MeriTalk is the voice of tomorrow’s government, today. In our MeriTalking podcast series, we engage senior Federal IT policymakers and chief information officers, along with their industry counterparts, through meaningful conversations.

MeriTalking keeps you informed about the topics that mean the most to you and creates a targeted platform for cooperation, public-private dialogue, innovation, and informed opinions.

Listen to all of the MeriTalking episodes on MeriTalk or your favorite podcast platform below.

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Innovation in Cloud Security Unifies Prevention and Protection Solutions

Enterprise security is undergoing a significant transformation as Federal agencies adopt cloud applications and a decentralized approach to networking. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Norman St. Laurent, Federal product marketing manager for security at Cisco, to discuss the intersection of Federal cybersecurity mandates and cloud-centric modernization. They explore how agencies are evaluating cloud risk and leveraging cloud-delivered security capabilities to not only meet cybersecurity compliance requirements, but also to truly secure data and networks – while reducing complexity and improving flexibility for security teams.

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Eliminate Analysis Paralysis With Extended Detection and Response

State and local governments are using more devices, applications, and tools than ever before – increasing their cybersecurity complexity. And with limited resources, many IT teams are unable to create a comprehensive view of their security posture as threats evolve in sophistication. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s John Curran sits down with Peter Romness, cybersecurity principal in the CISO Advisors Office at Cisco, to discuss how overburdened state and local government security teams can gain control over cybersecurity data and quickly detect, prioritize, and remediate threats.

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Enabling Federal Technical, Cultural Transformation

Federal IT is experiencing an explosion of complexity. At the same time, government is being asked to innovate and move faster. To meet these requirements and reduce complexity, agencies must change the way they work – both technically and culturally. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Brittany Johnston is joined by Brian Mikkelsen, Datadog’s vice president and general manager for the U.S. Public Sector, to break down the causes of complexity and discuss how enterprise-wide visibility can enable both technical and cultural transformation.

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Uplevel ICAM for Interoperability and Security

Efficient, effective government operations depend on interoperable systems that connect employees, citizens, and partners to the resources they need – securely. But legacy identity, credential, and access management (ICAM) can result in siloed, incompatible systems and inadequate access controls. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Grace Dille sits down with Bryan Rosensteel, U.S. Federal chief technology officer at Ping Identity, to explore how Federal agencies can overcome the limitations of legacy ICAM to provide seamless and secure access to the right resources for the right people, at the right time.

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The Combination Punch Agencies Need for Better Cybersecurity

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Peter Romness, cybersecurity principal, CISO Advisors Office at Cisco, to explore how agencies need unifed cybersecurtity solutions, visibility across their enviornment, and comprehenseive threat intelligence capabilities to go toe-to-toe against bad actors – and earn the decision.

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The Role of Identity in the National Cybersecurity Strategy

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Brandon Iske, a principal solutions architect at Okta, and Bill Wells, a senior solutions architect at Amazon Web Services, to discuss zero trust progress and challenges, why identity is the foundation of zero trust, and how Okta and AWS work together to help agencies achieve zero trust.

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AI Offers Quick Wins, Long-Term Mission Support to Federal Agencies

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Kathleen Featheringham, vice president of artificial intelligence and machine learning at Maximus, to explore the big-picture potential of AI and how agencies can achieve immediate mission value from it.

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Mapping the Internet for Better Cybersecurity

In this MeriTalking podcast, MeriTalk’s Joe Franco is joined by Matt Lembright, director of Federal applications at Censys, which maintains a comprehensive internet map used for threat hunting. We’ll discuss the findings in Censys’s 2023 State of the Internet Report, the security vulnerabilities it uncovered, how Federal organizations can adapt – and how using data to anticipate the internet’s future mirrors the evolution of meteorology.

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UX and Emerging Tech Come Together to Transform Government Services

Across the public sector, agencies are seeing increasing demand for faster, digitally enabled service delivery – and a better user experience, for both employees and constituents. In this MeriTalking podcast, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery is joined by Joe Jeter, senior vice president of Federal technology at Maximus, to explore how user-centric approach to digital modernization, coupled with emerging technologies, can dramatically improve the citizen, employee, and user experience – the total experience with government.

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Understanding the TikTok Ban and Why Government Needs to Think Bigger

The Federal government and numerous states are concerned that user data collected by some popular apps could be shared with foreign governments, including China. In this episode of MeriTalking, Joe Franco talks with Lookout’s Kristina Balaam about the data that popular apps collect, how it might be used by foreign governments, and how bans on Chinese apps can be enforced.

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Closing the Federal Technology Skills Gap

The Federal government is facing a workforce crisis, especially with skilled technology talent. Retention, recruitment, and retirement issues are hindering hiring managers, who are looking to fill critical open roles in order to meet mission objectives and new Federal mandates. In this MeriTalking podcast, MeriTalk’s Joe Franco, is joined by Craig McCullough, Pluralsight’s senior vice president for public sector, to evaluate the skills gap and how to address it before it’s too late.

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Data Noise to Cyber Advantage

Cyberattacks, connected devices, and data are growing exponentially every year, into the billions, trillions, and zettabytes, respectively. Neither people nor traditional cybersecurity solutions can keep up with the data or the attacks. In this episode of MeriTalking, Gail Emery speaks with NVIDIA’s Killian Sexsmith and Matt Penn on Federal cyber challenges and the opportunity for AI and AI data to serve as a powerful weapon against bad actors.

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Putting Computer Vision to Work for Government

MeriTalk’s editor-in-chief John Curran sits down with Ryan Simpson, Senior Data Scientist at NVIDIA and Mike Broadwater, Vice President of Technology Services at Government Acquisitions, Inc. (GAI), to dive into CV – applications, maturity, adoption barriers, and examples of how agencies are putting CV to work. How will CV impact the future?

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What Happened This Week – Ep. 73

CISA gets procurement authority, NIST picks quantum-resistant algorithms, NATO creates 1B euro tech investment fund, and more.

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The Human Side of Cyber Series

Over the last year, the cybersecurity landscape changed drastically. The government is working hard to equip organizations with the necessary skills and tools to better protect networks from bad actors.

To make real progress, the public and private sectors must join forces, tapping the “human side” of cybersecurity: the people, technology implementation, and policy development.

Listen to all episodes from The Human Side of Cyber series from Tanium.

Building Digital First Government

MeriTalk’s Nicole Burdette sits down with Jay Boisseau, AI & HPC Technology Strategist at Dell Technologies, and Marc Hamilton, Vice President of Solutions Architecture and Engineering at NVIDIA, to explore the steps agencies are taking toward a “digital first government” and what this means from a workforce, cybersecurity, and emerging technology perspective.

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Mission Success with AI: Moving from Pilots to Proficiency

While new research finds the majority of Federal agencies have more than 10 artificial intelligence pilots in motion, many are struggling to implement AI capabilities more broadly to support their missions. MeriTalk’s John Curran speaks with Al Ford, Federal AI Alliances Manager at Dell Technologies, about Federal AI readiness and challenges.

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Cloudera Exec Explains Open Source Cost, Risk Reductions

Lower costs, reduced risks, and shorter time to achieving mission values are goals that are all within reach for government agencies that choose to work with Cloudera for support in open-source technical operations. Hear how from Henry Sowell, CIO at Cloudera Government Solutions, in our podcast hosted by Cloudera.

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CIO Crossroads Series

CIO Crossroads showcases agency perspectives by chronicling the untold stories – and lessons – of the Coronavirus pandemic. Through articles, podcasts, and webinars, hear from the Federal CIOs themselves as they shed a light on their agency’s response to COVID-19.

Listen to all podcast episodes from the CIO Crossroads series.