The Cyber Business Podcast

Guest Introduction Steve Orrin serves as Chief Technology Officer and Senior Principal Engineer at Intel Federal, where he operates at the intersection of advanced computing, cybersecurity, and national security missions. In his role, Steve works closely with U.S. federal agencies and the Defense Industrial Base to translate mission requirements into hardware, firmware, and software capabilities that can operate at massive scale and under elevated security demands. He also feeds those real world requirements back into Intel's product and research teams, helping shape future platforms that support government, critical infrastructure, and highly regulated industries. His background places him in a unique position to explain how technologies pioneered for government use often become the next standards adopted across the commercial sector.   Here's a Glimpse of What You'll Learn Why federal government requirements often predict future commercial security standards How AI and cybersecurity must be addressed across the full lifecycle Where AI delivers real value in security operations versus where expectations fall short What confidential computing solves and why data in use is the next security frontier How post quantum cryptography timelines are being driven by government mandates Why hardware based security controls matter for cloud, edge, and mission systems How memory safe technologies can eliminate entire classes of cyber attacks   In This Episode Steve explains his role at Intel Federal as a three part function. He helps government agencies adopt the right technologies for their missions, translates those requirements back to Intel's internal product and engineering teams, and supports innovation where standard commercial solutions do not fully meet government needs. This two way translation ensures that future platforms align with real world mission and security demands. The discussion moves into AI and cybersecurity, which Steve frames across three dimensions. Organizations must secure AI systems themselves, use AI responsibly to improve cybersecurity operations, and defend against adversaries that are also leveraging AI. He emphasizes that AI cannot be treated like traditional software. It requires governance, validation, and continuous monitoring across data sourcing, training, tuning, and deployment. Steve outlines where AI is delivering tangible value today. Rather than detecting entirely new threats in isolation, AI excels at automating repetitive, high volume security tasks. By reducing the operational burden of routine alerts, patching, and triage, AI allows security teams to focus their expertise on higher impact risks and emerging threats. A key segment of the conversation focuses on confidential computing. Steve explains how protecting data in use closes a long standing security gap that encryption at rest and in transit cannot address. Through trusted execution environments, memory encryption, isolation, and attestation, organizations can protect sensitive workloads even from compromised operating systems or untrusted cloud environments. This capability is especially relevant for AI models, intellectual property, and mission critical workloads deployed across cloud, edge, and disconnected environments. The episode concludes with a forward looking discussion on post quantum cryptography and secure mission platforms. Steve explains why the threat is not limited to future quantum computers, but to data being harvested and stored today for later decryption. Government driven timelines are accelerating adoption, and commercial industries will benefit from following the same path as compliant products become broadly available.   Sponsor for this Episode This episode is brought to you by CyberLynx. CyberLynx is a complete technology solution provider to ensure your business has the most reliable and professional IT service. The bottom line is we help protect you from cyber attacks, malware attacks, and the dreaded Dark Web. Our professional support includes managed IT services, IT help desk services, cybersecurity services, data backup and recovery, and VoIP services. Our reputable and experienced team, quick response time, and hassle-free process ensures that clients are 100% satisfied. To learn more, visit https://cyberlynx.com, email us at help@cyberlynx.com, or give us a call at 202-996-6600.