"Any new technology poses additional challenges to the information security community; IM security seems to be one of the least known areas," said Mike Russo, Florida's chief information security officer. According to Russo, state agencies want to increase work productivity and the State Technology Office is seeking new ways to communicate securely among security staff, including information security officers and managers, CIOs and computer security incident response teams.
The solution was tested in pilots with the State Technology Office, the Executive Office of the Governor and the Department of Education. Impressed with Omnipod's trio of security layers, which encrypt all data, determine security access and control presence detection, Florida will use the platform not only for more unified communications, but as a secure platform to send instant alerts across the state to relay new information about terrorist threats or disasters.
As with every state agency, Florida needed a secure, disaster-proof communications platform. In preparation for man-made or natural disasters like the recent string of hurricanes, Florida turned to Omnipod's hosted network to ensure that their vital lines of communications would remain strong and secure. The MyFlorida Secure IM Solution provides a new, reliable method for interagency presence, communications and security.
For more information about Florida's secure instant messaging system, check out this article from the September issue of Government Technology magazine.
