We Have a Problem With Free Software
The Notepad++ compromise should be a wake-up call. The tools we've been trusting for 20 years were never built for the environments we're using them in.
Reference guides, compliance checklists, and technical deep-dives for federal IT teams. Practical content that doesn't go stale.
The Notepad++ compromise should be a wake-up call. The tools we've been trusting for 20 years were never built for the environments we're using them in.
How Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's compartment model gives federal agencies real oversight without slowing down contractors. Security zones, SETA delegation, and predictable costs.
A contractor's perspective on government shutdowns—the mission impact, the human cost, and what it means for the people who keep things running.
A reflection on what we give up when we choose demanding careers—and what we hope our kids understand someday.
What 18 months in Iraq taught me about the people who serve—military and civilian—and why we should never forget them.
Complete STIG compliance checklist for GitHub Enterprise Server in federal environments. Authentication, audit logging, TLS configuration, and common findings.
Architecture patterns for deploying LLMs and AI workloads in disconnected government networks. Hardware, quantization, and security boundaries for IL4/IL5.
Building RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) systems for government document repositories. Architecture, security, and implementation for classified environments.
Practical comparison of OpenShift and vanilla Kubernetes for federal government. Security, compliance, support, and real-world selection criteria.
Security hardening guide for Jenkins in government CI/CD environments. Authentication, secrets management, agent isolation, and audit logging.
Using AI and automation for STIG compliance. Practical approaches to accelerating security assessments while maintaining accuracy and auditability.
A practical checklist for implementing CMMC Level 2 controls in your CI/CD pipelines, source control, and infrastructure automation.
When to choose self-hosted GitHub Enterprise Server versus GitHub Enterprise Cloud for federal agencies and defense contractors.
Meet Merlin System Solutions—a Tampa-based IT consulting firm delivering DevSecOps, secure AI, and enterprise infrastructure to federal agencies and defense contractors.