Educational institutions and state and local agencies historically have been challenged to keep up with technological advancements – their budgets are tight, their users are increasingly distributed post-pandemic, and they face significant operating expenses from maintaining legacy architectures and equipment. Digital transformation is appealing, but for many organizations the challenge is where to start. As the generation of data has ex...

State and local governments and education produce large amounts of unstructured data in a wide range of data types. From student report cards that contain personally identifiable information (PII) to municipal tax rolls full of information that fraudsters want to steal, these organizations have a data protection challenge on their hands. Keeping these diverse data sets safe and ensuring their high availability are essential for smooth educatio...

Cybersecurity professionals working for state and local agencies and educational systems are likely already aware that cyber attacks targeting their organizations are increasing sharply – the second quarter of 2023 saw a 40% increase over the first quarter of the year. System defenders face the ongoing challenges of resource constraints, increasingly complex networks, and data overload. Add in emerging cyber threats from the accelerating...

Recent headlines have been full of stories about state and local governments and school systems being targeted by malicious actors. And these organizations are likely to face tight budgets and limited manpower to deal with a cyber threat. For many agencies, the reality is it’s a matter of when – not if – they will be attacked. There are steps that can be taken to be better prepared to cope with the arduous task of recovery, m...

Our nation’s K-12 schools are data-rich, but often resource-poor. That combination makes them very attractive targets for ransomware attacks. The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, part of the Center for Internet Security, just released a new report that 29% of its member organization reported being victims of ransomware attacks – and the rapid expansion of remote learning in response to the pandemic has only made...

Even before the pandemic, U.S. K-12 school districts were undergoing a digital transformation - digitizing paper-based processes and adopting ‘smart’ technologies for core services, including facilities management, transportation, HR and staffing, business services, and teaching and learning. The pandemic accelerated those trends, in support of providing online learning to children sheltering at home. But this also means that schoo...

The field of higher education faces a number of challenges - declining enrollments, evolving continuing education and workforce development needs, fast-changing classroom technologies, even heightened cybersecurity requirements to deal with the threat of ransomware. Gartner’s "Top Technology Trends in Higher Education for 2022," released in February, identifies the changes in higher education business models and students’ learning...

Higher Education faces a unique set of challenges when managing identities, securely connecting users to both SaaS and on-prem applications, and securing campus administrative servers. Complicating matters, colleges and universities service a broad range of personas including staff, faculty, adjunct faculty, admissions applicants, students, alumni, donors, contractors, athletics/arts supporters, and many others who walk across campus every day...

There is an understanding gap among the military and civilian employers regarding how military experience and knowledge translates into the skill sets needed in the civilian marketplace. Take a look at these facts: • 47 percent of veterans feel unprepared for their career transition out of the military (Monster.com 2012 survey) • 77 percent of employers reported that veterans could do a better job translating their military skills i...

In celebration of the Women's History Month, and the women who inspire us, please join us for a breakfast panel and peer learning circles, "Women2Women: How We Do It", scheduled to take place from 8-10 a.m. (EST) on Thursday, March 27, 2014, at the GW Foggy Bottom Campus. The discussion will focus on how women support each other in a multi-sector environment. All attendees will have an opportunity to share and ask questions through peer learni...