State governments understand that utilizing IT effectively is the key to delivering excellent customer service. For instance, in Ohio the current strategic plan forthrightly states that the “use of State technology assets to increase the wellbeing of Ohioans and their health, property, security, livelihood, and prosperity is essential.” Measures include improving information security and privacy, building on cloud-smart infrastruct...

As all levels of government seek ways to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence ( AI ) and mitigate its potential risks, the need for an overall national strategy to foster innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth becomes clearer. At the federal level, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo in March providing guidance for agencies to establish AI governance and risk management techniques while implementing inn...

Federal CIOs know the days of protecting a network perimeter are gone — firewalls were never designed to address edge computing, remote work, hybrid clouds, or multiple devices used by a single person. This is why all Federal agencies were directed by Executive Order 14028 and the follow-up Office of Management and Budget memo laying out a Zero Trust Strategy to implement a Zero Trust architecture by the end of September 2024. With that...

States’ voter registration systems and voter access have undergone a host of changes over the past five years, thanks in large part to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many states expanded vote-by-mail options, stepped up automatic voter registration programs, or both. Cities took action, as well – Los Angeles, for instance, has overhauled its voting system infrastructure, using open source, the cloud, and cybersecurity partnerships to updat...

The continuous evolution of technology presents us with a dynamic landscape filled with both promise and challenges. As the internet gained widespread adoption, it revolutionized various aspects of our lives, introducing innovations such as online shopping and real-time news updates, alongside issues like spam, phishing, and malware. Traditionally, government entities have been cautious in adopting new technologies, often due to regulatory con...

The cyber-attack surface has exploded to include more than just hardware and on premises devices. This can make implementing CDM and achieving success even more difficult-- one of the most common challenges has always been finding the time and resources to do so. So how are agency cyber leaders keeping up? While the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is now a dozen years...

All the elements of the U.S. healthcare system are under siege by hackers. A recent article in Modern Healthcare reported that “[o]ver the past five years, there’s been a 256% increase in large breaches reported to [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] involving hacking and a 264% increase in ransomware.” Federal health agencies face the same risks – and private-sector attacks ripple through the agencies, a...

Election security is top of mind across the United States, from concern about malign foreign interference, to DDoS attacks against election websites, to the security of voting machines and their software, to insider and third-party threats, even to “swatting” of local election officials, to name just a few. At the heart of all these threats is the intent to change the outcome of political races. Outcomes, in the end, are determined...

Government agencies at all levels face cyber threats at an increasing rate. Ransomware attacks alone increased by 70% year over year in 2023. Yet agencies are constrained by budget limitations and the shortage of cybersecurity professionals, leading to trying to manage from crisis to crisis and never catching up. Automating security workflows can help agencies get a handle on their challenges and prioritize their security needs, but it isn...

There are plenty of benefits to innovative new technologies, from greater efficiency to cost savings to customer satisfaction. It is rare, however, for a new technology to truly replace existing IT – rather, it gets incorporated into or bolted onto current systems. This approach, along with the explosion of mobile devices and proliferation of software and SaaS applications, dramatically increases and clouds an Agency’s cyber footpr...