Minnesota

After learning in July that an unauthorized party claimed to possess sensitive data taken from the university's systems, officials contacted the FBI and hired outside global forensics experts.

Multiple Minnesota law enforcement agencies face a civil rights lawsuit over the use of facial recognition technology in an arrest. However, the government denies facial recognition led to the arrest.

A cyber attack involving file transfer and encryption software called MOVEit exposed personal information of children in foster care, the Minneapolis and Perham school districts and Hennepin Technical College.

Minnesota is the fourth state to require manufacturers to share parts and repair information.

Interim CISO John Israel has been chosen to lead Minnesota's cybersecurity operations long term as the IT department works to build a statewide operations plan. Israel has more than 25 years of experience.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday signed an agriculture and broadband spending bill into law. The new law earmarks $100 million in funding for rural Internet expansion.

While cyber attacks on schools dropped a bit in 2021, CISA and the FBI released a joint statement in September 2022 saying they anticipated more cyber attacks on schools, and Minnesota has seen some of that.

The state’s IT agency has included several funding proposals in its “One Minnesota Budget” to help make its systems and services more accessible, modernized and secure. CIO Tarek Tomes shared the impacts and potential timelines.

Plus, a federal report has found that more workers will be needed in order to deploy the massive investment the country is making in broadband, the FCC has opened a comment cycle for broadband labeling, and more.

Telecom companies serving five Minnesota counties are set to receive $100 million in federal grants to bring new high-speed Internet to more than 33,000 Minnesota rural homes and businesses.

CIO Tarek Tomes discusses the guiding principles of his strategy for Minnesota IT Services, the rollout of the state's streamlined benefits portal and how putting citizen experience first drives digital equity.

Tarek Tomes, who was appointed by Minn. Gov. Tim Walz in 2019, will stay on to lead Minnesota IT Services in a cabinet-level position. Tomes is one of Government Technology’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers.

The program, called the Broadband Line Extension Connection Program, will work differently from other grants in that the process in applying for the grant will not be generated from an ISP, but rather by the end users.

In the recently released 2022 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence analysis, eight leading states were recognized for their work with data and evidence to guide policymaking decisions.

Rather than laying a lot of new fiber lines to homes and far flung farm sites under the ground, a new project uses a system of towers and antennas to get high bandwidth signals to customers in rural areas.

Maki will join the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's (DEED) senior leadership team, overseeing the state's broadband expansion and development efforts.

The rural northern community of Grand Rapids is now being served by Minnesota’s Autonomous Rural Transit Initiative, an 18-month pilot program to explore the use of self-driving on-demand microtransit.

The autonomous transportation projects being lead by the Minnesota Department of Transportation are testing not the technology, but the use cases these new forms of mobility can serve.