AT&T’s Jill Singer: Network Virtualization Could Help Federal CIOs Meet System Modernization, Cybersecurity Goals

Jill Singer, vice president of national security at AT&T’s public sector business, has said chief information officers at federal agencies seeking to modernize their systems and build up their cybersecurity posture should implement network virtualization.

Singer wrote in an article published Thursday on The Cipher Brief that deploying a software-based virtualized network could help agencies adjust bandwidth usage and facilitate the delivery of new network services in response to client requirements and mission demands.

“In a virtualized network, agencies can quickly update architectures and services by a software change rather than purchasing and deploying new hardware,” she added.

She said a virtualized network works to automate cyber threat prediction and detection since “protections are built into every network layer” and back approaches to cloud services and application development needed to expedite the delivery of cyber capabilities.

“A security framework within the network architecture supports connections to existing security platforms and integration of custom security applications as needed,” Singer added.

She noted that federal CIOs should advance the adoption of an agile virtual network to meet networking demands and ensure cybersecurity as internet of things, LTE and 5G services become more prevalent.