Industry Perspective
Simplifying Your Agency’s Cybersecurity in 3 Steps
An interview with Fred Hoffmann, Chief Information Officer, Future Tech Enterprise, Inc. The longer that agencies have depended on their
“When organizations do not have a comprehensive
these tools behind. The reason is simple: the more
silos, we see trouble,” Hoffmann said.
legacy technology, the harder it is for them to leave time that agencies invest in legacy technology, the more energy and money they spend on it, too.
But legacy technology is gradually making publicsector cybersecurity more challenging. Like walls that have weathered away, legacy technology is increasingly leaving agencies exposed to cyberthreats.
“When organizations have older versions of
software and databases and are relying on legacy solutions, the level of vulnerabilities is far more
view of their IT infrastructure, or make decisions in So, how can agencies reduce their cybersecurity silos? One option is making IT infrastructure evaluation and upgrade management comprehensive and holistic.
“This is the best way to minimize risk, optimize the value of your IT investments and facilitate any technology changes across an organization,” Hoffmann said.
3. Adopt artificial intelligence
extensive,” said Fred Hoffmann, Chief Information
Cloud computing’s decentralized infrastructure
solutions provider.
like data storage on demand. As such, modernizing
Officer (CIO) at Future Tech Enterprise, Inc., an IT
Hoffmann shared three moves agencies can make to help their people, processes and tools leave legacy
allows agencies to leverage computing resources IT often involves cloud adoption because of the technology’s flexibility.
technology in the past.
But securing clouds can prove difficult when
1. Act agencywide
IT, off-premise IT or a hybrid of both. Take cloud-
agencies construct environments using on-premise
When it comes to cybersecurity, Hoffmann
recommended that agencies start by making the topic a constant concern agencywide.
“Cybersecurity is not just an IT issue,” he said. “It is a
legal, human resources and risk management issue.” Take cybersecurity training. By consistently training
based data. The different IT systems involved with this information can make protecting it difficult.
Enter artificial intelligence (AI). AI mimics human
cognitive abilities such as reasoning, so it can lend agencies’ employees a hand with cybersecurity issues like defending cloud-based resources.
employees on cybersecurity agencywide, agencies
“Optimizing cloud security starts with heavy and
computing to their unique roles.
solutions, which are designed to provide rapid
can show workers how to apply modern IT like cloud
targeted investments in the latest AI-powered
detection and response to threats,” Hoffmann said.
2. Scrap silos Agencywide cybersecurity is important for another
reason – eliminating silos among teams. Not only are siloed agencies less prepared for cyberthreats, but
these agencies may also struggle with modernizing technology quickly, affordably and efficiently.
Providers like FTEI can help agencies map out
agencywide modernization journeys involving cutting-edge tools like AI.
“We always strive to be the easiest and most flexible partner for agencies to work with,” Hoffmann said.
Unpacking the President’s Cybersecurity Executive Order
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