Because of the interconnectedness of government and private-sector IT assets, collaboration has become crucial, said Michele Robinson, acting director for the Office of Information Security.

“Those working relationships need to be strong in order to really affect this area,” she said. “We all own a piece of that infrastructure, so it’s a shared responsibility.”

And the ultimate goal, she said is to collaborate and work together to improve cybersecurity for the state.

The meeting allowed discussion on several topics, all with the goal of establishing a framework and overall plan for statewide cybersecurity. Among the topics discussed were information sharing between governments and the private sector; challenges to industry, such as the need for improved laws and regulations; and the need for increased cybersecurity research and education.

Among the meetings participants were officials from the National Fusion Center Association (NFCA), the FBI, the Sacramento Utility District, Cyber Watch West (CWW), and private companies such as Verizon, Bank of America and Symantec.

State CIO Carlos Ramos said one of the California Technology Agency’s biggest goals with respect to this effort will be improving the awareness of the importance of focusing on cybersecurity. Whether it’s hactivists, state-sponsored cyberattacks, cyber-terrorism, espionage or just opportunistic hackers, he said, attacks on government are on the rise — which a  2013 report released by Verizon also found.

Protecting the state’s infrastructure, while also leading the way for the nation makes this task force an important effort, Ramos said, adding that private industry, local government, state government, financial organizations and even the federal government stand to benefit from the collaboration that will take place in California. By being proactive, he says the state will have a better chance at staying ahead of the curve in the never-ending battle of network security.

David DeWalt, CEO of cybersecurity firm FireEye, said he sees the state as trying to get more proactive in dealing with cyber security, and creating this task force is a step in the right direction — not just for California, but the nation as a whole.

“This sort of a council would be a precedent setting event for the entire country,” DeWalt said, “and California likes to take a leadership position, so I would encourage them to take advantage of this type of thinking.”

Ramos agreed that the development of a state-wide cybersecurity task force, something not yet undertaken in any other state, is a proactive advancement. “I’m very optimistic because [of] the level of expertise and commitment we have from the participants from the task force,” Ramos said. “These are the kinds of folks who know what they’re talking about and know how to get things done.”

No definite timeline has been established, but Ramos indicated the state was interested in pursuing this project with an aggressive time frame, and that new initiatives will be implemented piecemeal as they are discussed by the task force. For instance, discussions on how best to implement an education and awareness campaign around cybersecurity may be rolled out while longer-term efforts around information sharing could take longer to establish.

“California really is out in front of other states,” Ramos said. “We’ve seen a number of areas, particularly in technology, where governments tend to follow our lead. I am quite hopeful, from that perspective — the framework and the work that we do here — that other states will take and emulate and put in place across the country.”

California has been a leader in the past when it came to technology projects, said Mark Ghilarducci, secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, and the state will continue to be a leader with this project.

In 1995, California implemented the Standardized Emergency Management System, which brought together disparate agencies in the state to work on a common platform, Ghilarducci said, and that program eventually became the template for the National Instant Management System. There have been other examples, too, he said, but the point is that California will again be a laboratory that creates and tests a path for other states and federal government to follow.

Specific examples of changes that could improve cybersecurity efforts in the state include things like whitelisting certain software in the wake of a bring-your-own-device trend that has introduced an unprecedented amount of applications onto the state’s networks. Another tactic would be to require more rapid patching of operating systems and applications to cut down on vulnerabilities and security holes. Another tactic is to limit the number of users with admin privileges on any given network.

“These are things that help harden our networks, and a lot of this, just like any kind of security — it’s always about layers of security,” Ghilarducci said. “The cybersecurity situation is no different. We want to make sure we incorporate as many of the things thread into our cybersecurity work environment. It may seem very intuitive and basic, but across the board, it’s not consistent.”

This article was originally published by Government Technology.

The post California Launches Cybersecurity Task Force appeared first on Techwire.net.

California led in with the highest average tech wage of $123,863 and the highest number of tech workers, with nearly 1 million.

“California remains a critical state for the technology industry,” said Cyberstates author Matthew Kazmierczak in a press release.  “Of the 15 technology sectors that Cyberstates tracks, California led in 12 of the sectors.  As the tech industry employs some 7.8 percent of California’s private sector workforce, state and federal officials need to continue to provide an environment for technology to thrive.  This includes providing a strong foundation in STEM education and promoting tax and regulatory reform that makes the state a more business friendly location.”

California figures:

Total Tech Jobs – 968,792
New Tech Jobs in 2012 – 17,700
Total Payroll $120 B
Average Tech Wage $123,863
Average Private Sector Wage $53,608

Top 5 States (number of tech workers)

California – 968,800
Texas  – 485,600
New York – 318,200
Virginia  – 285,400
Florida  – 270,900

See more details here.

The post TechAmerica Report: California Leads Nation in Tech Employment appeared first on Techwire.net.

According to a recent article in The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco’s recovery would improve under a proposed two-year, $270,834 agreement with the California Technology Agency for a backup data center in Rancho Cordova.

The agreement was approved Wednesday by the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee.

The Rose Report says that the current data center, operated by technology service company SunGard and located in Philadelphia, “does not provide sufficient safeguards to restore city information and communication technology services in a timely fashion following a natural or human-induced disaster.”  The new agreement would end the eight-year agreement the city had with SunGard.

The new data center would initially provide recovery capabilities for the payroll system for the government workers and contractors in San Francisco, followed by the tech systems of other departments.

The post San Francisco Considering State Data Center for Disaster Recovery appeared first on Techwire.net.

In the complaint filed at the end of last year, the AG’s office said that Delta violated the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA), and the state’s Unfair Competition Law by not posting a privacy policy on its “Fly Delta” app.  The AG further alleged Delta was not complying with its own website privacy policy.  While the California state court’s brief decision sustained Delta’s demurrer to the complaint, it appears that the state court agreed with the Delta argument that the California statute does not apply to airlines and is preempted by federal law.

Last year, the California AG began taking a proactive approach in the consumer privacy space with regards to mobile applications.  Early in the year, six major mobile application developers such as Google, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Amazon, HP and Apple, voluntarily agreed to post privacy policies in their mobile apps in their “app stores” to comply with CalOPPA.   Later, Facebook also signed the agreement.

In October 2012, the California Attorney General sent formal notification letters to about 50 developers whose mobile apps it alleged were not in compliance with CalOPPA. The AG gave the companies 30 days to comply. Sixty days later, the AG sued Delta Air for allegedly failing to post a privacy notice that covers its mobile app.  The AG said Delta had been warned but failed to cure the problem.  Recently, in January 2013, the AG’s office issued new guidance for mobile app software developers on how to comply with the CalOPPA law.

The post Court Dismisses California AG’s Privacy Lawsuit Against Delta Air’s Mobile App appeared first on Techwire.net.

The exercise helped the city and outside organizations practice carrying out preparedness policies  and recovery activities to fine tune responses in the event of an actual disaster. During the exercise, the partnership of agencies utilized social media and other technology to communicate with the public like they would during an emergency.

Francis Zamora, the public information officer for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said two social media outlets were used during the drill to provide updates: SFDEM on Facebook, and @SF_emergency and @em4sf on Twitter. The first of the two Twitter handles, which has nearly 60,000 followers, is used for sending out both urgent and non-urgent messages.

“It’s great that we can push messages out to different people, but not everybody’s on social media and so we use [more traditional] tools to do that,” Zamora said.

The department also publishes emergency preparedness information on 72hours.org, providing tips to many different segments of the population, including seniors and the disabled, parents and pet owners.

For the full story on the Golden Guardian earthquake preparedness exercise in San Francisco, go to the Emergency Management website.

This article was originally published by Government Technology.

The post San Francisco Utilizes Social Media During Earthquake Drill appeared first on Techwire.net.

The post Video: State Controller John Chiang discusses IT Procurement Task Force, Transparency with Techwire Host Michelle Kennedy appeared first on Techwire.net.

Tuesday May 21st, 2013 from 5:30 – 7:30 – The Park Ultra Lounge 1116 15th,
Located @15th and L Streets Downtown Sacramento

Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA) was founded in New York City, New York in 2000 by a group of nine technology professionals employed at various companies and businesses throughout the city, They were extremely concerned about the lack of Latino presence and representation in the information sciences, telecommunications, and technology industries. They decided to do something about it.

LISTA was founded and inspired by Jose A. Marquez- Leon and Chris Rodriguez, two technology advocates with over 35 years of service in the Latino community. The two met in New York City at an event at the United Nations.

So Join us for the CAHCC for our Legislative Day and in the evening come network and celebrate the Launch and Accomplishments of Latinos in High Technology and the future of our business community.

Please register for our CAHCC Legislative Day at the Capitol by Clicking Here.

More information can be found Here.   For questions email Jorge Avila at avilaj@a-lista.org.

The post Join AT&T’s It Can Wait Campaign and more at the LISTA NorCal Tech Council Launch @ CAHCC Legislative Day (May 21st) appeared first on Techwire.net.

More details can be found here.

The post RFQ: DOJ IT Consultant for Integrated Criminal Justice Image System Project appeared first on Techwire.net.

Announced in February, the task force includes well-known technology executives such as former California State CIO Teri Takai, Silicon Valley Leadership Group President and CEO Carl Guardino and former Oregon CIO and NASCIO President Dugan Petty, among others.  The Chair of the Task Force is Rosio Alvarez, the CIO of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

“We want to make sure we have best thinking and best practices in place so as California moves forward with the use of technology, that we are thinking amongst the best… as to what we need to do,” Chiang told Techwire’s Michelle Kennedy in an exclusive interview.

The controller said the group has developed a draft report and is currently seeking additional feedback from stakeholders before soon coming out with a final set of recommendations.

The task force was announced after the cancellation of the 21^st Century project, a multi-year project to modernize the state’s outdated payroll system.  On Feb. 8, it was first reported that the state had cancelled the $89.7 million contract with vendor SAP after ongoing errors with a pilot of the project, also know as MyCalPays.  At the time, a spokesman said the state will use “all means available” to recover the $50 million in funds it has paid to SAP.

According to an article today in The Sacramento Bee, Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget includes a $14.5 million allocation to the program for moving employee payroll accounts back to the old system, fixing errors and legal costs.

The post Controller John Chiang Says IT Procurement Task Force Recommendations Expected Soon appeared first on Techwire.net.

Most recently, Locatis served as assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Cybersecurity and Communications for the Obama administration and adviser to the secretary on FirstNet and the National Public Safety Broadband Network.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano noted that during his time in this position, Locatis presided over a period of immense transition for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C). “Your efforts to realign CS&C have created a more agile organization that will strengthen the interagency response to cyber attacks and enhance the resilience of federal civilian networks,” she wrote in a letter to Locatis dated Jan. 31, 2013.

Before holding this position, Locatis was CIO of the U.S. Department of Energy, where he oversaw the implementation of Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service and the Joint Cybersecurity Coordination Center (JC3), which he said applies a proactive approach to risk management and improves situational awareness, incident management and cross-agency collaboration.

Photo of Michael Locatis by David Kidd

And prior to his work at the federal level, Locatis was CIO of Denver and then the state of Colorado, followed by time as deputy CIO and transition adviser for the state of California.

During this nine years working for government, Locatis says he is most proud of building high-performance, transformative teams within government and breaking the government employee stereotype — something he did at each public-sector position he held. “Many government employees,” he said, “are extremely bright, incredibly capable, motivated and resourceful people looking for disruptive change.”

And now, he will serve as a consultant for global communications group Grayling, helping clients prepare, respond and recover in the event of a cyberattack. Locatis’ company, Nexusist, has become a Grayling affiliate in order to provide integrated communications services, according to a press release.

“The public-sector experience has equipped me well to re-enter the private sector,” Locatis said, “and use my rich experience I’ve gained to innovate, create economic opportunity and jobs, and continue to serve the nation.”

This article was originally published by Government Technology.

The post Former California Deputy CIO Michael Locatis Leaves Federal Post for Private Sector appeared first on Techwire.net.