Federal Tech Talk

A unique perspective on federal data

Frank Dimina, vice president of Public Sector at Splunk, joined host John Gilroy on this week's Federal Tech Talk to explain why federal agencies should secure ...

John Gilroy

January 24, 2020 8:40 am

1 min read

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This week on Federal Tech Talk, host John Gilroy interviewed Frank Dimina, vice president of Public Sector at Splunk.

Dimina brings a unique perspective to the world of federal data and began the discussion by talking about the rise of the federal data officer.

Head shot of Dimina — Frank Dimina, VP Public Sector, Splunk

First of all, every agency is mandated to have one. Secondly, managing data has become a separate field of endeavor. Dimina indicated that federal information professionals need to worry about the “usual suspects” for cyberattacks. The twist: Today’s malicious actors are attacking the data set itself.

He discussed leaks of the confidentiality of the data, ransomware effects on the availability of data, and the poisoning effects of data.

Splunk has earned a distinction in the information technology community for a deep understanding of how to manage disparate databases. IDC predicts that the global datasphere — the data we create, capture, and replicate — will balloon from approximately 50 zettabytes in 2020 to 175 zettabytes in 2025.

It looks like big data was the easy part. Today federal agencies will have to get a handle on securing the data sets before applying machine learning and artificial intelligence.