Overview

February 20

You can’t protect what you can’t see. That’s why the Center for Internet Security, NIST’s Risk Management Framework, and countless other leading cybersecurity authorities highlight the pivotal role of visibility in protecting organizations against cyber risk. But public sector organizations’ varied use of technologies, budgets and spheres of ownership can make measuring and lowering cyber risk particularly challenging.

The State of Vermont is tackling its IT risk with risk management dashboards that provide a comprehensive view of cyber risk across all departments in real time. The state’s risk mitigation initiatives have enabled state technology leaders to prioritize risk mitigation department-by-department and remediate the most critical risk factors, without having to log in and out of multiple tools.

Join Government Technology and the state IT leaders who oversaw Vermont’s risk dashboard adoption process to discover tips for other states, cities or counties on using risk dashboarding to lower IT risk.

Save the Date: February 20, 2024 at 11am PT/2pm ET

You’ll Learn:

How Vermont implemented a risk dashboard and the benefits the state has seen as a result
The best practices for mitigating IT risk across different teams and departments
The next best steps for public sector agencies looking to utilize risk dashboarding

Speakers

Morgan Wright — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

Morgan is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity strategy, cyberterrorism, national security and intelligence. He currently serves as Chief Security Advisor for SentinelOne, and is the chief technology analyst for several major cable news organizations. Morgan's landmark testimony before Congress on Healthcare.gov changed how the government collected personally identifiable information. Previously Morgan was a Senior Advisor in the US State Department Antiterrorism Assistance Program, the Senior Law Enforcement Advisor for the 2012 Republican National Convention, taught behavioral analysis at the National Security Agency and spent a year teaching the FBI how to conduct internet investigations. In addition to 18 years in state and local law enforcement as a highly decorated state trooper and detective, Morgan has developed solutions in defense, justice and intelligence for the largest technology companies in the world including Cisco, SAIC, Unisys and Alcatel-Lucent/Bell Labs.

Denise Reilly-Hughes

Vermont Secretary and State CIO

Denise Reilly-Hughes brings over 20 years of extensive technology expertise in managing operations and strategic initiatives. In September 2023, Denise was appointed to the role of Vermont's Chief Information Officer and Secretary of the Agency of Digital Services. She leads the state’s technology systems and services while focusing on improved human-centered design and core technology standards of the State’s information systems. Denise is dedicated to improving Vermonter’s experience, employee enablement, and modernizing government technology services. Before her current position with the State of Vermont, Denise spent her career in the private sector developing teams and growth initiatives within the technology industry. During that time, she helped lead numerous U.S. states through their modernization journey and adoption of cloud services. Denise is committed to ensuring the State of Vermont’s technology achieves value-based outcomes and digital services are designed to meet the needs of the Vermonters who access them.

Mark Combs

State CTO, Vermont

Mark has 30 years of IT industry experience, including key contributor roles at IBM, EMC, and several successful Boston-area startups. Before joining the State of Vermont in 2017; Mark spent four years as an enterprise architect for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and six years establishing DevOps practices and leading Agile application development teams for eGovernment leader NICUSA. He is also a veteran of the US Navy. Mark has won several national awards for his contributions to the State of Vermont. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Vermont Artificial Intelligence Commission.

Zachary Nandapurkar

Technical Account Manager, Tanium

Zach Nandapurkar is a Technical Account Manager at Tanium and an early-career innovator in government technology. In his role, Nandapurkar collaborates with state & local government leaders to architect cybersecurity solutions that emphasize outcomes and reinvent oversight by balancing policy, enforcement and service delivery. He was recently recognized by NextGov/FCW and Route Fifty as a Rising Star in Government Technology and his work includes partnering with the State of Hawaii on the development of their Cyber Risk Scoring System, which received an award from the National Association of State CIOs in 2023. Nandapurkar also helped drive adoption of California's Cal-Secure cybersecurity strategy via a vendor-mapping white paper that became the industry standard for contractors working on Cal-Secure procurements. Nandapurkar holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California in Computer Science & Business Administration and is based in San Francisco."

Webinar

How the State of Vermont Lowers its IT Risk with Risk Dashboarding