Episodes
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On the latest episode of StateScoop’s Priorities podcast, Maryland’s Senior Director of State Cybersecurity Lance Cleghorn talks about the state’s first bug bounty program, which saw white-hat hackers discovering over 40 vulnerabilities on the state’s websites. Cleghorn says the program was inspired by a similar program called “Hack the Pentagon,” that he and Maryland’s chief information officer, Katie Savage, ran when they worked together at the Department of Defense’s Defense Digital Service — which is part of the reason Cleghorn says he followed Savage to Maryland’s Department of Information Technology. Cleghorn also shares his perspective about why bug bounty programs are so successful as opposed to other methods of finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and offers insight into the future of bug bounty programs in the state.
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On the latest episode of StateScoop’s Priorities podcast, Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, talks about a new report he authored for the organization that contains legislative recommendations for states rolling out digital ID programs. Since the release of the ACLU’s last report on the programs in 2021, several states have added digital ID capabilities, but Stanley says the current landscape for digital IDs is immature. However, he talks about ways for state legislators to create a digital ID system that protects privacy and equity, which includes technical recommendations as well as policies about how law enforcement can access the IDs.
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Missing episodes?
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One year after publishing an artificial intelligence “action plan” last October, an official from New York City’s Office of Technology & Innovation says work is progressing ahead of schedule. Alex Foard, the office’s executive director of research and collaboration, says 30 of 37 actions were completed, one more than than the office had planned for in the initiative’s first year. Foard said the city’s AI work has been focused on translating policy actions into “pragmatic things” that agencies can use to support their work. The next year, Foard says, will include a heavier emphasis on public engagement and external partnerships. “The partnership emphasis really is one of the most important pieces out of the action plan because it's an acknowledgement that we as a city have a lot of internal expertise related to AI but we're also in New York City where we have access to any number of high-end academic institutions, a very health tech industry and all of these groups are rich with their own expertise and their own guidance that we can use to help inform our own policy.”
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.
For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify. -
On the latest episode of StateScoop’s Priorities podcast, Samuel Alva, a technical adviser with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, explains the “huge” threat facing the nation’s tens of thousands of water utilities, and what they can do to protect themselves. “Water is a single point of failure. So that's why it has been under attack,” he says. CISA is among the organizations assisting the water sector, including by providing cybersecurity assessments of their operational technologies. Alva says it’s a “daunting” task helping thousands of utility operators become trained on a technical topic that hasn’t traditionally been in their wheelhouse. But a promising cybersecurity training program in Kansas is gaining attention from other states, including California, Maryland and Texas.
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.
For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify. -
During his four-and-a-half years as South Dakota’s chief information officer, Jeff Clines says he watched as the neighboring Wyoming churned through several of its own CIOs. Now roughly one month into the CIO role in Wyoming, Clines says one of his top priorities is to bring stability to the state’s IT. “[I’ve been] trying to understand why there was so much turnover in the leadership in Wyoming. What was the impact there? … One of [the staff’s] big desires for the new CIO is stability in the consistency of vision and implementation of that vision.”
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.
For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify. -
Data ‘a strategic asset’ for state government, says CIO
South Dakota Chief Information Officer Madhu Gottumukkala says on StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast that his state’s data governance efforts aren’t only about protecting against threats
to cybersecurity and data privacy, but that he’s also striving to transform the state’s data into a “strategic asset.” Gottumukkala says building the “foundation” of data governance may take about a year, but that that effort, along with updating old IT systems, will prepare the state to use artificial intelligence in ways that make government more “responsive and efficient.” He says early AI projects will involve boosting employee productivity, and that the state will eventually seek to integrate AI into more of its applications.
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.
For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify. -
Utah Chief Information Officer Alan Fuller says on StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast that meeting with agencies to develop IT strategic plans specific to their needs has been an illuminating project that’s helping him better understand their challenges. “Just having the conversations has been really useful. And in some cases, you know, we weren't fully in alignment, or we didn't realize exactly where their pain points were,” Fuller says. Among Utah’s top projects in 2024 are a new design system, making improvements to customer experience, a new identity and access management platform and a new citizen services portal.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
Researchers from the Washington nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology join this week’s Priorities Podcast to break down a recent report showing the many ways that large language models struggle to parse complex rules about voting with disabilities. Tim Harper, senior policy analyst who leads the center’s elections and democracy work, and Ariana Aboulafia, an attorney who leads its disability rights in technology policy work, review the many shortcomings of chatbots attempting to present information about voting. According to the report, “[S]ome factual errors were so severe that the entire answer was incorrect and could interfere with a voter’s ability to cast their ballot.”
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
Connecticut Chief Information Security Officer Gene Meltser became the state’s top information security official last month. He says on StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast that although he’s joining a mature cybersecurity organization, he’s starting with the fundamentals. “I’m planning on starting with fundamentals, essentially ensuring that we’re taking care of the core components of security, things like system hygiene, for example, things like patching, hardening and asset management,” he says. Election security and training for employees are also on his agenda, though he’s mindful of cybersecurity’s potential to impede work. “We’re not here to impose a regime of traffic lights where they cannot proceed to do their jobs,” he says.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
After an announcement last month that Maryland is expanding its digital services efforts with five new hires, the state’s digital experience officer joins StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast to share what that expansion looks like. Marcy Jacobs, who oversees the state’s Office of Digital Experience, says her team is taking a targeted approach. “I think that is kind of a big shift from traditional kind of project management,” she says. “Is it on time and on budget to product management? Are we achieving the outcomes for the people that we are trying to serve? And can we do that in small, agile ways?”
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
On this week's Priorities Podcast, New Jersey Chief Innovation Officer Dave Cole shares the progress of his Office of Innovation. He says his office is expanding, with plans to add 20 additional staff members, to bolster projects like a recent streamlining of the state's unemployment insurance application. He says generative artificial intelligence sometimes aids the office's work, which is ramping up ahead of a deadline to spend federal funding for IT projects after the COVID-19 pandemic.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
A new law in Missouri went into effect Wednesday, granting the state auditor more authority to audit local governments. The state’s current auditor, Scott Fitzpatrick, joins this week’s Priorities Podcast to explain how the changes will allow his office to conduct audits without overly burdening whistleblowers. Among the provisions in the new law are controversial protections for whistleblowers, sealing certain records from being released to protect their identities.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
After receiving a cease-and-desist order this month, the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger now has just days to decommission a web page that allows users to cancel voter registrations. Julie Houk, managing counsel for election protection with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law, says on StateScoop’s Priorities podcast the form possibly violates legal and ethical boundaries. The form gained media attention immediately after launch when cybersecurity analysts noticed several flaws, including an early flaw that allowed users to view the personal information of strangers, allowing them to cancel their voter registrations.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
Automation bias, a tendency to favor the output of computer algorithms over other factors, is among the top concerns of Washington state’s chief privacy officer as the state establishes its policies for generative artificial intelligence. On this week’s Priorities Podcast, Washington state Chief Privacy Officer Katy Ruckle says she’s worried people could become too comfortable with generative AI. “I have a concern or fear that once we as a workforce get used to using these types of tools and they become more and more reliable in terms of their outputs that we might defer to them and question less about the results,” she says. Washington state officials are currently on deadline to develop numerous policies pertaining to generative AI after Gov. Jay Inslee’s executive order last January.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
As California firefighters continue to douse the Park Fire, one of the largest in the state's history, a deputy chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection joins the Priorities podcast to share how new technologies are aiding those efforts. Marcus Hernandez, who leads the Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development, says a lot has changed over the past year, including testing technology that gives chiefs a better view of where personnel are located during incidents.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify. -
On this week’s Priorities Podcast, Los Angeles Chief Information Officer Ted Ross shares the results of his recent trip to Armenia. As part of a democracy forum hosted by the U.S. State Department, Ross traveled to the capital city of Yerevan, where he met with government leaders to discuss how digital services can boost the public’s trust in government and help bolster the principles of democracy. “I think in a lot of governments, they think of digital and government as a completely separate conversation. So we found ourselves talking a lot about that: This isn’t just transacting, this is about a customer experience,” Ross says.
Also this week, Christine Halvorsen, Okta's public sector chief technology officer and a former FBI official, joins Okta principal solutions engineer Pam Vanmeter and Scoop News Group's Wyatt Kash in a discussion on how modern customer identity and access management, or CIAM, platforms help state and local agencies lower costs and improve customer experience and security.
This episode is sponsored by Okta.
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify. -
On this week's Priorities Podcast, North Dakota Chief Information Officer Gregory Hoffman says that in his first weeks in the role, he's centering his attention on a whole-of-state approach to cybersecurity and exploring how generative artificial intelligence can further the state's mission. Later in the episode, Zach Boyd, director of the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy, shares his plans for the office, which include making proposals to the state legislature as Utah prepares itself, he says, for the "AI revolution."
Top stories:
Many state,
city government services disrupted by CrowdStrike outage Ransomware forces closure of Los Angeles County courthouses
New FCC rules bring deadlines for providers’ next-generation 911 upgrades
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday. Listen more here.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify. -
As state and local governments race to incorporate generative AI into their operations, so too are political campaigns using the technology in their election materials. Election administrators are readying themselves for the technology's misuse in spreading misinformation and disrupting the democratic process. On this week's Priorities Podcast, Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Mekela Panditharatne, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program, address the mounting AI challenge. As the first American presidential election year in the generative AI era, 2024 will serve as a test case for the spread of AI-generated election disinformation and the ability of states to regulate it.
StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify. -
On this week’s Priorities Podcast, Mississippi Chief Information Officer Craig Orgeron says it was the challenge of government service that brought him back into the fold after retiring from the role four years ago. Changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and the popularization of generative artificial intelligence have transformed government over the past four years, creating a new set of challenges for Orgeron, who’d already spent a decade in the CIO role in Mississippi before his return. “The first thought that kept recurring was the enormity of the challenge, was the first real thought, of how different the world is,” Orgeron says when asked why he returned to the role. “I think there’s sort of a post-COVID reality, I think there’s certainly a generative AI reality and there’s beyond certain a cloud reality. And I think how public sector organizations think about and through that is transformational.”
StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify. -
Data breaches and fraud are on the rise, with synthetic identity fraud representing the biggest fraud trend in 2024. On this week’s Priorities podcast, Jeffrey Huth, a senior vice president at TransUnion, breaks down a recent report from the credit bureau outlining several rising threats facing the public sector. Huth says artificial intelligence is further complicating matters, and that it “will become much easier and faster to create completely realistic-looking, fabricated identities, whether it’s building a financial profile, [or] a digital footprint.”
StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify. - Show more
