Agenda

In one of its first actions of the 117th Congress, the House of Representatives passed Congressman Connolly’s FedRAMP Authorization Act of 2021 -- codifying the existing program at the General Services Administration. In this keynote, Congressman Connolly will address ongoing FedRAMP oversight efforts, what the program has accomplished so far, and how he’s worked to address industry concerns tied to the certification process.

FedRAMP has seen an incredible increase in the adoption of the program, which is marked by both an increase in agency participation and reuse of authorizations. Brian Conrad, FedRAMP's Acting Director, will highlight FedRAMP's growth and the program's FY21 focus on strategic initiatives -- like automation and a threat based authorization approach -- to transform FedRAMP, with a focus on continued partnerships with stakeholders.

As public sector organizations adopt cloud solutions, they’re simultaneously addressing a suite of long-standing issues for federal information technology. The “table stakes” -- if agencies want to improve their security posture -- revolve around the collection and use of data. These larger efforts will also require better practices to protect that data through privileged account management. The desired end state is more effective digital transformations and digital collaborations across the board. In this panel, a group of thought leaders discuss that larger data-driven effort and FedRAMP’s role as the “ticket to engage.”

Take the time to view videos, download white papers, ebooks, and more from the leading thought leaders in the FedRAMP community.

What if states and local governments could come together with the private sector companies who serve them, recognize a common set of standards, and establish a common method for verifying cloud security? That’s the question StateRAMP -- a newly formed non-profit -- set out to answer. In this panel, two members of StateRAMP’s leadership team discuss their organization’s mission, governance & policy framework, and where it fits in the larger acquisition process.

The pandemic was a wakeup call for public sector organizations that didn’t treat their chief information officers as real business partners. It also proved that the government can move really fast. CIOs managed an exponential rise in cloud-based services and drove a cultural shift toward more technological acceptance & relevance. Now, organizations are in “protection mode” -- focusing on holistic security. In this panel, a group of thought leaders discuss the amplified role of the CIO and how industry can enable further digital transformation with security and automation fused to the process.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is working on an ecosystem of cloud enablers to improve interoperability, transform operations, and accelerate cloud adoption across the Department of Defense. DISA’s Cloud Computing Program Office engages with the different services and DoD offices, learns their “pain points,” then applies the power of cloud capabilities to warfighter challenges and deploys them at scale. In this fireside chat, CCPO’s Les Benito talks about what his office is focused on right now and why DoD needs to modernize in the cloud.

The transition to cloud-based collaboration products -- particularly for the Department of Defense -- was slow. But when the pandemic hit, DoD shifted at warp speed. That shift raised new concerns around misconfigurations, poor access controls, and silos of information. In this panel, a group of thought leaders will discuss how sustainable agencies’ are using new collaboration tools and how the Cybersecurity Executive Order seeks to address pandemic-prompted vulnerabilities.

In March of 2020, André Mendes and Jeff Shilling sat at the crossroads of IT & the economy and IT & science (respectively). The CIO offices they run needed to enable the workforce during a time period when that work was arguably more critical than ever. In this panel, Mendes and Shilling discuss the future of work at their agencies, permanent changes ushered in by cloud computing, and the possible impact of virtual-heavy collaboration on public sector innovation.

Successful cloud transformations require a number of things like good data, a baseline of security controls, right-skilled talent, and buy-in from senior leadership. They give organizations a boost from a security perspective and an overall risk reduction of their attack surfaces. In this panel, a group of thought leaders discuss how organizations can realize the promise of cloud computing and serve their respective missions at scale.