The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency helps bring together mapping and surveillance data for the intelligence community. Its cyber systems are crucial to keeping warfighters informed of the latest information on adversaries. It also gives information to the nation’s top leaders so they can make strategic decisions.
Federal News Network spoke with Matt Conner, the former chief information security officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), about what it takes to keep those operations functioning. In the discussion “Keeping Cyber Systems Safe” sponsored by Micro Focus Government Solutions, Conner outlines how NGA is working with artificial intelligence, the adoption of zero trust and how the agency keeps its employees safe from cyber threats.
Conner also goes into what it takes to hire the right cyber employees, what training NGA is focusing on and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way the intelligence community interacted with information technology systems.
NGA is using data-driven analysis to protect its networks and hire the people it needs as the technological landscape continues to change. It uses the information it takes in to assess risks to its systems and it push back cyber attacks.
NGA's Approach to Cybersecurity
Our former director said a year and change ago that we would need six million analysts to parse all the data that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has. We don't have six million analysts, so we're applying artificial intelligence just to help us with our day-to-day job.
Matt Conner
former Chief Information Security Officer, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
AI, Talent Management and Cloud Services
There's two million unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the country, and 60,000 in the National Capital Region. For all of that, and for all that industry can bring to bear, we've been semi-fortunate, in that we have tons of candidates for open positions.
Matt Conner
former Chief Information Security Officer, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
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