The term Risk Management Framework (RMF) can mean many things to many people.  As the paper ‘Beyond Compliance —Addressing the Political, Cultural and Technical Dimensions of Applying the Risk Management Framework’ from MITRE Corporation points out it could mean a replacement of DIACAP within the DoD, it could mean a replacement to the C&A process or it could be an evolution from compliance to a more risk based approach.

In 2014, the Department of Defense (DoD) introduced the Risk Management Framework (RMF) to help federal agencies better manage the many risks associated with operating an information system. It is clear that a compliance-only oriented approach is not enough for a robust security posture, especially in the face of …

I recently participated in a panel while attending the Bloomberg RE/BOOT event in Washington, D.C. The focus of the panel was how to improve partnerships between government and industry. We started by discussing how industry can better partner with government agencies to strengthen cybersecurity in the United States. At Splunk, we solve problems by viewing the overall security solution from an ecosystem lens. Splunk technologies are just one part of that ecosystem. To address challenges in a government environment, we see our operational intelligence platform as the foundation that serves as the nerve center of the security operations ecosystem. No single solution or technology can solve every government problem, but together, industry technology leaders can partner with agencies to tackle …

Every six months, or once a semester if you are academically inclined, our Splunk Public Sector office in Tysons Corner, VA hosts students from the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, DC to discuss emerging security trends, the evolving threat landscape and adaptive threat response initiatives that make all data crucial to security warriors.

For those who are not familiar, NDU’s mission is to support warfighters by providing rigorous joint professional military education to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and select others to develop leaders who are able to operate and creatively think in an increasingly unpredictable and complex world. The University’s overarching purpose is to educate, develop and inspire national security leaders.

These semiannual meetings consist of the …

In the face of high-profile breaches and increasingly sophisticated hackers, the Federal Government’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is one of the most important and widely discussed cybersecurity initiatives in recent history.

Did you know that Splunk Enterprise will be used at 25 of the largest civilian departments and agencies covering 97% of the federal civilian government workforce?

On Wednesday, May 11, I spoke at the Face-to-Face Cybersecurity CDM event hosted by FCW to discuss how Splunk’s solutions and government’s CDM program fit together. As Nick Murray noted in a recent blog post, the CDM program makes tools and services available to agencies via a government wide contract to help them identify cybersecurity risks on an ongoing basis, prioritize …

With President Obama’s proposal of a $3.1 billion IT Modernization Fund, there has been increased discussion around the government’s struggle to manage its aging IT infrastructure, while simultaneously trying to introduce modern technology.

I recently spoke with FedTech Magazine and Federal Times about the need for government to unify its fragmented IT systems and ease the associated financial and security risks. As I note in both pieces, the problem is not that government still relies on antiquated technology; it’s that instead of federal agencies fully replacing legacy systems, they are adding in layers of new technology, such as mobile and cloud, directly on top of older technology like distributed systems, desktops and mainframes. This debilitating practice has led to the …

Last week, Splunk hosted two simultaneous events in London, England. You can learn more about SplunkLive! London in Matt Davies’ blog post: SplunkLive! London – A Full House. Analytics, IT Operations And Security. Below, Ashok Sankar shares his report from our first annual Splunk GovSummit UK.

Security is all the talk nowadays and the first annual Splunk GovSummit UK 2016 was no exception. After introductions from host Nick Butler and Splunk’s VP of EMEA region Richard Cahill set the tone for the day. He pointed out how data around us is helping improve our lives while at the same time continues to be the target of adversaries. He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to Europe and extending solutions to …

At a hearing on cybersecurity and protecting taxpayer information held by the Senate Finance Committee last month, the IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, testified that the agency faces the loss of key IT and data security personnel over the next year. He attributed this to pay discrepancies between the private and public sector as part of his appeal to renew a lapsed law that boosted the pay of top-notch personnel temporarily recruited from the private sector^1.

While it is important to ensure that talent is rewarded appropriately, the cybersecurity issue goes deeper than retention of highly trained personnel. For one, agencies are strewn with dozens of disparate security products procured over the years that are managed and operated in silos. …

As with most of my blog posts, apologies for the title. It isn’t often you can combine big data and The Clash. It doesn’t seem long since last year’s event but SplunkLive! London is here again. We’ve got an outstanding line up of customers with Shazam, John Lewis and HSCIC (the IT provider for the NHS) talking about how they use machine data for IT operations, cybersecurity and real-time business analytics. You can see the full line up and register at http://live.splunk.com/london

A platform is only as good as its ecosystem and we have our most innovative, extensive set of sponsors ever with Cisco, AWS, EMC, SyncSort, Nimble Storage, Qualys, Recorded Future, Sbox, Alpha Insight, ECS, Eview, Phoenix, Somerford all demonstrating their part in the big data and Operational Intelligence landscape.

Not only …

While SplunkLive! events are taking place around the globe, we have simultaneously launched our Splunk Discovery Days.

The Discovery Days, which are hosted in several cities across the U.S., will provide both current and prospective customers with an engaging way to learn more about Splunk software and solutions. The events will include a broad overview of Splunk, interactive tutorials on specific solutions and hands-on demonstrations of our software tools.

The very first Discovery Day of 2016 took place on April 14 in Des Moines, Iowa and was a great success. We’ve since seen events in Indianapolis, IN and Omaha, NE. Attendees were able to hear from a range of industry experts, customers and technologists on how they’re …

When I last posted about Splunk and the federal Continuous Diagnostics and Migration (CDM) program, it was just kicking into high gear. In the year since, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and General Service Agency (GSA) have awarded five task orders to four companies to cover Phase 1 of the CDM program. I am extremely happy to announce Splunk Enterprise was selected by each of these companies to serve as the data integration solution.

While Phase 1 focused on what is on the network, Phase 2 examines who is using the network. The four functional tool areas of CDM Phase 2 — TRUST, BEHAVE, CRED and PRIV — will be deployed to verify trust levels, training, credentials and access …