Elastic’s Sean MacKirdy on breaking down data silos for AI

Sean MacKirdy, Area Vice President for Defense at Elastic, discussed the challenges agencies face in managing cloud and on-prem resources, emphasizing the need to break down historical data silos for better decision-making. He highlighted the importance of policy transformation and security considerations, particularly the impact of AI on the threat landscape. MacKirdy noted a significant shift toward zero-trust architectures that enhance security through micro segmentation and identity-based controls. He stressed that government leaders must embrace data sharing to unlock AI’s potential, moving toward more collaborative and interoperable operations while maintaining security.