Category Archives: Partners

Modernizing Government Workflows: A Path to Digital Transformation

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State and local government agencies face numerous challenges in delivering efficient services, managing legacy systems, and attracting new talent. Digital transformation can revolutionize government operations, streamline citizen services, enhance workflow capability, maximize ROI, and attract a younger workforce. Jira Service Management (JSM) can be an effective tool in this move to updated systems.

Streamline Citizen Services: Efficiency and Backlog Reduction

Delivering efficient citizen services and reducing backlogs are critical priorities for government agencies. Digital tools can significantly enhance these processes, making it easier to manage requests and deliver timely services. JSM fully supports these solutions, offering a unified platform that increases collaboration and provides powerful analytics.

Solution Areas

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  • Unified Service Management: Implementing a single platform to consolidate various service management tools reduces complexity and improves efficiency. This allows staff to focus on delivering high-quality services rather than managing multiple systems.
  • Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Centralizing service requests, incident management, and project tracking enhances communication and breaks down departmental silos, ensuring information flows freely across departments.
  • Real-Time Insights: Robust reporting and analytics provide real-time insights into operations. Customizable dashboards offer visibility into key metrics, enabling informed decision-making and proactive issue resolution.

From Legacy to Digital: Modernize Government Workflows

Transitioning from legacy systems to digital solutions is crucial for improving workflow efficiency and service delivery. Jira Service Management supports this transition by providing an integrated platform that increases visibility and simplifies operations.

Solution Areas

  • Integrated Digital Platform: Consolidating various service management processes into an integrated digital platform ensures seamless data flow and fosters collaboration across departments, breaking down technology silos.
  • Enhanced Organizational Visibility: Robust reporting and analytics features offer real-time insights into service performance. Customizable digital dashboards help monitor key metrics and track the progress of initiatives, enhancing organizational visibility and informed decision-making.
  • Simplified Operations: Integrating digital tools and systems reduces the need for multiple products, streamlining workflows and reducing the administrative burden on IT staff.

Maximize ROI: Affordability and Value

Investing in a service management platform that offers exceptional ROI and affordability is essential for government agencies. Jira Service Management stands out as a cost-effective solution that maximizes ROI and offers seamless integration.

Solution Areas

  • Cost-Effective Management: Digital solutions provide a cost-effective service management approach with transparent and competitive pricing. By consolidating multiple tools into one platform, agencies can reduce licensing fees and maintenance costs.
  • Streamlined Processes: Automation and integration capabilities streamline processes, saving time and reducing errors. Simplified processes result in better productivity and resource allocation.
  • Informed Decision-Making: Real-time reporting and analytics features provide visibility into operations, enabling informed decision-making and proactive issue resolution.
  • Scalability and Integration: Seamless integration with other tools simplifies IT infrastructure and reduces complexity. Scalability allows the platform to grow with the agency’s needs without requiring costly upgrades.

Attract New Talent with Digital Transformation

Digital transformation not only improves operational efficiency but also creates an appealing work environment for the next generation of professionals. Jira Service Management contributes to creating a modern, collaborative environment that attracts and retains young talent.

Solution Areas

  • Modern Work Environment: Digital tools create a dynamic and tech-savvy work environment that appeals to younger professionals who are accustomed to modern technology.
  • Flexible Work Options: Digital solutions enable remote work and flexible schedules, highly valued by younger employees seeking work-life balance.
  • Skill Development and Career Growth: A digitally transformed workplace provides continuous learning opportunities and access to cutting-edge tools, supporting career growth for younger professionals.
  • Collaborative Culture: Digital tools facilitate cross-departmental collaboration, fostering an inclusive and team-oriented culture.
  • Innovation and Creativity: Digital transformation encourages innovation and creativity, providing the tools and resources needed to implement new ideas.
  • Enhanced Efficiency: Streamlined digital workflows and automated processes reduce administrative burdens.

Digital transformation, powered by JSM, offers state and local agencies a pathway to streamline citizen services, modernize workflows, maximize ROI, and attract younger talent. By addressing common challenges and leveraging digital solutions, agencies can enhance efficiency, improve service delivery, and create a modern, appealing work environment.

Schedule a demo today and start your digital transformation journey today with Jira Service Management to unlock the full potential of your agency.

Enabling the Mobile Workforce With Secure Forms and Electronic Signatures

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In this era of a largely remote and globally distributed workforce, where most workers want to be productive wherever they are — and on any device — it’s crucial to secure every endpoint from any threat that could compromise the security, prosperity, and integrity of an organization and its critical infrastructure. This is particularly true for governments and regulated industries.

Secure Forms for Productivity and Security

Forms are essential to all organizations, as they are a part of all important business processes, and a vital element of the customer journey. Forms are essential to collect information, progress the next best action, and deliver services. As with any heavily relied-on technology, forms’ security must be top of mind. Traditionally, the answer to this demand has been to gate our most mission-critical forms and documents behind cumbersome desktop technology. In this way, stakeholders had peace of mind that the verification of signature authenticity, and document chain-of-custody, could be protected and maintained.

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However, today’s workforce demands more options. Modern technology enables forms, and their connected digital document workflows, to deliver an optimized and personalized experience for the user — all while maintaining strong authentication, privacy, security, and adherence to data governance policies. As organizations continue to accommodate increasingly complex models for remote productivity, digital document workflows must flex with the times. They must be designed, deployed, and dispatched using intuitive interfaces and automation, across a wide range of mobile devices.

BlackBerry and Adobe: Innovation for Secure Mobile Productivity

To accomplish this forms maturity journey, BlackBerry and Adobe have partnered to deliver an innovative and secure digital document-signing solution, for governments and regulated industries. By combining BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Manager (UEM) and Adobe Experience Manager Forms, the two industry leaders have created a solution that is designed for mobile devices, yet still meets the rigorous security standards required by governments and the world’s most demanding enterprises.

This partnership between BlackBerry and Adobe enables the following outcomes:

  • It’s now possible to fill and sign forms with a smart card (i.e., CAC, PIV) easily and securely, from any device, anywhere, without requiring a VPN (virtual private network)
  • Automatically maintain verified credentials in a secure keystore
  • Granular management and document tracking capabilities are backed by the most trusted and reliable security in the market
  • Employees can leave sensitive desktop computing technology behind, at home or the office, minimizing security risks while enhancing user convenience

BlackBerry UEM leverages private key certificates to secure the connection to Adobe Experience Manager Forms, allowing employees to complete and sign forms and other documents from anywhere, on their corporate-issued or BYO (bring your own) mobile devices, and without a VPN.

Leveraging Security as a Strategic Enabler for Productivity

Enhancing productivity requires adopting dynamic, responsive, and mobile-friendly forms solutions that are easy to use. Adobe Experience Manager Forms embraces this, while enabling organizations to modernize their data capture and digital document workflows into a seamless, agile user experience. It allows users to capture data and authenticated signatures, and integrates into back-end systems to automate manual workflows. Adobe Experience Manager Forms also allows users to move away from paper or static PDF forms, while also embracing multiple benefits, including:

  • Responsive modern forms: Embrace operational modernization with mobile responsive, web-based forms, on any device, at any point in the discovering, filing, and signing process.
  • Scalable authoring: With the ability to create reusable sections and templates, and an easy drag-and-drop interface, Adobe Experience Manager Forms allows organizations to streamline business processes across the enterprise at scale.
  • Meaningful customer conversations: Powerful data integrations with pre-fill and multi-language support automatically personalize forms and communications, and trigger the next-best action.
  • Automation: Adobe Experience Manager Forms enables you to start on one device, then save and resume on another, to make end-to-end customer journeys faster. This reduces cost and saves time. Mobile and web-based forms combined with smart, certificate-based signature tools and automated workflows, help eliminate paper and laborious manual processes.

These outcomes, which have previously been considered out of reach for governments and regulated industries, are made possible by the best-of-breed security, and intuitive user experience, of BlackBerry UEM.

Awarded the most government security certifications of any unified endpoint manager, and approved for both classified and unclassified use, BlackBerry UEM is trusted by organizations around the world. Customers that trust BlackBerry UEM to keep them always-on, and securely connected, include the federal governments of numerous countries around the world, including the Canadian and U.S. governments, and many of the largest and most prestigious players in the global financial services industry. Announced earlier this year, BlackBerry UEM was named a 2023 Customers’ Choice for unified endpoint management tools on Gartner® Peer Insights™ — the only UEM tool to receive the distinction this year.

Digital document workflows should not be limited to desktop environments. Business value can no longer be delayed or denied by lack of mobile support for securely completing and signing electronic documents. Productivity must not come at the cost of security. The innovative partnership between BlackBerry and Adobe holds the answer.

Contact a member of our team today to learn more about how, together, BlackBerry and Adobe can help modernize your organization with the most secure forms and electronic signature technologies.

Google and Okta Partner to Modernize Identity Management in Higher Education

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Online collaboration is an essential part of the workplace and the educational sphere. To ensure this collaboration is done securely, Okta and Google have partnered to enhance and automate identity management at scale.

Okta is a neutral, AI powered, extensive platform that puts identity at the heart of any IT stack. No matter the industry, use case or level of support needed, Okta facilitates Identity Access Management (IAM) while keeping security at the core of the integration. Google Workspace is a collection of collaboration tools, and with more than three billion users, it aims to meaningfully connect users to facilitate partnerships and growth. While identity management can be complex, it does not need to be. Together, this partnership makes the path towards modern identity management as neutral, simple, secure and straightforward as possible.

With their recent partnership, customers can now:

  • Automate identity processes at scale
  • Unlock productivity with optimal security
  • Collaborate with each other, seamlessly and securely
  • Use their Google credentials across over 7,500 different apps
  • Gain cross-platform login privileges across Google Workspace and Okta
  • Access accounts with new, simplified user permissions and automated access management

Every organization strives to modernize and adopt cloud technology. This is also true within the higher education market, which is continuing to refine the trend of remote and hybrid learning following the pandemic. The applications and resource solutions that Google provides to higher education, along with the integration of Okta’s IAM capabilities, is immensely beneficial to the agency’s journey in adapting modern cloud technology and security.

Leading the Modernization of Identity Management in Education

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With the influx of hybrid and online learning, higher educational institutions are still learning how to orient solutions towards online learning and teaching. From an IAM perspective, higher education is one of the most complex environments with regards to the vast array of users. Within one network, an institution has faculty, staff, professors and a yearly lifecycle of students that range from applicants to alumni. The process of onboarding and offboarding students and faculty can be time consuming and requires multiple digital programs to facilitate. Okta provides a frictionless onboarding and offboarding experience for administrations that deal with changes in the student body. There are also external users such as partners, contractors and subcontractors, such as medical centers and food providers, that universities must consider. Okta’s open, neutral and independent identity platform can integrate with technologies commonly used by institutions, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Student Information System (SIS), allowing universities to build off of software they are already using. Depending on the role of the individual accessing the software, the identity gains access to personalized experiences.

Okta offers the capability to combine and manage various groups and processes in a single, secure platform. The partnership between Okta and Google enhances the student experience from their perspective, too. Okta’s single platform can solve student-specific challenges, such as managing multiple accounts and logins across an array of learning tools, enabling smoother daily operations and access. With cross platform log in, students can securely access Google Chatroom and Classroom features with IAM capabilities. By implementing Google Cloud capabilities into daily functions, higher education institutions can create a more modern experience for students while reducing costs. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) virtual agents are used to answer student questions and direct them to services, and mobile apps are utilized for mental health check-ins and other well-being services.

How Okta and Google uphold Zero Trust and Cybersecurity

Identity is one of the key pillars within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)’s Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). Okta upholds Zero Trust principles by ensuring that through methods such as multi factor authentication, the person gaining access is who they say they are. By only allowing access to devices that are up to date, Okta prevents bad actors from hacking older systems with commonly known security vulnerabilities. By sustaining a strong ZTA baseline, Google and Okta establish a secure experience for students, staff and faculty.

Okta gives customers a neutral, powerful and extensible platform that puts identity at the heart of information technology (IT) stacks. No matter what industry, use case or level of support is needed, Okta has customers covered. Okta and Google integrate with technology partners, alliance partners and vendors to uphold and exemplify security principles. In doing so, they ensure that every user on campus networks are safe and secure.

To learn more about Okta and Google’s partnership and the benefits to cloud and IAM security, visit the Carahsoft-hosted webinar on the company’s newfound partnership: Securing Productivity with Google Workspace + Okta.

Contact our Okta solutions experts today to discover the power of Okta and Google together, and how these industry leading organizations can support your higher education initiatives.

Enhancing Government Creative Teams with Adobe Creative Cloud

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As government agencies continue to modernize their workflows, the need for advanced creative tools becomes increasingly paramount. Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) offers a suite of applications that can revolutionize how government creative teams operate. This blog will delve into the latest features in Adobe CC applications and how they can benefit government creative teams, enhancing productivity, creativity, and collaboration.

Adobe Photoshop: Elevating Image Editing

Adobe Photoshop remains the cornerstone of digital image editing. The latest updates introduce a revamped user interface that is more intuitive, making it easier for new users to navigate while providing seasoned professionals with a more streamlined experience.

Enhanced color adjustment tools allow for more precise control over color grading, crucial for producing high-quality images that meet stringent government standards. The improved selection tools enable users to refine selections with unprecedented accuracy, ensuring that every detail in a project is meticulously handled.

One of the standout features is the integration with Adobe Firefly AI. This includes AI Expand, AI Fill, AI Text Generation, and AI Object Selections, which significantly reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks. Government teams can leverage these AI-powered tools to accelerate their workflow, focusing more on creativity and less on mundane tasks.

Adobe Lightroom: Seamless Photo Management and Editing

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Adobe Lightroom offers robust tools for photo management and editing, making it ideal for government agencies that handle large volumes of photographic content. The new importing options, including cloud and local drive features, provide greater flexibility in managing assets.

The user interface enhancements facilitate smoother navigation, allowing teams to work more efficiently. Tools like exposure and color balance are crucial for maintaining consistency across projects. The addition of Blur tools and Lens Blur features further enhance the creative possibilities, enabling users to achieve professional-grade edits effortlessly.

Moreover, the seamless integration with Adobe Photoshop means that assets edited in Lightroom can be transitioned to Photoshop for further refinement, ensuring a cohesive workflow.

Adobe Illustrator: Vector Graphics Excellence

Adobe Illustrator is essential for creating high-quality vector graphics. The application’s core tools, such as the Pen tool and Shape tool, have been refined for better usability. Whether starting with the Banana tool or Pen tool, users can quickly determine the best approach for their project.

Adobe Firefly AI’s capabilities in Illustrator are transformative. From generating backgrounds and icons to utilizing color editing tools, Firefly AI enhances creative efficiency. Features like Generative Recolor and vector artwork generation allow government teams to produce sophisticated graphics with ease, ensuring their visual communications are both impactful and professional.

Adobe InDesign: Streamlined Document Design

Adobe InDesign is a powerful tool for creating polished documents. Efficient document setup and the use of the Pages panel streamline the design process, making it easier to organize and navigate projects.

Importing text and ensuring proper formatting are crucial for maintaining consistency in government documents. Standardized character and paragraph styles save time and ensure a professional look. The Link panel and its embedding features simplify file management, reducing the risk of broken links and ensuring all assets are properly integrated.

Adobe Premiere Rush and Premiere Pro: Video Editing Mastery

Adobe Premiere Rush provides a comprehensive tutorial and tool layout for learning the user interface, making it accessible for all skill levels. Loading video files and constructing a well-organized timeline are straightforward, and the shortcut windows enhance editing workflows.

Premiere Rush’s layout and formatting options enhance the visual appeal of projects, while the export feature simplifies the finalization process. For more advanced video editing needs, Adobe Premiere Pro offers a user-friendly design with enhanced Sequence Preset options and a redesigned Motion Graphics Template Workspace.

Firefly AI integration in Premiere Pro, with features like removing filler text and “Edit by text” functionality, streamlines the editing process. Enhanced trimming and multiple camera improvements ensure a smoother and more polished video editing experience, ideal for government projects requiring high-quality visual content.

Adobe Stock and Adobe Express: Access to Extensive Creative Assets

Adobe Stock serves as a versatile reservoir for licensed images, audio, video, templates, and more. Its extensive filters allow users to fine-tune searches, ensuring they find exactly what they need. The license file history feature simplifies tracking and managing licensed items.

Integration with Adobe Express demonstrates the ease of creating posts and utilizing Adobe Stock’s library for customization. Firefly AI capabilities, such as Text-to-Image and Generative Fill, bring AI-powered magic to users’ fingertips. Adobe Express enables quick video edits with preset transitions and royalty-free video options, perfect for government agencies looking to produce engaging content efficiently.

Adobe Experience Manager: Efficient Digital Asset Management

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets offers powerful digital asset management, essential for government teams managing extensive content. Asset tagging and folder organization maximize productivity, while seamless collaboration facilitates effective content creation and distribution.

The tight integration between AEM and Adobe Creative Cloud enhances asset lifecycle management, ensuring all digital assets are efficiently managed and utilized across projects.

Adobe Creative Cloud’s latest features provide government creative teams with advanced tools to enhance their productivity and creativity. From image editing and photo management to vector graphics, document design, video editing, and digital asset management, Adobe CC applications cater to diverse needs, ensuring government agencies can deliver high-quality content with efficiency and precision. Embracing these tools can significantly elevate the capabilities of government creative teams, fostering innovation and excellence in their work.

Additionally, if you or anyone you know would like to dive deeper into Adobe creative applications and how they can be applied to current government projects, watch the on-demand recordings from our 8-part webinar series, Elevate Creative Workflows with AI-Enhanced Digital Designs, to discover how Adobe Creative Cloud solutions play a pivotal role in accelerating creative workflows and leverages AI to facilitate the efficient development of digital experiences.

Contact our Adobe solutions experts today for a experts demonstration on how to utilize the newest tools, upgrades, features, and integration capabilities that teams across all fields can leverage for compelling and exciting digital designs.

Protecting DNS Infrastructure from Resource Exhaustion Attacks

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The Domain Name System (DNS) functions as the phonebook of the internet. It serves to translate IP addresses into readable domain names, enabling end users to access web applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) through fast and reliable internet connections. DNS infrastructure was designed as the building block of the internet, not as a security control point, resulting in DNS servers being viewed as an easy target vulnerable to attack. Protecting DNS servers is critical since a threat to an organization’s servers also has the capacity to impact enterprise operations, profitability and trust with end users.

Threats to DNS Infrastructure

In the evolving landscape of DNS infrastructure, threats pose serious risks to the speed, availability and operation to enterprises’ DNS services. Among these threats are DNS floods, which overwhelm servers with a barrage of requests for resources, effectively rendering them unavailable to legitimate queries. The 2023 Akamai Attack Superhighway State of the Internet report underscores the increasing concern surrounding DNS denial of service attacks across various industry sectors, a trend that is expected to continue to escalate in the future. With DNS infrastructure handling up to seven trillion DNS requests a day, multistage attacks have become the primary mode of attack for the modern threat actor. Through collaborative efforts, attackers have found increasing success by working together and combining different tools during a single attack.

Resource Exhaustion Attacks

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Resource exhaustion presents in both people and technology. Exhaustion in people is often the result of staffing challenges, lean crews managing multiple aspects of the network while simultaneously defending against attacks. If one aspect of the network falls under attack, it takes away from their ability to manage and oversee other areas. On the technological side, resource exhaustion attacks seek to overload one piece of the network—a DNS server, a hardware tool, a next-generation firewall—to the point where it can no longer function because it was not designed to handle a heavy amount of traffic. This style of attack can last anywhere from a few minutes to a continuous attack that lasts for days.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), a type of resource exhaustion attack, simulates thousands of computers attempting to access the same resource simultaneously until it can no longer function. The website under attack becomes unavailable due to the sudden onslaught of false traffic that it is unable to manage. DNS is a common target for these DDoS style attacks because the critical services of websites and applications are reliant on the process of domain names translating to IP addresses being uninterrupted. Mitigating this form of malicious traffic presents a challenge, as these servers typically only have access to the IP address of the resolver. Consequently, any attempt to limit traffic based on this address usually results in false positives.

Securing DNS Infrastructure

By implementing a reverse proxy solution that protects on-prem and hybrid DNS infrastructure, organizations can defend existing DNS hardware tools from globally distributed attacks like resource exhaustion and DDoS. Organizations can ensure access to online services and applications remain available by re-routing traffic through an advanced DNS proxy server and filtering out malicious traffic during attacks in real time. An intelligent reverse proxy solution that deploys through an authoritative DNS change made in a domain controller and does not require replacing any existing tools helps organizations identify legitimate traffic from attack traffic. A solution with proactive security policies eliminates time spent on configuring individual settings or having to change them over time. Organizations that use hardware DNS receive the advantage of continued availability and enhanced security of existing investments and solutions that are critical to their network without having to make any major network adjustments. Through real-time monitoring of DNS infrastructure health and performance, organizations can increase the reliability of routing, security and availability of their existing DNS hardware solutions.

With the increase in remote work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become harder to detect and prevent resource exhaustion attacks. DNS resolution for website and application performance is critical, organizations must invest in adequate DNS infrastructure rather than relying on two or three servers to connect with end users. Adoption of a proactive approach that can identify and mitigate vulnerabilities at each stage of the data journey is pivotal to ensuring that DNS infrastructure is secure amid the evolving threat landscape.

Learn more about how to protect your enterprise from resource exhaustion attacks with Akamai Shield NS53, a bidirectional reverse proxy service.

Patching in Federal Government Networks

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Ivanti is committed to our customers who uphold the Nation’s highest commitments. To this end Ivanti believes that the mission our customers fulfill should not be impeded or constrained by the security stance they take. In these security conscious situations, it’s considered both mandatory and best practice for nodes within these networks to be either disconnected or entirely air-gapped.

(Context: A disconnected network can traverse its own internal network/intranet but is disconnected from the broader internet. Conversely – an air gapped environment is even further isolated – being entirely independent with no connectivity to either a larger intranet or internet.)

Despite these efforts – the risk of exploitation is not absolved simply by disconnecting or placing nodes into an air-gapped state. Network isolation of these servers & endpoints is only one aspect within a zero-trust security paradigm that these Sys-Admins have to contend with.

Technical administrators of these environments are still responsible for maintaining their systems against on-going vulnerabilities. The patching of these systems acts as a counter measure against insider threats within these systems. These vulnerabilities are more than the standard Patch Tuesday Windows OS vulnerabilities. A significant majority of these vulnerabilities exist in the 3rd party Application Eco-System. According to The U.S. National Vulnerability Database – Microsoft exploits only account for 15% of total vulnerabilities today.

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Patching these systems can be extremely tedious and time-consuming, but also manually intensive. This time could be better spent performing strategic security measures, or not spent at all. As a result of this lengthy process critical systems can be impacted and left open to vulnerabilities. A report from the GAO (As detailed in Pg. 46 of the GAO Report 16-501: Agencies Need to Improve Controls over Selected High-Impact Systems) shows that this has historically left even critical vulnerabilities unpatched after a significant time period (In the report – several years). To address these issues, Ivanti assists our customers by automating the remediation of the vulnerabilities found within their system, while also providing a record of truth, and reporting to these workflows.

Ivanti’s Disconnected Patching Capability

Ivanti’s product portfolio not only includes its flagship cloud-based Product Suite, and also a strong array of On-Premise based products. Two products worth highlighting for this are Ivanti Security Controls (ISEC), and Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM). Both products have On-Premise deployment options which extend into Disconnected and Air-Gapped Use-Cases.

At a high-level, Ivanti services disconnected / airgapped environments via the use of servers placed within those environments. Those servers then act as a repository for OS patches (Incl. Windows, Linux, and Mac), along with 3rd Party Application Patches. Reference this example diagram of a disconnected instance of Ivanti ISEC. In this example, a central environment is used to download and prepare patches for the environment. Then, one-to-many disconnected environment can then be stood up with patches and management provided via a ‘File Transfer Service’. This service can mean two things: either an approved Media Devices to enable transfers when no connectivity can exist, or a staged approach in which connectivity for a Centralized console is alternated between the Internet and a Disconnected Environment. Where approved, this prevents a direct link between the internet and the disconnected environment.

One additional note with this diagram is that both the Central Rollup Console and Connected Environment can also be connected on temporarily, even if only to update definitions in support the disconnected portions of the deployment.

Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM)

On the flipside, we can take the disconnected / connected philosophy we mentioned in ISEC and apply it to our EPM product. Like with ISEC an admin can create multiple EPM consoles, or cores without any additional charges. Those cores can be deployed as disconnected or ‘dark’ cores. Vulnerability Definitions and Patches can then be copied from a connected environment into the disconnected environment via the same preferred ‘File Transfer Client’ of choice. This methodology has been proven amongst our customer base who have effectively deployed this into disconnected and airgapped instances for both ISEC and EPM.

Modernized & Automated Patching Workflows

Modernizing the patching process means reducing the Mean Time to Patch, and strategically securing against vulnerabilities. To that end, Ivanti provides Neurons for Risk Based Vulnerability Management – a Vulnerability Management system that provides contextualization around threats (Ex. ‘Trending’ Vulnerabilities or Vulnerabilities could be executed without physical access to the target).

RBVM also provides the necessary patches and remediation for those vulnerabilities. By integrating our Patching and RBVM we modernize patching into a strategic and automated process. Files containing the vulnerabilities deemed most risky can be loaded into solutions like EPM to determine and provide patches. This workflow can still apply even in disconnected and airgapped use cases. RBVM could connect to the Rollup Core while disseminating patches via the process mentioned above.

How Ivanti can Help

Between Ivanti’s EPM & ISEC products, a System Administrator would have full range to patch the Windows, MacOS, and Linux Servers and Workstations within their environments. Patches also extend to 3rd Party Applications in which a significant portion of vulnerabilities originate. Ivanti also has a team of QA testers that validate the patches within its 3rd Party Patch Catalog to ensure no patches will cause a crash to the system. This patching can apply to both connected, and disconnected environments without any additional charges for scaling your Console Server Deployments.

In the case of ISEC – ISEC can discover and patch endpoints both with an agent and agentlessly. ISEC can also integrate with On-Premise VMware ESXi environments and patch ESXi hosts, as well as images and offline VM’s, thus further centralizing and reducing time to patch across the environment. Conversely – EPM provides users with a full suite of Endpoint Management capabilities in addition to patching including Discovery and Data Normalization, OS Provisioning, Software Distribution, User Profile Management, Remote Control, and Integrated Patching and Endpoint Security.

Additional Resources

For further reading, please consider Ivanti’s Product documentation around this subject. These references can provide additional documentation around how to establish:

About Ivanti

Ivanti was created in 2017 with the merger of Landesk and HEAT software. We are a powerhouse IT solution with over 30 years of combined experience. Ivanti finds, heals and protects every device, everywhere – automatically. Whether your team is down the hall or spread around the globe, Ivanti makes it easy and secure for them to do what they do best.

Ivanti is committed to supporting our customers requiring either Cloud or On-Premise deployment requirements. In both of those deployment paths Ivanti’s Portfolio contains accredited solutions including the following certifications: DoD ATO, Army CoN, Common Criteria, DoDIN APL, DISA STIG, DoD IL2 & IL5 Private Cloud, DoD ATO, NIAP MDM PP v4, NIAP Common Criteria, NSA CSFC, FIPS 140-2, FedRAMP Moderate, & SOC 2 Compliances.

Connect with an Ivanti representative today and learn more about how Ivanti can support your MultiCloud initiatives.

Adobe Express: The Content Creation Powerhouse

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Adobe Max 2023 has finally arrived, and with it came a slew of intuitive new features and software options. As expected, Adobe’s primary focus this year was on its powerful AI innovations and tools. Unexpectedly however, Adobe Express, an application which previously was focused on social media content creation has received an enormous upgrade. So, let’s talk about these exciting new features and why it’s exciting for the government space.

Adobe Express is a powerful software suite that has gained significant traction in various industries for its user-friendly interface and versatile tools. While it’s widely known for its applications in creative fields such as graphic design, marketing, and content creation, its potential in the government space remains largely untapped and yet to be fully realized. Its adaptability and diverse functionalities make it an asset for government agencies seeking efficient solutions for their content related projects.

One of the primary advantages of Adobe Express in the government sector is its ability to streamline communication. The software allows for the creation of visually engaging documents, presentations, and reports, enabling agencies to convey complex information in a more digestible and visually appealing manner. Whether it’s producing internal reports or communicating with the public, the software’s intuitive design tools aid in crafting impactful visual content, enhancing the effectiveness of government messages.

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Furthermore, Adobe Express’s compatibility with various file formats ensures seamless integration with existing government systems. This feature is pivotal in maintaining consistency and compatibility across different departments and agencies, facilitating the exchange of information and collaboration between various governmental bodies. It promotes a standardized approach to document creation, reducing compatibility issues and simplifying the sharing of information.

Data security and compliance are of utmost importance in the government sector, and Adobe Express offers robust security features to ensure the protection of sensitive information. With encryption, user authentication, and secure cloud storage options, the software provides a level of security essential for government use.

Another aspect worth highlighting is the software’s ability to handle a wide variety of tasks within government operations. From creating visually rich training materials for employees to designing public awareness campaigns, Adobe Express caters to a wide range of needs. Its features enable the development of interactive forms, streamlined workflows, and the creation of accessible content, ensuring inclusivity within government initiatives.

In addition, the software’s capacity for analytics and data visualization aids in the communication and presentation of complex information. This capability is invaluable in governmental decision-making processes, enabling officials to comprehend data more effectively and communicate insights to stakeholders and the public.

The use of Adobe Express can also lead to cost and time efficiencies within government departments. The software’s user-friendly interface reduces the need for extensive training, allowing employees to quickly grasp its functionalities. Its cloud-based solutions minimize the need for extensive physical infrastructure, reducing costs related to storage and maintenance.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the implementation of Adobe Express in government operations becomes increasingly relevant. However, its adoption may require tailored training programs and guidelines to ensure its optimal use and adherence to government protocols and standards.

In conclusion, Adobe Express offers a variety of tools and features that can significantly benefit government agencies. From enhancing communication and data security to fostering efficiency and innovation, its application in the government space holds immense potential, paving the way for more effective and visually compelling government initiatives.

Contact our team today to learn more about the latest trends discussed at Adobe MAX 2023 and how Carahsoft’s Adobe experts can support your organization.

Empowering Education: Nutanix and the E-Rate Program

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The U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 established the E-rate program to ensure affordable access to telecommunications and internet services, particularly for schools and libraries in low-income and rural areas. E-Rate consists of two categories:

  • Category One: This covers data transmission and internet access services, including broadband connectivity and data links connecting multiple points.
  • Category Two: This category focuses on eligible equipment, such as wireless access points, controller systems, routers, switches, and essential software-defined networking (SDN) and firewalls. Nutanix is a recognized provider of Category Two services under E-Rate, enhancing digital learning, IT security, and affordability.

During 2023, the third year of the 5 year E-Rate budget cycle, Nutanix and Carahsoft worked with a handful of customers across the country, and successfully funded and implemented multiple projects through USAC and the E-Rate program.

As we enter the fourth year of the 5 year E-Rate budget cycle, schools and libraries have 2 years left to utilize the E-Rate funds available to them. Schools and Libraries have an opportunity to fast track their digital modernization efforts with E-Rate funding. Let’s delve into the Nutanix E-Rate Solution.

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Nutanix’s Integrated Solution: Nutanix offers an integrated software-defined solution based on hyperconverged infrastructure. This solution streamlines networking, physical security, diagnostics, and firewalling, eliminating the need for separate legacy systems. It can be consolidated onto the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), reducing physical device footprint, costs, and management workload. It also integrates seamlessly with Nutanix and third-party products to create a robust infrastructure stack.

Unified Management: Nutanix provides a single pane management interface for all physical and virtual resources. This simplifies the management of diverse IT environments, allowing educational IT leaders to oversee data services, workload security, uptime, SLAs, virtual networking, and governance from a centralized dashboard.

Security and Compliance: Nutanix’s software incorporates robust security measures, automating compliance and providing self-healing capabilities. NCI centralizes network and security services, ensuring efficient functionality and effective incident response. It offers advanced network security, application-centric protection, and monitoring for security and compliance.

Software-Defined LAN: Nutanix’s software-defined LAN technology extends Layer 2 networks across sites using virtual extensible LAN (VXLAN) technology. This enables the delivery of broadband IPv4 services without additional hardware, improving uptime and adaptability.

Accelerate IT Modernization: Nutanix accelerates IT modernization at any stage, and E-Rate qualification allows schools and libraries to save up to 68% on eligible solutions through Category Two funding.

For more information, visit www.nutanix.com/E-Rate or contact Nutanix at NutanixSLED@Carahsoft.com or E-Rate@Nutanix.com to explore how their solutions can meet your specific needs.

View our webinar and dive deeper into how Nutanix can support your institutions education journey through the E-Rate program.

*Information in this blog was updated on November 7, 2023 to reflect more up-to-date, accurate information.

Okta and ServiceNow: Modernizing Public Sector Operations

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Federal, state, and local agencies and educational institutions are facing a surge in targeted cyberattacks. With increasing return-to-office mandates, they face further challenges balancing security with the need to deliver frictionless experiences for users and systems, both within and beyond the premises of agencies and campuses. Public sector organizations can lean further on industry partners to help them modernize operations to improve cybersecurity, support distributed workforces and users, remain compliant with audit and policy mandates, and, ultimately, better serve the public.

Roadblocks to Modernization

To modernize operations, agencies and institutions need to transition from legacy systems to cloud-based tools. Creating collaborative, seamless, and secure work environments that not only attract and retain top talent but also comply with key audit and policy mandates is necessary.

But building this kind of robust environment that can securely support mission-critical work isn’t easy.

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For one, as the public sector implements cloud-based tools that deliver modern, continuous digital services, they must also ensure the new technology works seamlessly alongside existing processes. And securing work environments both in-office and remotely has never been more challenging, with a 40% increase in cyberattacks against government and public service organizations from Q2 2023 to Q3 2023. Unfortunately, busy IT teams’ resources are too often spent completing manual work instead of implementing changes needed to focus on the high-value work that propels their missions.

How Okta and ServiceNow Solutions Help With Modernization and Automation

Okta and ServiceNow solutions enable agencies and institutions to overcome these obstacles by providing tools that enhance security, modernize operations, comply with strategic policies, and improve service delivery to meet critical mission goals.

Together, Okta and ServiceNow help with:

  • Identity and access management: A centralized Identity solution offers a complete view of users and phishing-resistant authentication to protect accounts from cyberattacks and least-privilege access. This gives users just the right access at the right time for the right purposes.
  • User lifecycle and workflow automation: Advanced algorithms and customizable templates streamline onboarding and offboarding for IT teams, reducing time-consuming work, eliminating manual, repetitive tasks, and increasing productivity.
  • Compliance and policy oversight: Detailed logs and refined reporting capabilities perform automated compliance checks, and policy enforcement mechanisms help reduce the risk of non-compliance.
  • No-code automation: No-code/low-code automation enables IT teams to quickly launch modern services while still adhering to Zero Trust integrations.
  • Risk management and monitoring: Advanced analytics and real-time reporting enable continuous visibility of all systems, improving service availability and accelerating incident response that can better protect the sensitive information of public sector organizations.
  • System integration: API management and middleware tools enable seamless integration with automated data exchange to improve communication and reduce errors.

Why Okta and ServiceNow are Better Together

These solutions combine ServiceNow’s expertise in policy and compliance management and internal and vendor risk management with Okta’s expertise in Identity and access management, such as single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA).

More specifically, with a rich, bidirectional integration, Okta and ServiceNow work seamlessly together, empowering public sector organizations to modernize and automate their services to support their evolving missions with:

  • Okta Integration Network (OIN)
  • ServiceNow Security Incident Module
  • StateRAMP Ready authorization
  • FedRAMP High authorization
  • Department of Defense Impact Level (IL) 4 and IL5 workloads

Contact our team today to learn more about about how, together, Okta and ServiceNow provide the public sector with an open, future-ready platform to automate, secure, orchestrate, and simplify their workflows.

Three Strategies for Minimizing Insider Threats

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Insider threats (alternatively known as careless or untrained insiders) continue to be a problem for the public sector. According to SolarWinds 2023 Public Sector Cybersecurity Survey, 68% of respondents cited careless or untrained employees as one of the highest sources of security threats, second only to foreign governments.

Insider threats have continued to increase over the past few years. Mobile work has become commonplace, and more employees have begun using unsanctioned applications, leading to incidents of shadow IT. Meanwhile, hackers have become adept at targeting government employees through phishing and ransomware attacks, which succeed due to human error.

Educating your employees about the dangers of these attacks and putting in proper safeguards to prevent them is critical. Here are three strategies to help employees become more aware of threats and build a better security posture from the inside.

Understand while not everyone is a trained security expert, everyone can play their part

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Some organizations tend to say, “Everyone is responsible for cybersecurity,” which is not entirely true. An employee in charge of processing applications for social security benefits is in charge of processing applications for social security benefits, not protecting the agency from a cyber attack.

However, there are little things everyone can do to prevent threats–they just need to know what those things are. It’s more than not opening emails from unknown senders or clicking on suspicious-looking attachments. It’s being vigilant, even when someone is feeling overworked. It’s also knowing who to report these incidents to if and when they occur and how and when to share information with colleagues about potentially suspicious activity.

Other things you can do to help employees protect your agency include:

  • Implementing company-wide password protocols, including two-factor authentication
  • Mandating employees to change their passwords every few months
  • Adding context to communications around cybersecurity to help employees understand the ramifications of cybersecurity incidents (for example, illustrating how a breach could impact employees’ jobs)

While rigorous training isn’t necessary, you can aim to make safe security practices a part of your day-to-day efforts. For example, periodic email reminders, replete with simple and easy-to-follow best practices and sent from the CIO or security team, can help improve your organization’s security posture.

Conduct simulations to help employees understand how to respond to possible threats

Email reminders are important, but nothing beats practicing what to do in the event of a threat. Which is where Breach and Attack Simulations (BAS) come in.

BASs can be used to simulate just about any type of attack your employees might be exposed to, including phishing, malware, and more. Employees are asked to spot, respond to, and prevent an attack in a simulation. Managers can assess employees’ responses and reactions and discover where more education is needed.

Simulated attacks are also great for increasing employee vigilance and education. The more employees are exposed to simulated threats, the more knowledgeable they become about those threats–and the less likely they will be to fall prey to them.

Build a zero-trust foundation that is secure by design

While employees should always be your first line of defense against cyberattacks, no defense is ever foolproof, even those that have been adequately trained and prepared. Implementing a secure by design zero-trust cybersecurity environment can ensure weaknesses aren’t exploited.

In a secure-by-design environment, security is inherent in every aspect of the organization. Employees are aware of possible cybersecurity risks and know how to prevent them. Security is baked into the agency’s technology infrastructure and software development processes, and all technologies an agency procures have security as a standard feature, not an add-on.

Security by design goes hand-in-hand with zero trust. Zero-trust cybersecurity models are based on an “assume breach” mentality, where every request to access information could pose a threat. Therefore, all requests must be carefully verified, and all employees should only have access to the information they need.

Remember: while employees can be your agency’s best defenders, they’re also human. They can and will make mistakes. It’s essential to put in place safeguards to mitigate those mistakes. Education is important, but so is having a backup plan in case something fails. By covering all angles you’ll have a better chance of preventing the next employee-centric cyberattack.

For more guidance on how to better enhance your agency’s cybersecurity posture, visit SolarWinds’ Secure by Design resource center.