation and security
Tech Transforms, Sponsored by Dynatrace
Your favorite government technology podcast, sponsored by Dynatrace
As a universal digital transformation continues to redefine how the government does business, cloud migrations and artificial intelligence (AI) are playing increasingly indispensable roles. But greater adoption invites greater risks. In a recent Tech Transforms podcast episode, we discussed how to strike the right balance between embracing these advancements and safeguarding systems, data and users.?
Our guest, Ross Nodurft, brought to this discussion the perfect blend of high-level public sector experience and insights. As Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI), he leads an organization that seeks to streamline and improve the way agencies acquire and deploy commercial solutions. It supports laws, policies and regulations that contribute to IT modernization, simplified acquisition, enhanced cybersecurity and a more tech-savvy workforce.?
Previously, Ross served as the chief of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) cyber team for federal cybersecurity policy and agency incident response. He also served as a legislative director for a U.S. House of Representatives member, a senior policy advisor for a U.S. senator and a professional staff member with the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.?
On the podcast, Ross elaborates upon the highly elevated presence of the federal cloud since the pandemic, driven by a rapid rise of remote workers. Because such a shift creates new and widespread risks, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) – which promotes the secure adoption of cloud services among agencies by providing a standardized approach to cyber defense and risk assessments – is overseeing FedRAMP High Impact certifications for companies. Dynatrace is in the process of achieving FedRAMP High Impact, which holds vendors accountable for most sensitive, unclassified data, including that related to the protection of life and financial ruin.?
“(Agencies) are moving more sensitive data sets and systems into cloud environments because people are working remotely,” Ross says. “So people are deciding to step up and use FedRAMP High to protect the systems that govern those mission sets … We think this is net good. People gain efficiencies. People gain security.”?
White House executive order provides cautionary blueprint for AI innovation?
The White House Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence has established a general vision and supportive policies to ensure that agencies realize the extraordinary possibilities of AI in a responsible manner. The near-ubiquitous impact of AI in government – affecting everything from voting cycles to water safety to hospital operations to flight systems – brings the potential for profound accomplishments, but also devastating harm.?
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The current administration’s guidance represents a good start toward, again, striking the right balance. However, it is not very explicit, Ross says, which means agencies will have autonomy to make individual decisions about AI development and implementation. This could result in a wealth of fragmented rules or policies for partnering commercial companies to follow, so the ADI is working with government leaders in the interest of a more standardized approach. “Otherwise, we’re going to be running around answering to a hundred-plus agencies with different interpretations of this matter,” he says.?
Ultimately, technology is allowing public sector teams to “do their jobs faster, better and in a way they couldn’t do before,” Ross says. “We are moving quickly to a digital environment. We need to make sure everything we are managing in the enterprise is interacting digitally … There’s the good, and then there’s the potentially bad. We need to mitigate the bad so we can keep on using companies like Dynatrace in our environments and deliver the services that need to be delivered to the American people.”?
Tune in to the full episode for more insights from Ross Nodurft, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI).?
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