| MOST POPULAR COVID19: Gov Tech Community Responds
Workplaces around the globe are sending employees home to quell the spread of coronavirus, testing organizational readiness for large-scale telework. Government is no exception. Officials in New Jersey and North Carolina recently made the decision to send workers home, and GT Staff Writer Andrew Westrope looked into how ready others in government are to implement similar policies. GT columnist Dan Lohrmann weighed in as well, offering a roundup of state actions related to COVID-19. GT’s continuing coverage includes a look at the potential of blockchain to help enable the massive uptick in online education in light of the virus, the impact on launch of the first ever digital Census and some of the data tools being developed to visually represent the latest virus-related information. States and Localities to Spend Billions in 2020
The coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, states and local governments across the country are poised to make major investments in technology in 2020 – more than $110 billion dollars, which is a net increase from 2019 projections. GovTech’s coverage of the Washington, D.C.-based Beyond the Beltway event includes a breakdown of where that spending is likely to take place. Three States Get New CIOs
Michigan, Indiana and Arizona all made CIO announcements in the last week. All three incoming leaders are veterans to each state organization. In Arizona, J.R. Sloan has gone from interim chief information officer to permanent. Indiana’s Tracy Barnes most recently served as chief of staff to the Lt. Governor before being named CIO, and incoming Michigan CIO Brom Stibitz comes to the role following a stint at the Michigan Department of Treasury. Cyberprep Pays Off in North Carolina Ransomware Attack
The city and county of Durham, N. C., are the latest to be hit by a ransomware attack, announced by local officials earlier this week. The familiar-by-now strain of Ryuk infiltrated the government’s network, requiring re-imaging of about 1,000 computers and rebuilding about the same number of servers in the county data center. Both organizations’ CIOs reported that the response to the attack was greatly aided by their cybersecurity preparations beforehand. | 