Hull detailed the front-page news story about the recent Equifax breach. He described the event as an opportunity to share how Leidos does its cybersecurity and then derives lessons that can be applied to the federal government.

The discussion shifted to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal describing the surprise when the unexpected security flaw found in many commercial systems contain misconfigured systems and services. Known as basic “blocking and tackling,” Hull elucidated upon the importance of establishing a rigorous approach to the continuous monitoring of patches and updates.

Some look at artificial intelligence as a way to create better customer response. Hull addressed the fact that artificial intelligence and machine learning can be applied to systems maintenance and optimization. He also described how federal technology professionals can get away from damage control and leverage technology to let them know where to assign assets for future attacks.

Opening up systems for citizens is a good idea. However, Hull pointed out that there must be a balance between allowing access and locking down systems. Unintended consequences of opening up systems include not knowing what dependencies systems have that can lead to unintended consequences.

Host

John Gilroy, Host of Federal Tech Talk, Federal News Radio

John Gilroy has been a member of the Washington D.C. technology community for over twenty years. In 2007 he began weekly interviews on Federal News Radio called “Federal Tech Talk with John Gilroy.”   His 428 interviews provides the basis for profitable referral business. In 2009 he created a successful breakfast club of previous radio guests called The Technology Leadership Roundtable. He has been instrumental in two of his guests forming their own radio shows:  Derrick Dortch with “Fed Access” and Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm with “Women in Washington.”

In 2011 he began teaching a course in social media marketing at Georgetown University; in March of 2014, John won the Tropaia Award for Outstanding Faculty.  John conducts monthly corporate training for large companies on how to leverage social media to generate revenue.

Guest:

Steve Hull, Chief Information Officer, Leidos

Steve Hull is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Leidos, Inc. As CIO, Steve is responsible for establishing and executing the Information Technology (IT) strategy to promote business growth, foster business agility, and ensure operational readiness across the $10B Leidos enterprise, while supporting the overarching IT vision and strategy of the corporation and protecting corporate assets.

From January 2013 to August 2016 he served as the CIO of the IS&GS business area in Lockheed Martin (LM) ensuring operations and security of IT systems in support of over 20,000 employees.  In his role as a senior leader in the LM IT organization Steve was the executive sponsor for multiple critical activities across the LM enterprise including Data Center, Cloud and enterprise networking.

Steve has over 25 years’ experience in Information Technology.  He joined Lockheed Martin in 1997 as a technical lead for the internal IT division (EBS) supporting the GTL business in Orlando FL.  He has had multiple positions supporting the corporate IT function as well as supporting direct business.  His roles have included program management and Chief Technology Officer types of roles in support of multiple business missions.

As a current Board member of the Internet Security Alliance, Steve also works to support the federal government with thought leadership around Cyber security topics.  ISA has published multiple books, articles and white papers in support of not only legislators but also corporate board members through the NACD.

Steve is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Physics.  He received a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from UCF as well.  He has had many technical and business certifications including, MCSE, PMI and an LM21 Green Belt.

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