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Continuous Monitoring Transforms Federal Cyber Risk Management

Tue, 08/25/2026

Federal agencies are shifting from periodic security assessments toward continuous monitoring strategies that provide real-time visibility into vulnerabilities and cyber risk. Leaders from the Air Force, Transportation Department and Knox Systems outline how automation, AI and evolving federal policy are helping agencies prioritize threats, accelerate authorization processes and strengthen security without slowing the mission.

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Moving from reactive to risk-based cybersecurity with continuous monitoring, real-time visibility and exposure management. Timestamp 10:32.
Automating security and authorization processes through continuous security metrics and continuous ATO. Timestamp 7:30.
Using AI and evolving federal policy to strengthen cyber defenses. Timestamp 17:31.

Featuring

Austin Clark Enterprise Security Architect, DOT
Austin Clark
- Enterprise Security Architect
- DOT
Austin Clark is the Enterprise Security Architect at the Department of Transportation (DOT), bringing 15 years of dedicated government civilian service to his role. He’s currently spearheading critical cybersecurity initiatives, including enterprise logging, phishing-resistant MFA, zero trust architecture, and SASE, fortifying the DOT’s digital defenses. Before his tenure at the DOT, Austin served as a Defensive Cyber Branch Chief for the Department of the Army. Beyond his civilian contributions, he is also a Chief Warrant Officer 4 in the Army Reserve’s cyber branch. Academically accomplished, Austin holds an MS in Information Security Engineering from SANS and a suite of industry certifications.
Mario Lunato Field CISO, Knox Systems
Mario Lunato
- Field CISO
- Knox Systems
Mario Lunato is Field CISO at Knox Systems Inc., Knox enables software companies to achieve FedRAMP authorization in 90 days for 90 percent less than the traditional path. Knox runs the largest and longest-operating secure FedRAMP cloud, with 16 agency authorizations and customers including Adobe, Celonis, BigID, and OutSystems. In his role, Mario leads customer-facing architecture reviews, gap analyses, and FedRAMP advisory work that move ISVs into the boundary and onto the federal market.

Before Knox, Mario was a Principal Cloud Security Engineer and DevSecOps Technical Lead at Aquia Inc., where he led a continuous ATO program for a federal civilian agency that cut time-to-ATO by roughly 40 percent. He previously held cloud security roles at Quzara LLC and ByteChek Assurance.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Mario holds AWS Solutions Architect Professional, AWS Security Specialty, CKA, and CompTIA Security+ certifications, and writes on FedRAMP and GRC engineering.
Akintunde Oluwafemi Subordinate Authorizing Official, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Akintunde Oluwafemi
- Subordinate Authorizing Official
- Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Akintunde Oluwafemi is a Subordinate Authorizing Official for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.