Illinois

The state of Illinois will offer credit monitoring and a call center for hundreds of thousands of people whose private data was compromised in a cyber attack by a global ransomware group last month.

Illinois agencies had been using the file transfer software MOVEit, which was recently compromised by the CL0P ransomware gang. The state IT department is currently investigating.

Illinois legislators passed a bill recently that would expand police officers' ability to use surveillance drones for security purposes during special events like parades, festivals, concerts and races.

Progress continues for the state of Illinois’ multiple-year digital transformation undertaking, which aims to simplify processes and positively impact state employees across the state’s agencies.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has appointed Sanjay Gupta to the role of state CIO. Gupta brings both private- and public-sector IT experience to the role formerly held by Jennifer Ricker, who stepped down in January.

A recently approved measure seeks to place ethical guardrails around an industry that has been at the center of multiple federal probes that have ensnared a host of officials, including two state senators.

The funding will establish an Institute for Inclusive and Intelligent Technologies for Education on the Urbana-Champaign campus. The research focuses on non-cognitive learning skills among K-12 students.

The choice may be to either shut down coal burners or upgrade them with carbon capture and storage technology that has yet to be utilized at the scale necessary for the country’s largest power plants.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is urging all eligible school districts to apply for funding after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency announced millions in grants to replace diesel buses from 2009 or earlier.

Illini Esports, a student-run club featuring several competitive video gaming teams, will host its first-ever invitational tournament this weekend with nearly 300 competitors from five states.

Consolidating HR and financial processes on central platforms is a major undertaking in states where legacy systems have been in place for up to 40 years. We check in with three states on their efforts.

During a panel discussion on the subject of data management, state data experts discussed the importance of intentionally obtaining data to inform decision-making and tell a story to those who use it.

Jennifer Ricker stepped down as secretary of the Department of Innovation and Technology on Monday. As her deputy, Brandon Ragle, takes over the role, Ricker reflects on her time in the position.

Ricker, the CIO and secretary of Illinois’ Department of Innovation and Technology, will leave the role next week. Ricker has served as Illinois CIO for just under two and a half years, seeing the state through COVID-19.

State IT organizations are struggling to fill their ranks, forcing many to re-examine how they hire. Illinois CIO Jennifer Ricker describes the state’s efforts to add entry-level roles and edit job descriptions to create new pathways in.

On the heels of a major financial upgrade, Illinois CIO Jennifer Ricker talks about what’s at stake as the Department of Innovation and Technology stands up a core HR system for tens of thousands of state employees.

Illinois residents who filed claims for a cut of Google’s $100 million class-action settlement that is related to alleged violations of a state privacy law there could receive checks of about $154 each.