Ep. 4 Identity Management and Federal Systems

April 12, 2022

In the studio today, we welcome Julie Smith, the Executive Director of the Identity Defined Security Alliance and Yash Prakash, Chief Strategy Officer from Saviynt.

One of the key challenges for the federal government to move to the hybrid cloud is establishing valid identity. The cloud can reduce cost and improve flexibility for federal information systems. However, it may come with security concerns.

On March 21, 2022, the White House released a statement warning of the threat of cyberattacks. Industry and federal leaders have responded to other warnings in a variety of ways. One of the overarching concepts that has been well received is Zero Trust. The lynchpin for Zero Trust is establishing the identity of the person being trusted with data.

"79% of organizations out there have suffered an identity related attack in the last two years"

Julie Smith, Executive Director at Identity Defined Security Alliance Tweet

There is a myriad of ways to implement systems that can offer methods to validate a person’s access to a network. The Identity Defined Security Alliance is offering a virtual program on April 12, 2022, that will bring in a variety of speakers to give practitioners a wider perspective on options for establishing identity in today’s hybrid cloud world.

Yash Prakash puts identity management into perspective. He notes that if you randomly pick ten agencies, you may find ten levels of success with identity management. This makes perfect sense, in that each individual agency will have a wide variety of levels of security. He suggests looking at many solutions and consider a platform that offers flexibility and gives leaders complete transparency around identity verification.

If you enjoyed this podcast, you may want to listen to episode #2 Can Microsoft Help Federal Agencies Transition to Zero Trust?