BlumShapiro, Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Team Up to Improve Cybersecurity for Municipalities, Schools and Not-for-Profits

BlumShapiro, the largest business advisory firm based in New England, and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), a nonprofit organization specializing in IT solution integration and development, have announced a new collaboration to help municipalities, school districts and not-for-profits strengthen their IT practices and mitigate cybersecurity risks.

West Hartford, Connecticut (PRWEB) May 02, 2016

BlumShapiro, the largest business advisory firm based in New England, and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), a nonprofit organization specializing in IT solution integration and development, are collaborating to help municipalities, school districts and not-for-profits strengthen their IT practices and mitigate cybersecurity risks.

BlumShapiro and CCAT have extensive experience providing cybersecurity and technology services to clients in these sectors. The firms will begin working together to enhance security practices in a digital world that is under ever-increasing threats of cyber-attacks.

“This is an exciting collaboration—BlumShapiro and CCAT have teamed on diverse IT projects for more than 10 years. We respect each other’s work and understand the quality of service our clients require,” BlumShapiro Partner Jeffrey Ziplow said. “Together we will raise the bar on security practices. That’s the goal. Every municipality, school district and not-for-profit has vital information that needs to be protected.” For the full article click here 

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UNG offering cyber security summer camp for high school students

DAHLONEGA — The University of North Georgia is holding a free two-week residential National Cyber Warrior Academy on its Dahlonega Campus for high school students interested in cyber-related education and/or careers.

The camp is set for June 19 – July 1 and will be free for up to 40 participants, thanks to an $88,000 grant from the National Security Agency and the National Science Foundation GenCyber program.

Priority consideration will be given to students who are graduates of UNG’s Federal Service Language Academy, a program that prepares high school students for college-level foreign language or international affairs education in strategic languages.

The camp will emphasize personal, organizational, national cybersecurity awareness and ethical cyber operations training. It will feature more than 80 hours of instruction, including 40 hours of hands-on lab instruction and practical exercises. For the full article click here 

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CSTA Launches Cybersecurity Professional Development Program for Teachers

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) has launched the Cyber Teacher Certificate professional development program designed to train teachers in cybersecurity education.

According to a statistical research survey commissioned by Raytheon, approximately one in four millennials is interested in a career in cybersecurity. However, the survey also “revealed inadequate technology education, which inhibits young adults from getting interested in and pursuing careers in computer science, including cybersecurity.”

The CSTA hopes to increase opportunities for cybersecurity education in high schools with the introduction of its new Cyber Teacher Certificate. The online program offers eight hours of continuing education units (CEUs), including a six-hour online adaptive learning course in the “Fundamentals of Cyber.”

The CSTA is running the program in collaboration with LifeJourney, a cloud-based platform for STEM and cybersecurity career simulation and exploration. The Cyber Teacher Certificate is designed to work in tandem with LifeJourney’s NSA Day of Cyber, an online, interactive, self-guided, fully automated cybersecurity mentorship experience for teachers to run with students in the classroom, according to information on LifeJourney’s site. For the full article click here 

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FBI Hacking Authority Expanded By Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court on Thursday presented Congress with changes in the Rules of Criminal Procedure that will allow judges to issue warrants directed at electronic devices outside their jurisdiction, vastly expanding the government’s surveillance and hacking power.

Magistrate judges are mostly limited to authorizing search and seizures in their jurisdiction. The changes to Rule 41, requested by the Department of Justice and endorsed by the Supreme Court justices, give judges the ability “to issue a warrant to use remote access to search electronic storage media and to seize or copy electronically stored information located within or outside that district” if the information sought has been “concealed through technological means” or the device has been damaged without authorization and is held in five or more districts.

Compromised computers are considered “damaged” for the purpose of these rules. This definition allows investigators to infiltrate botnets anywhere in the world using a warrant. But the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) contends the rule is overly broad because about 30% of the world’s computers could be considered “damaged” — infected with malware — and thus could be subject to Rule 41 searches. For the full article click here 

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IT leaders pick productivity over security

National Governors Association launches state cyber policy academy

Five states plan to participate in a new cybersecurity policy academy sponsored by the National Governors Association.

The workshop aims to help officials update their state policies so they meet rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats, the group announced Thursday. Sessions will be run by the organization’s staff and private sector partners as well as Govs. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia and Rick Snyder of Michigan, who also lead the NGA’s working group on cyber — the Resource Center for State Cybersecurity.

For the workshop, representatives from Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada and Oregon will work together to tackle specific cybersecurity policy and strategy challenges. NGA holds other academies that cover various topics throughout the year.

McAuliffe, who also serves as co-chairman of the NGA, said the academy will help states improve their cybersecurity posture and prepare for looming cyberthreats. For the full article click here 

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New Jersey Takes Consolidated, Fusion Center-Style Approach to Cybersecurity

In post-9/11 America, states have accepted more responsibility in protecting their citizens. And as the firm grip of technology tightens around our daily lives and the most basic operations of government, one state is stepping up to the proverbial plate as a leader in the cybersecurity field.

New Jersey is perhaps best known for the “Parkway” and former presidential hopeful Gov. Chris Christie. But some might argue that it should be getting attention for its novel fusion center approach to cybersecurity.

Eleven months ago, the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) took root within the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) as a counterpunch to the escalating online threats posed by a widening cast of bad actors. The mission: Find the threats, mitigate the threats and share the intelligence gathered in the process with everyone else. For the full article click here 

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