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Lucas Ropek

Staff Writer

Lucas Ropek is a former staff writer for Government Technology.

Policy

House Bill Could Mean Billions for State, Local IT

Newly introduced federal legislation could create billions of dollars in funding to help state and local governments modernize outdated legacy systems and create more resilient cybersecurity protocols.

August 17, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
People and Careers

Florida Governor Selects State Lawmaker as Next CIO

Jamie Grant, who has worked in health-care IT and has served as a state representative since 2010, will be the new IT lead for the state of Florida, the governor's office announced Thursday.

August 13, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
Cybersecurity

Will CISA Be the Savior of State and Local Cybersecurity?

There is agreement on both sides of the aisle that an expansion of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) would benefit state and local efforts. There isn't consensus on just how that should happen.

July 24, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
Cybersecurity

COVID-19 Has Given Hackers an Unfair Advantage, Experts Say

New vendor research reinforces the notion that COVID-19 is giving hackers an edge. After a brief dip in successful attacks on public entities at the beginning of the pandemic, attacks appear to be increasing and evolving.

July 23, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
Broadband and Network

No, the Recent Cloudflare Outage Was Not a Cyberattack

A large-scale downing of websites across the Internet initially looked like a cyberattack, but it was really just a minor malfunction with one of the world's largest Web infrastructure providers.

July 20, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
People and Careers

Indiana Cybersecurity Chief Bryan Sacks Heads to IT Giant SHI

Sacks, Indiana's CISO since 2017, quietly left the Office of Information Technology in March. He has been replaced by interim CISO Hemant Jain, who had been serving as the state's director of security operations.

July 17, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
Policy

Could National Unrest Derail the Future of Facial Recognition?

As civil liberty groups have lobbied for police reforms nationwide, an increasingly hostile regulatory landscape is emerging for facial recognition technology. It throws into question whether there is a path forward for its use by state and local governments.

September 2020
· Lucas Ropek
People and Careers

Kansas City, Mo.’s First Ever CDO Leaves for Job in Texas

Eric Roche, who has served as the Kansas City, Mo., chief data officer since 2015, has started a new position as the budget officer for the city of Pearland, Texas. He announced the career move Monday via Twitter.

July 14, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
Cybersecurity

How Disinformation Targeted Governments Amid National Protests

A recent torrent of disinformation seems to have inflamed much of the civil unrest inspired by the police killing of George Floyd. Much of the disinformation was "anti-government" in nature, a new report suggests.

July 08, 2020
· Lucas Ropek
Cybersecurity

Texas County Sheriff's Office Suffers Ransomware Attack

Hackers claim they stole data from the Cooke County Sheriff’s Office and are threatening to publish it online if their demands are not met. Attacks of this kind are trending across the country.

July 06, 2020
· Lucas Ropek